Cypris caught the first kiss of fire’s love on April 1, 2006. It has since developed from amusement to passion. Thanks to lots of practice and help from her friends, Cypris has become a world-traveling fire performer.
She has taken her flame as far as Iceland, but spends most of her time on the East Coast of the United States. Her tools of expression are fire poi, fire fans, fire eating, LED poi, practice poi, and flags. Cypris has performed at many different venues including: Caliente Resort, The Millennium Center, Artistica, Gallery Hops, The Wearhouse, Deerfields, The Sawtooth Center for fine Art, Amos’s South End, The Wherehouse, and many others.
Also a classically trained chef, Cypris has been a personal chef, restaurateur, food critic, and caterer. Her love of food has inspired a travel bug. This thirst for travel has taken her to Ireland, France, Italy, Jamaica, and across the US. Winston-Salem is her current home base.
Kara* has been involved with fire performance for 3 years now pulling from a multicultural background including belly dance, tribal dance, go-go dancing, yoga, partner yoga and balance, circus arts, and modern interpretation. She is constantly evolving, taking classes and workshops, while keeping an emphasis on safety. She has a unique style, balancing sensuality and elegance with strength building and edge defying ambience. Exploring new arenas and sharing her passion for performance, she has lit up a number of venues; cabarets, clubs, wedding receptions, schools, festivals, art openings, and more. Kara* is known for her expressive and exotic style, and is sure to captivate your senses as she allures you with her interpretation of the ancient arts. She feels a deep sense of spiritual connection to the body movement, breath, rhythm, and relationship between audience and performer.
Prop and tool manipulation have become an essential part of her performance. While belly dancing, Kara* learned to use veils, zils (percussive hand cymbals), and fans. She has extended her repertoire to hoops (large, handmade adult hula hoops,) poi (the ancient New Zealand Maori practice of the rhythmic movement of ball and string or chain,) swords, hand held torches, staff, contact fire and fire eating (body play.) Recently, non-fire tools have also been implemented on occasions unsafe for fire performance. LED and glow lights add a fun spectacle to indoor parties and clubs. Never limiting herself, conscious development on a wide scale is essential to her style.
Kara* first started performing for the public with belly dance troupes in the Triad in 2003. Always having an interest for tribal dance she began to explore festivals and venues for that element. Self motivated, she began a search for workshops and locals who were interested in fire performance, and soon met Cypris in 2006. Together, Cypris and Kara* exchanged skills and created a bond within the local community. Since, they have shared their talents with as many viewers as possible.
Kara* is currently a full-time, Studio Arts student at Salem College. She enjoys finding the connection between visual and performing arts. Networking within the arts community has been a lot of fun and has provided many avenues to collaborate with other artists. She also owns and runs a house cleaning business, “Clean & Green,” and pet sits for many clients. Community outreach and connections are important to her while many of her clients also enjoy attending shows. She has a basic Arts Associate Degree and is working on her Bachelors Degree. Her work allows her to finance her endeavors while keeping a strong foundation of support.
Exuro is a professional insured fire performance company. Exuro performers are trained professionals and always put safty first.