My First Year of Burlesque Festivals

On the way to Vegas!

The Hoop Unit Goes to BHoF
June 2013

As if it were even possible, somehow my drive and dedication to my art has been increased by attending the Burlesque Hall of Fame. I have been given even more courage to do what I do, to the extreme. There is no reason to hold back. No reason to fear that anything I do is too crazy, silly, sexy, out there or wild, because it's not. After what I saw performed on that stage, NOTHING I do can be too out there. There will always be someone who is more flamboyantly ridiculous or fabulous than me :) How awesome is that? It's comforting to know there are so many people out there like me that are completely obsessed with Burlesque. I have never been surrounded by so many people that are that into it! I felt like I was definitely a virgin at the Burning Man for Burlesque Performers. I also feel like I have found yet another place to call home.

Seeing so many performers embrace their unique selves through fashion, costuming, performance, movement, dance, theatrical concepts and of course creative strip tease has really encouraged me to BE MYSELF to the fullest extent of the law. I can't wait to see what my brain comes up with after this!

It was a true celebration of the human body, in ALL of it's forms. Men, women, small, large, young and old got up on that stage and owned it! There really is no time in this life to be ashamed of what you got. Own it!

On the big stage!

My favorite night of performances was Thursday, the “Movers, Shakers and Innovators.” These were the alternative acts that fit nowhere near classic. The more and more I surround myself with Burlesque, the more I start to formulate an opinion of what I prefer. And it's clearly anything that involves circus or outside-the-box concepts. When you've seen lots of women take their clothes off on stage, after awhile it just becomes ass and titties. And then some more ass and there are another set of titties. I want something different. Something radical! Thursday gave it to me and I will never forget it. Jett Adore came onstage with the largest pair of feather fans I have ever seen in my life! I mean they were gigantic! Lolli Hoops, my Hoop Burlesque sister from the other side of the country, did a hilarious Mary Poppins Hoop act. She rocked 4 hoops and nailed it! I was extremely proud of her :) Other highlights of that night include Gilbert de Moccos of Japan, Miyuki Divine & Raven Virginia and Russell Bruner.

The Hoop Unit at BHoF

Friday was the Legends showcase. The groundbreaking ladies who paved the way for us 40+ years ago got on stage and brought it! It was inspiring to see older women still rocking the stage. It gave me a different perspective for my future. Not only were they owning the stage but the audience loved them! This is reality right here. We all age eventually and it is a beautiful thing. Not to be ashamed of or scared of. It is to be celebrated! The reverence for the women who started the Burlesque movement is endless. I love seeing the respect and adoration for our previous generation.

Saturday was our big night! The competition! 3 full months of rehearsals for the troupe and 3 years of anticipation for me was finally coming to a head. To say we were nervous was an understatement. Performing Burlesque for 800 other Burlesque performers is no joke! It's such a niche community that the people within it are what support it. It is starting to branch out and get support from the mainstream as it becomes more popular but for the most part, Burlesque performers support Burlesque. I haven't been as nervous to perform since I was featured on Showtime's LiveNude Comedy in 2008. It was a live taping of my newly created Hoop burlesque act (I had only been hooping for one year at that point) for a national television show. It was the most nervous I had ever been to perform. Fast forward to backstage at the Orleans Casino theater for Burlesque Hall of Fame 2013 and THAT has become the most nervous I have been to go on stage. BUT WE ROCKED IT! You can see the video here. Sure, the performance wasn't perfect. But heck, it was close enough for me. It was a very challenging routine for 4 people to nail flawlessly. I am extremely proud of us. We worked so hard! We trained, made our costumes and fundraised through Indiegogo so we could afford to get out there. I consider the whole project a complete success and I am so grateful to Sarah, Jessica and Madison for making it such a priority. Also, to everyone who helped support our Indiegogo campaign, THANK YOU! We couldn't have done it without you.

After the show w/ Lolli Hoops!

Some of the competitors on Saturday that really stood out to me was Laurie Hagan in the debut category for her reverse Burlesque act. Her music was in reverse, her dancing was in reverse and so was her striping! It was a completely original take on the classic idea of reverse Burlesque. I loved Midnite Martini's act for the Queen title in which she had feather fans on her gloves. How she was able to strip with feather fans on her fingers will forever baffle me. Imogen Kelly (last year's Queen) from Australia performed her farewell performance. It was absolutely breathtaking. Her dress had a manipulatable hoop inside of it that changed shape as she moved. It ebbed and flowed, the performance brought tears to my eyes. In the end we didn't win our category but I wasn't really there to win. I was there to share and to inspire...and to be inspired! I was there to express my vision of Hoop Burlesque Fusion and entertain the crowd in a hopefully unique way. I already know what I want to enter with next year and have been thinking about it, plotting it, ever since! Bwahahaha. I am determined to take home a title at some point in my life. It will happen!

Sunday we got some pool lounging in and saw the Icons & All Stars show. I was awesome to see Roxi D'Lite perform live. I have been watching her videos for years! She did a Cyr Wheel strip, it was amazing. The strength that woman has! Jeez! Catherine D'Lish AND Dita Von Tease ended up showing up which was a huge surprise for the audience. It was Dita's first time attending BHoF! Michelle L'amour was ridiculously sexy as well. I mean wow!

You can see more pictures from our adventures in Vegas here. 
A documentary style video of our adventures in Vegas will be ready soon!

Valentina Goes to the New Orleans Burlesque Festival
September 2013

I just got back from an adventure at the New Orleans Burlesque Festival and I am still

reeling. The first night I was there I performed in the Mondo Burlesque Show at the Harrah's Casino. It was an amazing show to be apart of! The stage was beautiful and big, just how I like it! The crowd was right there with me as I pulled off most of my tricks! Yeah I had a few drops but for some reason when I pulled off the trick I had attempted (and dropped) the first time, the audience cheered even louder. It's something I talked about in my "Performance Skills for Hoopers" workshop this summer on the US Tour. Sometimes an audience likes a drop and a recover more than pulling off the trick perfectly the first time. It makes you seem more human as opposed to a magical hooping super hero. Also, you tried again and succeeded which makes your perseverance commendable and the audience got to go through some adversity with you, you all prevailed! Woohoo! I have to listen to my own advice, try again, put on a big smile and try not to get discouraged when I drop a hoop on stage. Overall I am happy with my performance and happy with the response I received from the audience and other performers at the festival. 

On Saturday I walked around Jackson Square and the French Market Quarter. There was some awesome shops, flea markets and farmers markets. It was a rainy day but I didn't let that stop me from being a tourist. The Saturday night show at the House of Blues was spectacular! My favorite acts were Kitty Bang Bang's Pink Panther act (she came out of a huge trash can!), The Acromantics, Russell Bruner & Pink Lady and The Ruby Revue ended the night with a large group number which was beautifully choreographed and executed. I loved Kitty Bang Bang's "F**k You" attitude and absolute silly humor. It was like she knew that what she was doing was ridiculous (taking off our clothes for an audience is ridiculous, btw!) and the acknowledgment of that made me giggle. When I found out she's from the UK it all made sense, as I seem to have an obsession with British culture. The Acromantics did an amazing acrobatic comedic Burlesque number. It made me think of Bags and all of the fun acro stuff we did over the summer. Russell Bruner & Pink Lady did their silly Little Bo Peep act. 

After the show I had an amazing time getting to know some of the performers from the

festival at the after party. I have a major crush on Gogo McGregor and Dr. Sick. Confetti Eddie was fun. I love David the Pope of Burlesque and Saphire Snow from Australia was a total sweetheart! Her bubbly personality backstage was very much appreciated by social butterfly me :) Vicky Butterfly's act in the Mondo Burlesque show was very cool. She had LEDs and El Wire in her flowy costume which made for an epic effect on stage. Oh and I forgot to mention that El Dorado (who has only been doing Burlesque for 5 months!) did the first ever ice skating Burlesque act (as far as I know!) It was beautiful!

On Sunday I went to the park with Kimberly, my friend who I was staying with to see a live funky jazz band. We ran into a few hoopers on the way in and ended up hooping and dancing with them the whole time! It was such a serendipitously perfect occurrence. I love that carrying a hula hoop around automatically makes you friends wherever you go! We hooped under the huge beautiful trees on the cool grass and I thanked the universe that I'm alive.

The Courage to Ask for Help, Counting Your Blessings & Diving Into the Unknown

The Courage to Ask for Help

As I sit on the brink of my biggest dreams and projects getting ready to unfold, I reflect. 2013 is almost half way over! Wow, that went fast. Pretty much all of my 2013 has been spent in anticipation of this moment. Or the moment I'm about to experience actually, The Burlesque Hall of Fame in Vegas and my US Tour with Bags. I have been planning, organizing, promoting, creating, communicating, working and dreaming about this tour since December of last year. 6 months in the oven! This project has been baking real good :) And it's about to be ready for consumption! It's the oddest feeling to about to be doing something you've spent the last 6 months thinking about. I just want the next few weeks to happen already!

They are going to zip by! I know it! In about a week I will be driving out to Vegas with 3 amazing women to compete in the Best Group Category at the Burlesque Hall of Fame. We are SO excited! We have been working extremely hard to get ready for this. I launched a crowd-funding campaign to help us afford this expensive endeavor, and we made our goal! Thank you to everyone who contributed or helped spread the word about our campaign! It was the first time I have launched such a project and I have to say it was an amazing experience. It made me think about the concept of asking for help. It's hard to ask for help. I know I struggle with it. Something inside me tells me I'm supposed to seem as if I can do everything, all of it, on my own. That's just craziness! That mixed with my own notion of...if it's going to be done right, I have to do it myself. Silly! I watched Amanda Palmer's Ted talk "The Art of Asking" and was so inspired by her courage to ask for help. That video is definitely worth a watch! 

Not only did I put myself out there in a new way to ask for help financially with BHoF, I have also asked dozens of hoopers to help us with our tour. We will be hosted in about 20 different cities this summer! That is a lot of hosts! I have hosted countless hoopers over the years in San Diego and I have also been hosted in Canada and the UK. I know what it takes to host a touring workshop instructor, it's no small feet! Organizing the space rental, spreading the word to your local hoop community and managing sign-ups. Hard work but totally worth it! I wrote a blog post on The Hoop Hub about the benefits of hosting and taking workshops from out of town hoop instructors. It brings in outside inspiration, grows your community, creates a bond within your community, generates revenue and allows the host to network and pay it forward. 

I hope that my Indiegogo Campaign as well as my tour has inspired you to have the courage to ask for help! Sometimes dreams are so big that they take the greater community to manifest. I know that both of these impending projects are bigger than any other dream I have attempted to bring to fruition. That's why they required collaboration on a larger scale. Dream big! Ask for help! One of the most satisfying things I do in my life is help people's dreams of performance come true. I alter people's life-paths by providing empowering performance opportunities, and it feels great!

Counting Your Blessings

On the news with The Hoop Unit as 1950s hula hoopers

April might have been one of my most exciting months to date! I got to do a few gigs with Anahata at the Figueroa Hotel in downtown LA, taught some awesome hoopers private lessons (including Kana from Japan!), The Hoop Unit performed at Lucidity Festival, I was flown to the Bay Area to perform at the Vaudeville Festival in Tracy, CA, I performed on a yacht for The High Seas Tease, Ninja Hoops from Oakland came to town for workshops AND we were featured on San Diego Living's morning news show to talk about Hooping as a tool for health. Whew! 

The Hoop Unit at Lucidity!

Lucidity was amazing! Our performances were different than any I have ever experienced. We were slated to do a renegade performance of our new Space routine at the main stage in the middle of the crowd at midnight on Friday night. Earlier that evening we looked at the main stage and wondered how we were going to work our way into that massive crowd! We were certain people would give us room when they saw a dozen girls all in the same spacey outfit coming through with glow hoops. We got ready and rehearsed a few times at our camp. Even that caused a scene! This routine is different because it isn't set strictly to music with counts like all of the other numbers I've choreographed in the past. It has a lot of partner work that's more loose. We set off from our camp as a caterpillar (each person's hoop looped on top of the person in front of her) and snaked our way over to the main stage. I was in the front and waved our train all over the place! The reactions we got from people were amazing! When we got to the main stage just after midnight, the music was off! Turns out the person who booked us forgot the music ended at midnight, duh! Well we didn't let that stop us! We set up and did our whole routine anyway and allowed a crowd to form around us. It was interactive and spontaneous. I loved it! We did the same thing a few more times in various places around the festival. Pretty much wherever we felt like...at a silent disco (people all wearing headphones listening to the same music), at the Spin Cycle camp, etc. I am usually performing on a stage and it is very planned out. This was the exact opposite! It is so nice to have opportunities to switch it up every so often!

Performing at the Vaudeville Festival in Tracy, CA

One of my favorite shows I have EVER done was at the Grand Theater in Tracy, CA for their Vaudeville Festival w/ the Fishnet Follies Burlesque Revue. It was in a huge, beautiful original theater from the 1920's! The stage was amazing, the cast was epic and the show was spectacular. I really enjoyed being surrounded by such beautiful Burlesque stars in a venue that was truly worthy and deserving of our talent! The night that I arrived in my hotel room, after driving from the airport in my rental car (all of which was provided by the festival who hired us) - I laid in bed and counted my blessings. I was feeling so grateful! I thanked everything that I could think of. I started with the things that were closest to me and the gig I was doing. Thanking Mynx, the festival organizers, etc. then I started moving outward and thanked everything in my head that I could think of, getting as far away as the moon, stars, mother earth, trees...everything! Naming them all off in my head. Thank you "fill in the blank." I can't stress enough how important it is to carry gratitude with you through your daily life! It is the only way to move forward.

The High Seas Tease

The High Seas Tease was definitely one for the books! I danced with my snake, Manasa as well as performed my 4 hoop routine. It is the first time I have done a summersault on a moving yacht while hooping on my foot :) I am always up for a challenge and I love firsts! The Bourbon Dames Burlesque will be producing another amazing event on June 7th at Sunset Temple: Rack of Ages. I am really looking forward to performing to one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs. It's one that I have wanted to dance to for years! Don't miss it!

Ninja Hoops came to San Diego to teach 2 days of amazing hoop workshops! Wow! My brain was all full and melty. I loved it! Thanks to Zach and Marria from Oakland for making the trek down to teach us your amazingness!

Ninja Hoops Workshop in San Diego

The weekend after Ninja Hoops were in town, I went to Colorado to participate in the Spin Summit. This was my second year teaching and performing. It was a really good time for reflection because that event last year was the start of my huge self-initiated life change. I got to sleep in the same exact bed I slept in last year and think about  all that I have experienced since then. I got to compare my current self with my past self. Something I noticed was how much more comfortable I feel inside myself. I am so much more ready to be me. And nothing else. No one else. Just me. I also feel much more empowered within my potential as a hooper and circus artist. I have grown a lot as a hooper in the last year. I can feel how much I have pushed myself to grow. 

Diving Into the Unknown
I like details. I thrive on organizing and planning them out. Something about my tour that is both scary and exhilarating is how unfathomable it is. I can't fathom all of the details. It will be for 3 months and it will mostly be in places I have never been. There is A LOT of unknown factors. No matter what I do now to prepare as best as I can, there is no way I can know everything. I'm freaked out and excited at the same time. I think this must be the reason I'm doing this. I'm in a phase of my life where I am pushing myself into the unknown, the uncomfortable, the unfathomable. I think if you're not scaring yourself, you're not really living your life to the fullest. Scare yourself. Just a little bit. Get out of your comfort zone and grow! I am also pushing myself into a place of discovery about what I really "need" to survive. Putting everything back in storage, and packing up only enough for a 3 month adventure in a car is going to put the idea of "need" into perspective!

What's Coming Up!
Rack of Ages - June 7th at Sunset Temple

Bags is coming to teach!

More info: http://rackofages.eventbrite.com/

Show Variete - June 7th at Queen Bee's
More Info: http://queenbeessd.com/

Del Mar Fair Performance - June 9th at the Del Mar Fair
More info HERE

Double Hoop Workshop w/ Bags in San Diego! - June 13th at Dance Place San Diego, 7-9pm, $40
More info: http://unityhoops.com/events/bags-uk-hoop-workshop-san-diego

OB Spin Jam and Farewell Party! - June 14th at the Saratoga Greens in OB
More info HERE

UK Hoopers Invade LA - June 15th at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Pasadena w/ Bags, Kenna Hoops & Gail O'Brien
More info: http://unityhoops.com/events/uk-hoopers-invade-la

The Power of Play

I love these Juggling jesters :)

As I think about my England trip, (yes I am STILL thinking about it...it had that much of a profound effect on me) I think about what else I want to write about. I already talked about some of my favorite experiences from the first couples weeks in my last post, but haven't really touched on the rest of the trip. There is so much more to share!

One of the main things I think I gained from the experience is a new outlook on how I want to structure my life...and my time. What's important to me? I think that my value system has shifted slightly. That's why we travel, right? New perspectives on life...stuff like that :) 

I am a Type-A personality, I have a slight case of the overachiever syndrom. This can be both a good and a bad thing! I have been taught from a young age how important it is to work hard. Do good in school, and do so by working hard. Study, spend time, read. Reap the benefits of that hard work! It can be rewarding! I have transfered this approach into my daily life and into my business. Self-employment means that you do have to work hard, very hard. Especially in the industry that I am in. A self-proclaimed performer and teacher in the circus/dance arts seems like a fun route, but it is not always the easiest. As a self-employed entrepreneur, you can ALWAYS be working. There is always something you can be doing for your business. I think I have allowed myself to get sucked into that and have put too much importance on spending time being productive. Sounds silly but it's true. I can be my own worst critic and I can really push myself, sometimes too much. 

Playful Bags at the beach!

Being in England and having free time to JUST PLAY showed me how important playtime is. Playtime is just as important as productive time! Lots of my days in Bristol consisted of spending hours in the practice space at Bags, Nick and Gail's house. I did have some obligations like workshops on the weekends and a couple shows, but for the most part I had more free time than I usually allow myself to have in San Diego. I felt myself grow tremendously. Not only did my hooping skills grow, my psyche was bursting with freedom. No constraints! Having such an amazing play partner around like Bags didn't hurt either. The balance between play and work is super important! It has been so easy for me to get wrapped up in the work side of things, I think I forgot how important it is to play!

When I was learning to juggle, I experienced a meditative state that I had never felt before. I was able to have an out-of-body experience where I could look into my own brain and see my thought process pathways. Whoa! Nothing like that had happened before! I think I haven't given myself proper meditation time up until now. A similar thing happened when I went to my friend Monica Grave's meditation class last week. It was my first structured meditation experience. I was able to see what I think about! Having a mantra to continue to repeat in your head allows you to see what your thinking about that's NOT the mantra. So funny. I actually kind of laughed at myself when I thought about what it is my mind wanders when left to it's own devices. A lot of it was about hooping, some of it was about guilty pleasures like fashion, clothes and costuming. I'm such a girl! Definitely some worries, insecurities and anxieties came to the surface too. I think meditation, weither it be through movement or not, is a good way to see what your voices are telling you in your head. Awareness is the first way to stop some of the negative ones.  

Playfulness with 2 of my besties :)
WHD, Nov 2011

Well the reason I finally did start writing this blog post today (I have been putting it off until it felt like the right moment) is because I am so blissed out from my day. I spent about 4 hours hooping and juggling on the grass at the end of Saratoga in OB. I nailed some super tricky tricks I've been working on. Finally stuck the foot hooping headstand! YEAH!!! I do also feel like I am officially a hoop juggler. Got it on lock down! Also feeling solid on a couple 4 hoop tricks. Today in between my little mini training/flowing sessions, I found myself just dancing and jumping up and down. Literally I was just jumping around. For no reason at all. Well I guess there was a reason...purely for the sake of joy. PURE JOY! WOW endorphins are the best drug in the world! Thank the goddess who invented endorphins. They rock!

So my current outlook, mantra, mission, power-word, whatever you want to call it...is PLAY. Another concept I am really feeling right now is collaboration. Collaborating with a partner or with groups of people, many people...to make something bigger than what you can do on your own. The power of collaboration is most evident to me right now because of all of the partner circus fun I've been having lately. Partner poi, partner juggling/passing, partner hooping - GROUP hooping! Yes it's possible and I have been playing with some super rad group hoop awesomeness (a la Bags) with my troupe. I really love the feeling of partner work in circus, it's addicting. To have that connection with someone else, get on the same wavelength, the same rhythm as someone else. It's magic. Especially with hoops!   

Hooping Headstand!

I dedicated today to me! I carved out the whole day to do things that are fun and that, in itself, is productive. I am building the skill of play. I am building skills in hooping, in bonding with others and in nourishing myself. Nourishing myself with things that I enjoy and that feel good. It's important! It makes me happy and makes my work better if I'm happy while I'm doing it.  

HERE's a video my friend Ringo made about Flow.

The Teachings of Thailand

The BLISS of Tonsai on my face 

I am processing a whirlwind of adventure. An opening of the heart and the mind. A reintroduction to myself and the world. A reintroduction to life. A new outlook and fresh mindset. A renewed sense of faith in myself, humanity and mother nature.

Sounds like Burning Man, right? Well, this year my Burning Man was Thailand. All of Thailand was unforgettable but Tonsai (a unique place in the South where dramatic limestone cliffs meet the calm, flat, light blue ocean water) especially struck a cord in my heart and will forever leave an imprint on my soul. I will always be a burner. The playa goes with me everywhere I go. I mean, I'm a hula hooper for a living! If that doesn't scream Burning Man I don't know what does! I am glad, however, that I have opened myself up to other types of adventures. I have made San Diego my home, the playa is definitely my home and now so is Tonsai. I plan to actually make it my home at some point. I am already devising plans to live there :)

Sunset in Pai

I learned a lot in Thailand. Some lessons I learned were not new. But they obviously deserved rediscovery. About a week into the trip I fell while driving a motorbike in the rain. The roads were wet, the bike was in poor condition and I was having too much fun, clearly! A very nice Thai man drove me to the hospital where I was cleaned up and bandaged, given antibiotics and pain meds for about $11. Wow! That was part impressive. The rest was traumatic, painful and scary. I'm almost healed now! Just more battle-wounds for this temporary vessel we call our bodies. It occurred to me how everything can change in an instant. One second you're riding through life having a blast and the next you're a bloody, crying mess. Then you have to slow down. Slow way down. That's what I did. I was forced into a vacation from my vacation. I rested a lot. I slept. Read. Made friends. Hung out in hammocks and enjoyed staring at the Pai landscape.

Coconuts everyday!

I am humbled. 

I had an interesting epiphany about my life in San Diego. Traveling so far from home gave me a different perspective and new appreciation for my daily life. In San Diego, I am surrounded by support, love and admiration. It was hard at times (especially while I was healing from my motorbike accident) to be constantly meeting new people. I really missed my tribe! Luckily I had Leeloo with me :) When you're traveling (just like at Burning Man), no one knows who you are at home. You can be anyone you want to be! You can make up a new name for yourself, a whole new identity even! This anonymity made me appreciate everything that I have in San Diego in a whole new way. All of the friends, family, love, supportive community and inspiration that I have in my everyday life. Wow! I am truly blessed! It's funny how leaving home makes you realize what you love about home so much.  

I also realized that it is possible for me to have more than one home on this beautiful planet. It's ok to feel like you belong or you came from more than one place on Earth. Oh Tonsai!  Tonsai gave me some of the most potent natural highs I have ever felt. They came from the intense natural beauty, the rock climbing endorphines and the people. All of it made me write my version of poetry...

Hello Paradise!

I am a mermaid
I am a lion
I am One
I am one with the universe
Every one of my cells is connected to every cell in the entire universe
Every plant, animal, water, rock, grain of sand, insect
Intoxicated with Love
High on Nature
Blissfully Happy

The first day I discovered Pra Nang beach (next to Tonsai) I had what felt like a psychedelic experience while I was completely sober. I was high on nature! I kayaked to the beach with some new traveler friends. We climbed to the top of an epic cave that looked back onto the almost deserted beach. It was low tide so I was able to walk around a rock that jutted into the ocean and find a tiny little private patch of sand. Completely untouched and hidden. The little beach was at a perfect natural slant for reclining. I laid down in the sand and looked up at the limestone stalactites hanging down over my head. I rolled around in the sand as the waves lapped over my body. I couldn't stop saying, "I am One. I am One with the Universe" over and over in my head. I swam out into the extremely salty, warm, clear blue turquoise water and floated on my back looking up. The large, colorful stalactites hung over me as I lay in the ocean and let the water drops falling from the stalactites land on my face. This was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. I will never forget it!

Stalactites over the ocean

Not only did Tonsai show me a whole new understanding of the concept Unity (universal connectedness), a concept that I obviously feel strongly about, it also showed me how many other amazing skills there are to master in this life! I love to challenge myself. Especially physically. I have attempted pretty much every circus and dance skill that is somewhat accessible to me. Never have I tried rock climbing and I had no idea I was going to love it so much. Man, is it a rush! A huge challenge too. On so many levels...physically and mentally. I was lucky enough to meet some pretty fabulous people in Tonsai who introduced me to this new hobby. All I want to do it get better at it! Part of me is overwhelmed by all of the "things" I have already set out to master but part of me is telling myself there is time. There is time for everything that I make important. So this is a new important obsession. Yay! The other one is slack lining. The locals in Tonsai are some of the most epic slack liners and rock climbers I have ever witnessed. These people grew up walking on tightropes and rocks, like it ain't no thang. It's so cool. They spin fire poi, staff and juggle fire on the slack line! I was beyond impressed! I didn't see anyone fire hoop on the slack line so that's another new challenge I have set for myself. Create a slack line-burlesque routine as well as master slack line-fire hooping! Woot! I can do it! I can do anything I set my sights on! And so you can YOU!

Rock climbing w/ Laura's help!

There was a crazy rainstorm for a couple days while we were in Tonsai. It reminded me of the dust storms at Burning Man because it made you run for shelter no matter where you were or who you were with. It forced you to make new friends and get drunk in the middle of the afternoon, for lack of anything else to do :) More poetry...

Everything is wet
Breathing in the beauty
Absorbing and reflecting it
Breathing in the green
Lush and drippy
Giant leaves
Jungle love

I am in love with all of the new friends I made in Thailand. Interesting, open-minded people who I hope to see again someday. I had intellectually stimulating conversations about modern gender roles with a mixed group of people from Iran, Austria, Germany and America. I got to know some of the nicest Canadians ever (of course!) and lots of Australians who were way too much fun :) Connecting, laughing, playing, learning, admiring and sharing with each other. Leela and I hooped everywhere we went! We hooped in the hostels, the bars, the beaches and even at the temples. We taught locals and travelers alike how to hoop :) There will be a Thailand Hooping Video coming your way soon! Singapore performance pictures can be found HERE and our travel pictures are HERE.

Amazing new friends!

More highlights from Thaiand include: street food (all of the food!), tropical fruit shakes, Oh wait...just the tropical fruit in general! fresh coconuts to drink everyday, Thai massages that cost $7, tuk-tuks, the Sunday market in Chiang Mai, Thai cooking school, riding motorbikes (on the left side of the road) up to the Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, thunder and lightning storms, rainbows everyday, ocean sunsets, waterfalls, the Pai canyon, fireflies, monkeys, SpicyPai and Kit, Julie's Guesthouse, Mama's Chicken, painting each other with neon paint because it was the full moon, Chang beer, lots of spliffs, beautiful seashells, Toffee & his band, Maxi...all the Tonsai locals actually...Bao and Lai and Zero and Yoni and Dee...the Sunset Pirate Bar, the Sawadee Bar, the owners and family at Pasook, holding Leela's hand hanging in hammocks in Pai and getting closer with her than ever before, laughing with her and going through a lot together, OMB (Oh My Buddha!), Boom!, "Shake, Shake...Shake Everyday", "Why not?", Same Same but Different, kayaking, hooping with the ocean as my partner, Ben and his infectious enthusiasm :) Thai reggae, and the kitties everywhere!  

LED Hooping at the Singapore Grand Prix

We left our bungalow made out of palm trees on the beach and went to Singapore to perform at the Grand Prix. We were put up in a fancy 5 star hotel and the woman at the front desk actually asked me if I wanted someone to carry our backpacks to the room! I had to laugh. Coming from hippie-land and ending up there was quite the change. What a gig! The most amazing one I have ever done. There is no question about that! People carrying all of my props for me and my own private dressing room?! Yes please! So spoiled! The event was HUGE! Thousands of people, bands, DJs, art, other entertainers, stages and of course the races zipping through the streets of Singapore constantly. I performed 3-5 sets a day so pretty much one Fire/LED set per hour for 5 hours. It was hard work because it was super humid and extremely hot! Lots of fun though! People loved it, I loved it :) It was win-win. Jovi was our assistant/helper the whole time and we loved him! So sweet and really on it. On the last day we had a longer break and walked around the event for an hour or so. What a bizzare experience! The races were so loud we had to wear ear plugs just to walk around. Then we couldn't really communicate with each other so we just gave each other weird faces and laughed a lot. Damn it was sweaty there!

Fire Hooping at the Singapore Grand Prix

Now I am looking forward to producing a Day of the Dead themed show on Nov 3rd, teaching and performing in San Francisco Oct 19th weekend and then touring England & Ireland in Nov-Dec. More soon. Thank you. Thank you for reading this, being in my life and inspiring me to continue to do what I do. Thank you universe. Gratitude!