- a San Francisco firedancing troupe -
You’ve been spinning your practice poi, or your staff, or whatever, for three months now. You’re getting pretty good, impressing friends... everyone keeps asking you, “So, when are you going to light that on fire?” And much more importantly, you yourself are feeling ready to go for it. The clumsiness you felt at first, that feeling of “Oh my God, I’m so glad I didn’t do that total train wreck with burning things!” has been replaced by some level of confidence — now you’re thinking things like, “Hey, I just went for a long while without any trouble at all! Hey, this would look pretty good if I had fire...”
You’re ready. It’s time. So: What else do you need to know, besides how to spin those things around without hurting yourself?
Only a few things, as it turns out, and they’re things which can be picked up pretty quickly and easily.
First and foremost, you will need to know about fire safety. What to do, and what not to do; how to stay safe in a hobby, sport and art that’s inherently risky. You may have some questions the first time through; that’s okay.
Next, you’ll need to know a thing or two about different fuels. This way, you’re not at the mercy of any random who says “Here, try this!” You can pick your own fuels to suit your own needs.
So, read our writeup on different fuel types. This will tell you all about the most common fuels in use by fire spinners. And if you run into somebody using some oddball fuel, they’ll probably describe it in terms of the ones listed, so you’ll be able to understand them. Once you’ve read this, you can decide what kind of fuel you want to use to start off. You’ll probably want kerosene, or lamp oil if it’s available and the expense doesn’t bother you — but with the knowledge in that file, you can make your own decision instead of just agreeing with us.
After that, read about how to be a fire safety. Being able to do safety for others is crucial to firedancing in many ways.
Finally, go back and re-read the safety rules. Now, they should make perfect sense — and getting yourself intimately familiar with them is always a good idea.
That’s about all you can do online, but it’s a significant chunk of preparation. You’re now about 300% more ready to spin fire than you were at the beginning of this document.
You’ll need to get your fuel — or fuels, if you intend to try more than one. (And why not? Nothing says you have to stick with just one. If you have any curiosity, you’ll probably want to try them all out and get a good “feel” for what they’re like. Reading about them online can only tell you so much.) If you have some more-experienced firedancing mentor helping you out, he or she probably already has some spare fuel, or knows where to get it. Otherwise, you and your fire friend are in for a trip to the hardware store. (You do have a friend with you for this, because you need a fire safety. Maybe you and your friend will be safetying each other, or maybe your friend is just a nice person who won’t be spinning fire, but wants to keep you from getting hurt. And your friend — or friends — should all have read the material mentioned above, as well. Your friend may also want to read about first aid for burns, just in case.)
Either way, you’ll need to acquire your fuel. You’ll also want a metal dish, pot, or bowl to pour the fuel into so you can soak your wicks — some people use empty paint cans, or spare cookware. You’ll also want a funnel to pour unused fuel back into its container when you’re done. Plus, of course, your damp towel for fire safety.
Finally, you’ll want to find a good place to spin fire. Someplace that’s bare, flat, with a decent amount of room and no obstructions or footing hazards. Someplace where there’s nothing flammable for at least twenty feet in all directions. It would probably be nice if it also had room for a bunch of your friends to stand and cheer you on, unless you’re the kind of person who wants to do your first burn with nobody around. You’ll also need at least one area that you can splatter lots of spare fuel into without killing any plants or slicking down the area you’re about to dance in.
Those are the things you’ll need. Optionally, if you’re feeling skittish about the idea of lighting up, here’s a couple of other things that may help. To get an idea of what these fuels are like, you can pour a small amount into a dish or onto a plate, and try to ignite it. One of those barbecue lighters may help for this — it allows you keep well away from the fuel while setting it off. You may be surprised at just how much work it takes to set kerosene on fire. It may also be helpful to just light one poi and swing it around gently, just to get used to the idea of having a flaming thing in your hand and close to your body.
However, most people don’t really need that kind of preparation. Once you have your fuels, and you’ve practiced with your unlit fire toy(s) for a bit, you’re probably ready to go.
You’ve got your nice shiny new fire toy ready to go; you’ve got your fuel; you’ve got your good friend standing by on fire safety. Now, how do you go about doing this, and what should you expect?
Start by pouring some of the fuel into the soaking dish. The exact quantity isn’t crucial; you simply need enough to completely submerge your wicks in.
Make sure you’re warmed up before soaking your wicks. There’s no need to rush; take fifteen or even thirty minutes to play around unlit, run through your routine, stretch your muscles, and generally get yourself prepped. You’ve probably discovered by now that the first five minutes of spinning are always crap; it takes about that long (minimum!) to warm up, loosen up, and hit the top of your form.
When you’re warmed up and ready to go, dip your wicks into the fuel. If you use poi, you can just drop both wicks in, leave the chains trailing out of the side of the dish, and leave them there for as long as you like. If you’re a staff artist, you’ll need to dip first one wick, then the other. Dipping staff wicks for 15-30 seconds each should be sufficient to soak them pretty well. With poi, a 15 to 30 second soak will do, but there’s no risk or danger associated with leaving them in for longer. Doing so will simply soak them a little more thoroughly and give you a somewhat longer burn. We in Mythic Fire usually soak our poi for about five minutes, but we’ve occasionally had them soak for a half hour or more. That’s just fine.
When you feel your poi are soaked enough, or when you’re tired of holding your staff in the dish, take it out and find a place to shake or spin off the excess fuel. This is very important — your wicks will be dripping fuel, and if you simply light them on fire now, they will throw droplets of flaming fuel all over the place when you start spinning. These can land on your hair, in your eyes, on audience members, or in your fuel dump. (There are a couple of tricks you can do with fast fuels if you deliberately keep excess fuel on them and don’t spin off, but you probably don’t want to try them your first time out. When you’ve got at least a half-dozen burns under your belt, find an experienced spinner and ask about “the ring of fire” and “the highway to hell”. But for now, spin or shake off your excess.)
So, you’ll need to find a place away from any other people, and preferably away from any plants or other natural stuff that would wither or die if soaked with unlit fuel. If there’s a wind, you’ll want to be facing in the direction the wind is going, so the wind hits your back.
If you use poi, hold them at your sides, fairly far out from your body, and spin them around in simple parallel circles, as fast as you can. Try to use a strong downward snap to throw off as much of the fuel as possible in front of you. You’ll wind up with lines of excess fuel on either side of your body. Keep going until no more excess fuel comes off your wicks — this usually takes 15 to 30 seconds.
If you use a staff, you can use a snapping motion to throw off nearly all of the excess fuel in just a couple of motions. Holding your hands near one end of your staff, raise the other end above your head, or behind your shoulder (as if you were swinging a sledge hammer). Then bring the staff down in front of you, stopping it sharply around your waist level and flinging the excess fuel down onto the ground. Repeating this a total of three to five times ought to be sufficient, though your real criterion should be that no more fuel comes off the wicks.
Once you’ve shaken or spun off your fuel, you’re ready. Make sure your fire safety is, too — in fact, it’s a good idea to get the fire safety to light your wicks for you. That way, the fire safety is close to you right from the get-go, and your safety can easily refrain from lighting you up until he or she’s ready. If you’re using a slow fuel, and especially if there’s any wind at all, you may want to have one of those electrically-sparked butane lighters that gives a pale blue, blowtorch-like flame. They’re truly windproof, and you can easily hold one against a slow-fueled wick for the ridiculous-seeming length of time needed to light it. By contrast, Zippos are often inadequate for lighting slow fuels in wind, and standard Bics are simply impossible.
If you have any particular music you want to spin to, especially your first time out, be sure to have it cued up and ready to go. Your safety can probably handle that, too — light you up with towel in one hand, step back, hit “Play” on the music box, and then get the other hand on the towel. But if you have other friends around, you may as well get one of them to handle it and leave your safety free to concentrate on just doing safety.
Congratulations! You’ve got flaming things in your hands. You’ve probably got about five minutes before they burn out — have fun!
You’ll notice that doing this with fire is remarkably different from doing it unlit — and yet, in many ways, practically the same. The motions are the same ones you’ve been practicing for months. They’re motions that should be pretty well ingrained in your muscles and bones by now. Remember that; it will serve you well. When your brain’s flipping out, or in awe, or just dumbfoundedly going, “Dude! That’s fire!”, your muscles will still be able to perform the actions you’ve taught them.
So, if you find yourself in worry or doubt, just drop back to a pattern or motion that you know like the back of your hand, one of the ones you could do in your sleep. Feel your body moving with the toys, and take comfort from it. This is one of the things that makes firedancing so sensual — it’s all about the body, not the mind.
You’ll notice a few other things as you spin fire for the first time. One is that fire is loud. Every time your wicks pass near your head, you’ll very distinctly hear the “Fwooosssh!” of the flame going by. It’s very cool, but it also interferes with hearing other stuff a bit. (You may want to ask the person in charge of the music to turn it up a bit, if you have any.) You’ll also note that it’s a little difficult to see into the darkness beyond the range of your wicks — especially if you’re using a fast fuel, with its brighter and larger flame, you may find that you’re getting trails on your retinas. That’s okay; this is why you found yourself a reasonably clear area to do this in. Your fire safety can tell you if you’re wandering too far in any one direction.
You may or may not notice it while you’re burning, but you’ll also be having a heavy-duty adrenaline reaction. That’s your body saying, “Ex-cuse me! There is fire whirling all around me! That stuff is hot, and dangerous, and it could burn me!” That’s okay. Some people even get a bit trembly — this is where knowing that your muscles and sinews can do the job on their own can come in really handy.
You may have a few minor “Oopses” your first time out — the poi get tangled, you do something less-than-smoothly and have to check with your fire safety that everything’s all right. These are okay. These show you that you can deal with the problems, you can keep going even when things aren’t perfect.
Or maybe things do go perfectly your first time out. (Don’t worry. Troubles await you later. Nothing is perfect.) You spin your toy(s) around like a flaming dervish, and eventually the fuel dies down and your wicks go out.
Your friends are clapping, and your fire safety’s giving you a big thumbs-up. Take a bow!
You’re done. You did it. What a rush! Take a few deep breaths, put down your apparatus, and enjoy.
You are now probably addicted. Once you’ve spun fire, there’s no going back.
You’ll want to do it again, and soon. Take a few minutes to rest and cool down, and then... why not go again? If you’re still raring to go, and you think you’ve got a few more burns in you without getting wobbly or accident-prone, then go for it!
Welcome to the club.