Thread: Dancing with candles

I was wondering what kind of candle holders and candles are most suitable for dancing with candles. Any advices / experience out there ..g.:
thanks!

Hi Natalie

Sorry to hijack, but I've just PMd you with a question...

But, to answer your candle question, I think nothing beats a shamadam - it looks so spectacular but it's surprisingly easy to dance with. Mine is good and solid and as long as I keep my posture good and watch out for hanging balloons at parties (I popped one full of streamers at my first wedding gig!) I find it never really wobbles.

I use Ikea 'Vardags' because they are nice and fat and I can carve them so they fit nice and snugly in the holder.

Two somewhat unconventional options that are great for the "wow!" factor:

1. I bought these beautiful lotus-shaped candle holders made from capiz shells. A company called Blue Trumpet makes them. Mine were from a health food store that I used to work at, but you can probably Google them and get them online. With a candle inside, they give off this beautiful soft light, and they come in tons of gorgeous colors. Really cool for fusion-y, New Age-y pieces, if that's your thing. And they fit beautifully in the palm of your hand. I also found lotus-shaped candle holders made of Austrian crystal at a garden shop. They, too, look amazing.

2. My first dance teacher taught me this one: you take a cotton ball, soak it in odor-free, smoke-free lamp fluid and stick it in a candlestick holder. When you light it, you get huge, wild, crazy flames. It's more high-impact than a typical votive candle in a holder. And you can put them on a tray for balancing, which looks spectacular.

I've found that there's no "standard" candle holder for dance. Just go to various gift shops, garden shops, home goods stores, and even places like TJMaxx or Kohl's, look for something that strikes your fancy and doesn't feel awkward in your hand, do a couple of Pharonic arms to test it out, and voila! Get creative and have fun.

Lisa

candle dancing Is beautiful. I'd love to give it a try!

Lisa, I love the idea of oil lamp on cotton balls! I never heard of it, will definitely try it.
How long do they stay lit?
When I dance with fire, (fire fans or sword) there are two drawbacks:

1. you also must pour white gas right before lighting them to be able to actually light the darn thing. Lamp oil burns on low temperature so it won't light on it's own. I think one of the reasons is that we use kevlar as a base, which is a flight retardant fabric (weird). Is it different with the cotton balls? Do they just light up eaisily with the lamp oil?

2. The burn has a certain amount of time. My fans / sword lasts maybe 5 minutes. How is it with the cotton balls? When balancing / using regular candles the time is never as issue, so I was wondering how this would differ.

Thanks,
Marianna

Marianna,

I've never tried fire fans/sword, so I really have no basis for comparison. My flaming cotton balls of doom are really the extent of my pyrotechnics ..l;,.

The cotton balls ignite right away. You just have to make sure you have a good 1/2" of the cotton sticking out above the edge of the candle holder, otherwise your flames won't achieve the optimal height and craziness. The cool thing about using the cotton is that you can control the height of your flames by leaving as much or as little cotton outside the stick as you'd like.

As far as duration, my flames last the duration of a 5-6 minute song. The only time I've had a blowout was the first time I tried performing with this trick and made a sudden movement. But this has more to do with common sense than anything: quick motions will kill a flame whether you choose cotton balls or candles as a vehicle. I've done the cotton ball trick countless other times and never had an issue.

Since I learned this cool trick, I've NEVER gone back to traditional candles. While candles give a more demure flickering, the cotton has a more wild and dangerous appeal that audiences absolutely go crazy for. It's quite badass.

Where can I learn how to use fire fans, Marianna? They've always intrigued me.

Lisa

If you are thinking about hand candles, I would suggest nice votive holders and battery operated tea lights. they come standard and flickering. these also work great for tray dance and in venues where there is a fire code.

I also use white gas or stove alcohol when I do fire baton. but unfortunately there are many places now where you can get into big trouble with a live flame. Look at how many threads we have about where to get battery powered candles for our shamadans.

{{{{HUGS}}}}

Tahira, you're right on about getting into trouble for live fire.

I always make sure to check with the owner of the venue beforehand if I plan to use fire, both to be considerate and to cover my tuckus. At private parties in people's homes, I NEVER use candles. I'll do battery operated tea lights, or otherwise just do sword.

Lisa

Yes sadly I am having my group using battery tealights next time. But I think they look nice inside an approrpiate holder and that in itself is a hazard. Ho hum what a safety conscious lot we have to be now. However on the plus side these faux candles don't blow out on you!

Belly Dance Props: Belly Dance Candle, Belly Dance Caneles, Candle dance These are nice, they have that old-world Aladinnesque look and give a nice large flame ball as you can see in the pics. We found that cotton-balls burned to quickly for what we wanted to do so we cut feminine hygiene products (that's right, tampons) into thirds, or quarters soaked in lamp oil -- they last for more than one use... they do begin to get warm on the bottom after several minutes but that's more a factor when rehearsing than when performing as you probably aren't going to perform with them for more than 4 minutes or so... safety tip, when you start dancing with the candle holders put water in them 'til you are very comfortable (no longer sprinkling on yourself) before you start lighting them up and use water as your staple for group rehearsals until the last 2 or 3/dress rehearsals (the dancers should be rehearsing with them on their own anyhow)...
Blessings,
Rach

Originally Posted by songofincense

We found that cotton-balls burned to quickly for what we wanted to do so we cut feminine hygiene products (that's right, tampons) into thirds, or quarters soaked in lamp oil -- they last for more than one use...

Now that is a hot name for a dance troupe:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the FLAMING TAMPONS!"

..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, :zillevil:

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

True, playing with fire is risky... We don't do candles/fire at smaller venues at all... although I know at least one restraunt in Atlanta uses these complete with lamp oill soaked feminine hygiene products...

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Now that is a hot name for a dance troupe:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the FLAMING TAMPONS!"

..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, :zillevil:

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

..l;, Oh, honey!!! You have no idea..g.: ... let me just say, red lamp oil .w.: ... it's still just wrong, but it's what we had in the smoke free/fragrance free variety... and since it lasts awhile the rest is still sitting in the candle holders on the table RIGHT NOW!!! Yep, red soaked, charred pieces of tampax...

HA!

The red lamp oil just colors the whole scenario seventeen shades of WRONG. Unless you're performing at a function hosted by those Moon Power type people who do freaky things like paint pictures with their menstrual blood.

I could see where tampons would be longer lasting than cotton balls, though. Gotta give it a try!

Oh my God the tampons sound crazy!! Although, it makes sense, and sounds like it would work even better than cotton balls. They can sort of stand up as regular candles, hehehe. It just might look weird before you light them.

You can actually play with the color of the flames by mixing different chemicals, such as certain type of alcohol, white gas, etc. You can achieve green, blue or orange lights. I don't remember, but I can look it up.

Lisa, I actually learned how to use the fire fans from watching videos - viva la YouTube! You can practice with regular fans, but it's best if you practice with the fire fans unlit. They are quite heavy and your wrists will be screaming. And you must practice a lot with them lit, it's definitely different.
I'm kind of crazy, I performed with them after 10 days, and I only practiced with them lit 1 time. That practice consisted more of me holding out the fan and trying to keep the flames away from my body:)

But - I think - it turned out good, there's a video on my website of my very first performance with them.
You definitely want to choreograph your show with the fire fans,(at least the first few times) or at least know a lot of movements, know your music and know what you are going to do. I guess after a lot of experience you can just improvise.

I never use candles at parties - I never know how the situation will be, sometimes you don't have a lot of place, you might have carpet, and that's a no-no. Not only for hazard, but you don't want candle dripping on expensive carpets and rugs. It also doesn't look as good. You would need someone to light your candles and to dim the light. I guarantee you they will forget, or will light your candles way early. I use sword instead, it's so much less hassle, and people always love it, even guys (guys may be bored by candles, because it's girly, but when you show up with a weapon, they are intrigued)

Marianna,

Thanks for the tips! I think learning how to keep the damned thing away from my body will be the hardest part: I'm so used to doing burlesque-inspired, ooey-gooey, sensual, close to the body moves with my feather fans. (I can't wait to get my Sally Rand fans this week!) And it goes without saying that you probably have to keep fringe to a minimum and tie your hair back for fire fans.

And that's CRAZY that you can control the color of your flames. I want to make blue flames to match my blue eyes ..g.: Let me know if you find that article, because now I'm super intrigued.

You're dead on about guys and weapons. I think it traces back to the primordial Space Cowgirl fetish that incites even the coolest guy to drool over Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft . It's all about being sexy and at the same time, looking like you can kick some serious ass.

The cotton ball trick DEFINITELY has more guy appeal than those girly votives. Grown men audibly curse in delight when I bust out the crazy flames!

Lisa

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Now that is a hot name for a dance troupe:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the FLAMING TAMPONS!"

..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, :zillevil:

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

OMG! I just about peed my pants!
.w.: ..l;,

Ok, this is what I have:
You can mix the following chemicals with methylated spirits, or use denaturated alcohol.(apparantly they do not dissolve in kero or white gas)

For green - use boric acid
red - lithium acid
lilac - potassium chloride
purple - potassium nitrate
blue - copper chloride
bright white - magnesium chloride

The article said you can find boric acid at pharmacies, lithium chloride is harder to get because it's an antidepressant, and the others should be available at pottery stores (they use them for different color gazes).

However they advise against doing this, or at least suggest to do it in moderation because the flames are toxic and if you get burnt it will be nasty.
I think that's more of an issue with fire performers, I haven't heard of a belly dancer using candles / candle trays to get burnt.

The other thing against this is that the wicks will be ruined after a few uses, but if you are using cotton balls / tampons (hihihi, I can't resist giggling), who cares? They don't cost $40 like the kevlars.

And as always use precaution when experimenting. I haven't done it yet, but now will try it out. (I better go and buy a case of tampons)

Very interesting, Marianna.

Sounds a little scary. Knowing my stupid luck, I'd probably mix the wrong ratio or combination of chemicals and create a gigantic explosion, giving the party goers at Uncle Bob's 60th birthday bash a lot more than they bargained for....and probably singeing off my eyebrows or a few layers of fringe in the process.

Somebody try it first and tell me how it works! hahaha

Originally Posted by songofincense

Belly Dance Props: Belly Dance Candle, Belly Dance Caneles, Candle dance These are nice, they have that old-world Aladinnesque look and give a nice large flame ball as you can see in the pics. We found that cotton-balls burned to quickly for what we wanted to do so we cut feminine hygiene products (that's right, tampons) into thirds, or quarters soaked in lamp oil -- they last for more than one use...

Beware anyone wanting to try to cotton ball, or tampon thing. Make SURE they are made of cotton as often puff balls are NOT cotton and will melt rather than act as a wick. Good advice gotten from a fire eater who had a bad experience.

I think I'm going to try them with the tampons :)

I have a lot of different candle trays (at least 7, with different color candles and beads and decorations to match my costumes) but haven't used them much lately. I rather do sword. The sword had much more of a danger element, but now this will be interesting.

I have a tary on which there are skinny holders glued to the tray, I think the tampons will fit. Or better yet, maybe I put long sharp nails on the tray and stick those suckers on. Willlet you know what happened.


And yes, I have seen cotton balls that were not cotton at all, I was very frustrated. I just wanted to use them to remove make up, and it was some kind of synthetic stuff. That would definitely melt in a second.

Great advice, thanks for all the ideas and input. I will definately try the cotton balls and tampons ..g.:
I really like the color options too, they can create a great effect I think!

My troupe uses these colored tealight holders from IKEA. Ours came in packs of 6 I think, all in similar tones. We have two or three packs of different colors so it's not all the same:
IKEA | Candles & candle holders | Candle holders | SKÄMT | Candle holder



I was at Joann's and saw holders that are similar but clear. I like the small size because I have short fingers and I feel more secure because I canuse the hollow of my palm to "cup" the holder. Of course, that doesn't help when you do a spiraling arm move and dump molten wax on your head. Yuck.

When I use my fans I will either use 3 parts lamp oil (unscented, uncolored) mixed with 1 part white gas (Coleman fuel) so it will light, or I will use straight lamp oil with maybe a dip in white gas to light it. For movement you can get close to your body, just remember heat travels up. I've singed the hair off my hands up to my wrists by dropping the fans for just a bit too long. An easy way to practice is to get tight fitting leather or suede gloves to wear until you're used to how the flames move (and if you can find long sexy ones, make them a part of your costume). My troupe dances group improv tribal, and we've been able to do slow improv by simplifying some of our moves, or just by freeform lead and follow (we know each other well enough to catch on to what's happening next).

Originally Posted by Marianna

Lisa, I love the idea of oil lamp on cotton balls! I never heard of it, will definitely try it.
How long do they stay lit?
When I dance with fire, (fire fans or sword) there are two drawbacks:

1. you also must pour white gas right before lighting them to be able to actually light the darn thing. Lamp oil burns on low temperature so it won't light on it's own. I think one of the reasons is that we use kevlar as a base, which is a flight retardant fabric (weird). Is it different with the cotton balls? Do they just light up eaisily with the lamp oil?

2. The burn has a certain amount of time. My fans / sword lasts maybe 5 minutes. How is it with the cotton balls? When balancing / using regular candles the time is never as issue, so I was wondering how this would differ.

Thanks,
Marianna

I love my fire sword but haven't had much opportunity to burn it. The few times I've actually lit it I used lamp oil and a lighter and it lit nicely. It was a little smoky, but my friends said the smoke looked cool.

Originally Posted by natalie_bax

I was wondering what kind of candle holders and candles are most suitable for dancing with candles. Any advices / experience out there ..g.:
thanks!

I suggest choosing a holder that holds the candle down inside it, like a tea light holder or a tiny hurricane lamp. Exposed flames are easily blown out. Plus, the wax can drip. A number of years ago I danced with a friend at a coffee house for a street festival. We danced in the coffee house entrance, and she handed me some lovely candle holders. They balanced nicely on our heads, but there was nothing to catch the dripping wax, and it's no fun getting wax out of hair or off costumes!

Ok, I tried the cotton ball / lamp oil idea on my tray and hmm... well it needs work.
I used the metal bottom of tea candles, so this way they're little holders. I put 2-3 small cotton balls in each, poured some lamp oil on them and...

1. it had no problem lighting at all - in fact the problem was to put them out
2. the flames were huge. Now I have put fire on my head before (fire sword) and performed with the candles a 100 times, but this was scary.
3. The metal tray quickly became warm then a little hot, so all I could do is to put it on the kitchen table, sit there and watch it.

Do you guys have any ideas on how to make it smaller? Why did my tray become hot and why so quickly?

I definitely want to perform with it - it won't be tonight though, as I planned - but I need a fire that is smaller and easier to control. It was very hard to put it out, blowing on them hardly worked and not on all of them, covering them didn't work.
I'm thinking maybe one teeny tiny cotton ball with just a few drops of lamp oil in each holder. Other than that, any ideas?
Thanks,

The first time I attempted the trick, I lit the flames and was like, "Holy CRAP!" .w.:

I wasn't lying when I said you'd get crazy flames with this trick! For those times when you'd like a more controlled fire, I shove the cotton a little further into the candle holder, so maybe 1/4" or even less is sticking out. You can essentially control the height of the flame by leaving more or less cotton exposed. Experiment with this until you achieve the effect you have in mind.

Also, you may want to go easy on the lamp fluid, you little pyromaniac, you ..g.: The goal is not to douse, but to moisten the cotton well. Perhaps you want to use high-absorbency maxi tampons, not Lightdays! (Ha!)

As far as the issue with your tray getting too hot, I use a plastic tray with a gold finish, that I spruced up by gluing some little craft mirrors along the edges. Metal would sound like a big-time conductor of heat and an obvious no-no. Ouch!

Hope I helped - let us know if this works!

Lisa

Thanks Ladies!
I had been wondering about what kind of candle to use for a while. But what kind of tray??? Where does one get a tray?

My hubby ("Mr. Latifa") has had good luck buying trays at local thrift shops. He has found some nice Middle Eastern ones, and then last time he went he found a set of brass chargers (large plates). They're not gorgeous, but once you've put candles on them, who can tell?

One of my students performed a tray dance for us at a little student show last year. She had the usual candles, plus she had decorated the tray with some vines and flowers from her garden -- including honeysuckle, which smelled great when the flowers were warmed a bit by the candles. It looked so pretty.

I was just looking online for some battery-operated tea lights. Boy, there are a million places to buy them! Any recommendations??

Latifa

I am DIGGIN' this live flame discussion! Woohoo!!!