Contact Poi : Grabs and Back Handers

SO then, Lets talk about grabs

I've been playing about a lot with these since getting totally addicted to them at bristol JC last year.

I think Dom was probably the first person i ever really develop this idea.

I don't think these have an official name, so i'd like to put forward the name Grab. And i would consider them a form of Contact Poi.

So the Basic Grab would be,
right hand,
spinning outwards,
(i tend to hold the handle between thumb first finger knuckle)
poi travelling upwards at 9 o'clock,
Pull along the length of the poi body,
Poi head jumps towards your hand,

GRAB the head in your palm.

Then you can throw it out again and carry on with a pattern.

SO remember, take any pattern, learn how to put fakeys into that pattern, then swap the fakeys for anything else (eg wrap, stall, throw) or in this case a grab.

Patterns i like:

5 beat weaves (give you longer to grab and throw than the 3 beat and you make the throw whilst in the 5 beat 'twisted wrist' position)

Butterfly: I like to just make alternate grabs and throws, you can turn and make the grab, you can make the grabs high or low, easy or awkward.

A nice thing to play with is either:

Keep your hand very still and try to hop the poi head into it
or
Try to isolate the poi head by moving your hand very quickly to where ever it is (to make the grab)

When throwing i like to push our horizontally, ie the exact opposite of the grab, looks nice as a straight line extension of your arm.

Now then, 'Back Handers', I dunno what these should be called but the motion is exactly the same as having a Contact Juggling (CJ) ball on the back of your hand.

So instead of Grabbing the head to your palm you cradle it on the back of your fingers, this makes for beautiful body positions and a look of effortlessness.

Generally if the poi head is approaching the front of my hand i land it on my palm, if it approaches the back i rest it on the back hand.

With Both it's nice to keep a fairly flat hand.

Another variation which looks totally sick is that you spread your first 2 fingers wide apart and land the poi in there, it will (sometimes) wedge solid between your fingers and stop dead.

Ok that will do for now, any other ideas about Grabs and so on?

Have fun,

m