Firedance on Evolver...should be an interesting journey.

Well, its my first blog here on Evolver and I'm interested to see where this will take Firedance as well as me. I think this is a great site, and has a lot of opportunity to grow as a voice of a generation of people who would like to see genuine change happen within our society and within ourselves. I have become a witness to these changes, and one who is contributing my small part.

Firedance is essentially a group of pagans, drummers, and friends who like to get together to jam, socialize, and network as a community event. Our jams are pretty simple, bring your drum, dance if you choose, drink, feast and be merry.

Firedance is different from other drum circles as we are primarily made up of pagans from the Ontario, and Toronto community. Many of us met drumming and dancing around bonfires at the different festivals in Ontario throughout the summers. I started the circle because we needed a place to get together throughout the winters, and by creating a group and being a newbie to the networking wonders of Facebook, I opened it up to a larger community than I ever imagined. We grew and evolved at an amazing rate from having 10-12 friends getting together and splitting the costs of renting a rehearsal room at a local studio, to a regular monthly event at the Renaissance Cafe drawing anywhere up to fifty people a jam. It was amazing to see.

Other drum circles are primarily influenced by african style polyrhythms, that have several different drums playing different rhythms that make up one song, often the same song going on for hours. While that in itself is a beautiful composition, it is different from the way that we play. At our jams, often one rhythm is begun, and the circle joins in on the rhythm, building the base of it first, before trying to solo on top of it. People will play along with everyone else, and try to build the voice and energy of the circle, rather than having their voice heard over all others. Instead of one rhythmic chaotic song played for 4 hours, we will play one rhythm for half an hour and switch to something else. It starts slowly and builds, getting faster as people catch on and find their voice within the rhythm, then speed it up, and speed it up til it becomes a frenzy of drumming and dancing. Ultimately, it is no different than attempting to send out magickal energy during a sacred circle. It must be built to its greatest intensity before it can be released out to the universe.

I try to honor the sacred wheel of the year, the elemental spirits and the spirits of our Ancestors at our jams if they fall on Sabbats, I will often have someone say a "Hail" in whatever form that turns into, and pass around a glass of wine to share, and often have candles available if anyone wants to light one for our altar. At the centre of the circle is an altar table of candles, incense, a brass rendering of Shiva, the Lord of the Dance and Fire, that our dancers will dance sunwise around as a substitute for the bonfire.

We have a potluck feast as well, inviting everyone to join in and bring food to share, we have fundraising raffles for our festival in the summer, and silent auctions for people to display their arts and crafts to share. Its different every month, there are always people who show up that we haven't seen for a few months, we have faithful regulars who come out every month, and every month there are new faces who have come to check us out for the first time.

Firedance drum festival came as a dream and it turned into a reality far beyond what my dream promised me. I wanted to explore other traditions of drumming, having been mostly introduced to drumming through the Niagara Voodoo Shrine, and drumming around bonfires at festivals. I loved the idea that there were songs, rituals, spirits, and gods that could be invoked with drumming and dance in the voodoo tradition that I had been introduced to. I wanted more...having become bored at some of the festivals and what they had to offer, I wanted more and figured if I did, I couldn't be the only one.

So I mentioned the dream to a few of my closest friends they thought it was a great idea and offered all kinds of support to pull it off. Initially, I had thought it would just be a small gathering...maybe 40 people. I basically told the universe, I'll do the work, but you have to provide the means if this is something I'm meant to do. Everything came from the community. The land, the stage and sound system, the tents, the entertainment, the flyers and advertising, workshops, rituals, firewood, kids program, everything was donated or given freely by volunteers or by members of the community. I walked into that festival with 400 dollars in my pocket to pay for the porta-potties and the festival paid for itself. Everything that needed to be paid for was. We ended up with a full 3 day program with performances, and rituals, each night, workshops all day on everything from drumming, to tarot and astrology. It was beyond humbling to be a vessel for it. We tripled the attendance of any first year pagan festival in Ontario, and ended up with 150 people in attendance our first year. It is an incredible thing to see what a community can do when inspired.

We are entering into our 3rd year, moving to a new site, a Girl Guides campground just west of Barrie, Ontario . The festival is going to be an awesome weekend once again. The theme this year is "Ancient Earth" and we are exploring some ancient forms of music, ritual, and magik.

Performances, workshops and rituals will be offered by Prince Bamidele Bajowa, Nigerian Prince and Priest of the Yoruban Tradition, Mexi-cree, a group of Aztec drummers, Tribal Shift Drum Troupe from Sudbury, Christin Dennis, Native Sweat Lodge Facilitator, and Catherine Starr, 3rd * High Priestess of the Gardnerian tradition.

Other highlights of the festival are the Bardic Competition, Saturday evening potluck feast, men and women's rituals, kids program, and much more. I will post the festival as an event in the next few weeks here on Evolver, and hope that Firedance continues to grow through the support of this community.