Unicycling challenge

Well, ENI unicyclists, if these lot can do this I think a bit of maypole dancing is going to be easy! What do you say? Do we get a maypole team ready for the SpringFest in the Village or not?



I say YES! Do it!

Do you unicycle? Or do you freestyle unicycle?

For all you ENI unicyclists that feel like you need a new challenge, I post this video of things I'd like to see you learning. It isn't the most polished filming or exciting editing, but it shows lots of freestyle moves for you to try out.



I'm hoping for an ENI unicycle synchronised dance routine by next summer, or at the very least a maypole dance team on unicycles!

Thursday Meeting

Don't forget this weeks meeting is the last of the month, so that means it is unicycle hour at the beginning of the night from 7 pm - 8 pm, when the mono wheel enthusiasts get the hall all to themselves to do with as they wish. If you've never unicycled before and would like to have a go, we have a club unicycle that you can have a go on and would be more than welcome to join in.

All non unicyclists can either come at the normal time of 7 pm and practice in other parts of the building/outside, or turn up at 8 pm instead. Also this weeks meeting is the one closest to Vaughan's birthday, so there will be cake.

I hope to see you all later!

Dan Heaton Street Uni.

I'm sure a lot of you will have seen this already but for those that haven't, enjoy!



My favourite move (although I'm sure not the hardest) is at 1:19.

Inspiration for the Unicyclists

I'm bored of seeing you unicyclists just riding up & down and idling, so get learning this! That's an order! Hehehehehehe



I've added this to the library of videos in the Inspirational Videos section of the forum, which I'm thinking I might have to break down into sections to make it easier to find the various props related videos.

Get practising!

Unicycle Night

This is the last Thursday of the month, so at the meeting this week the first hour will be Unicycle hour, so from 7pm to 8pm the hall will only be used by the one wheeled. We have a spare club unicycle if anyone wants to come along and learn. Ours doesn't have stabilisers though.

After 8pm it's all the normal stuff and if anyone has been working on an act, we'll do a show and applause session at the end of the night.

Hope to see you there!

Debrief & a reminder

This Thursday the members that came along to the weekly meeting had a little bit of a brain storm about what we did right and what we could improve on at the Pontardawe Summerfest event. So here is a bit of a summery of things that were mentioned.


Things we did right:-

• Despite height and space issues with the bandstand area, we worked with what we had, squeezed in, carried on, improvised and did it all with a smile.
• Everyone felt we did well in the parades, engaged with the crowd and showed off our circus skills well.
• The short performance we did at the end of the Torch Light Parade was well received and our en masse 5 minutes of 'showing off ' (for want of a better description) did grab the crowds attention.
  
• On Saturday we didn't let the fact that the stage we were meant to have was pulled at the last minute and we improvised by finding another space to perform and entertain passers by.
• In the Saturday Parade, the stopping and starting of the dance troupe in front of us made parading for the unicyclists quite challenging, but they worked around it and kept on smiling and chatting with the crowd.
  
• Biggest highlight for most of us was Robert's reverse striptease on his unicycle on the Friday evening. It was well practised and stopped passers by who wanted to see how it progressed. He got a large round of applause.
  

Things we can improve on:-

• Communication with the organisers of events to make sure they know about how much height and floor space we need to perform and so we know exactly what they are expecting from us. To that aim we need someone to go along and see the space and do a risk assessment on the space, to be sure we are safe, and so are the audiences.
  
• We need to create & practice routines and stage acts, so that we have ready made performances to pull out of the bag when we are invited to these kinds of events, as sometimes the notice we get between being asked to join in and actually performing is short. To this aim we decided that we would have more regular renegade nights/ time at the end of each meeting for people to show the rest of the group their performances and get feedback on what they are doing.
• We need to encourage as many members of the group as possible to work on MCing skills. The more we have willing to stand up and guide the audiences through the shows we give the better, so it means there will always be at lease one at every event we do, because, as you all know, we have a rolling number of members and not all show up to any one event.
• If the venue of where we are going to perform is changed we need to take our audience with us by announcing the change and parading loudly to the new venue, hopefully taking the crowd with us and gaining more people as we go along.
• If we are to be part of a parade, ask in advance to be at the very back of the parade so we can have enough space to perform in and not end up sandwiched in a space that shrinks when people in front of us stop and people behind us shuffle forwards.
• Send out an email/text to all members to confirm all details of meeting up and performance times, so everyone is sure where we need to be.
• Appoint a person that writes a running order of stage shows, collates all the music needed and makes sure everyone knows that running order.

If you have any more suggestions for improvements please to pass them on at club meetings.

This weeks Club meeting is the last of the month, so the first hour 7-8pm is Unicycle hour, when the hall space will all be handed over to the unicyclists to use as they will. The rest of us can either turn up at 7 pm and use other areas of the building or arrive at 8pm to use the main hall.

Hope to see you there!

Unicycles and Renegade

Don't forget, at this week's meeting, the first hour we turn the hall over to all the unicyclists to use the space. If you have always wanted to learn, or you already unicycle and would like to come along and meet other one wheelers, you will be made most welcome.

Also this week at some time after 8.30pm we will be opening up the stage for renegade, so if you fancy it, get practising a new move or act so you can leap up and strut your stuff on stage.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Thursday 26th May the unicyclists all come out to play

As this is the last meeting of the month it is Unicycle hour at the start of the meeting. If you are a unicyclist or you wish to learn to unicycle Thursday night would be a good evening to come to the club. The whole hall will be given over to all you one wheel addicts to use as you will, be it bunny hopping or unicycle hockey. You will have all the space to use as you will.

If you don't fancy unicycling, you can either watch the antics from the stage until 8pm when you will then be let loose to practice like normal or you can arrive at 8pm and just hear about the events from those that were there.

I hope to see you all on Thursday!

Unicyclists take over the world!

... well they take over the Alltwen Community hall for an hour 7 - 8 pm on Thursday night this week. As agreed in the AGM the first weeks meeting of every month will see the unicyclists using the whole of the main hall for one hour to do whatever they please. If you don't have the habit of riding about on one wheel you have 4 choices :-

1. turn up at 8 pm instead of 7 pm this Thursday.
2. come along at the normal time and sit on the stage and watch the unicyclists have fun.
3. come along at the normal time and use the pool room or hallway to practice in.
4. borrow a unicycle from somewhere, come down at the normal time and learn how to unicycle and join in the fun.

Hope to see you all on Thursday!

Dates for your diary

We have set the date for the summer beach gathering. The weekend of the 20-22 May will be the date, so get it booked off work, get the sun lotion at the ready and check out that your tent doesn't have any leaks. We haven't sorted out exactly which campsite yet, but I will do that before the end of next week. We are thinking of the campsite above the Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower, but will do a bit more research.

If you hate camping or have other commitments during the evening, but would still like to come along during the day, we'd love to see you there too. As said, in the previous post about the Summer Gathering, family and friends are welcome to attend too and each person coming will need to book their own place on the campsite if they wish to stay over night.

Two other things to add to your diary for the Elephant's Not Included meetings are that on the last Thursday of the month the first hour of the session the hall will be given over to the unicyclists to use as they see fit. It is a way to give them enough space to play unicycle hockey or to set up obstacles to jump or cycle around and generally have one wheeled fun.

The 2nd Thursday of the month the the first hour in hall will be used for a yoga class. The idea of this is to help us to gain strength, flexibility and fitness which will aid with all our circus skills. We will be inviting a trained yoga teacher to come and tutor us. Most of us are total beginners so if you have never tried yoga before don't let that put you off joining in. Hopefully this will lead to more people doing proper warm up sessions each week, which will help to prevent people pulling muscles and straining themselves when doing their circus skills practice.

Both these events are optional, so if you don't wish to take part in them you can turn up at 8pm on those days rather than 7pm when you'll be able to do the regular circus skills play or we do have the use of other space within the building at that time if you would like to use that instead, but be mindful that the ceiling height is limited, as is the general space, so you might have to tailor what you practice to the area available.

If any of you have other things you feel that an hour of hall time would be used for, please do bring it up with the committee members, so that it can be put to the group.

Now the big one. Last year on the 22nd April Jon Nash, Cath Davies and I opened the doors for the first meeting of the Elephants Not Included club and to celebrate this fact it has been requested we hold a party to mark the date. The closest club date to that day is Thursday 21st April, so that will be party night. Usual thing, bring a plate, and be ready to play some silly games. I'll post a reminder here closer to the day.

See you all next Thursday!