Forums > Social Chat > graceful ending

Posted: 17th Jun 2001
First off, you should have your spotter (safety person) nearby. You can always finish with your pois still lit, make sure your spotter has a wet towel, a fireman's black drop-clothe or canister with a solid (metal) lid to snuff out the flames.I've seen a lot of groups perform and as each one burns out they take a pose and wait. The faster you spin your pois the shorter performance time you have. I spin slower than a lot of performers; more control, motions are intentional, and visually the effects are more dynamic because it's not one big giant blur. When you're ready to finish, you can spin your pois fwd or bckwd super fast and it should *blow-out* the flame. If not, use your spotter.If one pois goes out before the other and there's no reigniting the poi (dried out), this is when you can combine the two poi's and perform one-handed poi. It illiminates the visual of having one poi "out" and there are lots of creative moves that can be performed with one poi. If you're soak time, drip and spin-out are done to both poi's at the same time, you're one-handed performance shouldn't last more than one or two minutes.Good luck.

From the most primitive cultures to the most advanced civilizations,man has had to manufacture things;his well-being depends on his success at production.The lowest human tribe cannot survive without that alleged source of pollution: fire. Ayn Rand

Posted: 17th Jun 2001
One suggestion I would have is to do a wrap to slow them down and allow them to come to a rest...or....one of my favorites is to wrap them around my hand until they are essentially in my hand, dropping to my knees and bowing my head. Any kind of pose type thing works, as long as you are the type of spinner who is in motion a fair bit. If you don't move much then the difference won't be as noticable and so the ending won't be as dynamic.------------------Pele Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 17th Jun 2001
I like to end my sets by spinning as fast as I can, usually in a weave or an arround the world butterfly. Once you notice the poi beginning to burn out, spinning them fast will give them lots of air to burn brightly and quickly. Another good move is to start by spinning fast and then thwonk them on the ground. That *usually* puts them out right away. Unfortunately, neither of these moves is very good for the life of your wicks.-p.

Posted: 17th Jun 2001
i'm not using real kevlar wicks for the show i dont think- i'll prolly be using some sort of bandage or towel that will be disposable after each performance. more expensive, but i dont wanna ruin real poi by using them ten nights in a row.

~K~No matter what you do, one billion Chinese won't care.

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 18th Jun 2001
hey tekkie-somethings you need to consider (perhaps you already have) that will help you on your ending/exit from the stage are: what type of performance peice is it? is it flowy, dramatic, high energy, low energy, silly, etc etc.... are you a centerpeice of the performance? will it be obvious when you leave the stage? or will there be way too much other stuff going on for people to notice? what's your routine going to be like? and as a subtopic of that, how do you intend on performing with your poi? (refer to the first consideration point for this) if you have a personal style don't squish it away for tbe sake of doing something you're not comfortable with. after you've considered all of these and possibly more facets that i haven't thought of off hand, you'll be more ready to exit in a "graceful" or unobtrusive/obvious/geeky manner.several people mentioned spinning the poi really quickly to put them out. i think for this particular peice that is a very bad idea. we've worked with other stage dancers/performers during our fire shows, and the one thing that they have all said is (in essence) "hot damn i can't breathe...too... much... wheeze....smoke...wheeze...in....lungs...but fucking.....cool...." for performers who aren't used to performing while inhaling smoke, this can really be a bit much, and you should try to be as curteous (so spelled that wrong) as possible to/for them. i would say that covering your buring poi with a damp towel and leaving it covered for the rest of the performance is the least smokey way to go.or dunking them in water and then immediately covering the top of the bucket with a damp towel, so the smoke doesn't escape would also be fairly smoke free.my grand advice in all of this as to how you should exit/leave??? try different things out, use your own creative juice and run with it...practice/try 10 different ways to exit, most likely at least one of them will be kick ass for you. you should also worst case scenario your exit out as well, ie: what happens if your poi go out before you're ready for it, or one goes out when you're not expecting it to.... be prepared for that and have a rough idea of what you'll want to do in case something like that happens.anyway- these kinds of questions are always really difficult to answer since everyone has their own styles, performances have their own nuances and the best ideas always seem to come from within. i hope some of this has helped you out, i can't really be sure as i've been drinking wine since 12:30 this afternoon, and i'm pretty well tanked by now. :-)- flavio

Posted: 18th Jun 2001
I'd like to add in that letting the poi go out sometimes looks like they didn't last through the performance. Where if you put them out (either yourself or with spotter) then it looks like they "never" go out. Just a thought from an audience perspective.I wanted to mention to Poly that if you're going to snuff the fire with a towel you may not want to use a wet towel. Damp wool blankets seem to work very well. We even use a dry wool blanket. Reason being is that if it's wet, it will steam up and become hotter. Were the damp/dry snuffs and nothing more. I tried extinguishing fire fingers at the East Cost Spin Party with a wet towel and almost singed the weilder (I think it's PJ, but I'm still learning names.) The flames actually shot out of the towel up his arm. That had some to do with the towel and some to do with my inexperience as a safety. ------------------aka: MIC_Rulz"Except for that Mrs. Lincoln, How did you like the play?"

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson