More Phoenix Swords thoughts

[fbhjr]

My wife and I have been talking more about the future of the sword troupe.
Both of us are sad that few folks these days have the time and energy to
devote to it. That is 100% understandable and we don’t blame folks for it
at all.

But, we also don’t want to pay a few thousand a year to rent a practice
space that very few people use.
We don’t want to spend our Sunday afternoons at said practice space if, at
best, very few people show up to work on things.
Let’s face it, we’ve been able to get the same number of folks to show up
in our living room to do sword research and that doesn’t cost us extra rent.

But…
We love performing. Especially like this last weekend where there were big
crowds of people who seemed genuinely interested in the material.
Maybe it is because both my wife and I have worked at museums before, but
being able to teach folks things is really the best kind of show for us.

If we just gave it up, sold off the equipment and moved on, we’d lose that.

So, one of the things we’ve been discussing is changing the model of how we
do shows.

We’ve spent all of this millennium using the same model: A group of folks
who get together on a regular basis, even if we don’t have shows booked,
and practice, practice, practice to keep our skills up, research new things
and improve our shows.
That’s great. But, it takes people and a lot of time.

What if we instead used something closer to a “flash mob” kind of model?
We find a show that we all enjoy doing. We get commitment from folks for
what it takes to get ready for that show.
Yes. It’s true. If we aren’t practicing every week all year long, we
aren’t going to be as good as we could be.
I can’t deny that.

But, it would also mean that folks wouldn’t have to commit to going to
practice for months at a time.
Maybe that would make it easier.
We’ll see.

Something to think about. Something to try.