February, 2009:

Temple of Poi 2009 Fire Dancing Expo

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So more on this later but I’m slowly shifting into more of a performance role with my hooping. I’ve been hooping intensely for two years and I have yet to do a performance. My first will be the Spinagogue Variety Show. My second performance will be the Temple of Poi 2009 Fire Dance Expo.

I know I have the technical skills and the performer in me is growing. Josh and I are practicing a lot right now (two or three 2 hr practices per week). Essentially I need to polish what I’m already doing into a stage worthy fire piece. That is more than just a little bit intimidating given the company we will be sharing the stage with. Some of my favorite spinners are performing and it is an honor to be able to participate in this event.

What: Temple of Poi 2009 Fire Dancing Expo & 7 Year Anniversary of Temple of Poi
Where: Union Square (Geary and Post)
When: April 25, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Cost: Free!!

Bring a chair and a blanket and join us April 25, 2007 at 7:50 pm for our free fire dancing show in San Francisco’s legendary Union Square (Geary and Post) for the fourth annual Temple of Poi Fire Dancing Expo.

This year’s show is a veritable who’s who of internationally renowned fire dancing performers hailing from 3 continents including:

* Banyan (Chicago)
* Cyrille (France)
* Dai (Japan)
* Fluid Luminescence [Plenty & 10 Feathers] (San Francisco)
* GlitterGirl (San Francisco)
* Grimm and His Babies (Cincinnati)
* Cirq d’ Optiq [ICoN & Jen] (Philadelphia)
* Isopop [Rich & Josh] (San Luis Obispo)
* Lena & Pi (California)
* Manda Lights [Forka, Ima, Maelle & Meast] (France)
* MCP (Scotland)
* Mireneye (Sweeden)
* Poki (Oakland)
* Nevisoul (Sweeden) & Alien Jon (Los Angeles)
* Sparkaluscious (San Francisco)
* Vatra (San Francisco)
* Vulcan Crew [Krissy & Jordan] (Oakland)
* Yuta (Japan)

For addtional information please visit the Temple of Poi blog.

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Bassnectar Podcast: Bass heavy, omni-tempo maximism

Feb 26th, 2009

by rich.

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“Omni-tempo maximism” That’s seriously how the Belly Up in San Diego described Bassnectar. Lauren and I had a great time at the show and got to hang out with our SD friends Stilgar and Karina over the holidays. The other kicker in the Belly Up description was the description of the audience.

There are 365 nights a year, and on roughly 1/3 of them, somewhere across North America, you will find a modern day social mosh pit of head-nodders & head-bangers, freaks & ex-ravers, hippies & hipsters, dub reggae heads, artists, fashion experimentalists, social activists, and hip-hop enthusiasts; all packed into one steamy room of grinding, orgiastic expression and musical experimentation known as a bass ritual; or more precisely, a night with Bassnectar.

They forgot to mention hoopers. That’s okay, occasionally I consider myself a fashion experimentalist too.

Well anyways, here is a Bassnectar podcast that I just found through Musical Mana
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5561082323e68521/

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Safire thread the needle variations

Feb 25th, 2009

by rich.

6 comments

SaFire has been cranking out high quality challenging new moves at an astonishing rate. Her latest video demonstrates some sweet variations on thread the needle.

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Multiple Prop Spinagogue

Feb 24th, 2009

by rich.

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marchspinagogue09 March 13th-15th is Spinagogue weekend for me (and Miss Rosie‘s birthday)! I’m excited to take a poi class from these folks and honored to be teaching a hoop workshop. The night of the 14th we’ll be performing at the first Spinagogue variety show at Flux53 in Oakland.

Join us once again at the Vulcan for a fun-filled weekend of workshops and entertainment. Starting Saturday we will be offering variety of beginner classes covering a slew of circus arts including hoops, whips, juggling, dance, and fire spinning to name a few. Later on Saturday check out our first ever Spinagogue Variety Show featuring dance, clowning, juggling and fire arts performed by local talent. The event continues Sunday with more exciting workshops. For more info on guest instructors and performs in the show and to sign up go to www.spinagogue.net.

For more information visit Spinagogue.

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Michael Moshen – TED talk

Feb 23rd, 2009

by rich.

1 comment

A great video from the TED talks about Michael Moshen. Thank you to Sanda Safire for bringing this to my attention.

Michael Moschen is a juggler. He received a Fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation (the so-called “Genius Grant”) in 1990, and has appeared on TV on PBS, and done ads for Motorola. Cirque du Soleil commissioned Moschen to create a new work for their permanent theatrical circus in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Moschen is particularly known for contact juggling. In the film Labyrinth the crystal ball manipulations seen to be performed by David Bowie’s character were actually done by Moschen, who stood behind Bowie during filming.

-from Michael Moshen’s wikipedia page.

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Antispin Linear Isolation – Poi to Hoop

Feb 22nd, 2009

by rich.

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Poi

Hoop

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Hoop Isolations Class – Code Red Circus Conspiracy

Feb 21st, 2009

by rich.

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The isolation scientists are at it again, this time bringing their technical skills to the hoop dance community. This is a unique opportunity to study isolations with two of the most skilled object manipulation style hoopers in the world.

Code Red Circus Conspiracy is Brian Thompson and Matt McCorkle. They live and play at the Vulcan in Oakland, CA. Together they create unique entertainment by using a blend of juggling, dance, theater, comedy, and object manipulations.

This class will introduce you to object manipulation (OM) style hooping.

Mar. 7th, 2009
City Dance Studio
10 Colton Street, San Francisco
4:30-6:30 PM
$40

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Spinagogue presents

Feb 19th, 2009

by rich.

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Enjoy a night of fire and circus arts performance featuring the following: Vulcan Crew, Code Red Circus Conspiracy, Dreamtime Circus, The Recessionistas, Kinetica, Flux, Rich, Khan, and more. MCed by Scottie Chapman.

Where:
5300-5312 Foothill Boulevard
Oakland, CA
When:
March 14th, 2009
Doors open at 7:00 pm
Show starts at 8:00 pm

Flux53
Spinagogue

flux-show-flyer

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Tools to keep up

Feb 14th, 2009

by rich.

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So there is a lot of information available on the internet. There is a ton of information available about hooping. New articles are posted every day. Until recently I had only two primary sources: Hooping.org and Tribe.net. I decided that I wanted more direct access to information and I didn’t want anyone else determining what I see. So I set out to find the tools to create my own resources.

Hooping.org is a great way to get information about hooping around the world. It remains one of my primary resources. Here’s the thing though, if Hooping.org is your sole resource, then hooping.org decides what information you receive. This relinquishes an incredible amount of power to one organization. It’s up to each of us to decide whether we are comfortable with that but my feeling is this: hooping.org is a great primary source for information, but I want my own resources as well.

Tribe, oh tribe, ever unstable, and as a friend described, if you’re looking for hooping related conversation, tribe is like “sucking on a firehose.” Tribe has more going on than you can digest. The tools listed below can be used in conjunction with Tribe. You can use these tools to filter that proverbial fire hose.

Using these tools, it’s possible to keep track of much more information. Here is my list of tools:

RSS Readers:
If you aren’t using an RSS reader yet, you need to get one. This is the single most valuable tool I can recommend. RSS reshaped my relationship to internet. Dbug recommended NetNewsWire which is what I use. Google Reader is also an excellent choice. The concept takes a second to digest but watch this video:

Blogs:
Follow your favorite hooper’s blogs with your new RSS reader. Every-time they post something new, you will know. You can start here following Isopop. After you’ve installed an RSS reader, click here or click “Subscribe to our feed via RSS.” I’d also take a minute to check out and possibly subscribe to some of my friends, listed on the side. I follow many more hooper blogs from around the world than listed here.

Google Alerts:
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

* monitoring a developing news story
* keeping current on a competitor or industry
* getting the latest on a celebrity or event
* keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

I have google alerts setup for “Isopop”, “+Rich +hoop -basketball” and so fourth. Every time something new is posted online with any of those results, as soon as google finds it, I know. I get daily updates for about a dozen searches including the names of friends hooping companies, friends, “hula hoop”, etc.

Twitter:
Many hooper’s are on Twitter now. I love twitter! It is harder to explain than it is to use. It takes seconds to signup. After you get an account, you can find me here. Twitter is a great way to follow what friends are doing. I’m primarily following hoopers from around the world.

Many of these tools can be used together. For example, I receive an RSS feed on NetNewsWire for the search term “Hula Hoop” on Twitter. Every time someone tweets Hula Hoop, I get a message. I also use my RSS reader to follow tribes on tribe.net. Every time a new video arrives in the Hooping Video Tribe, I get sent a link in my RSS Reader.

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