Ireland's first Street Performance World Championship takes place in Dublin this weekend. Ten performers, picked from the international stage by organisers Mark Dukbenfield and Conor McCarthy, will be competing in Merrion Square at the weekend.
Having given up their jobs as computer scientists, Mr Dukbenfield and Mr McCarthy set up Emergent Events 13 months ago and began creating the festival. "I was watching performers in Temple Bar and I thought 'here's something people want to see'," Mark Dukbenfield explained. "We had no experience and no business background, but we had an idea and went from there."
Already this week, hundreds of people have been watching the Australian Space Cowboy's "warm-ups" on South King Street. The sword-swallowing, fire-juggling unicyclist began performing at the age of eight.
Husband-and-wife act YoYo People, from Boston, will also be taking part. They have been "walking the dog" and perfecting multiple yo-yo loops together for five years and have taken part in street festivals across the world. All events are free but people are urged to come early as Merrion Square has a maximum capacity of 5,000 people.