Being one of the many non-poi spinners of the Fire Conclave, I was on safety duty for the entire duration of the Pulse performance the night the Man went down. I've spoken to a few camp-mates here & there but am curious to hear what more people have to say about the synchronized poi-dance that openned the fire show this year. I only had eyes for a single diamond, being safety and all, and so couldn't see how the effect came off.
Opinions?
The Pulse
It was my first year at BM. I thought the pre-burn show was great. It had been a little over-hyped all week by friends, so my expectations were extremely high when I got there. As a result, it didn't hit me as amazing from the get-go.
However, the only thing that I thought could be improved was the synchronized opening. The act of spinning fire itself seems like just controlled chaos to me, and attempting to synchronize order across many people without a lot of time to practice just felt strange. Perhaps if smaller groups attempted to synchronize together, but each smaller group doing something different would come off seeming more together overall. It just seemed really apparent how off-tempo many people were during the first 15-25 minutes because they were all doing the same thing.
Once synchronization became less important (I couldn't really tell when it actually stopped), the entire show began to have it's own pulsing life, continuously building. This is when I started to become really impressed.
I loved how different people would come out and go back, and especially when some of the more rare acts would come out, like the guys with big cannon balls and the tall costumed person with the fire wings. Those were awesome.
The talent of some of the spinners on my side was extremely impressive as well. A girl with a hula near us was holy-crap good; hypnotic even.
Basically, I dug the entire show, but the synchronized spinning was my least favorite part.
However, the only thing that I thought could be improved was the synchronized opening. The act of spinning fire itself seems like just controlled chaos to me, and attempting to synchronize order across many people without a lot of time to practice just felt strange. Perhaps if smaller groups attempted to synchronize together, but each smaller group doing something different would come off seeming more together overall. It just seemed really apparent how off-tempo many people were during the first 15-25 minutes because they were all doing the same thing.
Once synchronization became less important (I couldn't really tell when it actually stopped), the entire show began to have it's own pulsing life, continuously building. This is when I started to become really impressed.
I loved how different people would come out and go back, and especially when some of the more rare acts would come out, like the guys with big cannon balls and the tall costumed person with the fire wings. Those were awesome.
The talent of some of the spinners on my side was extremely impressive as well. A girl with a hula near us was holy-crap good; hypnotic even.
Basically, I dug the entire show, but the synchronized spinning was my least favorite part.
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dragonflyannie
- Posts: 114
- Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 12:01 am
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I agree with Quickener. It was cool, but I feel that there is more energy from the fire dancers when they are doing their own thing. And even though they were pretty close to being synchronized, it was off a lot and I even saw some give up and do their own thing anyway. This was my fifth burn and I was more impressed in previous years. HOWEVER, huge props for trying that! I think it's great that you all are coming up with new things... it totally took me by surprise that it was NOT the same. So that's a good way to look at it.