Waldemar enjoys all forms of movement and dance. His first experience with dance was as a PhD student at MIT, when he took a ballroom dance class in the hopes of getting a date. It seemed like a good counterpoint to analytical studies and he pursued it with zeal, becoming the president of the MIT ballroom dance club and competing for a while. Unfortunately, he never did get that date.

Waldemar picked up poi for the first time in spring 2004 after seeing other party-goers spinning them at a Burning Silicon party. After a few weeks of getting pummeled by fluffy soft poi he was hooked. Since most
of the time back then was spent untangling the poi, he used his computer science skills to figure out the most efficient ways to do that.

Thanks to Temple of Poi classes, he progressed rapidly and became enamored with fire -- the way it looks, sounds, and feels, and how many watts a particular pair of poi generates.

Meanwhile, he noticed that his poi started multiplying like Tribbles -- every week there were more of them than in the previous week. Apparently it's unwise to leave too many of them
alone at night in a dark room. Lately they've even been turning into staves and other toys.

Waldemar's interest in photography began after he took a six-week trip through ten European countries in 2001. He received a Nikon SLR as a gift. Initially not knowing what to do with it, he had to figure out what every knob and button does and why it's been put there. Over the next couple years he gradually taught himself the principles of photography. This hobby became an ideal match with fire-dancing, as some of his stunning photos demonstrate.

You can view Waldemar's captivating photos here.