Fire Spinning
By theprofessionalhobo ~ November 19th, 2009. Filed under: Australia.
When a fellow travel blogger recently wrote about fire spinning in Thailand, I realized in reading it that I have been amiss with you, dear readers.
You see, I have blatantly (and unintentionally) kept you in the dark about a new part of my own life; a hobby that is both relaxing and actively playful….Fire Spinning!
It all started with friends of mine who spin. When I first saw them spinning balls of fire on chains (called poi) and twirling staffs with the ends ablaze, I thought it looked neat, but didn’t have much interest in it myself.
It wasn’t until I picked up a staff one day to try and imitate a move I had seen that I began to think of fire spinning as something I could get into. The staff felt smooth, was a perfect weight, and I realized with a few tips that it wasn’t as difficult as it initially appeared. Learning new moves felt great, and perfecting the art of making spinning look good tapped into my love of dance and performance in general.
Months and months after I first picked up a poi or staff, I was at an outdoor music festival where some friends were “having a burn,” as they say. There were 200 people gathered around a stage about 50metres away, and on this little patch of grass to the side, about half a dozen people were fire spinning.
“Here, have a go,” said a mate as they relatively unceremoniously tossed me a half lit staff. “The other side didn’t get fueled up by accident, so you’re stuck with one,” he said.
Ah well, “one’s better than none” I thought, and started spinning the staff, surprised at the heat and size of the one fireball up close. My friends had been careful to teach me about fire spinning safety, our credo being “learn before you burn”. So I felt prepared for this, my first time spinning fire.
And man, was I on fire (pardon the blatant pun). I had that staff spinning like it had never been spun it before.
That is, until I smacked myself in the eye with the unlit end of the staff.
Convinced that I would be toting a black eye for the next week, I glanced up to see who saw my blunder. As luck would have it, if anybody had actually seen my spinning debacle, they had the good grace to pretend not to have.
So I kept spinning, and got back to having fun. Mere minutes later when I was handed a fully lit staff to play with instead, I became confident that nobody saw my eye-poking antics!
“Yikes,” I thought to myself. “It would hurt a lot more if I poked myself in the eye with fire,” I pondered as I swallowed hard and attempted to track the whereabouts of not one but two balls of fire revolving around my body.
Turns out it’s much easier to spin staffs with both ends lit than one…they’re easier to see!
Since then, I’ve had a few chances to have fun with fire spinning, and to watch those who are much better than me have a go at it too. Fire spinning is a beautiful rhythmic dance that requires skill, courage, and practice. I’m so glad I’ve had a chance to try my own hands at it.
All the pictures above are of me, just in case you were wondering. Here are some pictures of various friends of mine fire spinning:
November 20th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Thanks for sharing great photos
November 20th, 2009 at 3:57 am
Really cool and a whole lot better than my sparkler-spinning on the Fourth of July!
November 21st, 2009 at 9:14 am
Thanks, guys! Just as much as actually spinning fire, I enjoy taking photos of it. I’ve had a few all-out photo sessions, and have dozens of awesome shots, including UV spinning toys too!
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:40 am
Look at you go girl! You are awesome. Thanks for letting us all know about your secret hidden talent. I must take this up one day in the future!
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:31 am
Thanks Dave & Deb! It was, of course, your post that inspired me to write about my own fire spinning. Since you’re headed to Asia soon, you may indeed find all the fire spinning toys (and even instruction) you want! If not, then pop by Oz to visit me and I’ll give you the crash course!
November 24th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Go Nora! Look at you!
November 24th, 2009 at 7:44 am
Tee-Hee – Thanks Matt! It’s pretty addictive – therapeutic at times, almost trance-like. Who knows – maybe you’ll spot me at one of Thailand’s full-moon parties sometime, giving a show!
November 26th, 2009 at 7:13 am
OH my goodness!!! You always amaze me!
This is so cool and something I could totally see myself doing this to some Deadmau5, Tiesto, Paul van Dyk or AVB(Armin van Buuren) playing in the background. Or perhaps a mash up of all them.
Thanks for giving me something new to add to my list of things to try!
You are too down!
November 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Thanks, Kim! The music really helps, and indeed electronic is my preference for spinning. It really gets me moving – which helps when you’re playing with fire!!!
Do try it….just remember….learn before you burn! (smiles)
December 1st, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Woo-hoo! I’m not surprised that you are a fire-spinning diva!
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 am
Heh Heh: I’m full of (predictable) surprises!
December 4th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Cool! I love the photos. You got those photos like a Pro. Perfect. I wish I could do fire-spinning also. Will try one of these days. Heading to Phuket next year, have heard some cool fire-spinning activities there, hmm I am excited to try them!!
December 5th, 2009 at 7:34 am
@Backpacker – Indeed, try it! A great way to start is to get a pair of long socks, stick a tennis ball in the end of each, and whamo – you have a set of practice poi! Have at ‘er…
April 25th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
[...] A fire spinner tells her fire spinning story (with great pictures) ArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArray By Dina, on April 16th, 2010 | 7 comments Category: New ZealandTags: Australasia, Friday-Photo, New Zealand, night-scene, street-performer, travel [...]
April 25th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Wow! I’m jealous
Next time I see these fire spinners, I will ask them where I can learn it! Have you gotten any burn by it? I sit dangerous? Any burn case you know and how bad?
It must be very awesome to see a half dozen fire spinners in the same time! In one of the picture up there, a girl is having 3 fire staffs in each hands? Wow!
April 25th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
@Dina – The best way to learn is from friends, or to take a course or buy a video. No I haven’t gotten burned, but it IS very dangerous, and I have friends with bad burns from it. I practiced for many months before I ever worked with fire…as the phrase goes: “Learn before you burn”!
The 3 fire staffs are actually fire poi, with three wicks on each poi. It works the same as regular poi – just more fire!
April 25th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
And oh, I just updated my torch dancing article with a link to this article of yours under the “Related Posts by Others” section. It’s my new program to include related post by others section in my posts.
April 26th, 2010 at 1:28 am
Love fire spinning. I would be the designated photographer
Have fun with your new found hobby!
April 26th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
@Dina – Thanks for the link! I like the “related posts by others” concept…good stuff!
@Nancie – Photographing fire spinning is oh so much fun…playing with settings, shutter speeds & exposures, lighting conditions….it’s a blast! Almost as much fun as spinning itself….
February 17th, 2011 at 9:05 am
[...] Watching our first fire dance performance. Seeing two beginner guys practicing fire spinning was already fun enough, but watching [...]