Fire Pixie Fire Performance

The Rhythm of Japan

2013-01-27T17:40:00.002-08:00

We are just about halfway through our performances here at Huis ten Bosch, and we've settled into the rhythm. We usually sleep in a bit, until 9:30 or 10, then get up and have tea, make breakfast (on the unbelievably slow and underpowered hot plate) and then do a little wandering during the day - visiting local shrines, exploring the neighborhood, or taking a train trip into town for shopping.

Our work day starts at around 4, when we pedal our bikes into the park and start getting ready for our shows - makeup, lots and lots of stretching, prop repair, etc.

The first show is a mini (solo) at 5, then we've got shows at 6, 7, and 8 and sometimes 9 and 9:40. We all like that they're pretty much back-to-back so there's not a whole lot of waiting around.

We are becoming absolute masters of efficient shake-off and show prep. We can prep all 14 props in about 8 minutes, give or take.

We are also becoming masters of performance in inclement weather. Who needs to be able to feel their fingers while fire dancing? Not us. 30MPH gusting winds during fire eating? Not a problem. Last night I found myself balanced on Darrell's shoulders, leaning waaaay back while a terrifying gust of blizzardy, snowy wind nearly put my fire poi right out. I just smiled and gave the crowd a wink.

The audiences are troopers, huddling in their coats and braving the conditions to see us out there in the storm. It's a little rough on us, though... they clap, with their gloves on, and we can't hear them. They're too cold to cheer and they're all covering their faces so we can't even see them smile. But they stay to the end, so I guess that means they like us.

We pedal home in the moonlight, and the next day we wake up and do it again. The sameness is strange to me. I ran away to the circus partly because I want each day to be different, and here I am, reporting to work at the same time every day, following the same routine. I'm trying to let it relax me. No worries about where to be, no decisions to make, no problem. I must admit, I will be happy to get back to a life where the day of the week actually matters.

It's also fascinating to me how accustomed I'm getting to the absolute weirdness of our environment. Electric disco swans and people in giant tulip costumes no longer get a second glance. It's just Huis ten Bosch.

It's still a challenge, and we're still dragging home exhausted every night, but it's manageable. The main variable of each day is still the weather. Fire dancing in a blizzard is really no fun at all, and if the temperature gets way up into the 50s we all find ourselves grinning like idiots all day long. Muscles and joints are not made for below-zero-acrobatics, and while the heat of the fire helps make it possible for us to do this at all, it's still not much fun in the bitter cold.

Day Trip to Nagasaki

2013-01-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

It's my day off! I just got back from a day trip to Nagasaki. It's about 1 hour and 15 minutes by train from Huis ten Bosch, and I set out this morning with no plan whatsoever. I knew that I did *not* want to go to the Atomic Bomb museum (my heart is too soft and couldn't take that kind of tragedy) but I had no idea where my feet would lead me. I decided to follow them, and see.

It turns out.. I don't really like cities. I've done enough traveling and have seen enough big cities that I fear I'm starting to get a bit jaded. Yes, there are differences, but really when you get down to it, a city is just a city. There's traffic, there are buildings and restaurants and people, and cars and buses and lots of ugly gray corners.

I am drawn, instead, to parks.. to gardens, animals, statues, and green spaces springing hopefully up from amidst the hustle and bustle. When I just let my whims guide me, I wind up at the quiet green spaces in whatever city I am visiting. At the end of the day this makes perfect sense to me, but this morning before I left I couldn't have predicted where I'd go - I think my mind learned something about my heart today.

It's winter, and the green space is mostly brown in Nagasaki, but the life is still there if you look - lots and lots of teensy little dogs, cats, pigeons, turtles, and koi ponds (OH! the koi ponds!). Gardens that are carefully pruned back, with the occasional early rose all alone on the bush. Trees, just starting to think about budding. I realized I can hardly wait until February when the cherry blossoms appear and all Japan turns pink!

I visited the seaside park (wherein there was an absolutely delightful lunch that surprise-included an all-you-can-eat chocolate fountain!), the Peace Park, and having grown up a Glover, how could I miss the "Glover Gardens," Nagasaki's main tourist attraction?

It seems Thomas Glover was quite the man around these parts.. he is responsible for the first Japanese locomotive, Kirin Beer company, and his son built the first paved road in all Japan. They credit him with bringing Nagasaki into the modern era. Great-great-grand-uncle-once-removed perhaps?

It was fascinating to wander through the "western style" house he built and see the juxtaposition of the familiar (I grew up with almost that same wooden hutch.. The rooms are the right size and proportion.. those are almost the exact same stair railings we had.. the building materials make so much sense.. and on and on) superimposed with Japanese land, Japanese gardens, roofs, and koi ponds. Also, the view was fantastic.

The Glover Garden also housed the Nagasaki Performing Arts museum, wherein I learned all about the Kunchi festival (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4411.html). It looks SO awesome. It's in the fall, so I'll miss it this time around, but seeing the actual boats and dragons these guys spin around and toss up into the air was pretty freakin' cool.

Next month they'll be having a Lantern Festival in Nagasaki, and so I may need to go back. Also there may be cherry blossoms to see, and I now realize I probably need to follow those wherever they may bloom. :)

Japan Wanderings, Fractal Malls and Tex-Mex

2013-01-12T17:31:00.001-08:00

It's the weekend! It's actually a 3-day weekend here in Japan. Monday is a national holiday - it's Coming of Age Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_of_Age_Day). Maybe we'll see some Kimonos! Anyway, with the holiday it's been super busy at the park, with huge audiences full of little kids. Little kids are my FAVORITE.. They clap and scream and get wide-eyed with terror and delight. It's awesome, and gives me tons of energy.. which I need, since the show count's back up to 3 full length shows and one mini-show each, every day.

Yesterday morning we ventured out to the mall in Sasebo, in search of a fabric store so I can do some costume repairs. We found it eventually, with some help from our translator-friend Ayaka. I swear, that mall is like a fractal. It's a mile long, and the first couple times you walk through, you think that's it. But when you go into one of the stores you realize that there are stores-within-stores-within-stores, with dead-end escalators and hidden video arcades and restaurants and pharmacies all repeated with precise, uncanny regularity.

Found the fabric at last (and I felt SO at home in the fabric store -- I absolutely love the universal kinship between crafters and sew-ers). After that, we hunted down Mike's, a tex-mex restaurant that caters to the guys from the local American Navy Base. At first we couldn't find it, but after a bit of wandering we decided to ask a "local" so we walked up to the whitest guys with the shortest hair we could find and sure enough, they led us right to it.

To give them credit, the one who'd been here a while tried hard to talk us into the Ramen joint across the street instead ("it's like, cup-o-noodles only WAY better!") but we persisted and relaxed with some delicious-but-not-quite-right chicken tacos with guacamole. Heaven.

We've got another full day today but I'm not as exhausted halfway through the weekend as I was last weekend. This bodes well. It may be that the weather's a few degrees warmer this weekend, or it may be that we're toughening up, or maybe it's the big enthusiastic audiences..or it could possibly be the tacos. Whatever, I'm feeling good today and looking forward to going to work (though I may spend the entire morning in the bath tub first).

Our Commute

Fire Sculpture at the Palace

Fan Dance at the Palace

Fingers at the end of the night. You can tell we're working.

I'm Sorry Darrell!

2013-01-11T16:50:00.002-08:00

Saturday morning and it's beautifully sunny and cold outside. We're a little tired and achey - our show count goes up on the weekends, and that extra few burns really takes it out of me, but there was fresh crab with melted butter for breakfast so that helps.

It's not the fire dancing. The fire dancing is great. Fun, exciting, exhilarating, especially for big excited weekend audiences. It's the cold cold weather, and the "shaking out" - the 20 minutes of prep time before each show, fueling up all the tools and spinning them around vigorously to get the extra gas out before lighting them so it doesn't spray the audience. My body is sick to death of shaking out.

Last night during our 3rd show I didn't shake out quite well enough, and I could feel the little microscopic fuel droplets spraying me as I started our finale choreography. My tired mind started repeating, "don't hit yourself, or you'll catch fire. Don't hit yourself, or you'll catch fire.."

Now, you know what happens when you repeat a mantra like that, yes? You HIT YOURSELF. Or more specifically, you hit your partner. Bang on top of the head, with both wet poi at once. I managed to light almost his entire head on fire with one perfectly-aimed strike.

With flaming poi in my hands, I couldn't do a thing about it either.. except get wide-eyed and start blowing for all I was worth like my 50th birthday cake was lit up in front of me and I was guaranteed to get my wish if I could get them all out. (note to the uninitiated: when you blow on a fire, it.. um.. flares up higher)

The audience ooh'd and aah'd while Darrell calmly reached up and smoothed the fire from his long, flowing red tresses and then grinned at the audience while comically shaking finger at me. His big smile calmed the audience (and ME) down to the point where everyone relaxed, I jumped back into the choreography and we finished the show spot-on.

He's fine. He just got out of the shower and honestly, I can't even tell that I burned off a good portion of his hair. He's not even mad at me as far as I can tell. I feel guilty as hell though.. couldn't sleep too well last night, so I am baring my conscience and begging forgiveness. Darrell, I won't light your head on fire anymore, ok?

Japan Adventures

2013-01-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday there was all sorts of excitement. In the morning,Darrelland I decided to take it easy and take the train to town for some milk and gloves and a Smart Media card. We rode to the Daito station, home of Jusco, our favorite shopping mall, and the train doors didn't open. We waited patiently, and then the train took off and headed for the next station. Aack!

When we got off at the next stop and showed the conductor our tickets he glared at us and told us to WAIT, probably intending that we should get on the next train headed back and not miss our freakin' stop this time. The next train was in 50 minutes, and it was an outdoor station (and freezing and windy).. ugh. We decided instead to walk back to the Daito station.. it couldn't be THAT far.

So much for a relaxing, "take it easy" day..

But it truly wasn't that far. We made it back in about an hour, at approximately the same time as the train, with lots of exploring along the way.

After our shopping misadventures, we came in to the park to do our shows, and at our first big show, Fukai our fire safety told us the second big show (at the Palace) was cancelled that night.

You see, our wicks are BIG. They use a lot of fuel. We conserve as best we can, but we have still been going through 2 1/2 cans of white gas every day. Huis ten Bosch is providing our fuel and they underestimated the amount we'd use. It's been a solid week of holidays over here, and every business but ours is closed, it seems. So, Huis ten Bosch hasn't been able to find us any more fuel. The last couple days we've been scaling back the shows a bit and squeeeeezing every last drop possible out of our wicks before lighting them, to make it last. There was even a note on the fuel can today that said "This is the last can! Please make it last through one big show and two mini shows today. More fuel should arrive tomorrow".

So we squeezed and stretched and saved about 1/3 of the can for the two mini shows, and then decided to go out for coffee with our unexpected time off. We headed back to the dressing room and then got a call from our manager - "Where are you?? Your Palace show starts in 8 minutes!"

Turns out the left hand wasn't talking to the right hand.. they'd stashed away some more fuel at the Palace and the audience was gathered, expecting a show.

By this time Sequoia had gone home for the night, and it was Shaina's day off.. so Darrell and I grabbed our stuff and hauled ass for the Palace (3/4 mile away). We got there, soaked our tools in record time, and pulled off our 4-person show with just the two of us, starting only 6 minutes behind schedule.

Luckily the stage at the palace is small, so we were able to fill it fairly well. I don't know if the audience could tell that we were missing half the troupe. :)

There's a quick-change after the palace show, and we were already running behind, so we grabbed our stuff and RAN back to the van, which pealed out and took us to the fire canal, where we soaked and were ready to go for the mini shows with 3 minutes to spare. (One thing I LOVE about the Japanese - they are as ridiculously punctual as I am!)

Nothing like the unexpected to kick your adrenaline back into gear. :)

Huis ten Bosch explorings, and Darrell's day off

2013-01-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Darrell's day off, so we had a "girls only" day at the park. I went in a little early and did some wandering, found where the good cheese is sold, (I may be in the only place in all Japan where one can find quality gruyere and smoked gouda) and checked out the docks during the daytime. Huis ten Bosch sure is an odd place.

Our shows went pretty well - it was fun subbing for Darrell, and getting my "badass masculine" on. (I don't think I can do it quite like he does though) Doing a 4-person show with just 3 people is a little bit challenging, but we're all really versatile dancers and I think we pulled it off with just a little bit of rough around the edges.

Our schedule and show location keeps changing around every day, but at least we're on a "normal" schedule of two big shows and one mini-show apiece now. Last night our final mini shows were done on a little island floating in the canal, and as we finished the show we lit up a whole bunch of little fire pots to fill the whole canal with fire. According to the excitement on everyone's faces afterwards, I guess it was pretty spectacular. We really dug dancing on the little island too.

Today is my day off!! I shall get a massage, perhaps visit the hot pools at the Lorelei hotel across the way, and if I have the energy, perhaps go into town and explore a little bit.

I'm trying to take photos for y'all, but my iPhone screen has gone kaput. Even Darrell's best efforts can't fix it. The phone still functions as a camera, if I can navigate to the camera app "in the dark" (which I can!), but there's no viewfinder so I just don't know what I'm gonna get, and I don't have the ability to turn the flash on and off. So! You'll have to go to Sequoia for quality pics. For now, here are a couple blind snapshots that turned out not-too-bad after all. :)

Hot Rum & Coke?

Our Local Pirate Ship

Our Local .. Ummm.. ?

BRILLIANT. Why don't we do it this way in America?

The Palace Gardens at Night

Japan Day 6

2013-01-04T20:44:00.003-08:00

We've been here at Huis ten Bosch for a week now and are starting to feel the rhythm of our routine. Today's show schedule is the same as yesterday's show schedule, and that's the first time that's happened - the week after New Year's is a major holiday week for the Japanese, so everything and everyone has been running on overdrive. Our bodies are begging for rest, but we're all fit enough that I'm confident we'll make it through the next couple days. We will all be glad when Monday rolls around and our daily show count goes from 7 down to 3.

The intense schedule has us making little mistakes.. singed hair and eyebrows, mini burns on hands and arms - nothing major, thank goodness, but enough to put us on our guard. Yesterday I misplaced my fire hula hoop wicks, and had to borrow Sequoia's fans to sub for the hoop solo during one of our shows. (Darrell found them before the next show, earning 10,014 brownie points and a gold star) That put me a bit off balance, and then one of my poi handles caught fire during that show's finale and I had to finish the choreography with just one poi. That's NOT easy, folks.

I dropped it in time to save my knuckle skin, so I'm ok.. but we've had multiple instances of handles catching fire. I think it's the combination of the slightly different fuel we're using and the sheer volume of shows - the handles never have a chance to fully dry and breathe. On my first day off, I believe I shall attempt to make some spare handles so we can rotate them out.

So, we still haven't had much time to explore either the park or the surrounding area, but we start getting days off next week so that will come. This weekend is all about head-down and pushing through to Monday.

Japan - Day 4

2013-01-03T05:43:00.000-08:00

Today was a lighter show day - only 5 shows instead of 7. We are very much appreciating the break, and took advantage of the shorter work day to have an epic shopping trip (hot plate! yes! no more microwaved fish!) and to go see a delightful magic show (fire illusionist FTW). Also I got a wonderful massage, wherein they shiatsu-ed the tightness away and then encased my legs in the fabulous Leg Massage Machine, which squeezed and squeezed and squeezed until I was in absolute heaven. These cobblestone streets do take their toll on the ol' feet.

Tomorrow we will (hopefully) get our loaner bikes, which will give us a bit more freedom to explore. We've got a heavier show schedule for the weekend but then it lightens up again for the weekdays, and we'll also start getting to take days off fairly soon. I think we're all a bit wiped out and in need of a rest, but our show keeps getting better and better.

It's an interesting phenomenon.. as our show gets tighter, we seem to get more dissatisfied with it. New interactions emerge, we get more laughs and more applause, and we really start to notice all the bits that don't work as well as they could. We'll absolutely ROCK a piece of one show, and if it's back to "normal" at the next show we feel like failures.

We're also feeling the effects of oh-so-many shows and starting to get a lot of singed hair and mini burns, especially on our hands. When the weather is really cold outside, that also takes its toll. I'm impressed with everyone's resilience and grateful that our bodies work so very well -- in spite of minor things like burns and illness and below-freezing weather we are still jumping around, doing acrobatics and playing with fire. My troupe members RULE!

This first week is the most demanding of the whole run. Soon we'll settle into a comfortable routine and have a little time to relax, enjoy, and explore. For now it's all about getting through the weekend.. and I have absolute faith that we're gonna rock it.

New Year's Eve in Japan-sterdam

2012-12-31T19:34:00.001-08:00

We survived our first and most difficult day of performances.. it's all downhill from here.

Yesterday was New Year's Eve. It started out with a relaxing morning wherein I finished my first drawing and hung it on the wall. I'm unreasonably proud of it.

After a walk to the Family Mart (our local 7-11 type store) and some apartment yoga, we headed over to the park. We had 7 shows yesterday - each of the 4 of us had a solo set, and we had three ensemble stage shows to do. That's a lot of shows, but it's only 4 shows each, and it probably works out to about 45 minutes of stage time apiece.

Totally do-able.. until you take into account that the stages are each about a 3/4 mile from our dressing room, in different directions.

I went to all 7 shows yesterday, and did a little extra exploring, and I wouldn't be surprised if I walked 8-10 miles all told. That, on top of actually performing (and our shows are incredibly high-energy), and I'm pretty beat. It seems to be a great way to get past the last of the jet lag, however - yesterday pounded us FLAT and so today I slept in until 10:30 am instead of waking up at 3 or 4 am. I'm so proud.

At Sunset, there was a teaser fireworks show as all the lights in the park came on. At midnight, Huis ten Bosch put on the biggest, most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen. Our dressing room is on the third floor of a building that looks out right over the harbor and our view was fantastic. At several points during the show I couldn't help just shouting and cheering.. so delightful!

Our ensemble fire show is looking good - still a little rough around the edges, but we're getting choreography and transitions worked out and every time we perform it's a little bit better.

The solo shows all look incredible. I loved watching everyone get out there and do what they do best. All our performers have very different styles, and watching the solo shows was really inspiring. I can't quite figure out to describe the feeling it gives me.. perhaps it's like a cookie. If the sugar, the chocolate chips and the butter are all delicious and fresh, it's a joy to let the combined flavors mingle on my tongue. Understanding the quality and distinctiveness of each ingredient makes the whole just that much sweeter.

Our first stage show featured an unexpected exploding fire pot, wherein the pressure inside the little oil lamp built up and exploded the wick up into the air with a dramatic fire ball right when Sequoia and Shaina were bending over it to light their tools. We blame the unfamiliar Japanese fuel - nothing like this has ever happened in 10 years of using that pot. (everyone was mostly OK)

Our second stage show started in the rain and finished in the freezing snow. Thank heavens it wasn't terribly windy. We only lost about half the audience when the snow / sleet started coming down in earnest. These people are troopers.

Our third stage show (1:00 am) was delayed for about 5 minutes because an absolutely adorable young Japanese couple commandeered our stage for a super romantic and silly marriage proposal. That was lovely. The temperature at that show, at our best guess, was -3 C. Could have easily been colder.

Photo by Sequoia

In spite of all the challenges.. yesterday was magical. The park is illuminated with what must be millions of lights, and the walk through the Art Garden to get to one of our stages is nothing short of astonishing. The photos just don't do it justice.. the light sort of flows and waves across the ground, and the canal reflects everything around it, and everyone's just walking around with their mouths hanging open.

Our other stage location, at the Palace, has an enormous lotus-type fire sculpture and fields of torches, and the whole place radiates fire and heat and beauty (and smoke, but who's complaining?).

Everyone is incredibly nice, helpful, and doing their best to make each day a great experience for everyone else. It's hard, but it's working. And it's only going to get easier.

We've got the same number of shows today but won't have to pull such a late night, for which I am grateful. We're hoping to catch some of the other acts at the park before they wrap up at the end of the week. And did I mention that it was SOO good to be able to sleep in this morning? :)

Japan - Arrival

2012-12-29T11:30:00.001-08:00

We've arrived! Fire Pixie is performing for the winter season at Huis ten Bosch theme park in southern Japan.

The trip out was pretty grueling, almost 24 hours all told to get here. We are staying in a teensy apartment complex (the apartments are teensy, not the complex) just across the river from the park. We got in late last night and crashed, then woke up to find the full moon setting over the hills and the sky lightening with a beautiful misty dawn.

Yesterday we got our performance schedule and took a tour of the park, visiting all our different stage locations and moving into our dressing room. We're going to be performing either 2 or 3 full length shows each day, plus 3-4 "mini-shows" - basically 10-minute solo shows. The first few days are going to be nuts, as we'll be packing as many shows in as possible for the New Year holiday. However, our first show each day isn't until about 4:30 pm, which is sort of awesome.. we will have day times to do whatever we please.

The rest of yesterday was taken up with shopping. The park is under new management, and the amenities aren't quite what they were last time - our little apartment is pretty bare-bones. We have no plates, silverware, chop sticks, towels, or cookware for our teensy kitchenette. There was no food or tea on the first morning, and not even a cup to drink water from. We do have a sink, a microwave and a mini-fridge. The walls are barren, the lighting is harsh and fluorescent, and the bed is a narrow twin that Darrell and I both have to squeeze into. (good thing we like to snuggle)

I will admit, dragging into this sad little place after 24 hours of travel had me pretty disheartened. I miss my hanging fairy bed and my giant bathtub and my well-appointed kitchen! I miss my cat. I miss waking up in my comfortable familiar surroundings with my comfortable familiar routine. I miss all that way more than I thought I would - way more than I feel I should. When did I get so set into my ways?

"The powerful odor removal effect will not make you feel uneasy"

But, after shopping today things are getting a little more homey. Thank heavens for Daiso - the 100-yen store that has EVERYTHING. Why aren't our dollar stores this awesome??? I got some art supplies, some cozy slippers, a soft area rug and some scented candles and the place is feeling better already. I'm going to make some crazy art and decorate the heck out of this institutional little cubby.

Of course, having things like tea, and a mug to drink it from (as well as my very own bottle of sake) doesn't hurt either. :)

Today is rehearsals all day long, then we begin performances on Monday (NYE). I'm quite looking forward to it - here's hoping the weather holds.

Orbiting

2012-07-17T08:38:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to share a link to this blog post by Andrea Knox in Wellington, NZ. She's an amazing innovator and performer, and the inventor of the flyweight chains she's performing with in the video linked to this post.

SO beautiful! And, I got to play on the flyweight chains while visiting Wellington and they're even more fun than they seem!

SubZero Festival with the South Bay Circus Arts Collective

2012-06-05T09:55:00.002-07:00

Last Friday night I had the opportunity to perform with the South Bay Circus Arts Collective at the SubZero street festival in downtown San Jose.

What a fantastic night! We set up the aerial rig right in the middle of the festival and did aerial performances throughout the night as well as ground acts - stilt walkers, jugglers, whip crackers and belly dancers all made an appearance.

It was so much fun to perform for this crowd! The SubZero festival is an art festival, and there were artists of all types and art-appreciators of all types too. It was not a crowd that was steeped in Circus arts, so what we were doing was really new to a lot of people and the audiences were so enthusiastic and fun, and so appreciative.

We got a lot of interest in the Circus Collective. Also, this was my first outdoor tissu performance - the rig is fairly new and while I've had the chance to practice on it, this was the first opportunity I've had to actually perform. Performing outside sure is different! The wind blows the tissu around a bit, and the view from the top is especially distracting.. I would climb up, drop into a pose and just smile as I gazed out at the sea of people extending down the street in both directions.

We got some great video which is STILL rendering (yay for new high-res video cameras, but boo for lack of appropriate processing power).. for now, here are a few stills.. enjoy!

Fire Walking for the Guinness Book of Records in Wellington

2012-04-30T10:14:00.001-07:00

The Fire Pixie team has returned safely and successfully from our New Zealand trip. Such good times.

We spent the second week of our trip in Queenstown and the South Island, having adrenaline rushes and looking at gorgeous scenery, and then headed back to Wellington in time for a world record attempt at Fire Walking.

The fire was Huge!

Neither of us had ever tried fire walking before - in the San Francisco area it usually comes with a weekend-long seminar and a hefty price tag - and so we jumped at the chance to do it in Wellington for a $20 donation (much of which went to charity).

We dressed up in our flamey pants and headed out there at around 10:00 am to register.

There were hundreds of people there all geared up to walk across the coals (though we were the only ones in costume. Had this event been in San Francisco, *everyone* would have been in costume, I think). The fire took a couple hours to burn down to manageable coals so we hung around and watched the local performers and basically jumped up and down a lot and got all excited.

When the coals were ready, we headed over (we were first in line, oh yeah). We bared our feet and wiggled our toes in the mud and tried not to be too nervous.

We sort of expected to be given some direction.. do we need to step light? Step down hard? Should we have wet feet? Be in a trance? But no.. the organizers just lined us up and said "go."

The fire was four steps across. Darrell took it like a superhero:

As for me.. well, I walked calmly for the first two steps and then it got HOT so the last couple steps were more like a little skip and hop and then WHOOSH I plunged my feet into the tub of water they had waiting at the other end.

So yes. It was hot! They were real coals. It was exciting. And yes, we got burned - Darrell got a bit of a blister on his toe and Andrea, who was walking with us, got a couple blisters on one of her feet. I seemed to get off easy with just a reddish patch on the bottom of my left arch. We all headed across the street and put our feet in Wellington Harbor immediately afterwards, which felt amazing.

And it turns out we DID make the Guinness Book of Records - for the most consecutive fire walkers. We also made the Wellington local paper: We're famous now!

New Zealand Fire & Aerial Show Photos

2012-04-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

Some photos and video from our shows here in New Zealand!

Fire Show Photos

This one is my favorite:

...and a (dark-ish) video of my aerial performance! Enjoy!

Fire Pixie in New Zealand

2012-04-13T21:50:00.002-07:00

I'm in New Zealand! So far it's been awesome.

We had a mostly uneventful flight in spite of some Southwest screwups (which the subsequently fixed with no harm done). I discovered that Ambien on the plane is just about the best thing EVAR and I'm never flying a long long way without it, ever again. :)

We're staying with my friend Josh just outside Wellington. He's got an awesome crazy industrial warehouse space converted into ManCave(tm) and we've got a little Pixie Lair set up in one corner. This means I've got a kitchen and unlimited internet access, which is awesome. He's also got an aerial rig point, 3 Tesla coils of varying sizes, a theremin, a vastly overpowered hand-built electric go-cart, and an incredible vast array of geek paraphernalia. (Yesterday he spent the afternoon making his own screws)

Josh is Mr. Google New Zealand, and used to be our Fire Safety guy when he lived in the bay area. Incredibly interesting people keep dropping by. He's friends with what he assures me is most of the circus community here in Wellington, and now we're friends with them too and planning a day of fun and circus training tomorrow, followed by a fire jam on Tuesday night. Yay, Circus People!!

Last night Josh had a party at which we performed. I did my newest tissu piece, which went off without a hitch despite the alarming proximity of a built-in bookcase with very pointy corners and the fact that I was on an unfamiliar and VERY stretchy tissu. Evidently that's just how they are, down here. Like, you reach up as high as you can and take your first climb, and you find you are still standing on the ground. I had to do a few modifications to some of the moves I was doing (on a stretchy tissu you can't just "grab higher" on the pole because as soon as you let go it rockets upwards and you reach but then end up grabbing *lower*) but with a little practice, it worked out just fine.

Andrea (the tissu artist whose tissu I was using) did a performance next which was gorgeous, and then we did our fire show and it was really well-received. The rest of the night was meeting all Josh's fascinating and highly geeky friends. It was a perfect mix of wacky circus people and geeky tech people, which really works better than you'd think. :)

We've got plans to hang around Wellington this week and then visit the south island next week, where we will take plane rides and go canyoning and possibly bungee jump and ride the luge and have all kinds of lovely adventures.

YAY new Zealand!

Free Standing Aerial Rig - First time assembly!

2012-03-30T11:22:00.001-07:00

A week or so ago my aerial partner Miriam ordered and received a brand-new free standing aerial rig from Trapezerigging.com. We found a day that wasn't too rainy and headed over to her place to unpack it and assemble it. SO MUCH FUN

It's like a giant swing set! A *giant* swing set!

Which piece goes where?

Set up at the 14' height

It's up! Installing the tissu

Woo Hoo! It's working!

I had to try it too

The web site claims that 2 people can assemble this rig in about 10 minutes. There were 3 of us, and it took us about an hour, but that includes unpacking time and head-scratching time and a space that was juuuuuust barely big enough for the rig. The base requires 24x28 feet of space, which is just about the exact size of the yard we were in, so there was a little bit of wiggling and scrunching to get it to fit right.

It was incredibly easy to put together. I think having 3 people is probably the way to go, but could have done it with 2 in a pinch.

Its height is 18.5 feet maximum, and it can be assembled at 14 feet by leaving out one of the pole sections. The rig is incredibly well designed, and will be really easy to take apart for transport. It will fit in a midsized car (if it's just the rig and the driver), at least, we *think* it will. Haven't tested that yet.

So .. bring on the outdoor summertime aerial shows! We are equipped!

Las Amigas del Fuego - New Tissu Routine

2012-03-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

I love doing aerial tissu. I love it when I've been doing regularly for a good long while and I'm feeling strong, and most especially I love it when I'm working on a new choreographed piece. Regular practice is fun, but working towards a goal is just SO much more satisfying.

Right now I am choreographing a piece I'll be performing in New Zealand (!!!) for our upcoming trip in April. It's about a 4 minute piece, choreographed to Las Amigas del Fuego, which is an original song by my hubby Darrell. I sing harmonies on the song too, so this piece just feels creative all the way down to the roots.

It's got a bit of a flamenco "feel" to it, so I'm learning a few flamenco "florellos" and planning on working up a flamenco-inspired costume. Maybe I need a rose in my teeth. Hmmm.

I'm at the stage where I've got all the moves I want to do, and I'm hammering out timing and synching with the music, and adding in flair and dance-y stuff.. and this morning, for the very first time, I completed the entire routine (including ending drop) in time with the music! This is SO exciting, especially considering how a week or two ago I couldn't even get halfway through the choreography without gasping and losing grip and falling out of the tissu.

Don't get me wrong.. I've got some good stamina, but learning a new routine is taxing on so many levels that one often forgets to do things like "breathe". And I'm incorporating two rather scary moves, a dive and a drop - and that fear of letting go never seems to wane completely.

Still: I made it through!! YAY! Now it's time for tweaks and polishing and costume design.. and soon, performance!

Cirque du Soleil and inspiration

2012-03-10T10:56:00.003-08:00

Yesterday being Darrell's birthday, I took him out to (an unfortunately mediocre) dinner and then to see Totem, the Cirque du Soleil show that's playing in San Jose.

There was nothing mediocre about Totem.

OH I loved it. I had a smile of absolute delight on my face from the opening act all the way through to the very end. The costumes! The music! The impossible feats performed in front of my very eyes!!! Oh, I loved it. Yes, I did.

This morning, instead of going to the gym, I stayed in and worked on my aerial tissu. I started choreographing a new piece to Las Amigas del Fuego (which is a kickass original song by Darrell). We've been kicking around "music video" ideas for this song for ages, and I've also been wanting to choreograph to it, and it seems that everything is starting to come together nicely.

I worked for an hour and 45 minutes and I have maybe the first 3rd of it sketched out, with ideas about the middle and the end. I'm doing a dive! I've always been afraid of dives. I also feel like the choreography is already really unique. I'm at the point in tissu where I am knowledgeable enough that I can come up with new transitions and stylings for moves, and have even made up a couple new moves over the last few months. (New to me, probably someone somewhere has done them before, but I still think that counts)

Next week my aerial partner is getting a freestanding rig (!!!!!!!!!) and so here's hoping that she wants to take it to lots of fun places and rig a tissu on it and play with me this summer!

Purim Fire Dance Show

2012-03-09T11:37:00.001-08:00

Last night we did a fire show for a local Synagogue to celebrate Purim. Since I'm not Jewish, I didn't know much about this holiday. I'd heard it was a rather fun one. Last year one of my Jewish friends brought me cookies, called Hamantaschen which was OK with me (cookies are always ok with me) and I'd heard that this is a drinking holiday.

I didn't realize it was also a costume holiday! We got to the venue and more than half the audience were dressed in silly costumes. Costumes, drinking and cookie delivery? This is my kinda holiday.

We did the show in our Renaissance costumes (that costume always makes me feel so twirly) and we fit right in. There were dozens and dozens of Princesses (of all ages), people dressed as food (notably a whole family dressed as pizza slices and a VERY cute little 2 year-old cupcake), people dressed as Esther and King David to celebrate the meaning behind the holiday, and a fair smattering of ninja, jedi, hippies, and the like. There were also a lot of people dressed as Italians - an Italian bike racer, an Italian dancer, Italian gangsters, and Italian Renaissance costumes. Also there were two kids dressed as soldiers from the Israeli Special Forces.

I love these little slices of life and culture I get to witness as a performer. :) The San Francisco Bay Area is awesome. Happy Purim everyone!

Mermaid Oracle at Pantheacon 2012

2012-02-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I got to play the Mermaid Oracle at the Pagan Alliance's "Vampirates" party at Pantheacon in San Jose.

This was my first time visiting Pantheacon and I had a really wonderful time. The Pagan Alliance folks were wonderful and hospitable - and they had the best party in the whole convention!

I was set up in the gigantic bath tub in my swimming tail, which had been decorated with all kinds of mermaid-y stuff and looked fabulous. I sat in the tub, splashing people, telling fortunes, blowing bubbles and being wooed by pirates. It was a fabulous night!

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the fortune telling / oracle aspect of this gig. I hadn't ever done fortune telling before. Nobody expected "serious" fortune telling or true oracular ability, of course, so I just decided to keep it silly and fun. After all, a mermaid who's allowed herself to be captured and confined to a bathtub in San Jose can't be *that* all-knowing, right?

But the very first "client" I spoke to had a semi-serious question.. will my son be happy? I looked back at her and opened my mouth.. and the words that came out left tears of emotion rolling down her face. (I made her cry?? Wow.. that was unexpected..) But they were tears of gratitude.. it seems she had simply needed someone to listen to her and believe in her, and.... well, if a magical creature such as a mermaid believes in you, then you're gonna be okay, right?

I answered so many questions throughout the night - serious ones, silly ones, irreverent ones and flirty ones, and I actually felt like a few of the people got some real answers. Is perhaps the value of an oracle simply a sounding board? A magical-seeming echo of our own thoughts, stirred around in the sea and repeated back to us with a more confident tone?

Or, is it simply that when we open up and ask for advice from a stranger, we get a new perspective on our problems?

Whatever the reason, this was a great party, a unique experience and a delightful crowd. I hope I get to do it again next year!

Light Shows with Flow Toys

2012-02-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

It's wintertime, and the weather is iffy, so we find ourselves doing a lot of light shows this time of year. Light shows can be done indoors, so, no worrying about fire permits or ventilation, and they're fun to watch and pretty mesmerizing.

We use a variety of light toys for spinning, but our favorites are from Flow Toys. Their lights are recognized as the best by just about every light dancer I know, and are used by most of the troupes and larger circus groups in the Bay Area.

They've got loads of different configurations and LOTS of pretty colors. These toys were designed from the ground up by professional light dancers, so they really meet the demands that performers put on them - they're reliable and sturdy and bright and really flexible.

My heart belongs to fire, but if I am spinning lights, I love me some Flow Toys.

Fire Pixie in New Zealand April 11-30, 2012

2012-01-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

Fire Pixie is traveling to New Zealand and we are ALL kinds of excited. It's a trip for both business and pleasure.. we will be visiting some friends, making connections for clothing sales, and doing as much fire dancing as we can handle.

We will be based in Wellington but traveling all around the country. We've got one performance lined up at a fantastic private party, and would love to bring our firey firey fire show to more Kiwis. So let's do this!

Fire Pixie is a professionally run fire dance troupe which performs at a wide variety of venues in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. We present different styles of fire performance, from tribal, hand-drum driven shows to beautiful flamenco-style dance to polynesian luau fire shows - whatever fits the mood of your party.

We are extremely safety-conscious and insured for up to $2M. Our show has been featured all over the globe - we have wowed audiences in Japan, Bermuda, Brazil, Hawaii, Thailand and Jamaica as well as all over the USA. We're high-end and professional, but giving very low rates for shows in New Zealand - we really want to perform for you!

If you'd like to book us for a show, or are curious about whether we'd be right for your party please fill out our rate request form or contact us at 510.367.4517.

Chinese New Year Aerial Circus Show

2012-01-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

Fire Pixie Entertainment Presents

Dragonflight

A Multi-Cultural Circus Show for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is known as "Spring Festival," marking the end of the winter season. 2012 ushers in the Year of the Dragon.

Our show begins with traditional storytelling, steeped in the history and culture of China and the mythical animals of the years - dragons, rabbits, monkeys and many more take turns influencing the year's events.

Next, our performers will present an aerial dance circus performance, "Dragonflight" - a story of fantasy and dragons that will astonish the audience and captivate their imaginations as they watch the dancers climb and soar through the air.

We finish the show by answering questions and educating the audience about the circus tradition and the Chinese New Year tradition.

Requirements & Logistics

30-40 minutes from start to finish
$500 for one performance, $700 for 2 performances in the same day
Perfect for elementary or middle school aged kids -We tailor the show to the age group
Sound system and $2MM performer's insurance is included

Rigging Requirements

15-25 foot ceilings required
We can rig from an eye bolt or an exposed support beam
Site inspection for rigging is included

Contact Us if you want more information or if you would like to check availability and book!

Erin St. Blaine
510.367.4517
info@firepixie.com
www.firepixie.com

New Year's Eve Aerial & Fire & Belly Dancing

2012-01-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

For NYE 2011, Fire Pixie was booked at the India Community Center in Milpitas to put on a New Year's Eve circus show. We rocked the house!

Opening act was a belly dance solo by Miriam. I absolutely love her fluttery fabric fans..

Our second act was an aerial tissu duet featuring Miriam and me. I was all kinds of excited about this. I've never done aerial for such a huge venue before and I was nervous as all get out.
We put together a new duet for this show.. the storyline was of a dragonrider and her dragon meeting and flying together. It was choreographed to original music by Darrell, my hubby and partner in crime. There's something so exciting about working together with a musician.. the music and the dance can grow organically together so that they fit together like legos. If the dance calls for a pause or a crash, the music can change to support it, and if the music calls for a legato section we can add that into the dance. It's a fluid kind of creation and frankly, kind of a rush. (More about making the costumes over at Fire Pixie Fashion)

Since it was a new piece, we'd had a "preview party" at my house the week before the performance, so we could perform it in front of an audience before the big show on NYE. This upped my confidence level enormously. And it really worked! I had the jitters until I heard the first drumbeats of the music start, and then found myself transported to that magical timeless flow state, flying through the routine effortlessly, spinning and dancing, climbing and dropping, connecting with the audience.

Moments like that are magical. This is why I choose this kind of life.

See the whole photo set here

After the show, the adrenaline rush took us right through the last set of the night, the fire show. I'll be honest.. we've done so many fire shows of this type that we don't even bother taking pictures anymore.. but we pulled it off with our usual aplomb and then made it back to Miriam's in time for a new year's champagne toast.

Happy New Year! I want to hear about your NYE adventures too!

New Year's Eve Body Paint

2012-01-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

I got so excited about the aerial dance we did on NYE that I completely forgot to post about the body painting I did that night. This was for a schwanky party down in the South Bay at a gorgeous mansion. They'd turned one of their many rooms into a dance club a-la Studio 54, and the lights around the grounds outside were tremendously beautiful. My contribution was painting Lady Liberty, who was positioned in the center of a round table right in the entrance hall. She was delightful!