{"id":644339,"date":"2013-02-27T14:54:21","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T19:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ted.com\/?p=71126"},"modified":"2013-02-27T15:30:15","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T20:30:15","slug":"the-yo-yo-master-black-at-ted2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/644339","title":{"rendered":"The yo-yo master: BLACK at TED2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TED2013_0039495_D31_0877\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“When I was 14 years old, I had low self-esteem,” yo-yo champion BLACK<\/a> begins his talk during session 4 of TED2013. “Then one day, I bought a yo-yo.” The first trick he tried — well, it didn’t work. But after a week of practice, he started to get somewhere. He remembers, “I thought, ‘The yo-yo is something for me to be good at. For the first time in my life, I found my passion.’”<\/p>\n

But practicing for hours a day and winning the World Yo-Yo Contest<\/a> four years later in 2001 didn’t take him on the path he hoped. “I thought\u00a0I’d become a hero! I will get many sponsors. Money. Many interviews! I will be on the TV,\u201d says Black. But fame and fortune never came. Instead, BLACK went back to school and became a systems engineer.<\/p>\n

Eventually, though, he had to return to his passion. “I wanted to show how spectacular the yo-yo could be. I wanted to change the public image of the yo-yo,” says BLACK. “So I quit my company and started a career as a professional performer.” He won the World Yo-Yo Contest again in 2007, and even passed an audition for Cirque du Soleil.<\/p>\n

On the TED stage, BLACK gives a performance set to dramatic music, a yo-yo spinning quickly and maseterfully around him like a ribbon around a rhythmic gymnast. Soon, he picked up a second yo-yo, spinning them wildly, as if juggling. Bending backwards to the floor, he keeps the yo-yos orbiting just millimeters from his face. The performance is both graceful and thrilling.<\/p>\n

\"TED2013_0040215_D41_5934\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TED2013_0039869_D41_5588\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TED2013_0039449_D31_0831\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TED2013_0040058_D41_5777\"<\/a><\/p>\n

See BLACK in action for yourself, below.<\/p>\n