How do you learn to dance freely with poi?

Shift your poi flow from repeating set patterns into freer, more dance-led movement. Nick Woolsey frames this as a body-first drill: put on music and practise moving creatively without poi, noticing where self-consciousness or “not knowing what to do” blocks expression.

Once you can move with the music, reintroduce poi while keeping the prop work simple and low-thinking, so timing, impulse, and whole-body phrasing stay in the lead. This helps prevent reverting to “poi by numbers” and gradually lets your familiar techniques emerge from how you’re already moving.