 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 |
|
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 |
|
 |
||
|
Eleni Cameron Eleni Cameron is the artistic director of Kalale`a Fire and Sol Art Studios. She has been producing fire shows professionally since 1999. Kalale`a Fire has had the honor of performing on world class stages alongside bands such as the Grateful Dead, Ziggy Marley, Los Lobos and Spearhead. Eleni's fire shows have been presented at many corporate events including; Sony, Mitsubushi, Red Bull and Starwood parties. Kalalea Fire consistently produces inspired, creative and powerful shows. Eleni's performance, costume design, music mixes and choreography have been featured internationally in hotels, festivals, concerts, clubs and magazines. People magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle have called her shows the "highlight" of their respective events. In addition to her experience producing fire shows, she co-directs Sol Art Studios with her husband Ryan Cameron. For a closer look at her works of art, we invite you to browse www.kalaleafire.com and www.solartstudios.com. |
|
|
Angela Babcock-Alessio Angela Babcock-Alessio passions lie in dance, music, entertainment and performance arts. She has been involved with professional event entertainment, production, managing and coordination’s from a young age. She has been involved with a variety of cutting edge festivals and performance- theater throughout the West Coast and Hawaii. She has an extensive background and has trained in a variety of styles of dance including; jazz, lyrical, Tahitian, hip-hop (popping & locking), dance theater and has performed throughout the United States with a variety of dance troupes. Angela also creates and teaches choreography. She has been trained in a number of Martial Arts that have inspired much of her style. Angela is a self-taught fire performer, and began spinning fire in 1999. Her interest in the Electronic music culture lead her to the art of spinning flag-poi under LED/Black lights at parties. From there she taught herself how to move and integrate her dance style with the movement of a variety of props, which move in different directions. She began lighting poi on fire and freestyle spinning at different events. From there, she picked up her knowledge of spinning single staff, double staff, single hula-hoop, double hula hoops, snakes, fans and also fire eating and breathing. Angela has done some DJ-ing and knows how to blend and create music mixes electronically. She has a vast collection of music from a variety of genres and enjoys creatively mixing all different types and styles for the collaborations that she is currently involved with. Angela has also received her B.S. in Kinesiology from Sonoma State University in California and integrates her knowledge of the body, and movement in all of her workings. She been self -employed as a massage therapist for 11 years and her career in massage therapy has supported her lifestyle as a performer. Angela regards education and academia very highly in her life and continues to educate herself. Angela has co-created a number of dance and fire 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 as a primary dancer and creative assistant on the island of Kauai. |
|
|
Melia Bugeja Inspired by legendary dancer Isadora Duncan and fueled by her own innate passion and natural ability in dance, Melia has explored dance as a sacred ritual and feels it as an embodiment of the divine. Melia began her career as a professional dancer on the island of Kauai, after moving there from her home country Australia, fulfilling her dreams to be a dancer and live in a tropical paradise. With a passion for dance and creative movement she trained as a youth studying ballet. Melia first trained in poi with Angela Babcock and was asked to join Kalalea Fire troupe in 2010. With a newly discovered passion for such a beautiful and powerful creative expression of dance, combined with the evocative element if fire, she continues to evolve as a dancer and performer, with a particular love for choreography. Melia is also trained in American Tribal Style Bellydance and performs with the troupe Sudeeka on Kauai. She also creates visionary goddess artwork, poetry and us a massage therapist and energy worker. Her greatest blessing is her beautiful and talented daughter, Zen Jade, who has inherited her passion for performance and is training in ballet, bellydance, aerial silks, hooping and poi spinning! |
|
|
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. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
Kristal Veighl Kristal has been training in modern, jazz, hip hop and fire dance since she was 12 years old. She has been performing with fire since 2010 and has found it it to be her biggest passion. The elemental beauty of fire dancing has helped her fall in love with the art of dance all over again. She enjoys inspiring others with the power and beauty of dancing within circles of fire. Currently she is training with double staffs and fire hoops. She dances with Kalalea Fire and at Luau Kalamaku. |
|
|
Mia Gomez Mia Gomez has been teaching hoop dance on the Island of Kauai since 2009. She loves to inspire people to dance and let themselves be free. She teaches beginners, intermediate and advanced classes with a friendly style that encourages her students to let go of their hesitations and trust in their bodies. Mia sees dance, music and love as medicine for a happy life. Currently, in addition to teaching classes, she dances with Kalalea, as their hoop star. She dances with single, double and mini hoops. Mia's dance background is in jazz, ballet and belly dance. She has been training since she was a small girl. Her biggest inspiration in hoop dance is the amazing dancer Spiral. |
|
|
Paul Morimoto Paul began performing at a later age than most Polynesian entertainers (19 yrs old). He learned to dance hula while working at the Kauai Coconut Beach Resort, under Kumu Hula Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett. In later years, Paul also learned the art of Tahitian dance from the late Teitu Kameanui. In 2002, the former fire knife dancer at the Kauai Coconut Beach Luau show was attacked by a tiger shark while body boarding in Poipu. He ended up losing his leg. Paul, who had no formal training, was given an audition two days later. Paul was given the opportunity to perform on stage the very next night. Since then Paul has entered a few competitions, including the Hilo Tahiti Fete (winning 1st overall, Tane), Kauai Polynesian Festival 2007-2008 (2nd place in fire knife competition), and World Fire Competition. Paul represents Kauai in the World Fire Knife Competition and currently performs in the Kalamaku Luau. |
|
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
|
|
||||||