New Hobby - Fire dancing

Lene and I were at someone's birthday the other night and one of the guests turned out to be a fire dancer who brought her fire poi with her.  Fire poi are kevlar pads attached to chains with handles at the end for you to slip your fingers through.  The pads are dipped in fuel and once lit will burn for a couple of minutes.    She showed us a few things and let anyone who wanted to try them have a go.  I think both Lene and I are hooked now and we are looking to get a pair of our own to keep practicing with.

I snapped a bunch of pictures of everyone trying it out and miraculously no one set themselves on fire.  In the pictures everyone looks like an expert since who would be spinning chains of fire around if they didn't know what they were doing?

Fortunately, even if you hit yourself with one of the chains, they tend not to burn you (or leave scorch marks on your clothes).  We all tied our hair back as a precaution but other than that it felt pretty safe.  The whooshing noise the poi make as you whirl them around puts you in your own little world and its definitely an experience I would recommend to anyone who has the chance.

I'll try to get a video up later.