I"m not new to the yo-yo and I"m pretty good. I actually even got invited on a cruise once. However, I don’t have a “show”. And this is just a start…
But our church is having a free backpack giveaway party with food and entertainment, (grades K-6), Last year I just did some tricks to keep myself entertained. I wonder if there are any websites, any pre-existing shows, any ideas…I mean these are younger kids, so tricks wouldn’t need to be so hard but any ideas?
As far as performing for people who don’t yoyo, you need to try and stay away from technical tricks. Ladder escape won’t be nearly as cool as Mach 5 to someone who doesn’t yoyo. Make sure everything is very clear and easy to see. Stuff like the Matrix, Buddha’s revenge, boingy boing, mcbride rollercoaster, etc.
There’s a good technical trick that even the young kids would appreciate: Magic Trick. I swear, when I had done this trick on front of a group of kids, they kept nagging me to do it again and again! They like watching what looks like a knot disappear. Best thing with this trick is to get them involved, get them to count to 3 before you do the “clap and release” the strings move.
Oh, and kids love picture tricks as I found out when I did a small demo in front of a kindergarten class as well as a special ed class.
I was thinking more along the lines of a story that goes along with some tricks, etc…
Watch some of the AP performances from the last couple World Yo-Yo Contests. They’re all great examples of showy tricks that audiences will enjoy as well as performances that tell a story.
Just do some basic tricks that involve speed. Then maybe some smooth, long, combos so you they can see how long the yoyo spins. They also love boingy-boing. I did a show at my local library and all the kids wanted me to do boingy-boing over and over again.
Eli hops is the best single trick to do in front of non yoyoers. Yuuki slack is pretty cool too.