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| Kalale`a ~ The sun that dances (Hawaiian Translation) Kalale`a is a sacred mountain in the shape of a goddess, on the island of Kaua`i. She is named after the dance of the morning sun on her cliffs. Kalale`a Fire is a world class fire dance troupe based out of Kauai, Hawaii. Transforming rhythms into mandalas of light, Kalalea takes fire shows to the next level. Blending Tahitian, African, Hip-Hop and Middle Eastern dance with martial arts, Chinese Opera and Hula, Kalalea has mastered the art of choreography woven with improvisation. Creating a show that is fluid and expressive in the moment as well as synced and interactive. These five women embody feminine strength and beauty as well as grace and power. |
 Kalalea Fire with The Dead at Shoreline Amphitheater, California, May 10, 2009 |
"The Dead playing Shoreline is a bit like the circus coming to town. Even the post-Jerry Garcia editions of the band have come around often enough now to create a dependable ritual - thrills, spills, acrobats, high-wire acts and, always, plenty of clowns. But who would have expected the highlight of this year's version to be the drum solo with lady flame dancers straight out of Burning Man? Yowza." - Joel Selvin, SF Chronicle, 5-12-09 |
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Kalalea Fire and the Rhythm Devils photo was chosen for the cover of Spin.com Gathering of the Vibes gallery. www.spin.com/gallery/gathering-vibes-music-fest |
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Eleni Cameron Eleni Cameron is the artistic director of Kalale`a Fire. In celebration of the divine feminine spirit, Eleni has been professionally fire dancing since 1999. She directed the Sol Fire Dance Troupe from 2000-2005. Performing for bands such as The Dead, Ziggy Marley and Spearhead as well as for an extensive list of corporate clients including Sony, Mitsubushi, Red Bull and Starwood Elite; Eleni consistently produces inspired, creative and powerful shows. The themes of feminine strength and beauty are woven throughout her works. Eleni’s performance, costume design, choreography and sculpture have been featured internationally in hundreds of hotels, festivals, concerts, boutiques, clubs and magazines. Vanity Fair, People magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle called her shows the “highlight” of their respective events. After graduating from Rutgers University, she has spent the past ten years refining her art work studying African, Tahitian, Middle Eastern, Jazz, Afro-Cuban, Hip hop, Brazilian, Tai Chi and Fire dance. She currently co-directs Sol Art Studios with her husband Ryan, on the island of Kauai. They show their work weekly at the Grand Hyatt and the Westin at Princeville. For a closer look at her varied works, we invite you to browse the portfolio section of www.solartstudios.com. |
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Angela Babcock-Alessio Angela Babcock-Alessio has an extensive background in the dancing and performance arts. She has been trained in jazz, modern and hip-hop dance, and has performed throughout the states with a variety of dance troupes. She has also been trained in a number of Martial Arts that has inspired much of her style. She is a self-taught fire performer, and began spinning fire in 2000. She has co-created a number of troupes as well as creating choreography, costume design, gear design, music mixes and theatrical makeup outlines. She has performed all throughout Hawaii & California with these troupes and is continuing to dance with Kalale'a Fire troupe on the island of Kauai. Angela has also received her B.S. in Kinesiology and integrates her knowledge in not only her performance, but her career in massage therapy as well. |
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Pua La`a Norwood Pua La`a is an accomplished and skilled professional dancer, born of the Hawaiian Islands. Her love of dance goes back to her childhood, where the beauty of nature, the fluidity and grace of ocean waves and the gentle swaying of trees were all honored in Hawaiian hula dance. From a young age she knew she wanted to express her spirit and creativity thru dance. As a youth, she began to study dance, yoga, and tai ji. Pua La`a began her formal training in 1984, when she moved to New York City. She studied intensively for eight years with Tung Nyan Hung, a 9th generation Peking Opera Master. Tung Sifu (master) passed his lineage knowledge to Pua La`a. She trained in the role of the Wu Dan (female warrior), specializing in martial arts, acrobatics, dance and weaponry. Simultaneously she studied chinese classical and folk dances, ballet, aeriel dance, wu shu, tai ji chen, & ashtanga yoga. Pua La`a began performing with her teacher's professional Peking Opera company after six months of training. Simultaneously dancing with several dance companies, she toured extensively on the eastern shoreboard, and tri-state areas from 1984-1992. She also began to assist and teach classes. For the 1992 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies in Albertville, France; Pua La`a danced in a aeriel piece titled 'Ballet Aerien Elastiques', on bungee cords. Returning home to Hawai`i in 1992, Pua La`a continued her dance studies in hula, tahitian, middle eastern belly dance, Orissi temple dancing, and fire dancing. She has danced professionally in all of her fields of study. She continues her yoga practice and is a certified teacher in ashtanga yoga; as well as a licensed masseuse and a Structural Integrator. She is also a master choreographer, combining the style and technique of her many years of training with the unique flavor of her wide repetoire. Pua La`a has a deep love of the sacred art of movement and dance. Dance is her prayer and her gift to share with her audiences and the world. |
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Rachel Balunsat Rachel Dolma Balunsat has been engaged and training in the beauty and balancing of movement since she was 6. Her extensive background in dance includes ballet, jazz, modern, belly dance, hula, tap, hip-hop, west african, afro-cuban, samba, swing, salsa and of course firedancing. West African dance was pivotal in her transformation as a dancer during high school as the story telling of each movement awakened a deeper purpose in dance. Suddenly movement became the means of profound communication of culture and history. She experienced a synergetic, symbiotic relationship with the drums and began to understand the call and response between rhythm and movement. Her drive to communicate manifested through dance choreography later as a modern dancer. Her background in theater and art also contribute to her creative visual understanding of stage dynamics and composition. Rachel describes her love for firedancing as awakening a primal connection to the elements, her inner nature and all her relations. She strongly believes in the tradition of firedancing as a sacred form taught through sharing. Her background in meditation brings prayer and intention to fire. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, fire is a symbol for burning delusions and misperceptions which create suffering. Through firedance, Rachel holds the intention to heal and transform suffering through ritual and beauty. |
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Anjuli Mahendra Anjuli Mahendra started to delve into conscious movement practice through yoga in college starting in 1999. Yoga offered her a new avenue of connecting with her body that allowed her to explore the relationship of her conscious experience with how she engages/uses her physical body. This initiation into the body through yoga blossomed into a passion for studying holistic health primarily through bodywork. In 2003-04, she lived in Japan where she studied Aikido and Tao Shiatsu, while continuing to deepen her yoga practice. She began self-training with the hoop in Japan, enjoying the freedom and energy that it induced. She has traveled to Thailand several times to study Thai massage and in 2005 left for India where she intensively studied yoga, Ayurveda, and other healing arts modalities. While living in Goa, she was inspired by world-class fire dancers from around the world, and started to add the elements of fire to her own movement. From 2005-07, she performed primarily in Goa, Mumbai, and Delhi ranging from large corporate events to wedding parties to music festivals. While in India, she trained in a variety of martial/movement/healing arts such as Shintaido, Watsu, Ayurvedic yoga massage, and Butoh. In 2008, she settled in Kauai where she practices her own style of bodywork therapy with a desire to help people live in freedom and balance. |
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