Forums > Social Chat > I'm auditioning...

Posted: 16th Dec 2009
Getting your dancing friend to help is a good idea.
Have you seen any of Spinergy Arts stuff? Do you know what there expecting. All I can really say is get some music you know and love go in there and have fun. You enjoy your self it will reflect in your performance.

Posted: 16th Dec 2009
Here's a great song to dance to, it's wonderful for fire poi.


Here's another:

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 18th Dec 2009
Originally Posted By: FelexGetting your dancing friend to help is a good idea.
Have you seen any of Spinergy Arts stuff? Do you know what there expecting. All I can really say is get some music you know and love go in there and have fun. You enjoy your self it will reflect in your performance.


I'd seen individual members of Spinergy at work before, but I only just dug up their performances on YouTube ("Spinergy Arts" produces a decent array of videos that probably could have been shot better). I'm actually kind of surprised, because the people I've seen spin before are technically pretty adept, but their shows are pretty non-techy. Which I suppose means that my bloated tech/time ratio will not make up for missing stylistic elements.

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Posted: 18th Dec 2009
Originally Posted By: SpinnerofDetroitHere's a great song to dance to, it's wonderful for fire poi.


Here's another:



I really like the Gaudi song, though I'm more than a little ashamed to admit I developed my fondness after seeing a video on playpoi.com to the tune... Though I was planning to go for something that emphasizes my style (which friends have described as "fierce" and "metal"). The main songs I'm considering are

Bwomp - Mushroomhead
Almost Heaven - Godflesh
Deaf, Dumb, and Blind - Godflesh
Edgecrusher - Fear Factory
Solitaire/Unravelling - Mushroomhead

Oh, also Ratamahatta - Sepultura
EDITED_BY: Sister Eleven (1261195741)
EDIT_REASON: Forgot a song

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Posted: 18th Dec 2009
I actually found both of those songs on videos of Nick

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 19th Dec 2009
Sister_Eleven, while metal does rule, I think something more like "Almost Heaven" from your list is the best. As much as I wish I could do a routine to Eluveitie, death metal growls don't go well with audiences.
Symphonic metal is great though, bands like Nightwish and Apocalyptica are great to perform to

Posted: 19th Dec 2009
Yeah, I'm not sure any of them is perfect. I need something that's a mix of rhythmic and aggressive. Middle period Godflesh is the closest in my collection, but I think there's only one other song off Songs of Love and Hate (the album Almost Heaven is from) that might work.

At least I'm not trying to spin to AxCx...

Maybe ohGr? Kinda stumped.

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Posted: 23rd Dec 2009
Okay, I'm going with a shortened version of Mushroomhead's "Solitaire/Unraveling". If anyone wants to save me from myself you have 132 hours to equip me with a better piece of music that comes in under three minutes.

I'm not sure I'm happy with the selection, but I've got to actually move on to the choreography soon.

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Posted: 23rd Dec 2009
ewwwww. choreography. yuh yuh, no, sorry can't help you there.
when i perform i usually just map out a set of moves that i think go well together, and i just let my body do whatever it does.

I do know that, doing simple turns can make you spinning look more graceful, and beautiful though. So backside and frontside turns would be nice to put in there, and Pirouettes.

Good luck, and i'm proud of ya!

"Dream as you will live forever, and live as you will die today"
James Dean

Posted: 23rd Dec 2009
Nine Inch Nails - the fragile.....good to spin to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Dream as you will live forever, and live as you will die today"
James Dean

Posted: 23rd Dec 2009
Oh and Nine inch Nails - perfect drug
The prodigy - diesel power
the prodigy - mindfields!

"Dream as you will live forever, and live as you will die today"
James Dean

Posted: 23rd Dec 2009
d00d, I completely forgot about The Prodigy! I lurve Diesel Power! I'll play with that a bit...

EDIT: Oh, I also just discovered that one of the pieces I've really been digging at the spin jams is some version of Kraddy's "Android Porn". A little bit schizoid for what I had in mind, though...
EDITED_BY: Sister Eleven (1261584808)
EDIT_REASON: Because I didn't want to make another comment yet

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Posted: 23rd Dec 2009
www.beatport.com

Can find all sorts of good music to spin to. There's a lot of tribal electro house on there that's really cool.

Posted: 31st Dec 2009
Okay, I ended up going with Bwomp, by Mushroomhead.

OMG why did I sign up for this? I suck, and I'm getting nowhere with this, and I'm six kinds of in over my head... (Yes, I seem to have hit wailing and teeth-gnashing pretty quickly.)

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Posted: 31st Dec 2009
Originally Posted By: Sister ElevenOMG why did I sign up for this? I suck, and I'm getting nowhere with this, and I'm six kinds of in over my head... (Yes, I seem to have hit wailing and teeth-gnashing pretty quickly.)

Wow you sound a bit discouraged! It can't be that bad, can it?

The fact that you're even at this caliber so soon is a blessing, it would take me months to burn well enough to even think of an audition.

~Rock on!~

"As the pattern gets more intricate and subtle, being swept along is no longer enough"-Waking Life

(All you RLers this is epitome_of_lame *waves hello*)

Posted: 31st Dec 2009
Yeah, I'm going to try and push through this... I have a friend (who does Indian classical dance and Aikido) coaching me on some footwork stuff, which I hope will help.

It's just that I don't dance, and I'm scared of dancing, so I'm going in pretty much relying on my technique and the hope that I can keep a beat and move around the stage interestingly. Technically, I'm at a point where I could do a lot more with the skills I've learned than I have done (if I could think of how to use some things in more interesting ways), and where there's a bunch of stuff that I've learned that I don't use... So how do I pick what to do?

Plus there's this absolutely crucial transition in the song (right after the "creepy crawl" part if you listen to the song) that I need to do justice to or the whole thing fails. Whatever I do there needs to be awesome, but hell if I know what that is.

It's just all way outside of pretty much absolutely everything I've ever done before.

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Posted: 31st Dec 2009
Are you SURE you want to go with that song ?

Along with it being seriously awful and not clicking with these arts at all there's a good chance that using that song is going to alienate a good 90% of your audience.

The head banger stuff, really has a very limited appeal and unless you envision yourself working metal friendly gigs ONLY it my be worth reconsidering that genre.

Simply put, it way to aggressive. Go with something that has a wider appeal, maybe check with the group you're auditioning with and pattern your music selection after what they're using.

It's also over six minutes long....too long. Go for something that's about 2 minutes.

That sooj video you posted yesterday is an excellent example of choreography and a song that "everybody" likes. She put a lot of work into that and it shows.

Good luck

Posted: 2nd Jan 2010
I'd recommend anything by Amon Tobin

Songs without lyrics are your friend if you're avoiding putting lots of expression into your spinning IMO.

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi

Posted: 2nd Jan 2010
Thank you for your interest in my performance, Stout. Though a few issues with your reply:

A) I think there's ample evidence from several discussions around the forums on music that what "clicks with these arts" is relative to particular persons. Granting for the sake of argument that you're a professional musicologist or philosopher working in aesthetics, and therefore have a good grasp of what is objectively "awful", I should hope it would be understood nonetheless that all that matters for my performance that my audience agrees with me that the music is, minimally, non-awful, however irrational that appraisal may ultimately be on our part.

B) Choosing something poppier and with more universal appeal makes good sense if I know absolutely nothing about my audience, or if I'm going to be performing it for a wide range of audiences. I will address both of these.

First, I know at least four members of Spinergy prior to any announcement of auditions (a couple prior to even knowing of the group). Since _poiboy_ had already raised the aggression/alienation issue, I took the time to ask if my songs were too aggressive and if I should tone it down a bit. I was assured pretty unanimously that it shouldn't be a concern.

Second, nowhere in any information I have (and therefore, I assume, not in any information you have on the details of this audition) does it say I ever have to perform this piece again. I might record it for posterity, but the only audiences would be Spinergy, and an internet that can effectively filter what it wants to see.

C) There seems to be a bit of a non sequitur in part of your response to my choice of genre: namely, the apparent assumption that using metal for this piece, or liking to spin to metal as a general thing, somehow marries me exclusively to the genre and to its venues. At least, that's the only way I can make large portions of your reply seem relevant. But metal, much as I love it, constitutes only about 40% of what I listen to. The next thing I do could be to Joanna Newsom, or Kraddy, or Lords of Acid, or Jonathan Coulton. If I decide to choreograph things as a regular activity, I'll probably do metal again, but to say that metal is *always* inappropriate would be as baseless as to say that electronic music is *always* appropriate.

D) I was aware of the virtue of brevity before the three minute time limit was announced for our sets. Thankfully, we do live in an era where powerful digital tools for editing music are freely available, and trimming a few measures and fading out early are fairly trivial tasks. Songs that come in under three minutes on their own are somewhat rare. My collection averages at around 3.5 to 4, at a rough estimate.

E) I find it strange that in your last paragraph you mention the "universal" appeal of a song in the same breath as Sooj's performance evidencing a great deal of effort and care. Did you intend these two facts to be related somehow?

F) All of this reply would have been much more to the point if it had been offered before the deadline of Monday night I mentioned (albeit indirectly with the number of hours from the time of that post) above. As it is, I have too little time to keep switching the music, however ambivalent I may be about the song I've settled on.

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Posted: 2nd Jan 2010
Hi Sister Eleven

You're supposed to take issue with my response. I'm responding to this from your intro thread.

Quote:Plans for life in general: (i.e. what you want to do when you grow up) Hopefully go through grad school some time for philosophy, while managing to become a professional fire performer.

By professional, I figure you're not playing loose with the definition of professional and not conflating it with paid amature.

I'm responding to this as well, from upthread

Quote:OMG why did I sign up for this? I suck, and I'm getting nowhere with this, and I'm six kinds of in over my head... (Yes, I seem to have hit wailing and teeth-gnashing pretty quickly.)

I'm here to help you with that and I know what I'm saying isn't what you want to hear.

Yes, what clicks with these arts is relative to personal taste. You're making this all about you, which is fine if your professional aspirations are to sign up with Spinergy and do "their" shows with them. Yes, i checked out their past performances page and they don't seem to have a lot of work, especially in the past couple of years.

To me they look like one of these Burning man centered groups ( like Radiant Heat out of Vancouver ) whose main focus is putting together an act for the Playa and all the other gigs are but rehearsals for the main event.

You are aware that becoming a professional is going to require about 50 gigs a year, assuming you get $500/gig, just to make becoming a professional a worthwhile goal. Maybe you can get more, I don't know the Seattle market but that's for a single performer with a paid spotter. Want to team up with other spinners ? Willing to travel ?
Considering all the time and effort it takes to actually get gigs?

Or maybe you're happy being a professional and living in a van, in which case you'll need to work less.

At some point, you're going to come to the realization that being a professional is all about your customers and their audience. Why not come to that realisation now. That's why I'm saying ditch the metal. your customers aren't going to appreciate it unless you envision yourself performing at skateboard parks. You say you will address these..good. So why torture yourself agonising about picking the "right" song, spending the time and effort writing and rehearsing a routine, knowing there's a good chance you'll have to trash it.


Quote:First, I know at least four members of Spinergy

Well then why are they having you audition? They obviously know what you're capable of. Why not start collaborating now? It's the low season for these arts.

Quote:But metal, much as I love it, constitutes only about 40% of what I listen to.

This isn't about what kind(s) of music you like to listen too, it's about you starting off on the right foot in the career you're aspiring to.

Quote:but to say that metal is *always* inappropriate would be as baseless as to say that electronic music is *always* appropriate.

No. Unless it's pounding and annoying, EDM is far more "acceptable" than metal. You may want to avoid songs that scream words like "WHORE!" regardless of the genre though.

Quote:E) I find it strange that in your last paragraph you mention the "universal" appeal of a song in the same breath as Sooj's performance evidencing a great deal of effort and care. Did you intend these two facts to be related somehow?

No, it was just a sentence. Are you willing to put in that sort of time and effort only to have to through all that time and effort away?
Why ?

Quote:All of this reply would have been much more to the point if it had been offered before the deadline of Monday night I mentioned

I didn't read the thread until I read the thread. Feel free to disregard everything I've said.

Posted: 2nd Jan 2010
You are correct in that I do not make any particular distinction between professional and paid amateur. I don't think my terminology really merits a "discussion" quite this verbose, though. I will also note that the same introduction post you mention also says that out of Marmite, Vegemite, and Nutella, I prefer Godzilla, so there may be a few frivolous statements among my answers.

Again, I think you're either addressing something that is not at issue, or I think you're just wrong.

Your point about satisfying the audience is not at issue. Your impression that this is all about me is wrong. In this case, for this performance, this project, there is only one audience I need to be concerned with. And it is an audience that has, as it happens, asked us to spin to something we love spinning to. My audience has therefore sent out a detailed email asking me to make a self-centered choice of music. Had they not made this request, my choice in music would have been a lot more conservative.

That I further mentioned the range of my taste in music was simply in the service of pointing out that I am not somehow irrevocably joined to one genre, and that I do actually have options as to what I can spin to--options that I can exploit in service of an audience or not, as my goals happen to dictate.

As for why I would put a lot of effort into a routine that I might trash? It's good practice. I just happen to be agonizing over it more than I should because I want to make something I'm happy with on a deadline. Have you ever done NaNoWriMo? It's a lot like that; nothing at stake except for whether you finish with a sense of shame or not.

I won't argue the EDM/metal issue very much, except to note that most of the people I know who have pretty mainstream taste find EDM just as annoying or laughable as metal. Though granted, EDM has never been as popular in America as it is in a lot of other places on earth. But whatevs.

Very little you've said has any bearing on this specific project and as such I'm unlikely to think it helpful or thank you for your efforts. My impression, as one who has an imperfect grasp of some of the tacit conversational maxims of English speakers, is that you've largely ignored my attempts to indicate my focus and my priorities, so I find implausible the idea that you're trying to help me somehow. All you're accomplishing is adding to the big ball of stress.

There's also no reason you couldn't have gone about the endeavor with some measure of tact or civility, so that changes the chance of thanks from "unlikely" to "simply not going to happen".

I won't disregard everything you've said if there happens to be something of merit in it, but mostly it feels like you're trolling for the hell of it.

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Posted: 2nd Jan 2010
Quote:but mostly it feels like you're trolling for the hell of it.

Fair enough

I must have confused you with someone who was looking for advice, rather than a pat on the head.

I won't waste any more of my time on you.

Posted: 2nd Jan 2010
Yes, advice on this audition. I would make it clear if I wanted some kind of career coaching. I look forward to a dearth of your time.

Edit: And please, if you're not Stout, think I'm being totally unreasonable here, and can explain why, do so. I don't like to persist in being irrational if I am actually being so.
EDITED_BY: Sister Eleven (1262459383)
EDIT_REASON: See note

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