The Origami Guy

If you need someone to attract people to a trade show booth, or if you need to entertain both children and adults at the same time, my performance is ideally suited for you - think of the classic Warner Brother's cartoons; funny on the kids level and funny on the adult level simultaneously.

For kids events and parties, this is an ideal medium - there is only paper, so the mess is only that - paper! Rather than have kids sit and and be merely entertained, I teach some very basic origami pieces, and they walk away from a party knowing something new. Part of my performance has them learn a very basic 'modular' piece of origami that they then use to create a single piece of large origami - a neat piece of amazing teamwork.

Origami (the Japanese word for paperfolding), as a combination of art, mathematics and engineering, and has always fascinated me. I have been folding since I was a kid, and began giving away origami in 1990 during a trip to Turkey. In 2001 I started street performing in Harvard Square (Cambridge, MA), and now perform regularly at Waterfire (Providence, RI) as well as at scores of other places, both public and private.

I have come up with many original pieces, such as the "Candy Wrapper Dragon," created explicitly for an independent movie of the same name, as well as a 'Dollar Bill Sign', made from a US dollar bill. I am a member of OrigamiUSA, the largest origami organization in the United States, and have taught at the yearly OrigamiUSA convention in New York. I have also taught at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, the Arlington Center for the Arts and at countless other venues, from libraries to hospitals.

My staging is very easy. I can stroll around folding origami in the air for events where I perform (silently, or with patter), and for teaching, we only need a flat surface for students to fold. Dedicated parking is preferred, if possible, to make logistics of getting to the venue easier.