Playing With Fire Isn't Dangerous, It's An Art
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Ty Cyphy was playing free form jazz music with 17 clowns when he saw someone dance with fire for the first time.
"I was just enthralled," he said. "I couldn't believe that people could spin fire around their body and not die."
He befriended fire dancers in Arizona, where he lived at the time, so he could learn the art himself.
"I came out here and started taking it more seriously," he said, speaking from an office in North Glendale. The office doesn't belong to Cyphy, but his friend lets him borrow it twice a week. In the parking lot outside, members of Cyphy's circus arts company, Machina Candeo, practice a key part of their act: the art of breathing, eating, spinning, and hula hooping with fire.
Basic fire tricks, like spinning poi, aren't that difficult for non-professionals to learn. Erin Rosenthal, an Isla Vista resident and recent UCSB graduate, said she learned to spin poi in three months from watching YouTube.
Traditional Polynesian fire dancing is performed at luaus. College students are often introduced to fire tricks at Burning Man.
For modern, professional fire troupes, the fire is typically just one part of the act. In Machina Candeo performances, for instance, fire tricks are combined with acrobatics, costumes, and dance moves choreographed by Cyphy.
"About seven years ago or so, we were just kind of doing this as a hobby," Cyphy said. "And then we decided it would be nice to be paid for it."
But the work isn't stable.
Cyphy said he also teaches circus for a living with FOCUSFish, a nonprofit, and Cirque du Monde, a program that offers lessons to homeless youth.
Another company member, Sabrina Tran, 23, earns money independently from belly dancing, but not from performing with Machina Candeo, she said.
Other members have more traditional 9 to 5 jobs. Nicholas Dunes, who once accidentally set his face on fire, said he works as a contractor.
Shaheh Shabanian, 26, discovered fire dancing when he was a student at UC Davis and now works for a printing company.
He said he rehearses with Machino Candeo but doesn't perform with them in paid gigs.
"I'm definitely in it a lot more for the art than for my profit," he said.
