you know alot of my time is devoted to spinning poi... where would it be possible for me to find a fire dancing job, if one at all?
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Re: fire dancing jobs
Sun, May 4, 2008 - 12:47 PMluaus, birthdays, check out if the city you live in does festivals or parades and ask them what it would take to perform there.
set up an online portfolio [videos, pictures, past gigs, etc] and be prepared to talk about safety precautions that you personally take to ensure a safe performance for both you and your audience.
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Re: fire dancing jobs
Sun, May 4, 2008 - 7:08 PMYou don't say it, but I'm guessing you imagine making a living as a performer. A few things to consider:
1. I don't know any firedancers who make a decent living just doing firedancing. Even really outstanding firedancers who make performing their main gig have side jobs and still have a pretty limited income.
2. If you only spin poi, you'd better get hooked up with a troupe if you want to be a professional performer. Just spinning poi can get boring pretty quickly for an audience. I've seen good one-person shows, but that person happened to be very good at poi, staff, fans, fingers, eating, and breathing, and had her routine down pat so there was almost no dead time. You can certainly get *some* gigs just spinning poi, but I'd say "don't quit your day job."
3. Just because you're technically proficient at poi (which I'll stipulate, even though I've never seen you) and really enjoy doing it doesn't mean you'd be a good entertainer. The ability to relate to a crowd is necessary and completely unrelated to poi spinning.
One can also get some income from teaching, although you need to establish a reputation, and again, the ability to teach is unrelated to poi spinning. -
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Re: fire dancing jobs
Sun, May 4, 2008 - 11:53 PM
Adam, I've been saying the same thing to jugglers for years: variety is essential, technique is not entertainment, being able to do doesn't mean you can teach, work with as many other professionals as you can and learn all you can from them, and keep your eyes open for the larger scene and everything that feeds into it.
It's good to try to make a living doing what you love, but don't limit the vision to just being a performer. Can you write, sew, design, choreograph, hype, connect, book, teach, manage, coordinate, lead, inspire, attend to detail, . . . ?
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