Are You A FOODIE?

The ART in FIRE

Feature – The ART in FIRE

By Nicholas Chace (Fire’s Edge), Hope Elvert (Amazon) and Nick Davenport ( Mezzamorphic)
Photos by Lucas Davenport

The roar of the fire as it is being danced in the art of poi is empowering. This element which sometimes is only seen as destructive has suddenly become tame and beautiful.  Fire is so mysterious and intriguing, and then to add the element of dance makes it even more interesting. When you gaze into a camp fire and take in the wild blazing heat and light that is emitted, that same blaze becomes astonishing once the fire is danced, it suddenly transforms into an art form that reflects the universe.
Throughout the Valley and beyond, the interest in this inspiring fire dance called Poi is growing in popularity. Fire performers are now being seen in recent films, commercials,  performing at Renaissance Fairs or practicing in local parks and have drawn crowds young and old.
Poi began over a thousand years ago with the indigenous Maori tribes of New Zealand, where Wahine (female) dancers would perform to drums and music while rhythmically swinging a ball on cord or rope. The poi dance was originally used by the Maori women for keeping their hands flexible for weaving while the men used poi for training and building strength and coordination that was required during rigorous battles. Poi was also used as a training aid for other ancient weapons like the Mere or Patu (Short club). Within the past 50 years, the western culture and places around the world have made it into an art form of dance for the body and mind, very much like yoga or meditation, but at a much more intense level.

Proper technique and safety is of the utmost importance since the substance used to create the dance is fire.  Many movements in poi are simple and can be understood or performed by a beginning student while other movements take time and dedication to master. Each technique that is learned becomes a stepping stone to understand the many other movements or tricks associated with them. After you learn the movements and their correlation around your body you begin to transition or link each move together in a form of dancing. Each dance and performance can become uniquely your own as new moves are performed and your own style is developed. Each person develops their own unique style as the techniques start to be mastered and the motor skills are developed. Style can be anything from energizing to mesmerizing or even flirtatious. The style of the individual makes poi more than just a dance; it makes an art with one’s body and mind.
The three of us (Nicholas Chace, Nicholas Davenport, and Hope Elvert) from Visalia recently traveled to the Fire Drums event held at Cutter Boy Scout Reservation located in the amazing Santa Cruz Mountains to learn more about the art of poi and related dances. Four Hundred students and teachers gathered together at the event to learn and share their skills, tricks, and ideas that have added to their own progress as artists. Many performance props such as juggling clubs, contact staff, hula hoops, and fans were just a taste of the possibilities which one could apply the art form. There was a sense of excitement and camaraderie with everyone, as if every person you met was a best friend you had not seen in years. Throughout the three day event, lessons were planned to help those that were new to many of these props and had an interest to learn as well as those that had reached more advanced techniques and wanted to expand on what they had already achieved.
Tents and classes stretched over the most beautiful scenery of the tallest trees in the United States. While lessons were taking place during the day, people donated a couple of hours of their time to keep the events running smoothly and make sure everyone was well fed. Community meals were shared in the lodge where everyone gathered around the tables to talk of what they had learned or share stories about things they enjoyed. The activities ran late into the evenings with a giant pit of fires and dancers. Exciting performances were presented by many well known dancers in the fire community such as Fire Groove of Hollywood,   Zan &Aurora, Burning Dan and more.  Many people who were just spinning fire for the first time and the professional performances were all incredible in this amazing setting.  Each show introduced new styles of dance, props and routines to excite the viewers and stir the creative imagination in others. Drummers, bands and DJ’s each took the stage to set the mood for the fire spinners out on the dance pit.
Here are our personal stories on our journey with fire:
As a ceramics major in college, I, Nicholas Chace aka Fires Edge ( we all have “fire names” in our troupe)  have always been intrigued with fire but never considered fire as a performance medium.  In June of 2009, I saw a booth at the Visalia Art in the Alley set up by Nicholas Davenport (Mezzamorphic) offering lessons to everyone interested in Poi or using different props that would lead to performing with fire. I chose to begin with poi and within a short amount of time and practice, I was able to understand the basic movements needed to progress. It took me many months of practice to feel comfortable with my skills before spinning with the element of fire added.
The feeling invoked when I first lit up was a mixture of fear and excitement. I had never tried anything like it before. The sound of the fire spinning around my body was so loud it would drown out the music and cheers. I didn’t know any amazing movements to wow my friends but began to dance and spin as if I was the only one there. I have learned much since then but what I have gained the most was confidence within myself. I am no longer the person I once was. While learning and breaking down each movement in poi, I have done the same to everyday tasks in my life. The challenges that were once difficult to understand became easier when simplifying each task within the problem and not taking the challenge on as a whole. The movements of the poi have even become a part of my ceramic work as well. I am using patterns I see and creating glazed ceramic art with them. The fire community has helped my own growth physically, spiritually, and as an artist, I now realize the possibilities within me are endless.
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As a student of dance and art, I Hope Elvert (Amazon), was attracted to the art of poi from the first time I saw it. Honestly, my boyfriend, Mezzamorphic, Nick Davenport, and I started out over six years ago just spinning glow sticks on the end of a rope. The interest just became a passion and love for poi but it also stimulated my love of dancing in different styles from belly dance, modern dance, even jazz and ballet for the past few years.  Having the dance background knowledge is helpful but is not required. Creating my style came naturally once I learned the technicalities and developed my motor skills, I just feel beautiful dancing with fire. Fire adds a mysterious edge to the everyday dance. The first time I spun fire was about four years ago and to tell you the truth it was frightening. Even after spinning for a couple of years suddenly when it’s on FIRE, all your “tricks” go out the window.   You feel like a deer in the headlights at first. The fire is so close and hot and powerful.  You start with the basics spinning forward then spinning backwards and as your comfort level grows, you just “do your thing” and that is to dance! Fire just feels like a part of me these days and when I mention to friends or acquaintances that I dance with fire they are astonished. I get a surprised expression and “what, you dance with fire?” then a “please explain”.   This beautiful art of fire dancing is still not very well known because if I were to say I belly dance an image would appear of a belly dancer with chimes in her fingers dancing to the sound of a tribal orchestra.   Our mission as fire dancers and performances with poi is not only to bring beautiful dancing to local events such as weddings, birthdays, fundraisers, and even just parties, it is to bring awareness  about the art of poi, dance and fire spinning to locals around the Central Valley. We love to teach and share our knowledge of dancing with props with the potential of lighting it on fire. We want people to know what this art is and not be scared or frightened but embrace it , learn from it, and even become a part of it yourself. It really is empowering to dance with fire not to mention the exciting beauty it brings to entertaining.
My adventure with poi began over six years ago. I’m Nick Davenport, or Mezzamorphic in the fire world. I became interested after a friend introduced it to me with glow sticks on strings.  At the time I had no idea what I was getting myself into or where this adventure would lead. I progressed slowly from glow sticks and shoe laces – nothing fancy was needed to create and spin an incredible picture of lights.  Then I moved to tube socks and tennis balls to teach myself and develop my style feeling more realistic weights getting ready for fire poi. At that time, Poi was relatively new and much of what I learned was self taught through the use of internet tutorials. After years of experimenting with many homemade styles of poi, I began to see that there was no one right or wrong way to go about this.  Now the art has exploded into many facets and the amount of tricks, knowledge and “how to” information has increased dramatically.  As I progressed and learned more I felt my skills were pretty solid but light them on fire and it’s a whole different game.  Fire has a very special allure that attracts both performer and audience. It is as if the fire adds a surreal element of illusion captured and tamed by the artisan.  The practice of object manipulation has given me insight and greater understanding of acceptance to all aspects in my life. There is a feeling buried deep in most people’s sub-consciousness that is seldom expressed especially in today’s society. This feeling does not discriminate; it knows no bounds and transpires all space and time. This feeling is feeling itself. It is the raw emotion of the universal love embracing existence.   Few have the opportunity to actively incorporate this feeling throughout their daily lives on a sacred geometrical level. This is exactly what my experience with poi facilitates, a universal channel of connectedness.  It has been said that circles are a sacred geometric shape, hence the circle of life.  I find this to be true more and more each day of practice. From the planet we live on down to the single cell circles that multiply out in every direction to form this vast universe of ours.  Because of this, poi relates to almost everything for me. The mental acuity of the process is unmatched and sought after by many artists, except that this art is immeasurable. You are literally drawing in space and timing throughout your range of motion. It is never fully captured or containable in any way, never to be repeated with the same finesse or execution.  As the individual who is immersed in the raw experience of Fire Dancing I will continue to actively engage in creating this special art in the pattern of the universe.