A flare for the dramatic Visiting relative sparks interest with fire dance in Bangor driveway

Albert Firestone learns new things about his younger sister Rebecca all the time. A technical writer living in San Jose, Calif., she brought a sizzling surprise home for her brother and his family when she visited them last week. It was the first time in nearly two years the siblings had visited face to face.

Rebecca Firestone shared her incendiary avocation one night with family and a few neighbors in her brother’s L-shaped driveway in a sedate Bangor neighborhood. Earlier in the day, her nephew Owen Firestone, 11, and niece Charlotte Firestone, 9, helped their aunt prepare a performance space in front of the two-car garage.

Using colored chalk, they drew an elaborate pastel circle on the blacktop. Curlicues shot out like sparks from the outer edges and were reflected in the silver Mylar space blankets, covering the garage doors, which were illuminated by the flames from impromptu oil lamps made from two coffee cans.

Suddenly, the star of the evening emerged from the garage carrying two torches like the ones used by jugglers. The slender redhead lit each one in turn from the flaming coffee cans, then stepped to the center of the circle. She nodded slightly to her nephew, the soundman for the show.

The techno beat of the Propellerheads shattered the serenity as Rebecca Firestone, hands grasping the blazing torches, swung her arms over her head and across her body, the flames leaving streaks of light in their wake. Dressed in high-heel boots, black leather bell bottoms and halter top, she twirled and whirled inside the chalk outline as if it were a circus ring and thousands were watching instead of just a dozen.

“This was a total surprise for all of us,” said Dr. Fran Cantor, Firestone’s sister-in-law. “She’d talked about it a little bit but we had no idea she could do this. Sometimes, you just never know the hidden talents of the people you’re related to.”

Fire dancing is what Firestone said she does “for fun” at home in California. Heavily influenced by Middle Eastern dance, modern dance as well as Barnum & Bailey, Rebecca Firestone took up the art about 21/2 years ago. She said that there are a large number of fire dancers in the San Francisco area and she picked up her skills from an informal group rather than a school or organized troupe.

In addition to her “torch dance,” Firestone also performed two numbers using burning staves. At one point, she balanced one of them on her head while twirling the other in front of her. Its blazing ends briefly illuminated her features as it swung past her face.

These two dances drew heavily from the belly dancing tradition. The music had a distinct Middle Eastern flavor and Firestone’s costumes were similar to those worn by the belly dancing group based in Bangor. It is the fire that set her performances apart from any regularly done, at least publicly, in northern Maine.

When Firestone got off the plane toting the 5-foot torches in a carrying case, her nephew thought she’d brought along her golf clubs. He is unsure whether fire dancing is an art he’d like to pursue.

“It does look kind of exciting, but scary, too,” Owen Firestone observed after his aunt’s pyrotechnic performance. “She’s really daring.”

Rebecca Firestone has had an eclectic life and career. Born and raised in New Jersey, she took dance lessons for years before taking up the martial art, aikido. That lead to the study of Kupigana Ngumi, an African martial art and, later, kung fu and yoga. She found these pursuits gave her a needed release from the stress of working and writing for computer software firms in Boston.

A 1986 graduate of Oberlin College with a degree in Asian studies, Firestone has traveled extensively for work and pleasure. She lived on a kibbutz while still in her teens, then visited London, Munich, Bordeaux and cities in Austria, Australia and Malaysia.

“I try to practice everyday,” she said of her latest hobby. “I’m actually not very agile. It takes me a while before I get good at anything physical. There’s a long period where I’m not very good. But when I get past that, it’s very nice.”

She does perform occasionally with a group of dancers, fire and nonfire, in the Bay Area, but she is not interested in becoming a professional. Firestone said many of her fellow fire dancers attend a circus school in San Francisco and her dancing is influenced more by that performance aspect than any others.

“I don’t really like to do it for money,” she confessed. “The best way to have fun is to do it for friends. If I did it for money, I’d have to be more authentic. I’d like to develop my performance skills more. I’m technically good, but I need to work on my ability to project a personality.”

Those who witnessed her performance disagreed. Her character shown as brightly and boldly in the moonlight as did the flames swirling around her slender body.

To see a short film of Rebecca Firestone’s dance, visit www.psibbq.com/RF.html.