Poi Fire Dancing Spinning Performance & Twirling (Hoop Staff Fans Also)

I continue to confer with clients who confess their performance fears to me. It’s a fascinating experience to both witness in others and experience in myself. Over the years, I’ve worked through this performance fear and use this technique with clients in an effort to assist them in working through their own performance anxiety. 

The first thing I do with performers is ask them what is going on inside their body when they are experiencing this thing they are calling “fear” or “anxiety.” Specifically, what sensations are they noticing. Most people I’ve talked to about this — which has got to be hundreds if not thousands — say any number of the following things:   butterflies heightened awareness cramping adrenaline rush faster heart beat things seem to slow down flush skin more body heat more energy in the body

In a sense, when you look over this list, much of what is being articulated can be named as sensations one might associate with fight or flight. The actual experience the performer is having though is that they are experiencing sensations and only sensations.

What then happens is the performer interprets the sensations in their mind to mean performance anxiety.

Some years ago I was preparing to do a set on the playa and my coach was there. I conveyed my experience to him and he asked me about the sensations I felt in my body. I proceeded to describe a good number of things on the aforementioned list. And then he said something which changed my entire relationship to performance.

He suggested, “What if you only think these sensations you are feeling are fear? What if what is really going on is your body is getting you prepared to do something dangerous so that you are safe while you’re playing with fire?”

That moment changed my relationship to performance anxiety permanently. Not because the sensations went away, but because I started experiencing the sensations in a way I had not experienced them before. I began experiencing them as a gift — a means of keeping myself safe. Then, when I started having “performance anxiety” with LED poi, I realized it wasn’t necessarily my body giving me these sensations because of the fire I was about to play with, but rather it was my body helping me get prepared to be as on in my performance as possible.

I then started to apply this in all areas of my life when I felt the sensations — giving a presentation, public speaking, toasting friends, and when I was “nervous” about teaching new material. Instead of focusing on my interpretation of the sensations, I focused only on noticing that I was having sensations and instead of naming the sensations as “fear” or “anxiety” or even “nervousness,” I stopped naming them and simply went about my business.

I’ve been a professional fire dancer for 7 years and I still feel those sensations when I go out on stage. And I’m really glad I do because the adrenaline rush gives me that extra edge that makes the performance come off better than a practice session would. I’m grateful to have learned to embrace the sensations rather than be at odds with them.

For years, I’ve been inviting people to leave their judgment behind as a part of their practice. I had always spoken about the difference by distinguishing judgment and assessment. I just read a passage from Nonviolent Communication which I believe sums this up quite well. 

Quoting from Nonviolent Communication, Page 14: 

“It is important here not to confuse value judgments and moralistic judgments. All of us make value judgments as to the qualities we value in life; for example, we might value honesty, freedom or peace. Value judgments reflect our beliefs of how life can best be served. We make moralistic judgments of people and behaviors that fail to support our value judgments, e.g. “Violence is bad. People who kill others are evil.” Had we been raised speaking a language that facilitated the expression of compassion, we would have learned to articulate our needs and values directly, rather than to insinuate wrongness when they have not been met. For example, instead of “violence is bad,” we might say instead, “I am fearful of the use of violence to resolve conflicts; I value the resolution of human conflicts through other means.”

page 14-15

If you weren’t aware, I was a guest on a Blog Talk Radio Show last week where Coach Marla and I talked about Flowing Through Chronic Pain. The 2 hour show was a lot of fun and we talked about how I went from playing piano, to learning I had RSI, to recovery from a 4 car head on collision, to leaving the corporate world and starting Temple of Poi. 

During the show, I made an offer for beginner poi artists to gain access the Temple of Poi on line lessons — the equivalent of our 6 class in person series for poi beginners — for a dramatic discount. If you’re interested in starting a poi practice, check out this amazing discount special on the Temple of Poi Computer Based Training — including a set of practice poi — at this President’s Day bargain price of $35 (plus s&h).

Now that you’re familiar with my experiences with fire poi tools, I thought it might be useful to give you some things to look for for yourself. Be aware that a lot of my choices are dictated by my repetitive strain injury in my arm (tendinitis). 

Legal Stuff: This post assumes you are already competent with fire and are looking to expand your knowledge a little more.  While I am sharing recommendations about parts, I am not taking any responsibility for your safety. Please do not spin fire if you’re not competent to do so or if you have any uncertainty about the integrity of your fire rig. 

The table below outlines some ideas about what to look for in a rig while touching on what I like these days and why I have those preferences. Please keep in mind these are just preferences. I recommend you explore what’s out there and determine what feels good to you. If it doesn’t feel good, then you won’t be having as much fun doing it and you’ll be less inspired to use the tools themselves. 

Above all, regardless of what specific choices you make, be safe and check the integrity of every part of your rig before you light up — every time – even when you’re doing multiple consecutive burns. Checking my gear has saved me more than once when a split ring was about to fail (before I found fishing split rings) or when a quick link was open. 

Handles	While canvas handles can be fine, I respectfully use leather, honoring the animals from which the leather is attained. They conform to my hand better, feel better as I spin and are quite durable.  In every instance, I’ve found leather more durable than canvas.  I do not prefer synthetic handles for a variety of reasons, these two being most important to me:  if they fall into the fuel, you’re completely screwed (which has happened to me with leather handles (2 times with my handles and several times with students) which you can burn the fuel off where as the synthetic material can’t be burned off — problematic if it is show time)  if you hit the handle with fire (say, when you’re doing a spiral) the synthetic material can melt — or even melt to you. (Ouch!)  If you’re doing a lot of tosses, you might want to go with a wooden ball or other weighted handle which provides a good counterweight to the poi head. This is not a regular part of my spinning so I do not take that into consideration for my handles.  Because of my RSI, I have been using a 3 or 4 finger grip for a while now. The length of the loop is therefore important when buying/creating your handles. I have been resorting to making my own because I haven’t found one a vendor produces that I prefer.  While I used double loops for years (and recommend this for beginners who are uncertain because quick release is easier with double loops), I prefer a single loop these days.
Chain	The two most common chains I’ve seen out there these days are welded chain (like dog chain — or dog collars you can find on line or at any Petco) and ball chain. I prefer welded chain because it hurts my fingers less when I do buzzsaw work and wrap better for spirals. I’m also told welded dog chain is far superior for hyperloops and airwraps.
Attachment Hardware	Do not use regular key ring type split rings. Regular split rings are not durable and can lose their shape and strength quite quickly. I prefer to use fishing split rings like the 14mm ones I found here. These are tested at 300 pounds for fishing and my experience is they hold up for years whereas a regular split ring (for keys) you’d get from a hardware store can expire in months, weeks and possibly days, depending on how hard you spin.             The same goes for quicklinks — when using quicklinks to connect the split ring to the swivel, make sure the quick link is tested for lots of pounds of pressure. Also be certain the quicklink is wide enough to fit your chain and swivel through the opening. Finally, be sure the quick link closes all the way (and tighten it before using fire!).
Swivels	Not all swivels reduce drag in the same way because some swivels are higher quality than others. I recommend a high end ball bearing swivel. It may seem like a lot of money to pay for when purchasing, and my experience is it is worth it to spend the extra money for a higher quality experience. (Your mileage may vary.) Something like the size 6 or 5 pictured here is a good choice, as long as the welded ring is big enough for whatever you’re attaching to it — a split ring will be no problem though a quick link might have too large a diameter. It is my preference to spin with two swivels on my rig — one at the handle and a second one at the poi head. I find the second swivel reduces the drag by a small amount which is easier on my RSI.
Poi Heads	My favorite wicks are pictured here, though I prefer the custom order size of 3.5 inches to 4 inches (because I’m not strong enough to handle the 4 inch wicks effectively without hurting my RSI) or 2 inches (because they don’t burn long enough). These MoonBlaze wicks are made by FireMecca, formerly FlammaAeterna. My last set lasted from May of 2005 through December of 2008 — well worth the investment. (Please use this link for purchase as your cost is the same and I get a referral credit.)

On a final note, people ask me all the time about the length of the chain. My answer: that completely depends on your comfort with the poi. Different poi will offer different gifts — and different lengths will result in a different feeling when spinning. The best answer I can give is to find what feels right for you.

I was in a dialogue on Twitter with @brush about what would be useful on here. One thing she asked for was some pros and cons about equipment. I thought I’d share my experiences over the years, in an effort to save other’s some challenge. 

I’ve been spinning fire now for 9 years. My first fire poi rig was a barrel style wick. It worked well enough and didn’t actually wear out. It disappeared while I was at a gig in early 2002. 

While it was great for me at the time — after all, I didn’t know any better — it is not something I would use today. First and foremost, the burn time was just not long enough, getting perhaps 2 minutes, maybe 2:15 — and that with lamp oil thrown into the mix. Second, the handles on the rig were synthetic. 

My next rigs were home made rigs. I made a few sets of cathedral wicks. One set had 4 feet of wicking, another had 3 feet of wicking and the third was just too much for me to comfortably handle with regularity, and they were made of 6 feet of wicking each. I used a welded sash chain that I got from home depot which I rather liked. It was easy to grip for buzzsaws and had a flatness to it that neither dug into nor slipped out of my fingers.

At Burning Man in 2004  I was gifted a new set of cathedral heads, a new set of chains and a set of handles, so all in all, I was gifted a full poi set. They were, all in all, much like my home made set, though the chain was made of ball chain. While the chain seemed to have less drag on it, my personal experience is that ball chain really tears up my fingers when I’m doing buzzsaw and inside work and doesn’t have the smoothness of wrapping for spirals that I prefer. 

I liked all of these well enough until I foolishly left them in my gear kit in the early morning air on the beach at Fire Drums 2005. Water (in the form of early morning dew and condensation) got into the kit and the chains and exposed metal on the rigs rusted. I probably could have used the rigs with a reasonable amount of safety if I’d replaced the metal parts, but I opted to just go the route of getting new poi. I’m glad I did. 

I certainly see value and a right of passage in the experience of building your own poi, though I have to confess, these days, I’d rather leave it to the pros since they do it so much more frequently and efficiently than I currently do. Shortly after Fire Drums in 2005, Vatra turned me onto what remain today to be my favorite heads. I love love love love love (did I mention I love them?) the Moonblaze wicks from FireMecca (formerly FlammaAeterna).  (Please use this link if you purchase them as your purchase price is the same and I get a referral credit for turning you on to them.) 

What I love about these wicks is:

• they feel like they have less drag, given the same chain and handle and swivel options, as cathedrals
• the burn time is great
• the size of the flame is substantial
• the weight to burn time ratio is super awesome (though I have 3.5 inch wicks which are only available via special order at this time)

Read part II of this article here.

I was going through my email and had gotten a comment from someone sitting in there about this set I did back in October, 2008. I really enjoyed this set a lot, though the lights are soooo hard to see. What I like about it is the movement through the space, the speed changes, the dance and the utter joy expressed throughout the performance. Hope you enjoy it too. 

Join Temple of Poi Founder Isa “GlitterGirl” Isaacs in a two hour radio interview where she’ll discuss her experiences with chronic pain, flow arts and how poi and flow have offered her and other artists techniques for managing their chronic pain, especially associated with carpe tunnel syndrome and tendentious of the forearm. 

Call in with your questions or log in to the chat room to participate on Coach Marla’s Blog Talk Radio show on Tuesday, February 10 at 11 am Pacific time. The audio will be made available after in case you can’t make the show live.

By request, I’m writing this article about fuel choices and my experiences therein. 

To being, I take this excerpt from my fire safety page:

To this day, I am still incredulous about my first exposure to kerosene. When I first learned how to fire spin, I hired Tim West, a wonderful man from New Zealand who had, at the time, been working with fire for 12 years. As he was educating me about fuels, he poured out some kerosene into the dipping bucket, and held a lighter to the top of the fuel. Much to my surprise, the kerosene did not catch. His demonstration was effective because it took me a year and a half before I was willing to try other fuels!

I recommend kerosene to the beginner because there are so many ways to mis-throw your rig when you’re first starting out that you want to make the experience as safe as possible. Other fuels are less safe than kerosene. White gas, for example, would have lit. Fuels like lamp oil (paraffin) are actually fairly safe, though the flame is too blue for my taste when it is spun alone and it doesn’t offer you nearly the impact of kerosene.

Apart from the safety aspect of these fuels, I thought I would distinguish a few other things in this neat little table based on my personal experiences over the years — your mileage may vary.

Overall, if you don’t mind a little residue, my personal preference is for an 60-75% white gas to lamp oil mix. I think it gives a longer burn without too much residue, cools down the flame which is useful for buzzsaws and interior work (especially earlier in the set) and provide a nice colored flame as well. By having more white gas than lamp oil, the light time is also a bit quicker which is important when doing multiple burns during a professional show especially. Also, with this ratio, especially on the 75% white gas end of things, there is much less possibility of lamp oil residue making the performance surface slippery. Because of the slipperiness of lamp oil, I generally perform with 100% white gas with rare exceptions such as times when I want my fans or hoop to  burn longer. 

Enjoy this video giving  a brief tip on how to move from that dorky beginner stage ever closer toward performing.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.4MB)