Dance Styles and Fire Fans

Most of the people I see do fire fans seem to incorperate a belly dancing style, but i am wondering, what else could you use as your base? Any thoughts? My dance skills are a little ify, perhaps why i hide behind toys, but what are some ideas?

When ever I've used our fans, I've done a style based on the moves I've seen and learnt from kung fu fighting fans... ofcourse you can't hold a stance for to long... fire kind of burnies...

I've used fans once, and me being the wiry man person I am a fighting style show was superb. A friend of mine tossed the idea of combat situations choreographed out with numerous fire toys. And so we did. Flips, tumbles, near misses, clashes of fire... the fun never ends. But yes, combat style fire-fan'ness... I've not delved into the world of martial arts as far as wielding this weapon... but my other training gave me the movements to execute something to the like.

old burlesque shows used fans in dance too, dunno if thats what yer goin for, mite bear some further research.. I use alot of tai chi as the base for my fans, the footwork, circular hand movements, etc. Degrassi's footwork for rapier taught me alot too, it's alot of circular movement as well. But I wouldnt even say I'm decent at fans

I dont think I have a style. My fans are moved the the flicker of the flame .What that means is how ever the flame embraces me on the light up is how I move.I do poi moves. manly type belly dance moves,some Tang Soo Do moves.sometimes i will just stop and srtike a pose

Kyrian
I have a challenge for you.Do you feel up to it ?...next time you light up your fans close your eyes and clear your mind.Feel the flame let it guide you.use your connection to the fire as the base of your own personal style of dance.

I cant dance ethier I just feel my way through it doing what strikes me on the inside
it must work people say I look ok with the fans .I have a video of me using a set of 3 ft wide fans soon as I can figure out how to turn it into a mpeg and post it on my site I will add into HOP'S video section as well.

Thanks for the ideas all of you!! Starpup......were you by chance involved in a recent umass variety show?

and riz, i may try (given that i soon have acess to fire fans again, mine arn't fire, just friends of mine have them) but i am still nervous enough about fire for closing my eyes to be frightening. but oooh the fun......

Hey there sweetie,

If you want actual moves that you can learn and then transfer over, almost any form of dance is fine. You can adapt almost anything to the tools.

However, those that would work most well, other than bellydance (of which some forms are not condusive to fan work, btw) and martial arts, though fans are not traditional to the arts....

Indian Bangra and Filmi
Hula
Some African
Modern, especially interpretive
True Burlesque...not strip
Hip Hop
Liquid
5 Rhythms might be good for you too, as it is about letting go within a limitation. It helps to expand the moves while still keeping to a "theme" per se.
Any of the slow moving meditations are very pretty with fans...Tai Chi, Qi Gong, even some Yoga moves are nice.
Flamenco
Mambo, Rumba...Spanish influenced dances. Most of these are upbeat partner dances. Instead of a partner you have the fans which can be very effective as well.

(And for those wondering, I dance all of these and teach a few of them, so I have tried it out )

And don't forget that with practice poi moves can be adapted to fan work as well to add greater dynamic.
*edit* Forgot to mention that there is also a fair bit of two item juggling that can be done as flourishes too, with lots of practice. (I still haven't mastered them yet!;) )

If you want to practice Kyrian, simply make a set of paper fans or buy fabric ones (you can get them for $1 each at some stores. Use them to practice and then when you have the fans, keeping in mind fire fans are much heavier, you will still have some greater comfort levels with what you are doing.

Can I point out something I found interesting here? Most of the people who replied are men, which alone is cool since fans are not stereotypically the domain of men and most of them mentioned martial arts styles. Hmmmmm......interesting.

Let us know how you came out!

Pele

Super Awesome Pele, Thx!

And I agree with your col observation about the guys

*runs off to go and buy fans somewhere*

Mine is Hula based, but since that is where my training is that makes sense. my suggestion is to watch what others are doing and adapt what you like to make your own style.

I danced for 8 years, so I try to just incorporate what I learned there into what I do with the fire fans.

I'm currently teaching/learning with another fire fan person and I always say to her "Relax about your style. The cool thing about fans is that you can just stand there with them and you look awesome." I think it's definetly something you just pick up. So, no worries Kyrian, you'll find your style.

Yeah, I would like to put in a humble request for videos. I've played around with fans for a while but I can't seem to come up with anything cool by myself.

memoirs of a geisha really inspired me to fandance. seems like the japanese geisha style of dancing would be perfect for awesome effects.

nikkisays, the Japanese actually have fan dances that they do, culturally. My friend married a woman from Japan, and while she won't touch fire, she does a stunning fan dance. Very slow and controlled.
Some of it is reliant on closing and opeing the fans but I am sure that can be gotten around.

That said, has anyone tried barrel or pivot turns and such with fans?
It's really lovely but I have such a hard time keeping them lit for them.
Paddle turns and 3pts are fine, it's the barrels that are kicking my (lit) butt.

uummm...i had a look at the fans instruction bit (which is excellent by the way) and the gip bit was handy...except i have just bought some with a different grip. i got the poison fans from firetoys...(sorry hop!) because they looked friendly and welcoming

but i was wondering if there are any particular rules on how to grip the fans? as i wont be able to grip them quite the same as demonstrated in the instructional. or is it just a case of doing whatever works best for you and your fans? i dont wanna do it wrong and break all my fingers

Lizzy, for me it was experimenting within the move I want to do, and then figuring how to shift grips between them, which is pretty standard for most toys I suppose. I find I have more control when I have my wrists up and my hands facing me, but that may just be a personal conditioning thing. I don't know.

Not sure if any of that helped though.
Start slow, and if it feels wrong, change to make it feel right. The cool thing with fans is that you can slow them down and control them fully so that you don't wrench or break anything.

I think it's really funny you thought something named "poison" was friendly and welcoming though. That gave me a good chuckle!

i will have a play about with the grip then i have just discovered which grip does not work...and have a slightly sore middle finger!

and i never even thought about the poison thing :P that is a bit bizzare but thats me all over ta for the help! x x

I bought along Hop fire fans to a Japanese fan class. way too massive for most movements, thought that does not hinder the other aspects of body movement, foot position.

Too feminine for my liking, went back to acrobatic-technical fans - The result is on my COL 2007 entry. Waddya think?

Bender, you mean the Japanese dance was too feminine?
I could see that.

What about fighting fans movements? Those are a bit more masculine (I think).