"POI" is the Maori word for "ball" on a cord

The POI dance was originally used by the Maori women for keeping their hands flexible for weaving and by the men for strength and coordination required during battle. POI are also used as a training aid for other ancient weapons like the Mere or Patu (Short club). Wahine (female) dancers perform the Maori POI, a dance performed with balls attached to flax strings, swung rhythmically.

So, why not?
Why not what?
Why not make some myself and dance around :D

Items needed:

Piece of cloth

Ribbons

String

An old purse

Sowing machine

Rice

How to make it:

Unfortunately I wasn't able to retrieve the photos detailing the design for this but hopefully I am explaining it well enough.

1. Cut the cloth down into 2 rectangles about 15x10 cm

2. Cut the ribbons down to lengths between 30 and 75 cm.

3. Cut the string down into 2 pieces, according to the length of your arm. When the POIs are finished they should be almost the length of your arm.

4. Cut the old purse and retrieve the metal hoops and the shoulder belt. There should be 4 metal hoops: 2 from the sack and 2 from the belt of the purse.

5. Saw the shoulder belt into loops that would fit your middle and your index finger. Attach it to the string.

6. Saw the cloth rectangles by folding them on their length.

7. Fill the cloth bottomless sacks with rice. I used about 70g for each sack. Adjust the mass according to your preference. You can put the rice in small socks before just to make it easier. Make sure you don't squeeze the rice too much otherwise it would be a very hard sack when you make some dance mistakes.

8. Saw the ends of the sacks to the metal hoops retrieved from the bold bag. Each side of the sack should end with a hoop.

9. Saw the ribbons to 2 of the the metal hoops.

10. Tye the hand string to the other 2 metal hoops

POI, Zenith Adriana, 2014