Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2005)
2 • IA CKA MA April 27, 2005 Featur Print ABOVE: Argo Vancouver Bimonthly Fire Dance Jam brings forth crowds on the Portland streets Elizabeth Tobey ropes to use for exercise and martial arts training. Swinging the bags, or The Clackamas Print poi, improved hand and wrist flex ibility, coordination and strength. The Maori people did not origi Streaks of fire and pounding drums filled the night air asacrowdof nally use poi with fire. Instead toe people gathered at the end of Salmon poi were used as percussive instru Street for Portland’s bimonthly Fire ments and combined with dancing and chanting to tell stories, similar Dance Jam and Drum Circle. Kids in leather and mohawks to toe way Hula dancing uses hand joined dread-headed drummers, and symbols for storytelling. It’s not clear exactly when people mothers set up folding chairs for their children. Cans of fuel lined began setting poi on fire. But now, the cement area underneath the 1-5 instead of being woven from natural overpass as about 20 dancers milled fibers, poi are usually constructed from synthetic material, such as around preparing to bum. Accompanied by the rhythms Kevlar wick, with a chain or cord from the drum circle the evening and loops for fingers to hold. The traditional Hawaiian or included performances with a vari ety of fire toys including poi, staff, Samoan ailao, or knife dance, has sword, baton, devil sticks, fire fin also been integrated into modem fire gers, and hula-hoop, as well as fire dancing. The dance involves fini painting and fire breathing. ously twirling the nifo oti, or war Now viewed as an exotic form of knife, and was used to prepare war entertainment, fire dancing has roots riors for battle. in Polynesian and New Zealand Letuli Olo Misilagi was toe first native cultures. to add fire to a knife dance after The traditions of the Maori peo being inspired by a fire-eater and ple in New Zealand offer toe main baton twirler in San Francisco. Now foundation of modem fire dance. it is a common performance piece Originally they used a small bag to at Hawaiian luaus and for tourist cany the egg of toe Moa, a large entertainment. These days, fire enthusiasts will flightless bird which is now extinct Then they began putting stones take just about anything they can inside toe bags and adding longer soak in lighter fluid and find a way te dance with it In the Portland area probably the best place to see a wide variety of fire performances is toe Fire Jam and Drum Circle that takes place on toe first and third Sundays of toe month where Salmon Street dead-ends into toe east side of the river. Shireen Press and Delpha Turley started the jam about four years ago. “I called about 30 of my friends that danced and said ‘let’s play,”’ said Press. “That was almost four years ago and people still come down every time.” Starting at dusk drummers, danc ers and onlookers gather for an eve ning of fun and fire. “It’s a good inspiration to come down and see other people dance,” said Kyla Broderick, who danced early in the evening. Press still dances regularly at toe jam, and she and Turley both teach private lessons in their homes. They also produced an instructional video available through their company, Pele’s Element, www.peleselement com. For toe 21-and-over crowd there are often fire performances at clubs and bars. Dante’s and Embers regu larly feature fire dancers. Also, toe Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) hosts events experiments with a fire wl at the most i cent Fire Jan Portland. LEf Fire breathii a very dange ous art, also took place a the jam. The breathers usi lamp oil, be cause it has taste and ke sene or whit gas would bi the breather faces. which often include fire. “After Memorial Day, the SCA has about one event a weekend,” said Jeff Kyser, who was dancing and working as a fire safety at toe Portland Jam. And for those eager to learn, southeast Portland’s Euphoria Studios, www.toecirclenetwork.com, offers weekly classes for beginning to advanced poi, taught by Charisse Renee. The classes use practice poi and for insurance reasons, fire is not taught at the studio. Other resources for instruct« information and fire equipment Serious Juggling, located in so east Portland and at www.serious gling.com, and The Home of Poi Fire Twirling at wwwhomeof com. ‘T guess I’m a pyromaniac,” Argon Vancouver, who creates si of his own fire toys. “But I just the people who do it It’s a fund to get together and do.” Student photographer's works display natural beauty Cl Ciaramella The Clackamas Print It’s only Becca Blevins’ first year studying, photography at Clackamas Community College, but the young student is already turning heads, both at toe college and beyond. Blevins recently had a few of her» photos displayed in a gallery during First Thursday, a monthly joint-exhi bition put on by many of toe galler ies in the Pearl District She also has an upcoming exhibition at toe Twin Paradox coffee shop, located in toe Sellwood District Her photos will be on display there and for sale throughout toe month of May. In person, Becca Blevins.. is bright smiling and genuinely excited about her work. She was more than happy to show her pictures, care fully spreading some of her favorites across toe table and explaining their finer points. There’s no trace of “snobby artist” to be found. She credits some of her enthusiasm to her teacher, Smith Elliot. “She gets you inspired,” she said. There seems to be no shortage of inspiration, though. Blevins’ folder is thick with prints and contact sheets of her photos. Her work shows a natural eye for composition and tra ditional photography technique, but it also shows a willingness to experi ment with form. Many of her photos make use of complicated tricks like layering and double-exposures. Blevins was originally drawn to photography because she found it to be a unique art form, which allowed her a much different freedom than others, like painting. “It’s about creating a little world that people can step into,” she said. Whatever it’s about, it appears she has found her muse. The “little worlds” that Blevins creates show case a budding talent Her black- and-white photos are eye-catching and run a gamut of emotions - from Student and photographer Becca Blevins bases much of her work on the relationship between nature and humanity, as in this self portrait of Blevins, in which a flower emulates the human eye. moody to serene to happy. Blevins says a common th running through her work is relationship between nature humanity. “What is our place with nat and how far are we removed f it?” Blevins pondered. Her photography explores fl questions through the use of i tasting images of people andna a fem lazily draped across a hin back, emulating the spine, or a fl er placed parallel to a human eyi Blevins’ plans after she le Clackamas are still up in the but she says that she is thinkin! double-enrolling at PSU and Hood Community College, chose Mt. Hood for its photogra program, but said she prefers I for further education. The young photographer’s p is full for the moment, how Besides her Classes, she has o projects.on the horizon. ‘T already got asked to do tj weddings,” she said, “and I’m I ting paid.” She said she enjoysplaying“bl ness person” at the moment, mai order forms and other sheets. If her current achievements ( workload are any indication, future may be looking bright ind for Blevins.
