The Colour Orange…
My favourite colour is orange There’s a good reason, and it started 26 years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child, Zenith, now known as Zen Fire.
Back then, I had a beautiful orange shirt with purple flowers which my Auntie Sofia made for me, I put it on, and got busy with a ladder, a roller and a tin of deep vibrant orange paint. I painted my living room in this colour, and called it the ‘Womb Room’. I put my birthing pool in the corner of the room, completed all my nesting tasks and waited for my son to arrive.
This is by the by really - roll forward six years when I had just started home schooling. I took Zenith and Raven to an event where we met a lady who was dressed top to toe like a tiger in an orange onesie with black tiger stripes, complete with a tiger tail. She was playing with ribbon poi, which attracted Zenith’s attention. The Orange Lady spent hours playing with Zen and showing him how to spin poi. This was his first introduction into the world of poi. I knew exactly what to get him for his birthday present which was soon after. He played and played and soon began to build his skills.
A couple of years later I bought him a pair of UV poi. We had been invited to Spain to entertain at a friends 40th birthday party. I set up a UV Face & Body Art stall under a beautiful canopy and adorned all the guests with Ultra Violet works of art. As the sun went down, I sat and watched from my vantage point as a crowd gathered round Zenith, who was spinning his UV poi under the UV lights in the gazebo set up as a dance floor. It was amazing to watch my eight year old son not only skilled at spinning poi, but commanding an audience like a pro!
After ten years of practicing poi, at the age of sixteen, I bought him his first set of fire poi. We watched safety videos and made sure we had a fire protection kit to hand and that he knew what to do with it. From there on in it was fire art that he was obsessed with. His A-level photography project focused on taking photos and creating special effects with fire, including writing his own name with fire and taking photos of each letter for part of his exam work.
Ten years later, at aged 26, Zen is now a pro fire-performer. His skill-base is extensive and impressive. He goes all over the country performing, and often puts together teams - he was recently asked to train the fire performers attending The Burning Man Festival in Phoenix, Arizona.
Did I mention, orange is Zenith’s favourite colour? He didn’t know he spent the first two years of his life in the orange womb room…just a coincidence I suppose!
