Playing with Fire

Pyro-kinetic artist Molly Block can belly dance while spinning fiery objects around her body. She can dance with a flaming sword and staff. She even does fire breathing. Although Block, known as Wyldfyre, has been practicing fire dancing for six years, she will be teaching the basic movement of a dance form known as poi, which she incorporates into her performance, at a workshop from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Banneker Community Center, 930 W. Seventh St.\nAnn Shaffer of Dark Side Tribal, a belly-dancing group sponsoring the workshop, described poi as having two balls on chains or strings that one spins around him or herself. Cost for the workshop is $25 in advance or $30 at the door. Attendees can bring their own poi equipment or purchase some at the workshop for $5 extra.\nShaffer said she and the other members of Dark Side Tribal would be learning poi along with everyone else at the workshop.\n"It's a really different kind of dance movement that people don't see too much around here," Shaffer said. "And Wyldfyre is a terrific performer and a great instructor so I think she'll make it really, really fun."\nAlthough when Block performs poi she uses fire, the workshop will simply teach the basic moves with different and safer equipment.\n"I think it's absolutely gorgeous even without the fire," Block said. "I have different equipment; I can use flappy tails and glowy things so I still have that flowy movement and it doesn't have that danger. All the fire really adds to it is 'Ooh is she gonna burn her hair off?'"\nBlock said there are different moves dancers can incorporate but the most basic moves will be taught at the workshop, including two known as the "butterfly" and the "weave," in which the two balls on the poi equipment follow one another and move in opposite directions, respectively.\nAs a fire performer and belly dancer, Block has performed and taught workshops throughout the Midwest. She is the manager of the Stinkee Beetle Tribe, a collective of fire performers out of Indianapolis. Poi is just one tool Block uses when performing with fire -- she incorporates belly dancing as well.\n"If the music moves me, I belly dance," she said. "It's just a part of my bones now. It just comes out." \nBlock finds that her dancing provides a plethora of benefits, even health-related.\n"I find it to be a highly aerobic form of dance when you get proficient with it," she said. "When you start out all that really gets accomplished is a raised heart rate and building muscle in the shoulders and arms. But once you get good at it, you can dance however you want with it."\nBlock encouraged anyone interested in attending the workshop to come, as she hopes for the tradition to perpetuate. She said her teaching style makes poi an attainable skill for everyone, as she doesn't move on in her instruction until she is sure everyone "gets it."\nMoreover, she ensures that people with different abilities can participate.\n"You can do it sitting down, I've taught people in wheelchairs," Block said. "You just have to be able to use your arms. It's very low impact."\nBlock will also be performing in conjunction with Dark Side Tribal at an event called "Axis of Evil," a monthly gothic night from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday night at Walnut Street Tap, 419 N. Walnut St. The event has a $5 cover charge and those attending must be 21 or older.\nDark Side Tribal, a group of three members, will be performing its style of American tribal style belly dancing. Block will perform a fire set with many different fire props, including a sword and claws, and will also belly dance with Dark Side Tribal.\nFor more information about the workshop or Dark Side Tribal, visit http://tribes.tribe.net/darksidetribal or e-mail darksidetribaldance@gmail.