ticking down to playa fire
tonight was one of my last fire practices before burning man. i realized that as i was dipping for the third time. it has been a long haul.
i am putting final touches on two pieces: a duet with another hoop and a special irish dance/fire performance combo that i’ve been working on with staff, fans, and poi. add to that regular fire troupe practice to work on the overall conclave performances, like our giant cats cradle flaming rope mandala, and i’ve been practicing regularly two to three times a week for several months.
it makes me very happy to practice consistently on choreographed pieces. when you can ingrain your movements into your subconscious, you can focus on the artistry of the moment instead of trying to remember what you are supposed to do next. i once heard someone say, “your performance is only as good as your practice”. i totally agree.
photo by kylla benes, 2009.
one of the best things i ever did was join a multidisciplinary fire troupe. besides giving me regular access to practice firehooping, the troupe has made it possible to work with other tools like poi and staff. constantly figuring out how to make complementary, engaging, coordinated movements with another tool has given me a much stronger level of hoop control. it has also opened up entirely new ideas for movement. the consistency has brought me to the highest level of comfort i’ve felt with fire to date.
anyway, i’m excited. we have a great troupe this year. we are much more accustomed to working together and are a much tighter unit. everyone has been putting in the practice time and it shows. the last few pre-playa gigs we’ve done have been fantastic.
after the hoop activities on thursday die down, i invite you to come see solar flare and salon soleil’s fire opera at 9pm (camp tetrion, 7:45 and esplanade). there is no opera involved, just lots of great fire spinning tied together by our funny-as-hell frontman. we will also be at 1 o’clock in the fire conclave the night of the burn.
come see what we’ve been practicing.
