New Vids up on the Tricks of the Light YouTube

We like to add a new piece of choreography to the show halfway through the festival season each year. Last year, we brought out our Dragonstaff Duo V. 1.0. Come back next year for Version 2.0!



It was 15 degrees, there was snow on the ground, and I was itching to spin some fire. Just some relaxed fun!

Mandala Products on Zazzle

I've put a lot more designs up on Zazzle! A bunch of them are organized into collections so you can find what you're looking for quickly.

Dorm Room Decor
by Kelsey Byram

Mandala Home Decor
by Kelsey Byram

Ready for Yoga Class
by Kelsey Byram

Norse
by Kelsey Byram

Accessorize!
by Kelsey Byram

Bags, Bags, Bags!
by Kelsey Byram

A Peaceful Office
by Kelsey Byram

Mandala Apparel
by Kelsey Byram

Nature in all its Glory
by Kelsey Byram

I'll Drink to That
by Kelsey Byram

It's all Fun and Games
by Kelsey Byram

Mandala Craft Supplies
by Kelsey Byram

Mandala Designs for Sale on Zazzle!

I've been working on setting up a couple new Zazzle stores (similar to CafePress), one featuring affordable prints of my artwork, and the other featuring my more decorative design art.

My Shattered Sky

This store has New Age/Pagan designs (Mandalas, Norse Runes and Helms of Awe, maybe an enso), and some nature photography.

Helm of Awe Tees by My_Shattered_Sky
Put pictures on shirts at zazzle.

Sunset Mandala by My_Shattered_Sky
Browse Mandala T-Shirts online at Zazzle.com

Zen Duffle Bag with Blue Mandala and Quote Gym Duffle Bag by My_Shattered_Sky
View another Gym Bag at Zazzle

While my "Kelsey Byram Art" store has prints of my fine art paintings!

Kelsey Byram Art

"She Hears Bells in the Birdsong" Fine Art Poster by KelseyByramArt
Check out other Portrait Posters at zazzle.com

Forest Spirit Goddess Watercolor Drawing Wood Wall Art by KelseyByramArt
Check out additional wood canvases at Zazzle

I'm excited to get these going!

More 8-Rings

A couple more short 8-ring videos to follow up the long one:

8-Ring Manipulation

I recently purchased a set of 8-rings (so named because they are shaped like figure-8's, not because there are actually 8 separate rings), and I have found them to be incredibly enjoyable. Manipulating them is like a mix of double staff, contact juggling, hoop, and buugeng.

My left hand is still a bit wonky, and I don't have a "vocabulary" of moves in my head yet to string together smooth "sentences" of movement. Next is to work on developing choreography so I can start to form "sentences."

The Hunt Evolution

The fire video I just posted today was recorded at a live performance at the 2014 Kansas City Renaissance Festival. It's of our "Fight/Hunt" choreography...or, should I say, the most recently evolved version of that choreography. One of the fun things about working together for so many years, and working with the some of the same pieces for so many years, is that we get to keep refining those pieces and exploring the possibilities of how they can evolve. This is our most perfect example.

Back when I was in art school, in 2009, I conceptualized this piece for my Fiber Art class. I was to be the Prey, and Cyricx was to be the Predator.  I designed costumes of linen, leather, wood, stone, and bone (actually the inspiration for the title of this blog). 

Me in the Prey outfit
Photo by Pseudography Image Forge

Cyricx in the "Predator" outfit
Photo by Pseudography Image Forge

We went out to a remote campground with plenty of trails and clearings in the woods, and recorded the first version of "The Hunt."

I danced around lightly, blithely unaware of the predator stalking my every move, until his first attack reveals him! It then becomes a chase - a Hunt - until he captures me at last. Clearly there wasn't much choreographed here - we had a couple of joint moves planned to points in the music (E Muzeki's "MacSuibhene's Trill"), and everything in between was freestyle.

Funny thing was, it was in mid-November, and it was below freezing outside. In these outfits, well, there's no way to wear anything underneath them...ahem...ANYTHING. Cyricx and I had only been dating for a couple months at this point, and maybe it was his willingness to go through this cold hell for my wacky project idea that proved to me that he loved me! (It truly was miserable.)

Then, we wanted to take this piece to the stage at KCRF, with the Sonic Sidhe Tribe. At first, it was only a little more developed than that night in the woods. Performance with the Sonic Sidhe Tribe at KCRF 2009:

And then we structured it more, and explored a more sensual side. Performance with the Sonic Sidhe Tribe, at KCRF 2010 Pubsing:

 


 In 2012, as we were developing Tricks of the Light to be its own stage show, we were exploring using this choreography as part of a dramatic storytelling set. For the story, we needed to have a fight before the Hunt portion, which introduced the section in the beginning before Viollca pulls out the fire fans. The story set was a flop out at the RenFest, but we immediately adjusted our entire show and turned it into a comedy. During the rest of the RenFest season, as improv onstage and interaction with the audience happened, the latest version of "The Hunt" was developed. Performance as Tricks of the Light, at KCRF 2014:

From the beginning, "The Hunt" has transitioned from being an artistic 'interpretive dance' style piece, to a non-interactive showcase piece, to a sexy and sensual "seduction", to a dramatic fight scene, and lastly to playful comedy. We have had a lot of fun with it, and it's still one of our favorite pieces to perform! I hope you like it as much as we do. 

I feel like the process of editing goes something like, "cut this, cut that, cut some more...and just when you think you're done, cut it in half."

With that as my mantra, I shouldn't ever pursue a career as a hairdresser.

But the good news is, out of something like 10 hours of footage from our 2014 KCRF show, I managed to make a 2 minute Tricks of the Light promo video for RenFests:

Now to work on making each individual piece its own video!

Inspired by the footage from the last couple of years, I've also gotten my new lotus fire fans out, and am working on getting as good with those as I was with my super-old lotus fans (that bit the dust this last season).  These things are massive, heavy, and awkward! It's not like the tricks are unfeasible or anything, just...difficult. Part of the practice is to get good at switching back and forth from my Khaos fans to the Lotus fans, since the size, shape, weight, and balance are so different for each of them.