performance

The Introverted Performer

Everybody knows a performer when they see one: performers are loud and outgoing, friendly and confident. They reach right out to you and draw you into their world, promising a good time with someone who makes you feel totally at ease. I’ve never done a poll, but I’d suspect that the ideal performer to most of us is somebody that fits the rough definition Carl Jung laid out in the 1920s of an extrovert: a person who is sociable, takes charge, is outgoing, and is at their best in a crowd of people.

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The great Kenya adventure, Part 5

It's Friday afternoon in Mombasa. I surface in the Indian Ocean just off Nyali Beach, North of the city. The weather could not be more perfect: lazy clouds hang at the edges of the horizon as an unobstructed sun shines down on a seemingly endless corridor of white sandy beach. Three British tourists attempt to learn to windsurf several yards further out to see without much luck. Next to me floats Martin, one of the first street children who started working with Will when he created the Motomoto Circus School.

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The Great Kenya Adventure, Part 4

Saturday morning: last night was a magical mystery tour with Sarakasi and James. Today it's the hamlets kids we're going to teach. Will Ruddick has been on a bus from Mombasa all night and arrives before I wake up in the morning. There is a package waiting for us at the Post Office in town--the last pieces from the United States we need for the program. Already we've gotten a 100 foot roll of 2" wide kevlar, 40 high-quality fishing swivels, and 40 quick links. The hardware goes so fast as we build, so though all the numbers seem high, we're still budgeting appropriately.

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The great Kenya Adventure, Part 3

For just over two weeks we've drilled and run new concepts. We've played with choreo and fine-tuned what we already have. I can teach until I turn blue in the face, but ultimately what will prove the mettle for any performer is a big crowd and all the crazy uncertainty it brings. It can turn shy, introverted wallflowers into dynamic giants or leave outgoing extroverts weeping in embarrassment. Ultimately, you never know entirely who you are as a performer until you hit that stage.

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It's great not to work for exposure--we also need to stop working for validation

For years there’s been a campaign within the Flow Arts community (and let’s face it throughout the artistic world) to stop accepting exposure as a form of compensation. It places negative pressure on the value of performance and the wider community and I think it’s a good and necessary step to helping more businesses grow and allow people to do what they love for a living.

But I think it also doesn’t go far enough.

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When It's Not About You

This past weekend was an incredibly special experience.

Five years ago, I founded a troupe in Washington, DC to send a fire conclave to Burning Man. For those who’ve never been, on Saturday night during the week of the Burning Man festival, the titular effigy of a man is burned and the entire event celebrates. The opening act are fire performance troupes from all over the world that submit audition videos in order to be a part of this very special experience.

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What is Flow?

Flow. It represents both a cornerstone of our art as well as one of its most controversial topics. Though many of us in the Flow Arts hold it as a core value, we frequently disagree on what exactly it means and how relevant it is to what we do. We’re going to talk a little bit about the concept of flow and what it means to us as prop spinning artists.

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"Foreways 3" Poi Duet Drex and Noel Yee - Flow Show NYC 2013

Flow Show NYC was epic this year! :) Noel and I brought the piece we'd written together the previous summer to the Big Apple. This was our performance of it from the second Saturday night show on 12/14/13.

 

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Poi Spinning - A Day in the Rain - 6 years vid

It's been six years since poi entered by life and changed it forever more. I've learned a lot in that time--enough to know how much there still is to learn ;) This is just a showcase of some of my favorite things I have learned in that time. I will confess that contrary to my aims, this is not a single unbroken take, but a composite of three. Thanks everyone for watching! I can't wait for what the next six years will bring ;)

 

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"Icarus" Poi Performance at Flow Show NYC

The last performance I gave of "Icarus", the piece I created for the New York Flow Show. Icarus was the son of Daedalus, a skilled Minoan craftsman who created the Labyrinth. Both were imprisoned in the complex till Daedalus built wings out of wood, wax, and feathers for them to fly out and escape. During the attempt, Icarus was so consumed with the elation of flight that he flew higher and higher till the heat from the sun melted his wings and he plunged back down to his death.

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