Pauly Flows

An event with Pauly Flows can range from a feature performance to ambient entertainment to a hands-on workshop for attendees, or any combination of these elements.
As a feature performance, I can perform one or more numbers (each 3-6 minutes long), with varying degrees of costume production based on the event. Such a performance could be more focused on hooping specifically, with more functional, earth-tone costuming, or it could be more oriented toward drag performance, with lip syncing, elaborate makeup, and reflective costume elements. Fire performance is also available, though this will involve particular coordination to ensure the presence of a fire safety technician.
For ambient entertainment, I can perform with single hoop, double hoops, dragon staff, and/or triads. Each of these can be provided as fire performance, and I also have an advanced LED hoop with hundreds of elaborate patterns. LED performances are ideal for longer sets of ambient entertainment, particularly in nightclub settings or in private events such as weddings or festivals. I have costuming that ranges from G-rated to X-rated, depending on the venue, event, and audience.
For a hands-on workshop, I would dress more casually (unless also performing in the same event), and I would provide a brief demonstration on the long-developed possibilities of continued practice of flow arts. I then would provide dozens of extra hoops and give instruction on a variety of hoop techniques. Such a workshop could include the most rudimentary, entry-level moves for those who only know "hula hooping," and in settings where participants have preexisting knowledge and training, I teach intermediate and advanced techniques with single and double hoop.
As mentioned, combinations of these components are possible based on the needs of the event. I'm always happy to adapt my skillset to help bring your event to life.

From a young age have I been called to the arts and arts education. My original artform was music, having played trumpet in marching band and Drum Corps International as a Madison Scout in 2010, 2014, and 2016. In the sphere of the marching arts did I first develop grounded training in the synchronicity of music and movement.
I recall vividly the moment back in May 2015 when I first saw someone throwing a hoop around in ways far beyond traditional "hula hooping" and in this weird thing called "flow arts," and I knew instantly this was an activity I would learn and pour myself into. Absent many formal avenues for flow arts training, I watched dozens and dozens of tutorials on YouTube and Instagram, practicing for hours on end to develop both technique and, well, flow. Over months and years of this committed practice did I begin to have significant moments of affirmation where discipline was giving way to play, and vice versa; it was clear this was the path for me in this life.
In November 2016, I conducted a study project during a semester abroad comparing indigenous folk art forms of Kerala, India with flow arts. This included multiple demonstrations and workshops in schools, universities, and dojos for martial art forms, centered in and around Payyanur, Kerala. This project was the basis for my undergraduate capstone thesis on the merits of hooping as a flow art in unifying both tradition and play.
In 2017 and 2018 did I begin pursuing the practice of drag performance, always with the ultimate goal of integrating such performance with my rapidly developing proficiencies in flow arts, especially hooping. From 2018 into the beginning of 2020 did I take my performance from open stage settings into feature acts in Vaudeville-style productions, including Va-Va-Vaudeville and the Flowmotion Symposium, each in Bloomington, IN.
In 2019 through 2023 did my role as a flow arts educator take shape. I first taught flow arts workshops at the Breathe Festival in July 2019 and at Flowmotion Symposium in 2020 before the initial Covid-19 lockdown. Even in lockdown, I taught multiple, virtual flow arts workshops to raise money for the beloved Playthink Arts Festival, usually held in Kentucky. I would teach again at Playthink in 2022, also performing in the showcase the same year.
In 2021, I would teach at the outdoor Burning Fox (Ohio), Playthink, and Prometheus Gathering (Ohio) festivals. That year, I also became more active performing professionally in fire spinning, beginning to orchestrate the formation of Circle City Fire, a fire troupe made up of performers in and near Indianapolis, IN. My personal performance as Pauly Flows accelerating, where I was featured in the Kinker Circus variety show in Bloomington, IN.
From 2022 to 2024, I was in school to receive my Master's of Public Affairs and MA in Arts Administration. In addition to managing the growing LLC that was Circle City Fire, I continued producing performances as Pauly Flows intermittently as a solo performer in Bloomington and for public events, including the Rogers Family Park ribbon-cutting ceremony in August 2023. In May 2023, I also taught at the premier Midwest flow arts festival, Kinetic Fire.
Taking a break from teaching in 2024, I moved to Seattle, WA, where I would be a featured performer in the Evergreen Flowcase in October 2024. In 2025, I have been increasingly involved with the Seattle Flow Arts Collective (SFAC), facilitating public-facing flow arts jams, involving both new and experienced individuals into the fold of flow arts. SFAC hosted me as an instructor in Bellevue, WA in May 2025 in addition to the jams hosted regionally. I taught at Flow Fest Seattle in June 2025, also being a featured performer in the showcase. In this time, I've also been working as a paraprofessional in the Seattle Public Schools, intermittently teaching flow arts as a recreational activity to students at every grade level in K-12. I continue seeking new venues in dance clubs, arts festivals, schools, and public facing arenas for both instruction and performance of flow arts.

My minimum amount of space for ambient and performance hooping is a 7x10 foot space.
For drag, I can more easily navigate a space with a hoop as long as the floor or ground is flat (not grass).
For fire, I require spinning outside with at least a 10x15 space.