So life is full of changes and transitions. Over the last couple days, mine has hit a big one. I have spent the last 2 years happily as a member of MonkeyfingeR Design's Yo-yo team. It has been great and I have enjoyed every minut of it. But an offer came along I couldn't refuse. So now I'm the manager of King Yo Star Canada. Its a long story, but suffice to say that the people making the decision looked at what i've done to promote yoyoing and decided I'd be a good choice. This is a big step up, and a big responsibility. I'm looking forward to the challenge. More details to come, but it's going to be great! Check out this set of videos collected. The evolution of yoyo over the last 50 years or so.
http://kottke.org/13/08/yo-yo-tricks-through-the-ages How to practice yoyoing. Or any other skill for that matter. There is a big difference between time playing and time practicing. When you are hanging out with friends and talking and yoyoing, that isn't practicing. You may be trying tricks that you are working on, but it's probably not practicing. Practicing is something that requires a time commitment and 100 percent of your concentration. Find a quiet space where you won't be interrupted for however long you want to practice. Fill the space with music if you like, or just keep it quiet. Decide what you want to practice. You may be learning a trick off of YouTube, practicing for a contest, or developing a new combo. If you are learning a new trick, pick a section and work it until you can land it consistently. Then move on. If you are working towards a contest, either run the whole routine, or select out the trouble spots and drill them. When you notice your concentration waver, take a break. The best thing I can suggest is the flash card method. When you are using flash cards, you go through the deck and pull out any you come to that you know. That leaves you focusing your practice time where it is needed. Same thing with yoyoing. Work through your combos, find what you are having trouble with and focus on that. When you are done practicing, go have fun, because that's what yoyoing is all about. I wrote this article for my guest spot on Yoyoskills.com, check it out there!
http://www.yoyoskills.com/?p=15199 Ack! How I start a yoyo club??? There are 3 things you need. Time, time, and…time! Yo-yoers are much like cats. It’s easy to catch their attention, not so much to get them to keep coming back. To have a successful club, you need a location, and someone to... Canadian Nationals 2013 Some highlights:
For me personally the best part of the contest was watching John Higby in action. He is an extraordinary performer and if you get the chance to see his show, jump on it. He did a number of acts through the day, and was a huge audience pleaser. He really knows how to hook a crowd and get them excited about yo-yoing. We saw great performances from most of Canada's top yoyoers, including a crowd pleasing entry from former champion Charles Haycock landing him second place. Harrison Lee stole the show with a nearly flawless and professional routine in his usual blindingly fast and complicated style. We had a number of out of town guests attend, enough to make an international division for the contest. Daniel Deitz who had been in town demoing for Yomega and working the judges table took first. Ki Zizan did a Double Dragon demo that had the crowd roaring. Ann Connolly of Yoyo Factory did a demo at a local toy store the day before, and was a crowd pleaser competing in both 1a international division and 3a in the open division. One bit I hadn't seen at a contest before that was highly entertaining was the trivia questions. Due to the venue rules there wasn't a raffle. Instead, yoyoers were called upon to answer questions like "what was the first aluminum ball bearing yoyo" and "what was another business that Donald Duncan was famous for". "Harvey Lowe" was an answer to one question, and it took a few guesses! Kids these days...not up on their history! Overall this was hands down the best Canadian contest in memory. I think everyone had a blast and can agree it was a huge success. Vancouver BC will be hosting in 2014, and they will have some big shoes to fill! This was a nifty article I found on Canadian yoyo history. Check it out!http://pasttensevancouver.tumblr.com/post/52227373041/yoyo1933
How many of you know the history of your city? The neighboring ones? Who has time and where would you start? How about a cultural festival? Most city governments will run or finance festivals at historic sites. Yesterday I went to the Richmond Maritime Festival in Richmond, BC. The site is a piece of history. It is on the site of a 1930's cannery and fishing village. Small homes and warehouses have been restored and filled with information and relics if this key piece of BC history. The festival brought in a wealth of knowledge about the era. They had actors in boats singing songs from the 30's. Scattered around were actors sitting frozen as statues until you ring a bell, at which point they come to life and share a fact about life in the early 20th century. The festival organizers planned something for everyone. There were stilt walking mermaids, fish, fisherman and more. There were more crafts than I can remember. A variety of music performers from stage acts to an accordionist in a tree. The dock was full of boats you could board and walk around. Including one that was used in the pirates of the Caribbean movie. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I was drawn by the juggler and his pile of circus equipment people could use. I finally got the hang of the diabolo, and taught a very excited kid to yoyo. All in all this was the best festival of it's sort I've been to and I'm looking forward to next year. In the aftermath of any kind of performance, one is usually left with the feeling of "I think I did we'll", "I blew it", or something in between. A part of that is self reflections, mistakes are made, tricks forgotten, cues missed. But we are social creatures, and as such, the feedback of others is what matters all too often. When you enter a contest, there is a clear piece of feedback for your performance, the final score and ranking. It's a little different when you are performing for a crowd. You are left with "did they cheer" or "that guy in the front looked bored". Those little mistakes get bigger in the imagination when there isn't anything telling you how you did. I went into Vancouver today for an appointment, and decided to head to the beach afterwards. I walked by the newly re-opened interactive art display and was moved to consider the past and reflect a bit on where I'm at. These guys were the inspiration for my first video with MFD, because hey, they are fun! It's also highly amusing watching the tourists climb all over them and take pictures of themselve trying to mimic the expressions on the statues. Last week I performed in front of a very large crowd of people out partying. It was a unique performance in my experience, for many reasons. I left the stage feeling good, the crowd was responsive, I kept my poise and smiled and did my best, but i felt like my choreography was off. Today, a week later, I was downtown grabbing a cup of coffee. As I waited for my fancy pancy latte to be crafted, I was practicing my hop the fence. All of a sudden a guy comes across the coffee shop to tell me how much he enjoyed my show. He commented on how fast I was (I think the most complicated trick I did was a matrix), and that he really liked how I was in sync with the music. I'm still smiling. |
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