Here's a discussion from 2005 on glowstringing versus poi, if they were even different at all. This discussion took place on HoP. we came a long way from people not even recognizing glowstringing as its own art form and just a type of poi.

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/showfl...rev=#Post379716

OMG it's 18 pgs long and im barely on page 3,,,,,must get coffee........

dear god... what a long discussion. i'm only on page 4 atm. i do remember the original thread on gs.c but didn't however, get a chance to read (neither did i know bout it) what HoP had to think bout the subject. woulda been nice to have the original thread saved as well though.

Well b4 i read the whole discussion, this is my 2 cents on the topic.

i believe that we have taken many steps since then to show the distinction between poi and glowstringing. there are many things that one can do and show with glowsticks that one cannot do w/ just a poi set (and vise versa of course, but since I’m no poi expert, I’m not gonna get into the poi aspects). Wraps and combo construction as wes mentioned in the discussion are good examples as well as string manipulations. though there are some string manips you can do with poi, you can never go as in-depth as you can with glowsticks because of the shape of the glowstick. for instance, you can't add tutting aspects to poi as well as you can with glowsticks. another example is my palm spin string manipulation. That string manipulation was made specifically with glowsticks and can’t be done with poi. even if you did managed to get the poi to spin in place, a stick spinning in place is much more appealing then a ball spinning in place. There is also djsparrow’s bow-tie string manip that can’t be done with poi either. Other than that, just due to the fact that it’s a stick creates a distinct visual appeal from poi.

What I think makes it hard for people to distinguish poi from stringing is when people add poi moves in with their glowstringing and even more so when people emphasize more on the poi rather than wraps or string manips. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, in fact it’s hard for many to concentrate purely on just the stringing aspects when a lot of the basics of stringing involve learning poi moves (though that doesn’t mean that in order to push string further you have to learn more poi). There are very few full-length glowstringing videos that concentrate purely on the glowstringing aspects with maybe a few poi moves here and there to add to the stringing but not there to be focused on. The only ones I can think of right now are Wes’ second solo video, b-rad’s third solo video, and my last solo video. But if we want to make a clear distinction between stringing and poi, these types of videos are what we should strive for. But that doesn’t mean you have to. If you like doing poi, then by all means show some poi. You can still show how much ur pushing the art despite having some poi in your video. Wil’s videos are good examples of that. He showcased many things that pushed stringing while at the same time showing his technical poi skills.

and now there are many moves that really aren't physically possible with fire wicks or poi socks that are with glowsticks... yay for advances in stringing =].

Edit: lol wow, i didnt see jstudds post before i wrote this... good post (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

Edit again: i think great examples of moves that i find arent do-able with wicks/socks are bowtie-based moves...like jstudd explained with the palm spins

Poi is one of the 3 key genres that compromise glowstringing and always will be. A balanced glowstringer will be good at Poi, Wraps, and Manips and will balance them on an equal level.

Hating or refusing to incorporate poi wont make stringing better, but doing nothing but poi won't help either.

The best stringers GSC has ever seen have used the best of the poi world and fused it with the best of the stringing world to make something unique.

OK, done reading all 18 pgs. From what I take it, if you look at it, poi is an art form derived from juggling by mostly Maori women. Todays poi is far different from what the Maori used it for. That is, it has its own new culture and community. Glowsticking has plenty of roots in poi but it has also evolved from the culture of raves and now has its own culture and also a community. In my mind, and I think it was pointed out in that thread, you can't compare the two as being th same. I think it was Dave that said in that thread (man 18 pages), you can't give a soccerball to a basketball player and call it soccer. All though we do things similarly, poi wasn't rooted in todays modern rave rather glowsticks. True a poi person can do alot of stuff like a glowsticker, but a glowsticker can do it faster, while a poi person can do it more gracefully and isolated. We can do wraps cleaner, they are more interested in flow. We combo construct, they transition. Our equipment is lighter, theirs is heavier. As far as having videos of people who incorporate pure glowsticking, I can't find many on GSC like Jstudd said. Just a handful. Regardless, its not about the style that just defines what a glowsticking is but also the culture and clearly its much different than poi. That makes it a whole new art. Not the same.

Wait.. so your saying if I don't incorporate poi, than I'm not going to get any better? Just asking because other than stalls, hyperloops, and airwraps (if that even counts), i rarely practice poi lately, and i think i have improved a lot these last few months.

this may show some ignorance but i am willing to put myself out there, i honestly still even after being on this site for about 6 months don't know which moves are poi between stringing, not that i don't take the time its mostly that i learn most of my arsenal from this site. i don't care too much for poi so i don't follow it, but if someone came up to me and was like "dude you are doing a ton of poi based moves", i would say "well thats news to me" because in my mind i am STRINGING!!! and thats it, end of story, i do agree with ange about being a great overall and well balanced stringer though. i try to learn everything that i can, its always a challenge anyway so why not? it will never get boring

i'd have to agree with melvenorc. i haven't practiced poi let alone learned any new poi moves since a year and a half ago, which was when i released my 3rd solo vid.
poi can be an essential part in learning glowstringing (though one could even argue that you need not learn the basic poi moves to learn how to string and instead just learn how to transition from wraps and do string manips, but that'd be a very inefficient way of learning how to string since learning basic poi moves help with transitions and control of the strings) but it doesn't have to be an integral part in pushing stringing. fusing poi with stringing is just one potential way to push the art like stalls within string manipulations or wraps, or hyperloop into a catch or chainlink but you don't have to add it to your style. also, essential to stringing or not, trying not to implement it can help those think outside the box and therefore push the art. a basic example is let's say you've created two wrap combos. usually what you like to do is do one combo and transition to the other combo with a weave. then you think, how bout i try and transition between the combos without weaving. that forces you to come up with a more creative way than just weaving from one combo to the other.

hopefully that made sense

and i also agree with decipher in that what sets stringing apart from poi is also the cultural aspect.