Breathing Fire

Fire-Breathing Dragon agreed to give us a command performance of some of her fire tricks. We gathered after dark on a gravel playing field. Here she is lighting her hoop.
This is like hula hooping with consequences. If you ever stop moving, that fire, um, burns you. So you don't. Fire-Breathing kept that thing spinning for about twenty minutes. She had also wet her hair thoroughly before she started, and her girlfriend stood to one side with a literal wet blanket.



Yes, that hoop is twirling around her neck.
Then she added the fire sticks.
She lights her hand on fire, lets it burn for a few seconds, then closes her hand to put it out. Or she runs the stick along her arm, dripping a little oil to burn right off her skin.
Doesn't it get hot? we asked. She didn't seem to think so, though you'll note she's not wearing much and it's December. Afterwards we tried playing with some of the toys while not in flames: I can keep the hoop going for about a minute. There were various other things on ropes you can swing in pretty patterns, and we tried skipping rope but while Aussie Sister could skip pretty well, and Writing Sister could skip a few times before catching the rope, I could not get in even one skip. I am comforting myself with the thought that Aussie Sister has taken circus classes.
We finished up with another demonstration: the fire fingers. Fire-Breathing Dragon referred to what you see above as "the iffy move" because it is heavily abdominal-dependent. She did in the end make it both down and up.