Forums > Help! > Another Dance Thread ?...Kinda
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Pooh-Bah
1,872 posts
Location: Canada
Pooh-Bah
1,872 posts
Location: Canada
Posted:
OK, first a quick story.
So I'm sitting at this bar, on a beach, in Thailand, it's january 2003. Sitting next to me is this huge Thai guy who wants to practice his english "no problem" I say seeing as how I'm alone. We have a few beers and he gets up,,,and lights these wicks attached to chains and starst spinning them around his body while dancing. The other bar partons clap and cheer when he finishes and he comes back to sit down beside me again. I ask him " how,,,long,,have,,,,you,,,been,,,spinning....?" he counts on his fingers and answers "10 days". " Wow" I say "can you teach me to do that?" "Yes" he says and started teaching me the next day.
Two days later, a family emergency forced me to fly back to Canada with my newly purchased set of practice poi and visions of using these props as an excuse to learn to dance. I've never been a dancer but this fire spinning sure sparked my interest. Back in Canada, I immediatly started taking poi lessons, three of them to be exact, one a week, went to my travel agent, bought another ticket to Thailand and went back to that same beach and met up with the Thai guy again. Now we both new exactly the same moves and put together a synched duo show ,I think we could do about five things, anyway it went over really well. End of story.
So I'm hooked, I've got my poi, I finished up a four month series of lessons, I make myself a staff and start working with that too. but the whole dance idea is still eluding me, but I keep practicing anyway. I start downloading and watching videos over and over. The summer comes, and like magic, this good sized firespinning community just appears, mostly newbees with a few good spinners who weren't interested in teaching but I pick up a few new "moves" anyway but easily 90% of my spinning I did alone. maybe this has somthing to do with me being a fortysomthing guy invading what is largely a twentysomthing chick world ( at least around here ).
Please stay with me,,,this is going somewhere.
So earlier this year I decided to go back to Thailand for a couple of months to study firespinning,There was a fellow Canadian advertising lessons in Thailand ( didn't happen ) plus I'd heard of a few professional schools and was familiar with the Bangkok scene.I ended up learning very little. Professional schools? I ended up working in one but learning zero, Bangkok? very little too, a few neat tricks from Poibox II, and a few from some Thai guy but in all the learning thing was a big disappointment.
But now,,,things have gotten serious, myself and four others have just formed a group and are hoping to start performing locally. and I still can't dance. I've made a new years resolutin to study some form of dance which leads to the reason for this post.
What style????
I 've given up on learning to dance with poi and figure I'll try learning dance seperatly and work the poi into the dance,a 180 degree change in tactics. I've been thinking about this for over six months but it wasn't until I read Orbit's post in the " egos and firespinning" thread,,,the line about hot sexy chicks comming from a dance background,,,that I decided to actually do somthing about it.
I've met quite a few of those, dancers who took up poi I mean, but they did happen to be hot sexy chicks, usually with a ballet background. they weren't technical spinners but they sure were nice to watch heck, one of them even got up and put on a beautiful show, then asked me to teach her the reverse weave.
This is a pretty good sized city, so I should be able to study any style of dance that I want. but I don't know where to start.
Should I: just walk into any dance studio with a set of poi, start spinning, then ask " can you help me" or go the martial arts route ?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
OK, first a quick story.
So I'm sitting at this bar, on a beach, in Thailand, it's january 2003. Sitting next to me is this huge Thai guy who wants to practice his english "no problem" I say seeing as how I'm alone. We have a few beers and he gets up,,,and lights these wicks attached to chains and starst spinning them around his body while dancing. The other bar partons clap and cheer when he finishes and he comes back to sit down beside me again. I ask him " how,,,long,,have,,,,you,,,been,,,spinning....?" he counts on his fingers and answers "10 days". " Wow" I say "can you teach me to do that?" "Yes" he says and started teaching me the next day.
Two days later, a family emergency forced me to fly back to Canada with my newly purchased set of practice poi and visions of using these props as an excuse to learn to dance. I've never been a dancer but this fire spinning sure sparked my interest. Back in Canada, I immediatly started taking poi lessons, three of them to be exact, one a week, went to my travel agent, bought another ticket to Thailand and went back to that same beach and met up with the Thai guy again. Now we both new exactly the same moves and put together a synched duo show ,I think we could do about five things, anyway it went over really well. End of story.
So I'm hooked, I've got my poi, I finished up a four month series of lessons, I make myself a staff and start working with that too. but the whole dance idea is still eluding me, but I keep practicing anyway. I start downloading and watching videos over and over. The summer comes, and like magic, this good sized firespinning community just appears, mostly newbees with a few good spinners who weren't interested in teaching but I pick up a few new "moves" anyway but easily 90% of my spinning I did alone. maybe this has somthing to do with me being a fortysomthing guy invading what is largely a twentysomthing chick world ( at least around here ).
Please stay with me,,,this is going somewhere.
So earlier this year I decided to go back to Thailand for a couple of months to study firespinning,There was a fellow Canadian advertising lessons in Thailand ( didn't happen ) plus I'd heard of a few professional schools and was familiar with the Bangkok scene.I ended up learning very little. Professional schools? I ended up working in one but learning zero, Bangkok? very little too, a few neat tricks from Poibox II, and a few from some Thai guy but in all the learning thing was a big disappointment.
But now,,,things have gotten serious, myself and four others have just formed a group and are hoping to start performing locally. and I still can't dance. I've made a new years resolutin to study some form of dance which leads to the reason for this post.
What style????
I 've given up on learning to dance with poi and figure I'll try learning dance seperatly and work the poi into the dance,a 180 degree change in tactics. I've been thinking about this for over six months but it wasn't until I read Orbit's post in the " egos and firespinning" thread,,,the line about hot sexy chicks comming from a dance background,,,that I decided to actually do somthing about it.
I've met quite a few of those, dancers who took up poi I mean, but they did happen to be hot sexy chicks, usually with a ballet background. they weren't technical spinners but they sure were nice to watch heck, one of them even got up and put on a beautiful show, then asked me to teach her the reverse weave.
This is a pretty good sized city, so I should be able to study any style of dance that I want. but I don't know where to start.
Should I: just walk into any dance studio with a set of poi, start spinning, then ask " can you help me" or go the martial arts route ?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
GOLD Member
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Stream Entrant
2,829 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posted:
Well, I’ve been searching for bargain dance vid’s and dvd’s and noticed that here are lots of cheep How To Do Belly Dance titles in the bargain bins. I also found a bargain Swing dvd which ties in with something glass said about the roots of Swing (which looks way too acrobatic for me).
Anyhow, they are interviewing Frankie Manning about the Lindy Hop, and asking him about the air step and his routines. He said they got a lot of their moves from the Circus, and they used to attend the circus regularly looking for new moves. Lol, bit like the early breaker boys getting their moves from 70’s Kung Fu movies.
U gotta
late edit: Cooooool glass, I found some Charleston footage and hey it does look like a Melb shuffle in places, with I dunno more slip and back step?
EDITED_BY: Stone (1109302102)
Well, I’ve been searching for bargain dance vid’s and dvd’s and noticed that here are lots of cheep How To Do Belly Dance titles in the bargain bins. I also found a bargain Swing dvd which ties in with something glass said about the roots of Swing (which looks way too acrobatic for me).
Anyhow, they are interviewing Frankie Manning about the Lindy Hop, and asking him about the air step and his routines. He said they got a lot of their moves from the Circus, and they used to attend the circus regularly looking for new moves. Lol, bit like the early breaker boys getting their moves from 70’s Kung Fu movies.
U gotta
late edit: Cooooool glass, I found some Charleston footage and hey it does look like a Melb shuffle in places, with I dunno more slip and back step?
EDITED_BY: Stone (1109302102)
If we as members of the human race practice meditation, we can transcend our fear, despair, and forgetfulness. Meditation is not an escape. It is the courage to look at reality with mindfulness and concentration. Thich Nhat Hanh
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