Street performing basics

By Devin Howell

Introduction to Street performing Part 1:

Street performance is the art of gathering people to convince other people to be part of a group that is watching you convince people to be part of a group that is watching you create a large group of people that will be willing to give you money for creating a large group of people that otherwise would not have anything to do with each other.

It is, in a nutshell, salesmanship. As a street performer you sell your act, your character, personality and one big “unmissable” trick that is worth sticking around for.

In South Africa, real street performance is technically illegal, classed as type A unnecessary fun with extreme risks of over stimulating independent thought. The government simply cannot allow people to have fun as fun is difficult to tax… Unless you know the secrets of street performing, then taxing fun is very simple indeed.

General tips:
Dress nicely and speak clearly. experience shows that people give more money to well spoken, well-dressed folk. have you ever seen a shabbily dressed banker or lawyer? probably not. Hell, nicely dressed drug-dealers get to call themselves doctors and have whole companies designed to take money from people incase they need to give them more money than they actually have.

Smile. Krusty the clown sells cheeseburgers, and even he can muster a smile when its called for. Smiling shows that you have things under control and that you are having fun. There are plenty jobs out there that require you not to have fun, street performing is not one of them.

Slow down. Don’t stress if people leave in the first part, if they haven’t got time to stick around to give you money you don’t want them in your show anyway. People are rushed as it is in their lives, its easier for people to relax if your are relaxed and relaxed people laugh more.

Be funny, cute, or sexy. People have some basic reactions to performers and condensed they are: “haha” “aaw” or “whoa” I chose to try be funny by using the ‘path of least resistance’ concept.

So, these are just some basic ideas to get you started, more to come on choosing a pitch, crowd control and show format

Devin The juggler

Cape Town Juggling club

By Devin Howell

Tonight we saw the first night of the new Cape Town juggling club (Monday nights 8pm @ observatory community centre)

I did some crazy passing with Andre (another Jo’burg escapee) and met George who has been juggling for a couple of years and has some mad three ball skills. Congratulations goes out to George for his first qualification with three clubs, hopefully we will be able to throw things at him in the near future.

Byron showed everyone that Poi swingers can give the juggler a run for their money.

All in all it was a successful evening. The best thing is though that  it happens every week, so no excuses everyone, come round and learn some new tricks or learn to juggle your first pattern. lets juggle!