First, if you get along great with poi, you should probably stick to indirect tools: rope dart, chain whip, etc.

Fans require the heart of a dancer. But if you're looking for basic and advanced moves, do a You Tube search for "Grimm Fans". And you'll see some wicked spinning.

there are some poi moves that translate pretty well to fans:
- giant turn arounds -- where the arms are 180 degrees and do one full circle on the face of the clock from the audience perspective while the body does a 360 degree revolution.
- 2 beat weaves work
- corkscrews work especially if you are turning with the corkscrew
- if you know what i mean by the "wiggle" -- UH BF then behind the head, behind the butt then front with each hand in split time - that looks pretty good also
- basic figure 8 patterns from the front plane to back plane with the fan also works.

other concepts to consider which you likely don't/can't do as much of with poi include:
- strike a pose! fans stop. and the effect can be dramatic. especially if you make it look like one of your wrists is being burned by the flames of the other fan by putting the wrist between spokes
- run the fire on your body -- think of it as an dancing with the fire on your skin as much as you would with tracers on your body...
- try doing roll-overs with the fan where you spin it on your fingers to create a circle(s). These can be done on the buzzsaw plane to create a fan buzzsaw -- i prefer it when one is going forward and one backward
- they could use the rollover to move one from high to low and one from low to high, both circling like a buzzsaw in the middle
- they could roll over on the front plane as you might with a lockout in a pinwheel
- same for back, though i haven't figured out how to do both at once on back (yet)
- they can move on the side plane from high/low or low/high with a roll over in the middle -- same direction or opposite
- pirouette with the fans outstretched and then pull them in tightly, ending in a pose...

Just some of my quick thoughts. Good luck and bright blessings!
:)

ps - i think i have a fan vid on youtube which demonstrates a lot of these concepts -- my channel is poipriestess

Hey Amanda,
Here's a video of my friend Kali dancing with Fans. This may give you some ideas.

www.vimeo.com/1279567

Enjoy.

I bought the bellydance with fire DVD from Fire by Riz, and it has great sections on fire fans, sword and palms. I also took a workshop from Johanna (Xenobia) and that too was great.

Think lots of wrist circles, fast turns when it' s first lit, and peeking through the flames to your audience.

Just dance!!
Fire fans aren't about showing off the tool, like other fire tools are. They're about letting the fire accent your moves and body.
Have fun with it, and listen to the music!!
<3