Spinning for competition, and spinning for an audience....different??

this thread was inspired by Pele's "Auidence perspective" thread.

From what was said in that threaD...when you guys perform for an audience, do you do a routine that would be different from one that would be performed in front of judges???

i would assume a competition has different categories that are looked at

>style
>technique
>originality
>complexity of moves

This being the case, i am sure that the judges to be able to judge such competition spin themselves, so they can distinguish one move from another, and are not just looking at the patterns like an audience would.

Audiences are just wowed by the fact that there is a crazy person spinning fire around his body.

Is there a difference between performance, and competition?

Super'

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"Only the warrior that hears the call will know when to leave, Where to go" -unknown

My guess would be Super, yes. When in gymnastics or figure skating competitions they are based alot on technicalities and less on "dance", "freestyle" or "exhibit" routines. Even the long and artistic programs are judged more heavily on technicalities than creativity. I can't envision why a poi competition would be any different, and when I was in gymnastics and figure skating I hated competitions because I felt they completely stifled me.
Now, this brings in another interesting point...in such sports the amatuers are the ones who are in the competitions and the pro's are the freestylin', exhibitionistic, dancing ones.
Where would you draw the line between pro and amatuer then?
Do they have competitions for this? I imagine it would be so hard to judge as everyone does the same moves differently. Then there is fire, glowstick, comet swinging......all of which is different I assume (I know fire to my LED kit poi set was quite the adjustment). Personally I wouldn't feel confident enough in my techinical knowledge to enter one but it's be interesting to watch!
Thanks for the ???? Super.

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Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...

Personally I think introducing a standardised competition for poi would lead to the downfall of Poi as we know it.

when you start putting one poi'er with their style above another - (on the basis of taste) ppl will try to emulate that style, and we will lose a large portion of the stylistic diversity we enjoy today.

super - If you think you are good. thats good. If you think you are great thats great, if you think you are the best *you can be* thats tops. You dont need someone else to tell you. You will know when you reach the extremity of your ability.

I personally think that the poi represent an inner jounrey of infinite length. If you follow the path, you will visit many interesting places...and meet interesting ppl

Perhaps a poi master's summit would be good?

A place and time when deep poi'ers from around the world can meet and learn from each other - in a non-competitive (at least formally ) environment.

We could hold it on the summit of mt. Hotham during the summer for a week - a thoroughly beautiful place, cheap Aussie accomodation too

Although - I guess it depends on how internal your path is...some ppl probably wouldnt be interested in anyone else's research - they are solely following the lone path of self-enlightenment...

Josh