July 27, 2006

[Originally published in the 2005 Expo newspaper]

[Read about other guerrilla art interventions in the Expo DIY Library.]

Fire dancing performances are challenging to create, not just because of the creative demands. The city requires expensive permits, both to light up and to perform on the street.

These fiscal demands often prevent artists from performing. In an effort to offer emerging fire artists from the Temple of Poi and the community an opportunity to perform, I recently arranged a guerrilla art performance outside the Exhibition Concourse on the corner of 7th and Brannan on March 24.

Gathering dancers, scheduling safety personnel and attracting an audience took some doing. While we were setting up, it seemed like building security might try to stop us from performing.

Fortunately we had set up our "stage" with great care using safety cones and caution tape. We also arranged our equipment on the city-owned sidewalks to prevent building security intervention. Our professional approach and careful planning paid off.

By 9 p.m., nearly a dozen performers were entertaining a crowd of 100 street corner onlookers. The response was overwhelmingly positive as photos were snapped, smiles broadened and enthusiastic cheers sounded from all of the participants.

You can see this guerrilla art semi-regularly on Minna Street behind the Chronicle building (see Web site for details). If you too want to play with fire, you can learn to do it safely at the Temple of Poi (http://tempelofpoi.com).

Isa Isaacs is the founder of the Temple of Poi, a school and philosophical community for fire arts practitioners and students.