The 2004 Fire Arts Festival performers
- Capacitor
- Cuatro Caminos
- Mark Deutsche
- La Fiebre
- Fire Arts Collective
- Fire Conclave of Burning Man
- Jasmine Garden and Gingerbread Candy Monahan
- Karisini Yogini
- The Kook Troupe
- Marisa Lenhardt
- The Mutaytor
- Phoenix Rising
- David Sloves
- Vau de Vire Society
- Xeno
Capacitor
Capacitor is a group of interdisciplinary movement artists that accumulate energy from our technologically impacted
culture and release it through innovative, multi-sensory performances. From the movement of the human diaphragm to the
story of evolution; from the behavior of electricity to genetic manipulation; from the birth of the moon to the cycles
of digestion - science and technology form the basis for Capacitor's study of performance. Obsessed with the mechanics
of the human body as well as machines that propel the body through space, Capacitor artists have become masters of
rigging systems and large-scale props designed to stretch the limits of physical poetry.
Capacitor has created works that tackle the creation of the universe (Within Outer Spaces, 2001), the past and future
of mankind (futurespecies, 2000), the modern phenomenon of video gaming (Avatars, 2002) and, most recently, a journey
through the visible and invisible layers of the Earth (Digging in the Dark, 2004). Capacitor's uncanny and
contemplative use of technology won the company an invitation to speak at the Monaco Dance Forum in 2002. It has been
covered by Computer Graphics World, Wired.com, SHIFT Magazine, NBC 11's Tech NOW!, CNET Radio, TECH TV, Dance Magazine
and The New York Times.
*ca·pac·i·tor (kƒ pas‚i tƒr) n. a device for accumulating and holding a charge of electricity.
URL: www.capacitor.org
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Cuatro Caminos
Cuatro Caminos is a recording collective consisting of Eddie
Gonzales, Ken Wheels (aka Resintooth), and MURM. Their music is rooted in
thick, deep grooves, while allowing for branches with Latin and world
flavors, classic soul stylings, hard-hitting dance numbers, and even loopy
alien stories. Cuatro Caminos will perform Saturday, during the day at the
all-ages family day from 3pm-5pm. No, they aren't fire performers,
but they sure are fun!
URL: www.stumprecords.com/cuatro-caminos.html
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Mark Deutsche
Mark Deutsch can best be described as a 21st century Renaissance man. A professional musician since the age of twelve,
he is a visionary artist with a background in non-linear mathematics, sacred systems and cosmology. As a classically
trained bassist and sitar player he has gained extensive experience in orchestral ensembles, world music traditions,
jazz combos, and solo sitar performance. He holds a US patent for his groundbreaking new instrument, the Bazantar --
a five-string acoustic bass fitted with an additional twenty-nine sympathetic strings and four drone strings. Mark
will be performing at the Gala benefit night and will be joined by various fire performers.
URL: www.bazantar.com
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La Fiebre
La Fiebre, featuring Fyrestorm, presents Between the Devil and the Darkness: Fire Baile, a Latin American fire dance
project. Drawing on the music and movements of Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Cuba, and San Francisco, it explores the
capricious nature of fate, as personified by the Yoruba deity Elegua, keeper of the crossroads. It celebrates the fine
balance between destruction and creation, between fire and shadow, between the Devil and the Darkness.
Founded by dancers and choreographers, La Fiebre brings together some of the most talented artists in the fire and
dance communities. Dancers include Kelly Garton, Phil Halbert, Stephanie Wendler, and John Voldol of Fyrestorm. This
performance debuts costumes by Nera Brent and a new innovation in wearable fire sculpture created by Buzz Voelker.
URL: www.kanizares.com
or email kristina
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Fire Arts Collective
Fire Arts Collective is a Bay Area troupe, performing with fire poi, staves, fingers, fans and their signature fire
jump rope.
URL: www.fireartscollective.com
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Fire Conclave of Burning Man
The Fire Conclave started out fourteen years ago as one fire dancer and has now grown to include more than 600
participants. During the year they dance within their own cities, but once a year they gather at Burning Man to create
a protective ring of fire and light before the Man is released in pyrotechnic delight. This diverse group of fire
dancers and safeties comes from many different regions of the United States and Canada: California (L A, Bay Area,
Santa Barbara, Sacramento), Colorado (Steamboat Springs, Boulder, Denver), Massachusetts (Boston), Missouri (Kansas
City), Nevada (Reno), New York (New Jersey, Manhattan), Oregon (Portland, Salem), Washington (Seattle, Northwest
region), Washington DC (Baltimore, Virginia).
Contact : Crimson Rose
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Jasmine Garden and Gingerbread Candy Monahan
With Jasmine on violin and Gingerbread on cello, this eclectic duo from Rosin Coven will bring electric string sounds to the mesmerizing fire sculptures on Thursday night.
URL: www.rosincoven.com
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Karisini Yogini
I have been performing with Pyrosutra (based in Seattle)
since 1999 and recently moved to the Bay Arean for more sun! More heat! I
teach Bikram Method Hatha Yoga and like it hot, hot, hot!
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The Kook Troupe
The Kook Troupe is a dance theater circus company comprised of interdisciplinary performance artists. It infuses
acrobatics, modern dance, aerial dance, fire performance, opera singing, live music, video, and voice into the magic
of live theater. Inspired by human interaction with technology, the Kook Troupe produce an anime, supernatural form of
performance. Juxtaposing humor with pathos, its works are conceptually based on thematic journeys, the passion
propelling us, and the humorous interplay of the awkward, silly spaces in between.
kook ('kük) : one whose ideas or actions are eccentric, fantastic, or insane
URL: www.kooktroupe.org
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Marisa Lenhardt
Soprano and Bay Area native, Marisa Lenhardt attended the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music and graduated with a degree in vocal
performance. She has performed as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die
Zauberflote, worked with the New York Opera Forum, sung the National Anthem
for the Oakland Raiders, and performed with the San Francisco Lyric Opera in
Puccini's Madame Butterfly and as one of "Due Donne" in Mozart's Le Zozze di
Figaro. She has performed with Opera San Jose since their 2001-2002 season
and performs as a touring member of Velocity Circus. Marisa attends the
Burning Man festival every year, setting up and singing in Thunderdome and
captivating thousands at David Best's Temple burns. For Fire Arts Festival
2004 Marisa will be performing at the Gala benefit and as part of the grand
finale.
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The Mutaytor
Born in Black Rock City at the world-renown Burning Man Festival and incubated in Los Angeles' tribal-techno
underground, The Mutaytor combines 50 thundering fluorescent-green drums, live improvisational electronica,
breathtaking fire performers, sensual hoop dancers, dazzling aerial stunts and giant video projections. The
performance is capped by Dr. Megavolt, a man in a metal suit, who is repeatedly struck by snakelike arcs of lightning
produced by 1.3 million volt tesla coils. The tesla coils were designed at the Berkley Research Laboratories by
Austin Richards, Phd.
The Mutaytor specializes in large festival concerts including the 2002 & 2003 Coachella Music and Arts Festival
(65,000 attendance each year), 2002's Metropolis (Spundae) at 3-Com/ Candlestick Park in San Francisco (20,000
attendance) and 2002 & 2003's Decompression Street Fair, San Francisco (15,000 attendance).
URL: www.mutaytor.com
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Phoenix Rising
Phoenix Rising is a professional fire performance troupe from California that has been performing together since 1999.
They have toured throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Thailand and Australia. Their work includes intricate
choreography using fans, fire fingers, fire staves, fire wings, double staff, and fire poi. For Fire Arts Festival
2004, they will be performing an excerpt from their full show, "The Lake."
URL: http://www.phoenixrisingartists.com
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David Sloves
David started spinning double staff (2 staffs) in
Palenque, Mexico right around the turn of Y2K. He has
since performed fire dancing and live music throughout
North and Central America at clubs, beaches,
galleries, private events and the streets. His ultimate aspiration is to spin double staff while covered with raw meat and hungry flies.
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Vau de Vire Society
The Vau de Vire Society -- named for a river valley in Normandy famous for the lighthearted tavern show that grew into
vaudeville -- is a local neoteric-cabaret coterie that embraces dancers, actors, acrobats, musicians, aerial artists,
contortionists, and sideshow performers who reflect their times while flirting with the past. Influenced by the gritty
urban folk songs, or voix de ville, which once flourished in France, the Society aspires to be the "voice of the
city."
URL: www.vaudeviresociety.com
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Xeno
Most of the performers who now make up Xeno were members of AWD, a multimedia performance group involving dance, music,
spoken word, and video. Founded by choreographer Raquel Reyna in late 1995, the group performed at a wide variety of
concert, dance, and theater venues, including the 1998 Edge Festival, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the Sound
Factory, and Burning Man. AWD's career culminated in a six-week run at the Eureka theater and its participation in the
1999 Macy's Passport fashion show.
In December of 1999, AWD underwent mitosis, with seven performers founding Xeno at the turn of the millennium. The
group made its debut at Ruby Skye, where it has played frequently ever since. It appeared throughout the year 2000 at
venues such as the Maritime Hall, the Lab, and the Somarts gallery. Four other members of AWD, including present Xeno
drummer Scott Sterling, continued under the name Genetyx, which briefly lit up Satori, Burning Man, and the Exotic
Erotic Ball before disbanding in the autumn of 2000. In 2001 Xeno created its present home, the Xenodrome, and
performed at Cyberfest and Earthdance. It continues to make its distinctive contribution to the Bay area scene.
URL: www.xenodrome.com or call Xeno's administrative offices at (415) 285-9366.
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