New site.. new happenings...

...new beginnings!

We have a baby troupe forming, the site can be seen here:
Vegas Fire Dance

Official practice starts on Sunday, and we have a video shoot planned for Wed. March 28th. We're still in the early stages, but we have many great ideas... here's hoping!

Fire Fans

I performed with fire fans for the first time this past weekend at Faire. Oh. Yeah. Baby. I'm hooked. They are so beautiful and fun to work. And they blend WELL with bellydance. Mmmmm, yay.
All went well at faire, I performed my solo on the mainstage and didn't fall off headfirst, that's always good. Not much else new to report, the photos from faire are here, Las Vegas, Age of Chivalry 2005 ...we didn't have any cameras going for the fire show unfortunately, so it'll be a bit longer before I have much to show there. Ummm, so yeah... that's about it.

GIG

I graduated to larger wicks last night, now we're swinging with power! :P I wasn't nearly as intimidated by the larger flames as I was worried I would be, and I even pulled off some of the newer moves I have been developing to integrate into bellydance routines. The reason for all this bravery is the gig I've been booked for on the 28th..as of Saturday I will officially be a 'professional' fire dancer. I've performed here and there for small groups of friends and such, but this will be my first paid gig, booked by an outside source. I'll be performing with 2 other girls from my troupe for a couple of dances, then I will have a fire dance solo with poi, and we will be doing the fire dance from faire which requires me to eat one torch. The funniest thing is, I'm more nervous about my costume and the bellydance routines than I am about my fire solo. Though the fire eating has me a bit unraveled as well.

BTB Weave!

YAAAAAY! I *just* finally got the behind the back weave figured out! Weee!
It's a serious shoulder and forearm workout (ouchie!), along with other pains and bruises...I had been trying to get it with my practice poi, but it has metal hardware holding the poi balls on and i kept whacking my hand with it, which was causing some painful and ugly welts , making me severely gun shy, and consequently keeping me from really trying to do the trick right. So tonight I whipped out the poi made from socks that the kids use, altered them a bit for me, and within the hour I had the two beat weave down solid on both sides. I can do the three beat too, I can't get past one full rotation, but I own it now so it won't be long. *squee!*

isolations

I have been trying to get isolations for months and months, and no one has been able to tell me how to do them. I have searched forums, the internet and asked friends but the best I could get was that you, "just find them". Even my friend Matthew, who is *excellent* at teaching moves couldn't seem to explain it to me. Well, I "just found them" tonight. I stink, and I have a long way to go, but I have found the concept, and dangit I think it actually *can* be explained.

What I "found" tonight:
If you take a reverse butterfly and pull the circles away from each other out and up, but stop controlling the strings, jut let the poi swing from it's own momentum, you will feel the beginning of what isolations feel like. Now try this concept with a buzzsaw. Start a buzzsaw, then stop "trying" to do the trick, just let go and let the poi's momentum take over. Then start to move your hands "around" the balls. I could be wrong on some of this, I just discovered the sensation a few minutes ago after trying (again) for several hours to find it. But it's what I have to go on so far, and I just wanted to document it.

Dang these are cool!