I think there may have been some discussion of this if you do a search on the board archives but anyhow:
I think it depends on the effect you are trying to achieve. If you want to get really long comet trails, and don't really care about capturing the twirler, get ASA 100 film and just let the camera take a really long exposure.
If you want to capture the person, use very fast film--ASA 1000 or so.
Normally a flash "stops" the comet-trail, resulting in a clear picture of the person, but a very unimpressive picture of the fire. However, if you can set your flash for "slow synch" you can get some really cool effects: this basically takes a long exposure and fires the flash at the end of it. This gives you a big comet trail and a more-or-less clear picture of the person (though you often get a sort of Picasso-effect). This works with fast-ish film of ASA 400 or so--I don't think it works as well with slower films. With any flash photography, it is important to be within the flash's range.
Whether you are using a flash or not, if you want to capture the person, it really helps to have a little ambient light. This admittedly ruins the cool image of floating on inky blackness you might otherwise get, but hey, life is full of compromises.
A tripod is very helpful for any fire-shooting situation, but is critical for long exposures. It also lets you stand back and watch, rather than squinting through the viewfinder.
I've done a fair amount of fire photography with my digicam, which you can view at
http://www.nikonnet.com/members/adamrice
I've also done a bit with film cameras, but not nearly as much.
HTH
PS: Oh, I just realized you were talking about using glowsticks. I think most of what I said will apply, except that glowsticks put out much less light than fire poi. Having ambient light might interfere. Not sure. You'd probably do well to use those super-intense 30-minute glowsticks for this project.
[This message has been edited by adamrice (edited 05 April 2001).]
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