Writing flow arts down

The trochoid model, 2009

Zaltymbunk, of Angers, France. Danny_, in Brighton, was modelling the same problem independently against the ground rather than the arm.

A pattern written as two numbers of turns and two radii: Theta1 Theta2 ; Rho1 Rho2. A division term takes a fraction of the cycle instead of all of it. It carries a wrap table and a cycloid condition, plus rules for which patterns are physically possible.

• See the model explained
• Zaltymbunk's model, preserved by DrexFactor
• Original 2009 forum discussion

Vulcan Tech Gospel, 2010

Compiled by Noel Yee. Transition Theory with Jordan Campbell and David “Tankboy” Cantor; chapters by Brian Thompson, Cantor, Maiki Nope, Ben Drexler, and Yee.

The flower patterns available within a given timing and direction, and how to move between them. Volume 1 covers the one-to-one case as ten minimal beat shapes for two hands: isolation, extension, vertical antispin, horizontal antispin, and the six hybrids they stack into.

• VTG 1 2010, released 2011: five chapters, five different authors
• VTG #2 October 2011, Cantor and Yee: past the one-to-one case, to three-to-three
• Book of P.H.A.T. Volume 1 illustrated and written by Lorq Nichols, with Thompson, Cantor and Yee. The Shape Matrix is page 32
• VTG 3 announced in 2019 as the final installment; never published

• The Vulcan Tech Gospel, on Noel Yee's site

9-Square Theory, c. 2010

Charlie Cushing

A nine-point grid, plus the poi length and planes it assumes. The series runs eleven parts, from direction and timing out to stalls and footwork.

• Charlie's 9-square theory, all eleven parts

• Charlie's 9-Square Theory Introduction for Poi, Charlie Cushing. Where the series starts.
• #1: Poi Length, Planes, 9-Square Introduction, Charlie Cushing. The grid itself, and the proportion everything else assumes.
• #2: Direction, Timing, and Poly-Timing in 9-Square, Charlie Cushing.
• #3: Polyrhythmic Hybrids and Timing Changes, Charlie Cushing.

QFT Notation, 2011

Charlie Cushing, who dreamed up the concept. Ben Drexler wrote the primer; Alien Jon and Noel Yee gave feedback on the class the two of them taught at Kinetic Fire Festival.

A circle cut into eight positions, and movement written as where the prop leaves, where it arrives, and which way it is travelling at each end. The full formula is a,b(h(±x±y±z)h'){Class}a',b'.

• Run the notation
• The primer, on the Home of Poi forums
• The same primer on Drex's blog, diagrams intact

Lorq Nichols' catalogs, 2012–

Lorq Nichols, publishing as Spin Science

Nichols mapped movement into printed grids: driving styles crossed against each other, arm paths crossed against club shapes, until the full set could be seen at once. The Shape Matrix appears on page 32 of Vulcan Tech Gospel Book of P.H.A.T. Volume 1. Noel Yee's 2015 app credits list Nichols with Yee, David Cantor, and Brian Thompson under “VTG Authors.”

• 144 Shape Matrix twelve driving styles against twelve; his own gloss is “a multiplication table for tricks”
• 324 Patterns counted from arm paths and club shapes
• 27 Arm Paths three axes, three planes, nine arm positions, and the transitions between them
• Tech Tiles / Book of P.H.A.T. published as Vulcan Tech Gospel Book of P.H.A.T. Volume 1, with Brian Thompson, David Cantor, and Noel Yee
• Position Matrix 2013, with Brian Thompson and David Cantor: the 1:1 club flowers and every transition between them

• Run the Shape Matrix
• Book of P.H.A.T.
• 324 Patterns
• LORQ:TECH

PoiNotation, 2016

Tiffany Fong

Poi movement written as text a program can read back.

• The repository

The Kinetic Alphabet, 2022

Austen Cloud

Each pair of positions given a letter, so a sequence can be read back and searched as a word.

• The guide