Hey, tomorrow I’m going to do a little uni performance at my school. Remember, there is everybody from kindergardeners to 6th graders, so what kind of act should I do? My principal told me that I could do like 5 or 6 minutes of tricks, then he would ask me stupid questions like if it’s hard and stuff, and then I could do my giraffe for a couple of minutes. So, what kind of tricks should I do? I plan on doing like seat in front (my friends love that trick), hop-spins, backwards, one-footed, idling (when I’m talking), I also might show them a trick in the learning process like WWing. So, anything’s welcome! 
Re: Performing @ my school
The first trick to learn is thinking about your act sooner than the night before you have to perform it. 
My son did a unicycle act last year in his 4th grade talent show. He did a lot of advance prep and practice. It was a fun act that combined both giraffe and standard riding. Very upbeat music, and when it started he came in from stage left on his giraffe, looking VERY out of control. After a couple of deliberate near wipe-outs, he got it together and started racing across the stage in a large figure 8. After a couple of idles, he did a controlled discount in front of his 20 inch, and switched over. He had some pre-built stunts on stage…a small teeter-totter, ramp up to a skinny bridge then ramp down, etc. In between these he’d stop, idle, hop in a circle, etc. All pretty basic stuff, but he deliberately chose tricks below his riding level that would look cook, but more importantly would be “nailable” under the pressure of a stage performance. You don’t want to aim too difficult and then have a ton of wipeouts. And believe that you WILL fall more than normal under that pressure.
But at this point, I’d say “just wing it” and good luck.
Tom’s right about preparing a little more in advance, but I won’t go on about it…
I can’t add any more to what he said other than try not to “show off” when you are performing - if that makes sense. You want to be appreciated and look cool, but not make everyone think that you are so full of yourself.
Good luck, and let us know how you got on!
I have been asked to do some unicycling at school in a few weeks time, and I have started to think of mine, too. What you have listed here is sort of what I am thinking of. I think it’s a good idea, too, like tomblackwood said, to have some sort of ramps. I’d spend the nights getting something of that and practisingto perfect what I already can do…
given the limited prep u can do, just make sure that u follow the good ole’ vaudeville principle of ending with the ‘big trick’
in other words, u want to start with your easiest tricks and slowly build it up
that also helps the audience to get some idea of what is required to be able to do some of the harder skills
this post by Mikefule is one of the best break-downs of a uni-show i’ve ever seen
this one covers a lot of the same ground but does add something to the discussion
OK, I’m leaving, wish me luck!!! 
I didn’t see this thread until too late. Sorry. Hope you did great and had fun!
So how’d it go tyler???
It went great!!! All the kids were calling me unicycle man all day! 
Kindergardeners would come up to me all day and say, “heeeey, are you that tricycle kid?” That was fun…
Right on! Glad it went well.
Since the original post was looking for suggestions, it would be great to hear what you finally ended up doing in terms of tricks and “routine”. And any pics?
at our school we had some crappy 30 seconds for each contestant tallent show, i rode my unicycle around with one foot while blind folded and playing the violin. i think i won.
I did just what I said in the first post in the way of tricks. I forgot to take a helmet for my giraffe, so right after I got on and started riding around, I must have heard like 5 teachers whisper, “Hey, he needs a helmet!”
Hmmm, I didn’t know that giraffes wore helmets?! 
Anyway…glad to hear your “event” went well! Congratulations 
Way to go Tyler. I’m hoping that my 7-year-old daughter might want to do something in a year or so. She’s about to start riding and she’s totally psyched. Funny about the teacher comments (they’re probably parents!). Did you land all your intended stuff? Did you try the WW? I’m a performer by trade (not on unicycle, unless you count hilarious wipe-outs) and know that the advice you received about overpreparing is right on. Keep up the good work!
Unidaddy (Bob)
on wednessday i am going to do a speech on how to ride a unicycle for my communications class and i am taking my unicycle.
anybody have any funny stupid appropiate statments for me to say?
I did the same thing last year. Make up some clever comparison with unicycles and bikes, making unicycles look better/cooler, that’s what I did, and they seemed to have liked it, I think…
alright i’ll try to come up with stuff, once i do i’ll post it up and see if anyone would like to spice it up
I like to compare unicycling to walking. It has many similarities. Learning to walk and learning to unicycle are similar processes. They both take a while to learn. They both have to become automatic motor-skills. And there isn’t a point where you suddenly “get it”. When you learned to walk, you were wobbly for a while, just like when you learned to unicycle. Lastly, the balance issues are similar. Read on…
When you walk, you always have to keep your feet underneath you (under your center of gravity). If you lean too far forward with your upper body (maybe you stumbled), you have to immediately take faster steps – so that your feet are underneath you again. And if you lean too far to the left, you must step to the left to put your feet back underneath you. Same exact thing happens with unicycling, except you have a wheel instead of feet. Lean too far forward and you have to pedal faster to get the wheel back under you. Lean too far to the left and you have to steer the wheel left to get it back under you. Just like walking, see?
Some people think that the balance required to ride a unicycle is like walking on a tightrope. That is only true when going very slow or doing a still-stand. But when you are moving, the balance is similar to walking. Also, you are never perfectly in balance. Instead, you are constantly making corrections to your balance.
Also, to continue the comparison to walking… With walking or unicycling, you have to fall in the direction you want to go. Stand and keep both legs straight. Now extend your right foot forward. See how it’s up in the air? You have to fall forward in order to take a step. Lock your legs in that position and tip forward until that foot hits the ground. That’s walking… lots of temporary imbalance, falling, and correcting balance problems. Just like unicycling.
Well, this is how I describe riding a unicycle to non-riders. And I demonstrate both with the unicycle and with my feet (I tip my body forward without taking steps – until I have to take steps fast otherwise fall on my face. Then I tip over to the left until I have to step to the left. Then I show them the same thing on the unicycle.)
You could give the above comparison and then add details about the mechanics of unicycling – pedaling, speeding up, slowing down, how to turn. Make sure they understand the direct connection of the pedals to the wheel (no free-wheeling) – that’s the key to front-to-back balance AND slowing down (no brakes).
Hope this helps… good luck!
Re: Performing @ my school
On Sat, 8 Jan 2005 13:51:55 -0600, “ZebraOnAUnicycle” wrote:
>on wednessday i am going to do a speech on how to ride a unicycle for my
>communications class and i am taking my unicycle.
I quite like the explanation posted by Dave5. It very nicely explains
the basics of riding to an audience that undoubtedly has
misconceptions about unicycles. They don’t understand simple things.
One illustration of that is how often I get the question “How the hell
do you brake on that thing”.
If you use Dave’s suggestion, please let us know how it went. Oh well,
let us know regardless.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
It’s impossible to get old when you ride a unicycle - John (what’s in a name) Childs