Spring Poi Classes with Claire de Luxe!

It's already weirdly warm, and by spring it will be practically hot—and nothing's hotter than spinning fire. Learn something new, stretch your brain, move your body, and find flow!

Poi was an ancient Maori art used for dance, play, agility, and self-defense training. Today, poi has developed into a dynamic and complex art form that is often combined with fire. Here, poi is taught with an eye for movement as opposed to simply a series of static tricks to be mastered. Class includes warm-up and cool-down as well as plenty of opportunity for questions, improvisation, and experimentation. We introduce and review basic fire safety methods, and the last class often includes the opportunity to light up.

SPRING 2012 CLASS SCHEDULE

Spring poi sessions will be starting March 5th and 6th. This season offers Poi 1, Poi 3, Poi 5, and Intermediate oi. All classes are 10-week sessions, and the last class is a fire class.

Poi 1: Tuesdays 8–9:30pm, Mar 6th–May 8th
Poi 3: Tuesdays 6:30–8pm, Mar 6th–May 8th
Poi 4/5: Mondays 8–9:30pm, Mar 5th–May 7th
Int. Poi: Mondays 6:30–8pm, Mar 5th–May 7th

Poi 1
Yay, you're learning poi! This is one of the most exciting times for a poi spinner. You'll learn fundamentals as well as learn proper body mechanics and movement, so that you're also learning *how* to learn more poi with ease. Class 9 is a fire safety class and review, and class 10 is a supervised fire class—in which you will get the opportunity to really spin fire.

Poi 2
Poi 2 returns in the summer! Please contact me to determine what level is right for you.

Poi 3
We will be working more on stalls and delving more into timing and direction, turning, and building our movement vocabulary so that we can be more fluid with poi patterns and placement. More tricks, more transitions, more flow!

Poi 4/5
We will keep exploring flowers and looking at different types of flowers, and we will begin to look at pendulums. We will also look at poi from some different angles, using Laban theory and other movement technique to create interesting new moves and movement.

Intermediate Poi
We will start looking at antispin in this class, as well as isolations, and continue working with stalls and pendulums and how to integrate these into other new movement. We will also be working on a short sequence to perform for fire class. This class is appropriate for those who are familiar with basic poi vocabulary and can learn new poi moves with relative ease.

Up to two missed classes may be made up by attending an alternate poi class during the 10-week session. Refunds are not given once poi class begins.

"Claire makes poi not only approachable, but fun. She's able to break down the moves into very digestible pieces so if you're completely new to poi, you can still master the most basic moves to build up from. Since the classes are small, she's able to give each student individual attention and pointers. Her endless patience and enthusiasm are also a big bonus, especially since each person moves at a different rate of learning. Thank you Claire!"
– Teresa Nasty

"Claire is a fantastic instructor who introduced me to the joyful and beautiful dance of poi! Personally I find spinning poi meditative and liberating—and it also adds life and 'wow' to any party!"
– Shuli, non-profit professional

"Claire took a daunting concept (spinning fire!) and broke it down into a series of easy steps so that week after week, we were able to build on a collection of simple lessons to create some visually stunning movements. Her teaching style was supportive and she was really good at giving individual feedback on things that I struggled with. Fast forward 10 weeks and suddenly I'm doing exactly what I came to do, with the knowledge and support of an awesome instructor!"
– Shawn Mac, educational technologist & photographer

:I travel three boroughs to attend Claire's class and could not have found a better teacher and inspiration. Not only is she well addressed in the art, her teaching is gentle, keen, and consistent. I found her professional passion to be patient and thorough as well as fun! She's a good one. And once I lit up under her guidance, I found that I wanted to light up always."
– Louisa Abreu, NBC UNIVERSAL, studio operations.

"Claire's poi classes, both private and group, have been great for my body and mind. I suffer from wrist and hand issues but since beginning poi classes have experienced less pain overall and fewer major episodes of immobility. Claire helps dissect the moves in ways that make them easy and fun to pick up. She is always encouraging yet knows how far to push each of her students based on their experience/needs. I would recommend her to anyone looking for a poi teacher. "
– Catherine Bogin

Looking forward to spinning with you!
~Claire de Luxe