Flow arts is the complete mental absorption when manipulating props, Ben Drexler joined, 8 years ago while still living in Boulder Colorado back in 2006. His friends convinced him to attend Burning Man where he saw fire spinning for the first time. Drex described it as “one of the most beautiful things [he’s] seen in [his] life.” Over the course of Burning Man, Drex saw lots of fire spinners and it was one of those things he assumed he could appreciate but wasn’t something he’d be able to do himself.

Drex thought it required more talent expertise and coordination than he was capable of, because he’s always been clumsy and awkward. On the night of conclave Drex watched fire performers from around the world spin and at that point upon seeing so much talent, Drex decided he wanted to learn how to do it himself.

When Drex returned home, he had trouble finding someone to teach him fire spinning. This was prior to YouTube being the place to go for tutorials. Drex’s first teacher was a man known among mutual friends as ‘Salty’. During their first meeting Drex was highly discouraged because of the difficulty he was having and thought this wasn’t going to be something he’d end up doing.

Drex’s roommate gave him a set of fire poi from Thailand for Christmas, which he later found out they were poorly made. Drex picked up poi again because of his roommates excitement. Drex tried spinning by himself until he heard about the spin jams at Confluence Park in Denver Co a few blocks from where he lived. For Drex, being part of a regular informal spin group made learning flow easier.

When Drex moved to DC to work with the Genocide Intervention Network, one of his goals was to travel to Africa. Through his network, Drex met a former peace core fire spinner who created a program to teach flow arts to street kids in Mombasa. The program was meant to rehabilitate the youth many of whom succumb to drug addiction and joining street gangs. The goal of the program was to teach these kids a skill they can make some money from.

It was important to Drex that he do something constructive while in Africa. He stayed in Kenya for a month; teaching kids’ poi and helping them create choreographed pieces. In the mornings he taught at the Sarkasi circus school in Nairobi. In the afternoons Drex would teach at a School house in Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa. Drex found the focus of his students to be jaw-dropping. Because the classes were so large, he split them up with one group practicing and the other watching. By the time the second group went, they got it in half the time because they were going over it in their heads while they watched.

For Drex, the flow arts is about empowerment, taking something he initially thought was too difficult, breaking it down, learning how to do these tricks and eventually making it his own. He’s enjoyed working on new things and breaking them down mentally. There’s no feeling quite like taking something you thought was impossible and figuring out how to best make it work.

This process still happens for Drex, and it’s the primary reason he teaches the flow arts. You take people who are awkward working adults who never had anything terribly artistic or physical in their lives give them a prop and watch as they come to this moment where the walls are crashing down in their minds and this idea of “I can’t” turns into “if I can do this I can do anything.”

For anyone who doesn’t see the appeal of the flow arts and wants to know why there is so much interest, Drex’s suggestion is to hand them a set of flow toys and let them see for themselves what the appeal is. It’s all about discovering that spark of interest and if they’re not interested, they’re not interested. There’s no way to describe the interest in the flow arts without trying it for oneself.

Without a doubt Drex believes there’s a steadily growing interest in the flow arts. Five years ago there were only 3 flow festivals in the country now there are over 50. Being one of the key organizers of these festivals, Drex says it is very likely there will be over 15,000 people attending and learning more about flow.

Drex’s mission is to give people like myself who are interested in the flow arts the tools they need to get started, so that they’ll have an easier time getting started than he did. The other half of it is to document the flow culture and how it has grown. Someday someone will want to go back and look at this point in history.