Sphercular Matt Is Heading For New Zealand

Hey everyone,

Kia Ora,

I'm getting really excited about my iminent adventures in the sunny Aotearoan Islands.

I'll be ariving in New Zealand towards the end of this month.

I'll be based in Christchurch but will have a vehicle and a burning desire to travel.

So the big questions are, who wants to meet up and are there any events i need to know about. I'll be around for ages, indefinitely that is. My brother should be applying for residency in less than a year and i may do the same, who knows.

Plan is to get a nice 4wd van, always wanted a landrover 101 and i think i might indulge myself

I really want to meet some maoris and see what traditional poi is all about. I'd love to learn more about the origins of it all. I'm sure there is lots to learn. Of course i'll be able to do workshops on some of the more contemporary stuff. Wibbling, tangles and boxes spring to mind. I want to learn the persussion side of it as well as the meanings behind it.

So is there a lot of poi spinners in christchurch, what's the scene like? I'm assuming there must be since it's the home of home of poi Is it all fire based or are there lots of sock spinners? Do you throw your poi much or keep hold? How do maoris feel about all the 'contemporary' spinners in the west? Is it mainly a female thing, or do men do it too? So many questions....

Do you reckon poiple would be up for some payed tuition? I want to teach and perform more since i've been getting RSI and have spent too many years at my pc.

I'd love to see some traditional shows, i'm fully set up to make professional quality films for web or dvd. I'm sure there's lots of poiple round here that wanna see more traditional dances. Definitely get in touch if you are interested in any form of video making. Not necessarily poi, i'm interested in all the sphercular arts.

I've heard that there are set dances that tell specific stories. But i don't really know that much about it. What is it all about?

Aroha nui,

m

Yo (It's been a while!)

Me and the Mrs will be hitting NZ 21st July (with out current plans) and doing North and South islands for a couple of months...

hey... i'm very jealous... i miss NZ so much!

i'm pretty certain that the juggling school is in chch... so if you got in contact with them they might be able to help out, and you should def find some spinners there...

This is a thread i made a while back... i think most the info should still be right... loads of great people...

if you are gonna be there a while definately go to the NZ juggling festival... sooo much fun

hope that helps a bit
you'll have a great time

take care ay

xxx

Hey spherculist,

I just happened to come across your note about coming to NZ! That sounds great. My name is Dan and I live in Dunedin, about 5 horus south on Christchurch. Anyways a crew of us down here are holding a fire performance retreat/ workshops, which will be alot of fun! Anyone can come from beginners to pros.

Here is the blurb:

Fire Retreat -----22-24 November ----

This three day event offers workshops on fire staff, fire poi, juggling, stilt walking and unicycling, and there also will be a workshop on making your own fire gear! On the second night Funk-ani African drummers will accompany Highly Flammable fire performers during a spectacular fire display for the local community. Full accommodation and food included. If you are interested in taking part tickets are $65.

Hope you can make it!!!!!!

Dan
fellow spinner

Hey Durbs, i was hoping you'd be around in nz.

I'll definitely hook up with you, a feel a cheeky road trip coming on. I'll definitely have wheels out there... gonna be wicked.

Psycho_lemming: thanks for the link, i'll check it out when i'm not in an interweb cafe...

OneFlammableGuy: I was planning on arriving 28th november or so but was looking for a good excuse to come earlier. Any chance i could come along as an instructor, i do a good line in teaching:
Throws & Wibbles
Infinite Tangles
Box Planes

and have a lot of experience teaching all levels of spinners, check out the spherculism site if you haven't already.

I'm well up for coming to this retreat either way, see you there

m

Wicked - as long as it's warm

It's our only winter for the entire year...

Can you PM me a good e-mail address or shall I just PM you through HoP/Spherculism?

*hopes matt can make it to aussieland eventually*

Yeah Valura, see you at uberOz in february. Wasn't really planning on heading to oz so soon but wouldn't miss an uber event for the world.

Looks like i'll be in nz on the 22nd or 23rd november and maybe heading up to this fire retreat, the cost goes up dramatically to arrive there a couple days before so i'm not sure i can make it

m

Hey Matt

we would love for you to come if you can...and if you could be a teacher, brillant!

I hope you can make it, it'll be fun to jam with ya.

dan

ps- your webpage is wicked. Nice

Well it might be a bit of a rush to get up there so soon, i'll be gutted to miss it tho, might cost me £200 (which is perhaps NZ$700 i think) extra to get to nz a couple days earlier. hmm, we'll see.

Anyhow, if i don't see you there then i'll meet you soon enough and definitely look forward to a nice little spin jam.

m

If you rock through Auckland,mail me .we can hook up for a jam..
chur..
Mark

For sure Mark, i'll be there at some point. And if anything particularly special is going on then gimme a shout and i'll rive up to see ya.

Well the update is:
Rented out flat
have passport, visa and driving liscense
left brighton

waiting to get paid and book flight

Looking online for landrover 101 or Mercedes Unimog

m

Right, i've got a load of money coming into my account tomorrow

And i've found a £700 flight for the 14th november

So it looks like i'll make it up to that fire reteat

Although my brother isn't aware i'm gonna nick his car quite yet i'm sure it will be fine.

VERY exciting stuff

m

Have a great time

RIght i have my flight booked, leave here on the 14th november and get to christchurch on the 16th.

Definitely heading to that fire retreat in Dunedin, my brother even let me steal his car for a while.

So if anyone needs a ride down there I may be able to help.

I'll do some laid back workshops down there and am really looking forward to it.

I hear Bluecat is already out there so i'm guessing i'll be hooking up with him at some point too. (THIS IS ACTUALLY A COMPLETE LIE, WOOPS, HE'S IN SCOTLAND, BUT WILL BE IN NZ AT SOME POINT)

m

Email me as well as Mark, BEFORE you get to Auckland. :-)

And where is Bluecat? Can you give me mor details?

Sorry i got it wrong Rob isn't there yet...

Charles, i'll get in touch with you when i know what my plans are. I'll probably stick around the south island for a while first. But My brothers girlfriend has a job up on the north island for a while so i might pop up there sooner. Really looking forward to meeting you all.

So my brother (James) says he's seen 1 Landrover 101 ambulance (my dream vehicle) since he's been over there, and that was in a show. So i'm thinking i won't be able to get hold of one.

My other dream vehicle is a Unimog, but they are so increadibly badass that i doubt i'll be able to get hold of one, or afford it.

SO can anyone suggest a good van to look for. Big enough to live in comfortably and 4 wheel drive so i can take the little baby off road. Also any information regarding good vehicle websites to check out or places to go in and around christchurch would be great.

Also is there anyone here who's interested in making any videos? I'll be totally set up out there to produce professional videos, so if you need any promo vids or anything then get in touch. I'll be looking for freelance work out there, i have lots of experience in:

graphic design, branding, flash (design and coding), web, 3d animation, industrial design, advertising, design for print, filming, video editing, and so on.

Nice one, see you soon poiple,

matt

There's a shop in Christchurch called Cosmic Corner. Lovely people and they'll know where there's any spinning going on.

Happy travels Matt and looking forward to meeting you for UberOz in Feb! Feel free to come over early and stay a while.. we have a sort of HoP hostel going here!

Cheers
Gabe

Yipee. I'll be in New Zealand around the end of February. Let's hook up and do some of that traveling! :P

nick

YES YES YES nick,

Sorry i didn't make it out to vancouver nick, but i'm thinking i'll come visit early summer next year.

How long are you about for?

Cos i'll see you at uberOz, then i'm planning on mooching around oz for a while and heading back to NZ around the end of feb. So we should hook up. Plus i should definitely have wheels by then back in christchurch Phirenix will be out there in march and we're planning to do a few performances and stuff, you should come along too

I'll be well up for heading up to see you next year as well. Was looking at some photos of your retreats and studio and it all looks amazing. Your site's pretty sweet these days too.

I leave devon at 3 o'clock today, then fly from heathrow at 10pm tonight, head to singapore, then down to brisbane, then on to christchurch. Arrive there at 2.30pm on wednesday, there time. About 30 hours travelling time.

Realling excited abou it all, see you all soon,

m

greetings to you
reading this over the other side of the world!!
Hope you landed safely and had a good flight Matt
I in Austria at the moment - training for the OZ and NZ tour and doing show on Wed
Hope youre have a great time. Deffinately check out the Circo arts school and say hello to the funky twins Jola and Nele and the other crew I met at the NZJC05.
I'll be over in NZ begining of Feb I think so will see you there. Deffinately up for doing some shows with you, and ANY other crew you are upfor it. Nick - SOLAR our group (www.projectsolar.co.uk ) includes Viv an Austrian who you met in Valencia and says hello. PM me and we'll swap emails and hook-up
We'll be using our Fendor passport amp which we've just been testing out and LOVE - 150watts of POWER!!!
Well keep me posted on your exploits.
Have a great one

Hey Matt, you're coming through Brisbane?!? on your way to NZ.. well, if you don;t already have a reception committee, place to stay.. and you get this in transit somewhere... come on over!

You are doing almost exactly the same route as some other frineds of ours coming from UK... leaving the same day! Bizarre!

I'll pm you my phone numbers....

Hey ya,
i'm in Tauranga (somewhere between Rotorua and Auckland for the out of towners :P ) if you're heading up this way PM me and let me know.. i'm keen for some spinning with some new people. I'm just starting to gather a few spinners and players from around here, but it'd be great to have some outside influence!
Let me know!

Well i'm here, hellish jouney involving many screeming babies. But joy of joys i remembered my earplugs.

Great to see my brother again and move into my new room.

Stuff is cheap out here, i'm still a bit delearious, got drunk all the way here then cracked open a celebration bottle of bubbly with james and sarah last night. Then woke up really early today and have been mooching around the botanic gardens and checking out the shops.

CHCH is a really cool place, i reckon i'll like it here.

Brain not reallly working,

PireNix: really looking forward to hanging out and performing with you, think i'll get back into fire meteor and start on rope dart so we can do some cool stuff. How did that little video go down with whoever wanted to see it? We can make a proper one when you're out here as i brought my whole studio with me

Gabe: only saw brisbane airport i'm afraid but sill hook up with you in jan/feb

Speed: I'll be up north at some point and will get in touch when i do, if you are ever near Chch get in touch and we'll go for a spin.

laters

m

Don't know about Dunedin but there's also a CC in Wellington.

Yah! Glad you arrived safely Matt... enjoy your trip