I never know what I’ll write here.  I wait until I wake up on Thursday morning – and I write honestly about what’s on my mind that day.  This was my first thought this morning:

Abby and Flambeaux.

I had heard about them because we ran in the same performance circles in New York City.

But after our house burned to the ground with much of our history inside it in April of 2011, they reached out to us.

Their names are Flambeaux and Abby – and they lost everything in an apartment fire a year before us.  When I met them, I had been dabbling in fire performance and it was my way of fixing what happened.  It was my way of dancing with the fire, an equal partner.  A psychological way of turning the violence of the fire that took my house into a graceful and hypnotizing dancing partner.

Flambeaux and Abby took me under their wings.  They understood what we had been through.  Last year, they had me meet them in a secret space down by the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.  The two of them carefully placed a fire crown on my head that they made for me and with a mirror in front of me, they lit it for the first time.  In the reflection, I saw myself with flames around my head, decorating my face.  And at that moment, I realized, that both of us could be powerful….the fire and I.

I didn’t have to be destroyed by it.

Flambeaux and Abby have grown to be true and close friends to me in these last two years.  We’ve created together, we’ve laughed and cried together, we’ve volunteered together after the Hurricane Sandy aftermath to help other people re-build, we’ve worked on projects together, and they’ve been a part of our own rebuild – putting their own magic into the new space.  In the meantime, they keep growing and building their art….

 

They are working on their dream project right now.  It’s named “The Calling” and they’ve reached out to the community to help them build this dream.  For two amazing people, that once had almost everything taken from them, they are my heroes in re-building their lives through art and passion.  I’m proud to support them in that, in the same way they’ve always been there to support me.

 

They’ve got three days left to make their goal, and I’ve donated some lovely prizes to help it come through.   Check it out their Kickstarter here, and if it calls to you as well – let’s help them build this together!  I’ll be crossing my fingers Sunday on the last day for this to go over the top.

I’m proud to support the people and things that inspire me.  Tell me in the comments about what art and people inspire you………