Live fire arts show lights up Collins

It was OK to play with fire in the Collins Living Learning Center Courtyard this weekend. The Stinkee Beetle Tribe, an Indianapolis-based fire performance art group, set the rain-soaked yard ablaze with two shows sponsored by the Collins Arts Council at the corner of 10th Street and Woodlawn Avenue. \nFriday night's theatrics were part drum circle, part fire spectacle. A mist fell on the courtyard as tribe members threw batons flaming at both ends into the air with one hand and caught them with the other. Two Serpent Sisters belly danced in bare feet and sarongs, three "claws of fire" sticking out of each fist.\nThree hand drummers sat at the edge of the roped-off fire circle. Tribal shrieks from the audience also accompanied the performers. \nThe tribe held their audience's rapt attention for the half-hour shows. Some children clung to their parents, their eyes glued to Wild Fire as she bent backwards with a flaming baton balanced on her head. "You're crazy, man!" one child shouted.\nSophomore and Collins resident Esther Hunt was drawn to the show by the sound of drums in the courtyard. She was awed by the skill performing with fire seemed to require. \n"It's a dangerous art form," she said. "I appreciate the beauty of it." \nThe tribe members met at Lothlorian Nature Sanctuary, a 109-acre cooperative community in Lawrence County, Ind. The group got its name from the bug that ended a bag worm invasion at Lothlorian. Tribe member Molly Block, or Wild Fire, remembered the epiphany that gave the tribe its name. \n"The beetles are technically called fire seekers," Block said. "And, you know, they're fire seekers ... we're fire seekers." \nNora Liell, an instructor at Lothlorian, calls herself a Stinkee Beetle Tribe groupie. Although afraid of fire, she said the group's experience with its performance art makes her feel comfortable enough to travel to all their shows. \nLiell is the biological mother of an IU freshman and considers herself an honorary mother to the Tribe members. \n"I'm not much of a firebug," said Liell. "I'm the mom who goes, 'Oh my god! You're going to set yourself on fire!'"\nTribe member The Fire Gorilla emceed Friday night's show. \n"No fakery, no trickery" were involved in the act, he said. "It is real fire! Yes! Real fire!" \nHe would not tell the audience the method the tribe uses to ignite its fires, calling it a trade secret.\nThe Fire Gorilla assured the audience that The Stinkee Beetle Tribe members "are not pyromaniacs -- we are pyrokinetic artists!"\nBloomington resident Karen Haldeman gave her seven-year-old daughter Analise a talking-to before coming to the show. \n"I told her, 'Know what you're about to see, you don't do,'" she said. "It's a beautiful art form. Classic street theater. I didn't want to keep her from it." \nSophomore Sam Scarpino said he wasn't scared when the fire came near him during the show. \n"It's clear they were careful with safety," he said.\nThe Fire Gorilla emphasized safety to the audience, which consisted largely of small children and their parents. He pointed out fire extinguishers the tribe had on hand. \n"So, if anything happens, we can put you out." The Fire Gorilla said.\n-- Contact staff writer Annie Tasker at atasker@indiana.edu.