Alien Jon

Alien Jon is known around the world as a playful yet thorough teacher. Equal parts artist and “movement scientist”, he loves innovative ideas and the creative spark in his students, himself, and his performance.

He got his start spinning things in early childhood, starting with himself, and then expanding to external objects found around the house and in the woods of Maine.

In 1995 he made the life-changing decision to picked up his first pair of flower-sticks (juggling sticks), and thus he officially entered the world of object manipulation. Then in 1999, founded on his love of flower-sticks, he discovered glow-sticking and poi spinning at electronic music events in Colorado.

Drawing inspiration from T’ai Ji and Aikido, other object manipulation quickly followed including contact staff & double staff, contact juggling, and diabolo, making Alien Jon an early adopter of multi-prop cross-pollination. These skills have been melded with a love of music and dance, including liquid, illusional, and funk styles.

During this diverse exploration of the kinetic Flow arts, poi established it’s place as a favorite in Jon’s heart. Now he teaches poi classes, workshops, and retreats all over the world.

Some teaching highlights:

• Double Rainbow Ranch (2004)
• Boulder Circus Center (2004)
• 1st Annual Boulder Juggling Festival (2004)
• Shepherd Valley Waldorf School (2004)
• SphereCamp East and SphereCamp Texas (2006 - 2008)
• Domba & Mystic Jewell dance Studios (2005 - 2007)
• Fall Wildfire (2007)
• Clearwater Festival (2007 - 2008)
• Florida State University (2008)
• Renaissance Festivals around the USA (2004 - 2008)
• Open Air Circus (2008)
• Fire Drums (2008 - 2010)
• Playpoi.com UK workshop tour (2009)
• Feuershow.de German workshop tour (2009)
• EJC Spain (2009)
• Cortona Week 2009 & 2010 (Italy)
• Elements of Flow in Cambridge, UK (2010)
• Carnaval Sztuk-Mistrzów Lublin, Poland (2010)
• Playpoi.com poi retreats w/ Nick Woolsey, in Costa Rica, Bali,
• Switzerland, and Italy (2009 - 2010)
• Flow Temple Classes in Hollywood, CA (2010)

Some notable performances include:

• Fringe Benefit for the 1st Annual Boulder CO Fringe Festival (2004)
• 1st Annual Boulder Juggling Festival (2004)
• Ratuva Circus performances and workshops at Copper Mountain (2005)
• Alex Grey’s COSM Fire (2007)
• City of Dayton OH Grand Illumination (2007)
• Burning Man Fire Conclave (2007 - 2008)
• ExtraTerrestrial Circus Experiment US tour (2008)
• Temple of Poi Fire Dancing Expo in San Francisco’s Union Square (2009)
• Fusion Festival fire stage in Germany (2009)
• EJC Spain fire stage (2009)
• Guest judge & performance for Carnaval Sztuk-Mistrzów Fire Theatre competition (2010)
• Cortona Week fire & contact juggling performances in Italy (2009 - 2010)