My wife and I own a belly dance studio, and we've decided to start a fire dance troupe. We already have a regular dance troupe, so some of our advanced students will be learning fire dancing. Anyway, I decided a fire breather would be nifty. And, since I love fire, well, you know the rest. Fire! Wooot!
I'm getting into the fire arts as well. Infact, I did my first poi burn the other night!!! I'd really like to branch into fans as well. Those buggers are a little out of my price range for now though.
Mostly, our troupe will be doing torches, staves wands, fans and such, as poi aren't traditional belly dance stuff. I plan on trying poi, as I don't currently belly dance. Got any pictures of yourself with the poi? I love this stuff!
No pics with the poi yet. I'm just starting using the fire so everything I do is really basic and not really pic worthy. Also the fire poi I have is a homemade set and I got my friend to make my first heads only 2" big (tube core style/demin wick) and they don't give off a huge flame that you'd want in a good vid/pic. Of course I was also pretty shy about loading them up with fuel so maybe they could look brighter.... Imma justa learner! Though we're going to be playing with glow toys tonight at practice and maybe I'll get some pics or vid from that. I've always thought fire breathing was neat but after watching Pele's vid on her accident I figured I'd just stick with the flaming skill toys. Seems a good deal safer.
Hey - I was trying to find other fire babies out there some time ago and there was nothing about - I am addicted to my poi!! And desperate to find someone to teach me to fire breathe. If you want to talk poi at any time drop me a line!
Oh God, ain't that the truth. Soooo addicting. If the weather holds up I might go and burn again tonight. I'm getting rather nervous about them though. Being homemade proto-poi there's some stuff we're working out with them but my main concern is the amount of exposed hardware we currently have. I gave myself a good thwack on the bridge of my nose yesterday with the lightest set of sock poi that I have that made me just stop, curl up and hold my face for a minute or two. It was in that moment that I realized if it had been my fire heads my nose would have been shattered. The weapons in question (before the chain got adjusted)
Made an experimental fire knife out of my athame today. Gonna test it out tonight at ritual. We'll be spinning for Yule as well and it's such a perfect day, not even a whisper of a breeze. Woo! Can't wait!
So, after much study and a little instruction, I did my first bit of fire breathing on Monday! Woo-Hoo! What a blast! I'm hooked! The police got called, but the cop who showed up saw we had an extinguisher and other safety equipment, so he just took our names, and then wanted to watch while we did it again. LMAO, the police here are soooo much cooler than CA! Anyhow, we took pictures, but mine didn't turn out. Our digital camera isn't good enough for action pictures, so I'll have to find a friend with a good 35mm. Although, the local newspaper reporter was at my office today, talking about doing a sdtory on our fire troupe, so who knows? I've been working on torch dancing, but I still am at the "smacking myself in the face" phase of it, so I won't be doing any burns just yet. We're supposed to start with the poi week after next.
Awsome! What a rush, eh? I finally got my kevlar in the mail and have been aching to burn but the weather he has either been way too cold or way too windy. It's driving me mad!! That's good that the cops were cool. I've always wondered what would happen if cops showed up at a burn. And the publicity sure didn't hurt, eh?! Glad it's all going well for you!!
Question: I've been wanting to play around with poi for ages, but haven't gotten around to it. I want to make myself some practice poi next time I'm sewing (was probably just going to do it beanbag style with rice or beans for the time being). I don't think I'll have a hard time making them well and sturdy - but I'm wondering how long to make the handles?
IMO some of the best practice poi are just tennis balls in a pair of tube socks - tie a knot in the end. My sown ones are about 19 inches with the knots in 'em. 1 cup bags of rice in each. I had some nickles in the handle bit for a counterweight but I need to find something else more suitable. Actually, it seems my tailed and fire poi are 19-20 inches as well, including the finger loops (but not the poi heads). It's all pretty much relative to your own size. Some folk go by the length of your arm from shoulder to hand or wrist. I just adjust things over and over till it's all feels comfortable.
Right on, that's what I'll do then. I'll probably still do it with beanbags, though, since I can do it that way w/o spending any money! I want to play around and practice for a while before I invest anything... I'ze poor. :&
FIRE BREATHERS WANTED !!!! Following the demise of "Flaming Jim" Henderson, an opportunity has arisen for the post of fire-breather at the head offices of a large corporation in zurich all may apply Flaming Jim Henderson
