by Sherwin Jaspher V. Parrado
In my last article, "From Hip Hop to Poi", I
started sharing about my first introduction to Poi. How my love for dancing
resurrected that archived memory of that Anne Curtis commercial. And how, in my
fight to keep doing what I love most, I was able to meet a group of amazing
people. This is the second part of that tale, which starts where the last one
ended, Xavier
Days.
Xavier Days is annually held on December and is usually a
time of merriment, but on December 2010 it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t sad or depressing;
it was more of stressful because of the tons of curricular activities we had to
do. That time we meet at school around 7am and go home
about 8pm, everyday, for about 4 days I think. What's worst is we had
to do it on Xavier Days, the time when everyone else is busy spending money on
games and booths and what not. We on the other hand were spending our money on
our project. Needless to say I was almost broke, I still had money but every
cent was already allotted so free pocket money was not that much, about 500
pesos perhaps. And during Xavier Days, 500 is not really enough.
One fine early morning I was going around the booths
checking out the merchandise before going to the group meeting place. It was
this time that I came upon the PoiCDO booth with Shaunnee, Egan, Hexa and Roy2x
selling there, I should say ours now but it might be confusing, different
displays of poi. (I have no idea where Gbong was at the time but I'll mention
his name so that he won’t feel left out. Hi Gbong!)
For only 350 pesos I can get my very own Poi kit and free
lessons to boot! So what was I waiting for? Someone to give me 350.
With only 500 pesos I didn’t have much moolah for the poi
AND survive for the next couple of days. So I did what any sane person would
do. I bought sago't gulaman (walking around is thirsty work). And I went back
and bought my own poi. I didn’t have any money anymore; I probably won’t get to
buy other souvenirs of that years Xavier Days but on the bright side I WASNT
THIRSTY ANYMORE! YAHOO! Oh, and I got me some poi merchandise too.
The free workshop was introduction to the art of poi with
basic tricks here and there. It was set for 2pm that afternoon but
because of my stunning personality I "humbly" asked to be taught a
few tricks immediately. Egan and shaunnee were happy enough to teach me some
and promised a lot more later on the workshop proper. Being the eager student I
came to the venue really early, and had to return several times because they
were still preparing it. The guys must have thought that I was either eager to
learn or had no sense of time. It was both actually but I know that deep down
they love me just the same.
I was a penniless (in a matter of speaking) poi spinner with
no sense of time, but I was eager to learn and that counted for something
because I’m now a full pledge member of PoiCDO!
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