As I'm getting to know many, many more fire dancers across the country and around the world who are interested in my book, I've gotten some questions and figured I'd provide a little extra background about my fire dancing life, my writing life, and my plans for this book. Sort of a one-stop blog post that answers some general FAQ about who, what, when, where, how, and why :-)
Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or if you're interested in participating in the book by filling out my Fire Dancers Questionnaire!
Here's my story... well, the relevant information, anyway ;-)
THE FIRE DANCING STUFF
I started fire dancing in April 2002, when I was unemployed and needed a new hobby to take my mind off the want ads. I met a girl on Craigslist, who offered poi spinning lessons. Iâd seen fire dancers at Burning Man but was always too intimidated to approach any of them, so I was intrigued by the opportunity to learn this performance art.
Just before Burning Man 2002, I joined up with a casual group of fire folks in Oakland, who got together every full moon to spin poi and staff on a friendâs apartment rooftop. By December, five of us decided to start a professional troupe, complete with choreography, costuming, and a website. Thus, my troupe Fire Arts Collective was born.
Fire Arts Collective (FAC) has performed at many different events and venues, including Google's Holiday Party, The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose's Annual Member's Party, Hawaiian luaus, Children's Fairyland, the San Francisco Opera Anniversary Gala, Barclayâs Global Investors Holiday Party, San Francisco City Hall, and even weddings. In 2005, we traveled to Los Angeles to perform at a high school halftime show in the exclusive Diamond Bar district. FAC has performed with the Burning Man Fire Conclave since 2003.
FAC has been featured in regional and national media publications, including Dance Spirit magazine, the Oakland Tribune, and the LA Times.
I have been teaching fire dancing in San Francisco since 2007, including poi and staff, performing with fingers and fans, and performance skills.
THE WRITING STUFF
A bookworm by nature, I've always loved the written word. I have an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a BA in Communication from Santa Clara University.
From 2002-2007, I worked at Google as a Corporate Trainer for new hires. In my five years there, I wrote and edited several styles of writing: technical writing, training manuals, marketing material, newsletters, customer service documents, client emails, live forum communication, and more. I had the opportunity there to meet and get to know many incredibly brilliant and talented people â many of whom also went to Burning Man and/or were somehow involved in the fire arts scene, and a few of whom are fellow fire performers!
I write a blog thatâs ostensibly about fire dancing (er, this one!) and hold accounts with MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Tribe.net, YouTube, Home of Poi, and the new site Fire Garden, to keep in touch with other fire dancers around the world.
In 2007, I published a third-person experiential account of fire dancing for the magazine Conscious Dancer, and I am the author of several instructional articles on fire dancing for the online how-to site eHow.com.
My writing has been featured in many print and online publications for both journalism and poetry/fiction, including Identity Theory, SFStation.com, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Apalachee Review, Coe Review, Fugue, Karamu, and The Santa Clara Review.
THE BOOK STUFF
The idea for a book about fire dancing had been simmering in the back of my mind for a couple of years. It wasn't until I quit my corporate job that I finally took the time to re-focus on writing.
In December 2008, I got an agent in LA, who is representing me and working to sell the book to a major publisher. The book is currently in the hands of a bunch of publishers, and whether I receive a major book deal remains to be seen, so keep your fingers crossed and I'll keep you updated!
IF a book deal with a major publisher does not go through, I have a Plan B (and a Plan C), so no matter what, the book WILL become a reality.
Stoke the Fire: The Art of Modern Fire Dancing (the working title) will explore the evolution of modern fire dancing, while providing the reader with fascinating photographs, first-person accounts, and interviews with professional and amateur fire dancers around the world.
Stoke the Fire will be a celebration of the performance art, but itâs not a how-to book. Instead, this book will allow readers to fully experience the wonder and awe of fire dancing. On the market today, there exist a few instruction manuals for poi spinning and other manipulative arts; a book on the fire knife dance, a specific Polynesian tradition; and a handful of books about Burning Man and raves of the â90s, which mention electrifying fire dancers and hypnotic glowstick-twirlers. But there has yet to be published a book specifically devoted to celebrating the colorful and vibrant scene of the modern fire dancing world, in all of its fuel-soaked and callused-fingered glory â that book is Stoke the Fire.
A TINY EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK PROPOSAL...
In the 21st century, the art of fire dancing has been taken to a new extreme. At once modern and ancient, sophisticated and tribal, contemporary fire dancing is the art of manipulating poi (wicks on the ends of chains), staff, hoops, and other tools such as aluminum fingers and fans or wooden clubs and batons, which have been fitted with wicking, soaked in fuel, and lit on fire. The underground circus has been reinvented for the above-ground stage, with modern-day fire dancers performing in dynamic acts like Cirque du Soleil, making silver screen appearances in movies like Charlieâs Angels and The Beach, and appearing on stage and in music videos alongside pop music superstars like Justsin Timberlake, Madonna, and Christina Aguilera.
How did it get this way? Many people attribute the growth of this modern art to Burning Man, the art festival in the Nevada desert, which more than 48,000 people now attend yearly. Additionally, the growth of Internet forums and online communities has allowed fire dancers from all over the world to connect with and learn from each other. The online community Tribe.net has almost 2500 members in a specialty group called The Art of Poi; my profile listing âfire dancingâ as an interest connects me to over 3200 others who have listed the same. The website www.fire-dancing.com lists professional fire performers in countries as far-flung as Finland, Slovakia, and South Africa.
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Stoke the Fire will provide a rich and highly entertaining experience for all who are enthralled with the flame.
Please drop me a line if you have any questions.
Take care and keep burning!
And thanks for reading :-)
