A dragon arched its wings over Powderhorn Park, flapping a few times to get the feel of its performance space, then burst into flames.
Flames licked up the metal framework of its wings, down its flaming ribs, along its pitchforked tail. As the fire ignited its great head, metal jaws worked up and down, as if the dragon were singing along with the music that filled the grassy stage. Below the metal skeleton, below the flames, performers from Northern Fire Dynamic manipulated the flaming puppet, dancing with the flames.
It was last Monday evening. On Mondays, Northern Fire Dynamic plays with fire.
“The fire, it’s alive,” said Heidi Leaf, the group’s administrator, who hand-built the flaming props she wears each season. “You learn to dance with the prop, because you have to take into consideration the wind, the movement you’re doing. Because you can easily get kissed by fire.”
Around the dragon, other members of the Minneapolis-based fire performance troupe rehearsed. They juggled fire, they hula-hooped fire, they glided across the grass in flaming hoop skirts, twirling flaming parasols, playing flaming instruments, breathing fire.
It was a sneak peek at the free public performance Northern Fire Dynamic will stage in Powderhorn Park on Monday night.
Last week, families drifted over from Powderhorn’s splash pool and ball fields and settled onto the grass to watch the rehearsal. They saw the flaming dragon, they saw the dancers weaving between the props. They didn’t see the months of choreography, rehearsals and safety precautions that came before.
The troupe ran through the entire routine without flames, working out the kinks after a few weeks away from each other over the Memorial Day holiday. Then the call went up: Fire in the hole. Fuel station crews ignited the first props.