COME SEE SHAPESHIFTER AT THE NATIONAL THEATER IN WASHINGTON DC.
SATURDAY MARCH 24TH FOR TWO KIDS’ SHOWS AT 9.30 AND 11.00
ADMISSION IS FREE. PERFORMING ALONG SIDE FRANK CASSEL THE BANJO BAN.
SEE- http://nationaltheatre.org/saturday/saturday.htm

ALSO PERFORMING AT JAMM’IN JAVA ON SATURDAY APRIL 7TH. AT 11 AM.

My first day in Kauai after my Big Island adventures and dancing on fire for Pele I went exploring. I drove north to the ‘end of the road’ (literally the ‘highway,’ a two laned road) which basically dead ended at this beach. Ke’e beach sits serenely next to the beginning of the majestic Na Pali cliffs. (‘Na Pali’ means ‘the cliffs’ so even though Na Pali cliffs is redundant it is commonly referred to this way.)

It was almost evening by the time I arrived and seeing all the beautiful white sand with the cliffs right there, well I just had to hoop! And hoop I did, all over the beach, splashing in the water. A lot of tourists stopped to take photos and video I think. But I was just in my own hoop universe (or ‘hoopiverse’ as some hoopers playfully call it). Sheer bliss. I just took a very quick dip after my dance as I was trying to heed all of the danger signs along the beach in re. to deadly currents and the like. I did see some others in the water snorkel spear fishing it looked like. But I heard afterward that it is not safe to swim at that beach, esp. in winter, as even though the waters can appear to be very calm, there is a large key hole in the reef there through which a very strong current has sucked out a number of tourists into the ocean beyond never to return.

I also discovered later reading my guide book that this beach is where legend has it that Pele had a house where she lived with her lover a chief (forgot his name). I later found I had been given the ‘Pele’ room at my guest house with a painting of her rising up out of the volcano on the wall and everything decorated in firey reds.

So it seems I just couldn’t get away from Pele, which was all right by me.

I told everyone before leaving for Hawaii that I was going to get a photo of myself fire hooping with hot lava in the background. I really did not know if it would be at all possible, so I had made the declaration half joking, half hoping. Well my dream somehow came true through a series of serendipitous events. All I can say is that Pele must have wanted it to be and so it was.

It was not my only goal (to fire hoop with lava) on my trip however it did end up being a definite high light of the trip. It was in fact a much longed for vacation that finally came to pass. I got to visit the Big Island and Kauai. Both were amazing in different ways. But I will get into that later, maybe in another post.

With this image of hooping by the lava in my head I did pack the necessary gear for the trip. Collapsible hoops and ‘quick wicks’ (courtesy of Max Reid, thank you Max!) as well as a ‘duvetene’ safety blanket and then I bought the camping fuel and lighter once I arrived. This all came in handy not just for the lava hoop session but for some fire performances I did for the hosts and guests at the different places I stayed. (Too bad it didn’t pay for my lodgings!)

So when it came time during my visit to the Big Island to find the lava I had to first visit Volcanoes National Park (where one would assume the lava would be.. right? Wrong! The lava changes it’s mind about where it wants to go daily, nay hourly, well really by the minute.. though fortunately it doesn’t move all that fast so it usually gives ample time for one to get out of its way, that is unless you step on soft rock that has lava flowing under it that you can’t see..) So sometimes it flows in the park and sometimes not. This was one of the ‘not’ occasions, which meant driving about two hours away to find the flow. Which I did, only to discover that the flow that evening was a good ways away from the end of the road (the road ‘ended’ because lava decided to go over it.. now it is miles of lava fields between both ends of the road on either side, which I visited (both ends of the road), and it takes about 2 hrs. to get from one side to the other as you basically have to go up and down a mountain to get around the lava part). So I could just make out glowing embers in the distance that could only be lava. I was disappointed, not just about not being able to fire hoop with it showing behind me (which was my original idea btw, I had not intended to get so close, but I didn’t know it was the only way to actually get the lave to show up in the photo since it does not typically flow in the grandiose manner I had imagined) since I wasn’t sure I was going to be permitted to actually fire hoop (and so was really just scoping out the situation) but because I honestly wanted to see lava. I mean, I had never seen lava before in real life. I mean, have you? It’s not like something you get to see every day.. unless of course you live on an island with an active volcano like these folks did.

Still it was fascinating, these seemingly endless lava fields. So barren and desolate looking, yet somehow beautiful and enchanting. It was true, as a friend had told me who had seen this place, it looked and felt somewhat like being on the moon, or what one would imagine it would feel like to be on the moon (since I have yet to hoop on the moon.. that would be something! Not a bad idea.. maybe I could start looking into that as my next ‘hoop stunt’! LOL!.. Joking.. or am I?)

What I couldn’t understand was seeing houses built on the lava, just beyond the ropes to contain the tourists and just past the end of the road. What were they doing out there? Were these people crazy or did they just wanted a better view of the lava flow? Turns out for the most part they had owned the once lush jungle like land prior to the lava deciding to come, well destroy it all in one nasty firey flow. Some bits of houses could still be seen melted into black lava rock. Even a BBQ pit was melted fast on top of a black chunk of rock, out in a sea of more black rock that sometimes looked like pieces of charcoal so that I felt like a little ant walking across it all …once I did get to (which I am getting to soon, I promise!) go out there. So these people, still owning the land, figured lightning can’t strike twice in one place, right? Right?! Well, with lava, one never knows.. but they hope and they keep a watchful eye out for it. It seemed like a creature, the lava, the way people spoke of it. Where is it today? What’s it up to? What’s it doing? Where is it going? How fast, how big? How close to my house! Some of the re-builders just stuck with basic shack like structures (which is probably what I would do, I mean, why invest?) but then others spent a pretty penny on their homes. One cost over 100 grand  so I heard.
Well it certainly reminds one of the temporary nature of life. And the lava… out there, creating, destroying, creating, destroying….

So I went back from the viewing station down that long empty dark road back to the car. Near the parking lot some booths were up. Some tour guides promising to take you out over the, at times very unstable, lava rock fields to see the lava up close and personal. Fifty dollars for about a 3 hr. roundtrip hike. And almost 200 to do the boat tour which allows you to see the lava flow right into the sea. Something I definitely wanted to see, but 200? Then I saw a photographer’s stand. Displaying countless beautiful images of the lava. Looking at these photos made me really come to see the lava as a creature, a force. It was pictured in all it’s ‘habitats’ as it were, different times of day, different locations, destroying different things (like burning up entire forests) and jumping into the sea in such a way that you would swear it had a spirit to it. Animated for sure. And then huge chucks of lava rock collapsing and jumping into the now boiling sea water with it.  Amazing.

I got to talking to the talented photographer and because of my photo background we got to talking shop for awhile. While I was talking to him and after having seen that the flow was way out there, it occurred to me that I would need someone to take this photo that I wanted for me. No longer would mounting my camera a top my car and pushing the self timer button work. There was nowhere I could put my camera besides possibly hot lava rock ground nor did I feel confident to make that trek out there on my own. So I gave it a shot, let Leigh Hilbert, the photographer, know what I was hoping to do. He seemed interested, but not committedly so. It took some convincing. I offered to pay but he refused my money. And in the end (actually after calling and pestering him the next day) he agreed to take me to the lava AND take photos AND video! I was so excited!
I couldn’t believe this was really going to happen. We headed out for the lava the next night (since I only had two nights left on the island) me with my hoop coiled around my torso, my fuel which I had poured into a smaller more portable container for the hike, my washed out can of spagettios I had found in the recycling bin in which to pour the fuel  so I could dip my wicks, my duvatene cloth, lighter and flashlight. I was set, and Leigh with his usual camera bag and tripod.

He walked ahead of me sure footed and quick, having done this trek for about 10 years already! I, on the other hand was a bit slower, as I was concerned about what I had read in my guide book about possibly falling into the lava under the softer rock. Some rock was softer and made an interesting crunching noise as we walked across it, some was quite hard, some sandy, and some sharp and had the consistency of little pieces of glass. Some did in fact have orange red hot lava flowing and glowing under it some layers beneath which you could see shining through the cracks as you walked over.  And above which you could smell and feel the hot noxious gases being emitted. These were the bits that worried me. I had to ask Leigh to slow down a few times since I wanted to walk where he was walking, since I knew he knew where to walk and not and I could see that he had not fallen through. THAT was reassuring. However the thought went through my mind that it could mean that he had further loosened possibly unstable rock to the extent that all it needed was another set of feet on it (mine) in order to cause it to collapse.

So it was about an hour walk out there this way, till we got to a decent outbreak. Not totally amazing but decent enough to try our photo shoot in front of. Leigh called this our practice run anyway. If it went well we would come back for a dawn shot. Which we did and which happened to be only a few hours later as it turned out. But the lack of sleep was totally worth it. It was all worth it. Being out there in this windy eerily beautiful place and getting to fire hoop feeling the heat from the lava at my back, the temperate night island air blowing away, stars overhead.. totally unforgettable. And now I have a scar to remind me in case I forget. Pele, the goddess of the volcano and protector of the islands made sure of that. She branded me. Gave me a little flash of fire on my arm to show me whose boss. Well it was from my hoop. But I had never been burned by it before. And this was a nasty burn. Blisters, then puss, then blood, then new skin, a scab, the works. But I wasn’t bothered at all, knowing that it was simply my initiation mark. Leigh had been initiated too. His first night out on there 10 years ago, he stumbled onto some lava and got burned. But never again since. And he said that Pele also grants you with gifts. Gifts for dancing my fire dance in Her honor. It WAS in Her honor too. It felt that way. I felt the spirit of the lava and that place with me during my dance both that night and in the morning. At dawn we found a bigger outbreak that was really flowing and the heat from it I could feeling burning my fresh burn and I swear nearly melted my hoop. It was so intense. None of the rock surrounding us was cool as it had been at night (which was why I was able to do a couple of bare footed shots). I ended up using my fire safety  (shh!) to put my backpack on so it wouldn’t melt into the rock. And still my stuff was nearly melting when we finished our shoot and my flash light had stopped working.

We weren’t far from the point at which the lava dances it’s dance down to the sea so Leigh said he would take me to see it but when we came to a point maybe 500 ft. away he said that if we continued past that point we were taking a chance that the lava rock, the ground beneath our feet, could all collapse from under us into the sea as well. He could tell it was getting close to giving way.  So we made it a brief visit and stayed a safe distance away from the boiling water and toxic gases. And I have my photo to prove it thanks to Leigh.

The rest of my Hawaii trip was fantastic in its own right, but this was otherworldly. Thanks again Leigh! And thank you Pele!

Ahhh Hawaii. At last. I had dreamed of coming here most of my life and finally managed it. Was very difficult to pull myself away after my two weeks. First week on the Big Island and Second on Kauai. I hooped daily and fire hooped on several occasions as well. Swimming, kayaking, diving, boating, snorkeling, hooping and eating fish every day.. Tropical fruits and swimming with sea turtles, dolphins and whales jumping out of the water by our boat. Could not ask for more. Except there WAS more!
I got to revisit with my mentor Anah AKA Hoopalicious as my trip happened to over lap with another mentor retreat she was hosting on Kauai. I was kindly invited to hoop with her and local hoop goddess Skylar along with Anah’s mother Fran (AKA ‘Mamalicious’) and her hoop partner Rayna and a few hoopers from the workshop at their last hoop jam on the island. Fantastic times!

What better way to start 2011 than to set myself on fire?! I can’t think of a better one!

Just after 12 am on January 1, 2011 I lighted up my fire hoop and put on a little fire show for my family in their driveway. Not sure what the neighbors thought but they were setting off some fireworks so I fit right into the scenery.

Goals for the New Year:

Continue playing with Fire.

Fire

Practice and perfect new hoop techniques.

Start up hoop classes in my neighborhood (Takoma Park) to share what I have learned with ya’ll.

Undergo physical, spiritual and emotional transformations.

Undertake fascinating journeys in above mentioned categories.

Break old destructive patterns and replace them with constructive ones.

So, off with the OLD, on with the NEW, and INTO THE HOOP!!

Full of Fire

Lots of ‘hoop love’ and ‘hoopiness’ to all for 2011! YEAH! HOOP HOOP HORRAY!

Keep Your Fire Burning Bright!

No, we weren’t burning books, I promise! On December 18th, My long time friend Kathy Cottle had a book release party for her newly published book; ‘Halfway’ (see side link for further info). I had promised to try out my very newly acquired fire hooping skills for the event. It was of course quite cold and I had to be sure not to wear any flammable clothing, so a little good old Value Village thrift store rummaging awarded  me with the leather top and pants that kept me warm enough what with the flames spinning around me and all (which gave me a distinct advantage over my audience who braved the elements for the show). In spite of the weather and trying to fire hoop on a slanted driveway, it was all and all quite fun and a great way to get some practice in!

Thanks Kathy for hosting and Jen for the photos! (video to follow)

A fine late autumn day,  sun, brisk, not too cold, a few color filled trees left still and hoop friend Jaguar Mary and I decided on an impromptu outdoor hoop jam/ photo session. The photos were taken with her still new fancy Evo phone using the Retro camera app. The shots turned out pretty cool so we were both pleased and it was fun. :^) (See my photo page for more pics from this shoot.)

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KOONTZ  (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcurious/)

What an ‘insane’ rally! I know everyone likes to make that joke. But it’s true that it was really a bit crazy. I mean, the amount of people alone.. it blew my mind and I have been to a lot of rallies in this town over the years. It being Halloween and a rally hosted by comic talk show hosts John Stewart and Steven Colbert, many of the attendees (myself included) choose to come in costume.. that along with the spoof protest signs made for quite a lot of entertainment.. that is if you could move anywhere to see anything. The crowds were that dense.. wall to wall people as far as the eye could see. I did however manage to find and make my way to another hooper friend of mine, Christine, in the maddening crowd. How did I find her you might well ask? She was holding her hoops up over head of course! (Clever girl!) A whole group of us hoopsters were supposed to have met up at a metro stop, but that was an impossibility considering that most of us did not even make it ON a train to get down there. Now I live far up the track and thought I had a good early start. The train finally came after a considerable wait and a growing mass on the platform, only to stop and be too jam packed to allow anyone in the cars! Sooooo, on to plan B (which should really have been plan A); break out  the scooter! Was actually a mild enough day to scoot on downtown which enabled me front row parking actually on the mall itself. On my ride down I witnessed masses of attendees crowding the streets several blocks or more up from the mall.

So finding Christine was fortunate. I too had my hoops packed down coiled around my torso for the ride. (Thanks be for my home made collapsibles!) However at first glance it would seem that having brought them at all was a silly thing to do (except maybe for their use in finding other hoopers in a place so crowded that no cell phones would work due to the amount of cellular traffic  in that spot) seeing as there was no place at all to hoop. We tried first to climb a wall at the Smithsonium (which we achieved via help from some nearby strong burly men giving us a boost up the wall.. getting down was a bit scarier as we had to jump, then feeling quite retarded when we saw that we could have come down at a much shorter part of the wall albeit whose access was bit crowded by bushes) to see if we could both see something from there (there were far too few big screens for that rally, we were half way up the lawn and couldn’t see a thing of the actual rally/show, and could barely hear it) and possibly get our hoop on a little. But we and the others who had bravely made the climb were promptly asked by security guards to get down. So much for that..

Which leads us to the place where we did find adequate hooping space, the sculpture garden. It was not overly crowded due to it’s sunken from street level design since most rally goers preferred to be above ground in hopes of maybe catching a glimpse of something. However much that thinking was flawed since not only could you not see anything above ground you were smashed in like a sardine helplessly stuck with the rest, seeing not anything more than your neighbors’ behinds. (And if you were luck they would be of the nice and not nasty variety.) A few others took reprieve from the crowds in the garden along with us and seemed to be thoroughly if not entertained at least amused by our hoop dancing (to no music, oh well). It also seemed to be the place for the flow of traffic of those trying to get out of the human sardine cans just above us.

I don’t think either of us has ever been so photographed in our lives. I felt like a celebrity! However I only found one source of photos taken via my internet searches. So thanks to Chris Klontz for sharing the excellent photos! Check his stuff out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcurious/

We did actually grow tired of hooping below ground at some point (in spite of all of the attention!) and went our separate ways to see if we could find our other lost friends.. It was possible to kind of move along the road ways. I even made it close to the front near the stage but could still not see anything. And all of the prime real estate a top the port a potties was taken. (trust me you did not want to attempt to make a little room for yourself up there, these people were serious about intruding on their prized territories!) All the reachable (And what looked like unreachable) tree branches seemed to be taken as well. So I saw only glimpses on the big screens of the show but the show on the ground was possibly much better anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed the costumes and often hilarious signs.

At the end of the rally when the crowds started to thin, I did as Christine had and stood on a bench holding my hoops high (getting more photos taken of me in the process!). And it was not long before I was able to connect with a couple of hoopers, some I knew and some I didn’t. A film crew also found me and filmed me hooping.. was to be part of some documentary, had to sign model releases and all. They promised to get in touch and since I don’t have their cards nor remember their names nor what the documentary was for.. Well, let me know if you see it out there somewhere!

Ended a lovely day doing ‘Acro-Yoga’ for the first time with a guy named Rapheal who was with one of the hoopers. I got to be the ‘flier’ which is really so much fun. I loved it! I definitely need to try that again! Again, more photos of this (I have not found!) and cheering crowds. (More celebrity time, you know I loved it!) And then to top it off, hooping with a fantastic drum circle. What a day!