Tag Archives: Circus

San Francisco Bound!

Posted on by

Local Circus Troupe heads to San Francisco!

VestaFire lights the night at Mt.Seymour NYE 2012. Photo by Joy Unaegbu

VestaFire lights the night at Mt.Seymour NYE 2012. Photo by Joy Unaegbu

Lantzville-based contemporary circus and fire dance troupe VestaFire Entertainment has been chosen to perform in San Francisco’s 8th annual Fire Expo on April 27 2013.

The Fire Expo, produced by Temple of Poi, is one of the most renowned festivals in the fire performance community. It started as an illegal renegade show on a street corner in San Francisco in April of 2005. Hundreds showed up to watch that first performance and it has since become the biggest legal fire show in North America, bringing in crowds of over 3000 people. The festival is fully publicly funded by Kickstarter donations.

In December 2012, VestaFire responded to a call for artists, and sent in a video audition. Then, in mid-January they received the news that the troupe was accepted for not one, but two performances in the show. “We are so honoured and incredibly excited to have been chosen to perform at the Fire Expo. Isa ‘GlitterGirl’ Isaacs is one of the icons in our field,” said Karina Strong, troupe co-ordinator. Isaacs is the co-ordinator of the Expo and founder of Temple of Poi. Strong, along with performer Katlan Irvine, will perform a fire hoop and fire staff duet, and Irvine is slated to perform a solo with fire poi. “For Kat to get offered a solo spot on that stage is amazing,” said Strong.

VestaFire began in 2010, and is central Vancouver Island’s only professional circus and fire dance troupe, providing spectacular entertainment for corporate and private parties, costumed stilters for festivals, and teaching circus themed summer camps. They travelled to Thailand in 2012 with Spark! Circus, performing in hospitals, refugee camps and orphanages, and will be performing this July at both Vancouver Island Music Festival, and the International Busking Festival in Victoria.

More information can be found at http://www.Facebook.com/VestaFire or http://www.VestaFireEntertainment.ca

Blaxploitation II Party!

Posted on by

This summer VestaFire was pleased to be invited to co-create a party atmosphere at Nanaimo Centre Stage, for Blaxploitation II! A fun filled evening filled with 70’s funk remixes, crazy costumes, projections of 70’s movies, and and private birthday party downstairs that got just a little bit wild. Check out the three min video just released by Funky Hypothalamus-  and VestaFire was caught on tape with LED poi, Contact Juggling, and Buugeng. We also did giant Bubbles outside, and performed with fibreoptic whip and LED hoops! An awesome time was had by all, we’re so happy to have been invited to perform.

Port Theatre Performance

Posted on by
VestaFire Entertainment and Andre Nobles backstage at "Harmonies Of Faith" Port Theatre, Nanaimo BC. Dec 2012

VestaFire Entertainment and Andre Nobles backstage at “Harmonies Of Faith” Port Theatre, Nanaimo BC. Dec 2012

This solstice, we were privileged to once again partner with Andre Nobels  to present four acts in Central Vancouver Island Multi Cultural Society’s ‘Harmonies of Faith’- a performance bringing together the multi-faith community to express our spirituality through compassion. As prop dance artists, we at VestaFire express our spirituality through movement and music- how we connect with our Divine- our moving meditation.

The performance sold out the city’s largest venue at 850 seats. It was great performing on such a beautiful stage, to such a wonderful audience. We loved co-creating the experience with the diverse faith groups- Christian faiths, Muslim, Sikh, Pagan, Unitarian- all were represented and all came together to express love and compassion. It was a beautiful night.

The performances were wonderfully recorded and edited by Manly Media. Gratitude! And here the videos are, for your pleasure! Please let us know what you think by commenting on Facebook and Twitter, if you have them! 🙂

My multi-hoop act is featured here, on Hooping.org, a major electronic networking hub in the hooping community.

Our Acrobatic Stilt Dance, and Flowwand, folding fan, and stilt dance jam are also here for your viewing pleasure. 🙂

We have a busy few months ahead preparing for next season- costuming and choreography for two new shows. Remember to ‘like’ us and share on Facebook- we’re very active on our FB page, posting pictures, videos and things of interest there first! And then, our spring/summer season for 2013- already booked up with AMAZING performance opportunities! We’re very excited! 🙂 Thanks so much for your continued support!

VestaFire presentation on 2012SparkCircus Tour!

Posted on by

Circus entertainers brighten lives of refugee children

KarinaFlagsNuPo

http://www.nanaimobulletin.com/community/185452771.html

VestaFire Entertainment has been delighting Vancouver Island audiences with striking circus performances since the group formed two years ago.

Brilliant fire displays, beautiful costumes, stilt-walking dancers and feats of juggling with multi-coloured hoops have attracted rave reviews.

But there’s more to VestaFire than just entertainment, as founder Karina Strong showed last year when she spent two months in Thailand as part of Spark Circus.

This international group of circus performers comes together to bring joy to disadvantaged children in refugee camps, migrant schools, hospitals and orphanages along the Burmese border.

What made the trip even more special was that Strong was joined by her husband Kevin, and children Jenna, eight, who also performed, and Caden, three.

On Jan. 13, the Strongs will share their stories of this mission and the impact it had on their family in a multi-media presentation at the First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo.

The presentation is part of the regular Sunday service beginning at 11 a.m. in the Unitarian Hall, 595 Townsite Rd. All are welcome.

“It was an amazing trip, full of challenges, but also so incredible, with so many memories,” said Karina. “We had so many touching exchanges with children. Our being there let them know they have worth, and that their happiness is important.”

6 Ways to Live a Playful Life

Posted on by

http://www.rememberingtoplay.com/6waystoliveaplayfullife.html

6 Ways to Live a Playful Life
How Big is Your Playground?

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” ~ Dr. Suess

Play is training for unconventional and creative living. One could say play is a radical act – for adults! When we allow ourselves to live as authentically playful beings, we stand out from the crowd, from the ways we, and others, are expected to be.

As we grow up, we lose our spontaneity and freedom. Look at how children behave. They twirl around street posts and skip over lines while the rest of us walk straight down the sidewalk. They dance carefree to a busker’s music while the rest of us stand and watch. They engage strangers like friends while we offer only a generic courtesy. They speak up fully and emotionally, while we keep our voices and emotions in check. They dream up ideas such as being a butterfly and flying across the sky, while we limit life to what’s “realistic” and practical. They colour monkies purple, when we only know brown. Clearly their playground is much bigger than ours!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain Continue reading →

VestaFire Entertainment on TV again!

Posted on by

We had an amazing show on Aug 4th 2012 for the Parksville Beach Festival! Shaw TV came and filmed the show, as well as interviewed us. We’re so excited to share the segment with you all! Here it is!

Here’s ShawTV’s news segment on VestaFire’s Fire Show Aug 4th 2012 at Parksville Beach Festival!

We were joined by several guest performers (Ally and Silvan from our Brave Girls summer camp doing Acrobatic Stilting, and Julie doing Fire Staff! As well, as our friend Terry from Saltspring Island- he brought the Propane Cannon with a special surprise- he incorporated the the VestaFire logo into the cannon’s pilot flame! We also had a great team of volunteers assisting with crowd control and fire safety- thanks so much to Jonathan and Robin for standing by ‘just in case’. Continue reading →

Jenna’s Blog #5

Posted on by

The next school
Today I performed at another school. I had a lot of fun! The kids there are very kind. There are about 100 to 200 kids there. When we were leaving the kids went outside the school and sang “a ram sam sam” to us. That was my favourite part I think. My bubbles spilled all over me and I did not perform for the second show.

My Day Off
Today I had a day off! I went to a swimming pool with my dad and Keith and Alita and Jerina and Petra and Lukas. The big pool was 3 meters! It started out as 1 meter then it got deeper. I tried to touch the bottom but I only went half of the way. Lukas picked me up upside down in the water and I started to scream! I was a really fun day today. There was a baby pool there and it was warmer than the big pool. Bye Bye!

The Mae Tow Clinic
Today I went to a hospital. I saw some new born babies! They were so very cute! Jo said she saw a girl who could almost not breathe so Jo tied a friendship bracelet on her. One baby that I saw had trouble breathing and when he took a breath it sounded really bad, I tied on friendship bracelets for all the babies I saw. I put stickers on the grownups at the clinic. They all loved our show. Bye Bye!

My School work in Thailand
My dad is teaching me how to do fractions, learn about plants, the community and role models.Right now lets talk about fractions! I learned how to do fractions on the Ipad! Like, 1/1 makes one! The denominator is the bottom number of the fraction, the numerator is the top number of the fraction. The bottom number means how many pieces make up a whole, and the top number is how many you’ve colored.

The Plants (my school work in Thailand)
Today we talked about plants. I looked outside and I saw a big difference. The bushes are way different, and the trees, even the grass. In Thailand the plants grow in winter because it rains too much in the summer, but at home in Canada they grow in the spring and summer because it is too cold in the winter because it snows and mostly rains.

Jenna’s posts #2

Posted on by

The Jumping Squirrel
Sat Jan 14
Today I met a nice jumping squirrel. It was so cute! It was really furry too, it was a small as my hand. I got to hold it and he liked me. His claws were sharp and he had little stripes on his tail. His head was furry too and he almost crawled up my sleeve!

The Cute Puppy and Koh Samui Dogs
Sunday Jan 15
In my hotel there was a cute little puppy. He was only one week old, and he was black. I got to feed him because his mom got killed by a car. The puppy’s name was Mummy and he could barely walk. There are many stray dogs on Koh Samui, and even if they have owners they are still very skinny and don’t have collars. They run around in the roads and often get hit by cars. We saw a couple that were limping from injuries.

The Bungalows
Monday Jan 16
Today my family and I stayed in a bungalow. A bungalow is a type of old hotel in thailand. We changed bungalows the next day and now we’re in a better one. Our old bungalow had holes in the roof, holes in the bathroom, and holes in the floor. One time when I opened the bathroom door , a huge cockroach jumped out and it was really big! But then it flew out the front door. It was very scary. Our new bungalow is much better. Our bungalow is close to the ocean. There are lots of waves in the ocean. Our troupe leader Andrea lives in the bungalow beside us.

First Workshops and Kids’ show!

My first workshop day went really well. I taught some kids how to hoop, and it was very fun. I taught at a school. The school had all sorts of buildings but they were all classrooms. The kids at the workshops were very kind. We also did a kids show at the school. I did my Honey Bee act for it. My mom was sick for the day so she did not come with us, but my dad came so it still worked.

LED and Fire Shows

Sometimes we do fire shows and sometimes we do LED. I perform my number with LED all the time. If it is an LED show I am mostly first. In the fire shows I’m usually second as we do a group number with fire first. I don’t do the group numbers unless we are using LED. It is called “Americano” and we are all on stage at once.

Fire Dancing Safety

Posted on by

Lukas Triquetra Fire Poi

Lukas of VestaFire Entertainment creating Triquetra pattern with Fire Poi, Photo by Zack Wilson

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact: Karina Strong 250-816-5545

FIRE DANCING SAFETY

Fire dancing and performance always adds excitement and the ‘wow’ factor to parties, wedding receptions, corporate events, and festivals. This spectacular form of performing art takes years of practice and safety training, If you’re considering hiring a fire dancer this summer, there are specific things you should consider.

“Performing with fire outside is always safer than inside a venue” says Karina Strong, Troupe Co-ordinator of VestaFire Entertainment, a Nanaimo based circus and fire dancing troupe. Performance indoors involves more risk factors, such as ceiling height, crowd set back, and stage composition.

Fire performers should be trained professionals, with comprehensive written fire safety plans that can be submitted to your insurance provider. Performers should also have a full fire safety kit, with fire extinguishers and first aid. All fire performances should include support crew trained in fire safety and suppression.

“The most risk at a fire performance is to the fire dancers” adds Strong. “Public safety is always our number one priority.”

VestaFire Entertainment provides fire or LED light performance, roving entertainment, and circus lessons. They also facilitate fun active children’s parties and can be reached at http://www.VestaFireEntertainment.ca

Upcoming Stilting Workshop!

Posted on by

Multi level Stilting workshop- Intro to stilting, plus AcroStilt and StiltDance!

Sunday June 5th, 2:00- 4:00, Swy-A-Lana Lagoon. $50.00

Join Missy and Karina to explore or expand your stilting skills. Karina will assist you getting up and comfortable on stilts.  Those of you who are already able to walk without a spotter or wall, Missy will guide you through beginning acrobatic and stilt dance. Explore your space, levels, and learn different techniques for getting up and down, alone and with partners. You’ll also learn the basics of stilt costuming and props.
For this workshop, Beginners will share stilts and spotting, and intermediates will have their own set of stilts.
Bring your own stilts. There are a *limited* number of practice stilts available- register early to reserve a set. Both New and a limited number of refurbished used Stilts will be available for PRE-ORDER purchase.
You also must bring your own set of hard shelled knee pads, and comfortable lace up shoes. Dress for movement, and bring a water bottle!
If under 19, you must bring a helmet as well.

COME PLAY WITH US!

To register, click here: http://stiltwithvestafire.eventbrite.com/