About

Who am I?

Ben Drexler (more popularly known as "Drex") is originally from Boulder, Colorado and has been deeply involved in the Object Manipulation community since Fall of 2006 after he came home from his first Burning Man. His performance background is in music and performance art, having tried everything from acting to stand-up comedy in his pursuit of getting responses out of large crowds of people. He is deeply interested in human rights and the developing world and is currently employed as an IT Associate at Genocide Intervention Network. Drex spins poi, double staves, hoop, meteor, and rope dart, but considers poi to be his strongest tool. He teaches a weekly class at Contradiction Dance in Takoma Park, Maryland and performs regularly with Dance Afire and Revolutionary Motion. He has a degree in American History from the University of Colorado.

FAQs

What is poi?

Poi is an ancient dance art practiced among the Maori of New Zealand. In simplest form it is a pair of weighted ends (heads) connected to each hand by a pair of leashes, though materials and details of construction vary wildly from place to place and by type of poi spinning. Modern poi is a hybrid of Maori poi dance, club swinging, glowstringing, and advanced roulette geometry. It can be performed in a variety of styles with an emphasis on flow between tricks or engaging performance, technical skill, or fusion with other arts such as contact juggling. Poi is frequently performed in club settings utilizing heads filled with LEDs or in outdoor venues utilizing kevlar heads soaked with a flammable fuel as a form of fire dancing or fire spinning. It is classified along with hoop and staff as a type of object manipulation, a fusion of dance, martial arts, skill art, and juggling.

What are those poi you're using?

They are hollow vinyl stage balls with a hole drilled through one side to let a length of rope through. The handles are furniture feet that likewise have holes drilled through them. Ronan uses this style of poi frequently and I first came in contact with a pair through my friend Sean Stogner before deciding to build a pair myself. I have no idea if Ronan invented this style of construction or got it from someone else.

How long have you been spinning?

It depends on how you count. I spun my first set of poi in October of 2006 in a single lesson that went so abyssmally poorly that I didn't pick up a pair again for months afterwards. My roommate at the time came back from a Christmas vacation in Thailand with a pair for me to play with and I started to really learn how to spin when I started attending fire jams at Denver's Confluence Park in March or April of 2007 (I didn't really keep track because I didn't think it would turn out to be important to me), I usually count my start date right then.

Can you show me how to do ______ trick?

Yes! Contact me with a request and I'll be happy to do a video on it.

Why does this site look so crappy?

Because I'm maintaining it in my spare time--most of which is devoted to spinning poi and shooting video of the results so I seldom have time to devote to design or upgrading the structure of the site.

Have a question not in this list? Shoot me an email and I'll do my best to get back to you soon.