It’s a brand new year and I’m trying to keep better in touch with my customers as well as people in the broader flow community, so I’m launching this monthly newsletter to keep you in the loop on the things I’m working on as well as opportunities to connect with the wider flow arts world. This month I’ve got an exciting new resource, an inspiring interview, and information on which festivals you can find me at.

Flow and Fire Festival Calendar

Every year more fire and flow festivals pop up around the country and indeed around the world. We all get the Facebook invites but there are so many, how can we keep track? As a teacher I know I’ve occasionally missed the deadlines for workshop applications and wish I had a place where all the information on the festivals could be found in one spot. I’ve long believed that a person should create the thing they want to see in the world, so I went ahead and built that resource. You can visit drexfactor.com/calendar to see a full list of all festivals in the coming year along with location, website, and application information. There’s also an interactive map so you can see which might be the nearest festival to you.

Hosting a festival that’s not listed here? Please submit your festival’s information through this form and I’ll be happy to add it to the calendar.

Profiles in Poi: Nick Woolsey

Last June I was lucky enough to meet one of my great inspirations in the flow community, Nick Woolsey, and sit down with him for a long and candid interview. It’s taken a few months, but I’ve added that interview to my Profiles in Poi series on YouTube. This was without a doubt one of the most inspiring interviews it’s ever been my privilege to conduct. Check out the interview on my YouTube Channel and if you’d like to hear more of it, I’ve now added a section of my website where you can download an extended version of his interview as well as my last three interviews with Kate McCoy, Noel Yee, and Tim Goddard with extra bonus footage.

Where to Find Me

The weekend of January 31 I’ll be attending the Wesleyan Winter Fire Arts Gathering (WFA) in Middletown, Connecticut. I’ll be teaching three of my favorite workshops, Fundamentals of Tech, The Art of Prop Performance, and Poi by Numbers as well as a brand new workshop this year, Fundamentals of Tech, Part 2 as well as selling sets of my poi if you’d like to save on shipping costs.

If you live in the DC/Baltimore area, I’ve been attending regular spin jams Sunday nights at the new Dance Loft on 14th. These spin jams have been meeting from 7:30 to 10 in a large indoor dance studio with mirrors and music--take advantage of these opportunities to spin indoors during the winter and connect with other flow artists. Join the DC Flow and Fire Facebook Group to get updates on these and other local spin jams!

That’s all for this month--until next time, enjoy the flow! :)