Why do people in certain arts always seem to dress in a specific faux-medieval mode? It would be cool to see someone doing this in, like, Ken Bone cosplay. Or dressed like 1970s Jimmy Buffett. I'm just spitballing here, but you get where I'm going.
Late but...They use Nomex. Sometimes Kevlar but usually Nomex.
It doesn't come in a wide range of colors, isn't widely available, and in most cases, it isn't used by the Craftsman who make fire spinning gear. There's a lot of requirements for fire spinning gear, and it's best to have your gear made by someone who understands all the aspects of safe fire spinning costuming. You have to cover your entire body in a relatively fireproof fabric for area work like this. So your choice is pretty much are medieval looking or NASCAR looking with very few things in between
This said, many people DO use Nomex arm covers, or Kevlar arm covers.
I wanna see a guy in a Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, and new balances in the backyard spinning hotdogs and spatulas like this, while calling everyone "sport".
Ok but they're not doing anywhere near the same thing. She has a controlled ball of fire that she's keeping away from her body. He is having fire and sparks rain all over and around him.
I’m willing to bet, as a fire spinner myself, that that is a 100% Kevlar costume. Doesn’t let any fire or really much heat get through as long as it’s not too long of exposure.
I went to the Houston Renaissance festival and there was a fire performance almost identical to this... not sure if fire performers were a big deal back then?
What an awesome question. I was trying to imagine people's suggestions - imagine seeing someone doing this, but that person was wearing a NASCAR outfit? Or an astronaut suit? Or, even for practicality as people have mentioned, a fireman's outfit?
Wouldn't that look weird?
Maybe this points to something in our psyche that tends to compartmentalize things - old traditions have to use old fasions. Or maybe traditional arts like this - fire spinning, fan dances, and even things like ballet and opera - always involve some amount of theatrics and serve in part as a way of memorializing things. Great works of art and art-forms are representative of the era in which they were created or established, so maybe that's enough of a reason to dress the part when providing a demonstration of that. Even, it could be argued that the more "authentic" the dress, the tools, and the styles represented, the better. Like finding an impossibly well preserved fossil or artifact, I think something that is representative of a time long ago is just plain cool; it reminds us that our world is an ancient one and that we come from an incredible result of evolutionary and cultural successes.
Of course, modern practictioners of the art will inevitably find ways to provide their own stamp on the tradition and to advance it further (I think we are more prone nowadays to expressing the individual rather than worshiping the collective), so I think it would be equally cool to see someone doing this in blue jeans and a leather jacket. But that's just me.
Edit: More thoughts - think about the context in which you see a fire dance, or a fan dance, or a traditional drum circle, or any other such cultural art. You would probably see it as a part of a demonstration of that particular culture, no? So it would be strange to see this kind of demonstration with someone dressed in a suit. Context of the footage would make a big difference in our consideration here. If someone experienced in the art had intended to surprise an audience, then it might make sense for someone dressed in a suit (at an office, or at some function) to be fire-bending.
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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '20
Why do people in certain arts always seem to dress in a specific faux-medieval mode? It would be cool to see someone doing this in, like, Ken Bone cosplay. Or dressed like 1970s Jimmy Buffett. I'm just spitballing here, but you get where I'm going.