Lines and circles of glowing blue, green and red streak in the night in front of the OtterDen. These swinging lights of varying shapes glow in the darkness, capturing the attention of passing students. What are those lights? Who is that guy swinging them?
When you walk into the OtterDen, behind the counter Kevin Sears flips a burger or tosses a salad. He is in the typical uniform, black pants and a white work shirt.
However, on his break he zips up his hoodie and pops in his earbuds. With the music playing, he swings his arms, and the lights travel with him. This artistic display, Sears’ hobby, is called poi.
According to homeofpoi.com, poi originates from the Maori Tribe in New Zealand where it is still practiced among cultural tribes today. There are many different props used to perform it.
Performers in New Zealand often use fire, but in modern poi, the performer uses lights.
Modern poi is performed by taking two lights on stretchy tethers and juggling and manipulating them in a way so the lights make shapes likes circles, flowers and even butterflies. But the kicker is to not get the tethers tangled or caught on any part of the body.
Instead of fire or lights, Sears started out using tennis balls in a long sock. About a year ago, Sears started doing poi one night at a party when someone handed him the apparatus and told him to try.
“(One of my girlfriend’s friends) handed me some lights and said, ‘Hey, play with these for a minute,’ and six hours later I was still spinning them,” Sears said.
He continued to play around with it, and to his delight, he was good. His friends encouraged him to keep trying new tricks, and it quickly became his hobby.
Sears said that when first trying poi, you hit yourself a lot. But that didn’t stop him from making it his hobby and practicing at least four hours every day.
Sears hails from San Diego, Calif.. He left home at the age of 16, finished high school and then decided to try his hand at art school. But when financial aid fell through, he was at a loss until an acquaintance heard about his situation and sent him a Greyhound ticket. He’s been in Columbus since 2005 working in culinary arts.
Despite all of the hardships, Sears kept a positive attitude and is still an outgoing, optimistic person. He is delighted that his poi performances are appreciated.
“I’m really glad people are interested in what I do,” Sears said. “It’s really a good feeling that people are talking about it, especially because it’s something that is so easy to get into. … Everyone is really encouraging.”
Sears said he’s glad people appreciate his performance because that’s why he does it.
“It’s performance art,” Sears said. “You do it so people can enjoy it.”
Whether he wanted the lights to draw attention or not, it caught the eyes of Otterbein students whenever he performed.
“It looks super cool,” said Rachel Kerr, a freshman public accounting major. “It’s just really random, and no one knows why he’s doing it. I think people don’t want to be awkward and strike up a conversation as to what he’s doing, but they’re curious for sure.”
When you watch Sears perform, you’ll notice he has headphones on. Sears said he listens to electronic dance music because of its repetitiveness, beats and wackiness.
He said he is proud of his skill. He wants to continue doing poi and learn new tricks.
“Every few weeks, I feel like I get to a new level of understanding it,” Sears said. “It’s one of the few hobbies I’ve actually kept going for some time and it’s so much fun.”
While poi is a way to get through the work day, he said he enjoys cooking and working at the OtterDen.
“I think people like the food I make,” he said. “My favorite thing to make are the specials sometimes (because) we change them often. … I try to make everything special in its own way.”
Some specials were created because of Sears and his proposals to Bon Appetit for new food ideas. Sears proposed ideas that have been approved and will appear on the menu in the near future. However, these ideas cannot be revealed because they are confidential, according to Sears.
He admits that he enjoys working in the Den as opposed to upstairs in the cafeteria because he gets to see people enjoy the food he makes.
In the future, Sears said he would like to be a comedian, or maybe even multi-task as a poi performer and comedian. He said he’s hardly an expert in poi, but he will work to be better and continue spinning.
