Scottish Invasion

Meg a.k.a. MCP is one of the most well-known staff spinners in the world. She is based out of Scotland where she works as a computer programmer by day and fire dances by night. Even though she has only been spinning contact staff and double staff for 3 years, she is one of the leaders in the evolution of the spinning arts. Her style is perfectly balanced between smooth transitions, beautiful flow and highly technical skills. Meg enjoys tricks that are extremely difficult while simultaneously being very simple.

We heard that Meg was on her way to San Francisco and convinced her to swing though Los Angeles to teach two workshops for us. Check out her videos for inspiration, read the interview below to get the juicy details, and reserve your spot in the workshop tonight, Thursday May 10th!

Hannah: How long have you been spinning and how did you get started?
MCP: I've been spinning for three years now approximately. I first started when I was at university, after going along to the local fire night and getting handed a burning fire staff, that was the first time I spun a staff... no waiting around for fire! After that I decided to learn what to do with one, and contact was just a part of that to begin with, before becoming the main thing for me. Fire itself made me decide to learn poi. Doubles came much later. The spinning scene in Edinburgh is thanks to the Beltane fire festival and all the good spinners it spawned, especially Rob Thorburn.

Hannah: Why do you prefer staff to poi?
MCP: From the beginning the staff was the first thing, I tried other toys, like poi, meteors, juggling and other bits and bobs... but it was clear that I enjoyed contact most of all. Controlling a staff without forcing it to your will, just suggesting things to it, using your body... that was what i found interesting I think, and the feeling of contact. Poi didn't have any of the elements I enjoy about it now, back then. So it was all staff, and mostly still is.

Hannah: Do you think spinning will change or be different in the future?
MCP: I definately think so. I think I have changed it a little bit, and I might have some tricks up my sleeve to change it a little more in the future. ;) Spinning now is definitely getting more interesting. It's not just the tricks or the dance anymore, it's about to become a full blown art I believe. Not just a spectacle.

Hannah: Name some of the people that inspire you most and why?
MCP: All the really dedicated contact staffers that I know inspire me, either with new moves, or they give me motivation to clean up with spinning. Rob / Bluecat, Sandy, Roman / Meast, Will / Chronos, Antti, Sebastien, Marcus, Dave from Colorado, Kyle McLean, Tim / T&B, Dave from FlameOz. Wow, that's a lot of shoot-outs. :D Otherwise, the Finnish juggling style inspires me to do weird things with doubles staff, and jugglers like Wes Peden are good inspiration also. Otherwise art like Calders mobiles and the geometries of plants, as well as the innate flow of human attention inspire me to spin better.

Hannah: Tell us about the most amazing experience you've had while spinning staff
MCP: Mainly just losing your self. Losing all your inner voice and your ego and just spinning, all the time trying to find better flow and better expression. It's great when you can just express the music your listening to perfectly. Other times it's good to be able to flow through sequences that feel like a melody. Unfortunately not at the same time yet... I think the best time I've had recently was in Ireland, spinning fire to amped music, not for a gig, but for other spinners. It's nice to spin fire to music you like, rather than drums. (Thought I loved the drummers in Portland, who rocked.)

Hannah: List the upcoming events that you'll be going to.
MCP: Oh man... not many thanks to work. Just Play and UberParis, and maybe organizing a chilled spinning event in Edinburgh over new year. Work won't let me go to BM this year, but I'm planning on a round the world trip in 2008, stopping along at BM and maybe wildfire along the way...
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Workshop Schedule:
Specialty Workshop # 1 ~
Contact Staff Movement
Thursday, May 10th 6:30 - 8:00 PM
Level: All

Specialty Workshop # 2 ~
Double Staff Movement
Thursday, May 10th 8:00 - 9:30 PM
Level: Intermediate / Advanced

Location:
~Santa Monica~
Dance Studio No. 1 (Map)
2037 Granville Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Costs:
$35 - 1 Workshop
$60 - 2 Workshops
* Cash / Check accepted day of workshop

Reserve Your Spot:
Space is limited! E-mail reserve@firegroove.com to save your spot.

Written by Hannah

Oh My God…. Shoes!!???

"What the hell??" as Liam Sullivan a.k.a. Kelly says in his groundbreaking video "Shoes" is exactly what Hannah and I thought as he... I mean she, walked into our studio ready to film us fire hooping for the new video. Little did we know the video would have over 8 million views on You Tube and that people everywhere would be looking into store windows saying "These shoes rule… these shoes suck!" We had worked with Liam at Wizard Finger, a monthly event hosted by comedian/actress Jill Benjamin but we were prepping for our performance when he was on so we didn't catch his show. We did not think for a second that Liam and Kelly were one and the same person so you can imagine our shock when Kelly walked into our studio. Wow! We were immediately interested because well... Kelly, we found out is a total girlie girl. And this song is absolutely hilarious!!

Sit back relax and get ready for a few giggles. We'll keep you posted on silly new music from Kelly / Liam but for now…you can become Kelly's friend on MySpace.

Santa Monica: May 15th - June 27th
Tuesday's
7:15 - 8:45 PM - Poi Groove Basics
8:45 - 10:15 PM - Staff Groove Basics

Thursday's
7:15 - 8:45 PM - Staff Groove Intermediate
8:45 - 10:15 PM - Poi Groove Intermediate

Saturday's
1:30 - 3:00 PM - Poi Groove Basics
3:00 - 4:30 PM - Hoop Groove Basics
3:30 - 5:00 PM - Poi Groove Advanced

Sunday's
2:30 - 4:00 PM - Staff Groove Basics
4:00 - 5:30 PM - Double Staff Groove



Long Beach: May 20th - June 27th Sunday's
3:45 - 5:15 PM - Poi Groove Basics

Tuesday's
8:45 - 10:15 PM - Poi Groove Basics

Some Thursday's TBD
8:45 - 10:15 PM - Poi Groove Basics

North Hollywood: June 6th - June 27th
Wednesday's
7:00 - 8:30 - Rope Dart
8:30 - 10:00 - Nunchucks

Photo by Burning Dan

Our Research & Development team have been working their tails off to complete the final designs for double wick poi, triple wick poi, and angel wing poi. That's right, more options straight to your doorstep with a click of your mouse!

The double and triple wick poi are made from 2 foot kevlar lengths wrapped around aluminum tubing. They are much lighter than any cathedral style double or triple poi which makes them easy to spin... not to mention they look amazing when photographed!

Choice Trick - Spinning in isolation allows some of the balls to connect up creating illusions of four balls turning into three (double poi), or six balls turning into 5 (triple poi).

Double Wick Poi = $65
(includes shipping)

The angel wing poi are made from ¾ inch aluminum tubing at a length of 15 inches, and wrapped with 6 inches of extra absorbent grip. On the other side they have one ball made out of 2 ft of kevlar, then a wrapped section made out of a foot of kevlar bent in half. The great thing about angel wing poi is that with one wrap of the chain the wings land in your hand like clubs and with clubs you have a whole new range of options.

Choice Trick - Vertical stalls become much easier with the angel wing poi and can be sustained to create the illusion that you have now levitated your poi. Spinning your angel wings ridiculously fast creates a wall of fire with deep blue tints, and with no doubt the crowd will cheer.... LOUD.

These brilliant ideas have come straight from our head of SPD (Specialty Product Design) Mr. Jade a.k.a MoJo. The two of us have worked hard on developing the best toys possible. Stay tuned next month for new styles of wicking on our staffs and a brand new style of breakdown collapsible staves.