BBC SEEKS UK BASED FIRE POI PERFORMERS

I think in this case the word performer was used just because they thought that that was the word used, rather than them actually wanting people who have shows or make money from it - I could be wrong though.

i guess the only way we'll find out is if they come back to follow up.

i doubt they will bother


cole. x

For once, I'm agreeing with that loveable tyke, Brit_Joe!

Jo, , d'ja read the link?

nope hang on, I'll go and read it.

ok i read it, basically people are saying the same things they're saying in here.
It's the same with reiki healing- you can give it away for free out of goodwill and charity or you can recieve £20 an hour, and earn a living from it. Both are ok
I do think it's harsh of big corporations to rip off fire spinners, but all you have to do is say "no thanks".

except with doing reiki for free there's no risk of flaming death live on weekend primetime bbc...

i maintain that a corporation requesting firespinning performances for free is hurtful not only to the livelihoods of professional and semi-professional fire performers, but is also potentially harmful to the state of the art and the public's perception of it.

if you disagree or if neither of those things concern you, then there's no problem with what was being asked for


cole. x

What if spinning was classed as dance and we were a small part of a dance forum. If this post had been made to that forum, then they would be asking dancers of any style to take part. The fact that we have a type of dance that has more danger than many others is *our* choice. I think that is where they are coming from. We are the ones who want to spin fire, so it's not like they are asking us to do anything more than our chosen hobby.

good point Cole. if they weren't paying me and i span fire and set a whole load of people on fire (hopefully i wouldnt be THAT terrible!) who would be at fault? them or me?

them, i think you should blame them if you set a lot of people on fire, because even if they're not paying you, they have responsibility as the event organisers to make sure that it's a safe environment for the people involved, watching and taking part. I also think they should perform safety checks on all the fire poi being used, and provide a health and safety briefing. Even if everyone there already knows, i still think that if they are going to get the credit for the organisation of such an event, they should also take full responsibility for what happens there. Especially, for the most part, none of us can possibly say we have had 'formal training' in how to do poi, at least not in the way that, for example, ballet dancers would have had, so if they are going to ask a lot of people to turn up and do their hobby for an event, then they should be aware that not all of those people will necessarily be aware of fire safety issues or take heed of them.... If they were asking for professionals who would be paid, then yes they can expect that, but they're not, really. HoP consists of a mixture of both, and i should think that by posting on an internet forum, they have issued a general request for spinners, otherwise they should've/would've targeted specific troups... maybe?

what was my point? oh yes, i think that by the way they have gone about it, they know they are going to get 'amateurs' (not implying anything, but it's the opposite of professionals) for this event, as they are the ones who will do it unpaid, so they should expect a range of levels of skill and safety knowledge and if anything goes wrong, it's down to them... that's how i see it anyway. If it's successful it could be extremely good fun, and it's probably the best way to make a record like this to have an hugely important and influential broadcasting corporation as the organisers, just in case anything does go wrong once we've seen how it's done, we can organise the breaking of stated record again next year

this might have already been said, i only read the last few posts, so apologies if i'm repeating

On saftey things, they did talk to me about it, and asked quite a few questions. I pointed them in the direction of the great info on HoP, and the videos about how to spin fire (back yard spinners or something...?)

They wanted to hire someone to manage everyone, and saftey, I'm sure, would have been looked in to very well. They would care about covering themselfs, even if they didn't care about us (I'm sure they do though).

awwww, you loveable tyke, you!!!

Dear All,

I just wanted to update you that unfortunately we will not be able to stage the Fire Poi world record in Trafalgar Square as part of the BBC Event on 22nd July.
Thank you for all your comments (both positive and negative), suggestions and advice on this forum, which helped massively with our research into staging this very ambitious record attempt, and particularly to Sym who help field a great deal of the research questions.

Unfortunately the safety and logistical concerns of staging such a record in Trafalgar Square (which will already be filled with 2500+ dancers, who are all taking part in the world record attempt for mass choreography) mean that an attempt would not be possible and certainly extremely tricky to do live..

Thanks again to all who volunteered and offered comment and good luck to all those who are taking part in the Play festival record attempt.

Thanks for coming back and letting us know
Far better than not bothering and leaving everyone with an uneasy feeling of uncertainty and doubt and a general air of having no idea whats going on and and and and and and.

well that's a shame, it did seem like a bit of a mission, of course you could have people doing poi with tails......

lol world record for the biggest tangle of tails??

The bbc paid all travel expenses and gave us fourty quid, for the Fire Breathing world record....

But its not happening, so dont worry!

"Dancing in the Street" is on BBC1 now.

Trafalgar Square looks full with people, it's raining and most of the dancers are wearing plastic macs, none of which are particularly compatible with fire spinning, so I don't think we've missed out on much

(unless you're a fan of Brucie )

I just danced along to the time warp in the living room with my mum

Lets dooo the tiiime waaaarp again!

Well that was abit poo wasnt it, the cameras were moving too much you never saw any good dancing from the groups, and no fire? Bah. That might have saved them if they had gone with it

dam i was at work