Author Archives: Gillian Tunney

Dragon Ritual Drummers “Warriors of the Earth”

Dragon Ritual Drummers

courtesy of

September 4, 2010 we had the honor of doing fire performance at the Dragon Ritual Drummers “Warriors of the Earth” Ceremony and Concert held at Nine Woods Forest. This eclectic drumming troupe from the Niagara region is a festival favorite at Brushwood Folklore Center, and I first got to hear them closing up the musical stage on Saturday night of Sirius Rising 2010. Their music is energetic and dance inspiring, drawing inspiration from cultures around the world. The songs are primarily instrumental, focused on tribal percussion with minimal toned instruments and vocal chanting. During live shows, the band engages the audience with stories of the songs background, and by the end of the set you are left feeling that you truly went on journey. – Gillian Tunney

From the last.fm page:

The Dragon Ritual Drummers are a drumming troupe consisting of members of the Niagara Pagan Men’s circle. The group began as a way for us to express the wonderful magick and manifestation that we routinely share. We chose the Dragon Ritual Drummers name for the infamous dragon spirit that resides in and around the brink of Niagara falls. With the original inhabitants now extinct, we began to awaken and befriend the dragon spirit through meditations, offerings and ritual.

Dragon Ritual Drummers are playing next at Rochester Pagan Pride in Rochester NY on Sep 11 2010 at3:00Pm
Read more: http://www.myspace.com/dragonritualdrummers#ixzz0ytqMtjib
Related Links:

Dragon Ritual Drummers
Myspace
Last.fm

August Wildfire Contact Staff Workshop!

This weekend several performers from Pyromancy will be heading to August 2010 Wildfire Retreat for a weekend of workshops and fun. Wildfire is the East Coast’s premier spinning and fire arts training camp. This is a community oriented event, offering a diverse selection of over 105 classes on poi, hoop, dance, teaching, safety, business, performance, and more. This weekend-long event is held in Northeast Connecticut.

Gillian Tunney
will be teaching an Intermediate Contact Staff workshop on FISHTAILS! This workshop will be held on Saturday August 21, 4:20-5:30pm.
Course Description:

Learn fishtails! Learn the basic reverse fishtail, and how to transition into and out of it. While this class is primarily intended for the fishtail-less, we will also touch upon variations to spruce up the basic move.

Fishtails are a challenging move that I learned in baton twirling when I was younger, and is commonly used in fire contact staff to link different moves together without having to grab the staff with your hand. The baton/staff does a 1-beat twirling motion that is balanced on the back of the hand. The name “fishtail” comes from the side-to-side swimming motion the hand makes ( also it looks like you are drawing an infinity symbol with your hand when viewed from the front ), this is needed to maintain the speed and balance of the baton/staff. Hopefully once I figure out what the best way to teach this, I will make a tutorial to post here in case anyone else is interested.

As of 8/18/2010 there are 30 tickets to August Wildfire remaining, so if you are interested in going you should definitely check it out!

Pyromancy Page on Facebook

We now have a fan page on Facebook where official event announcements and news will be posted in addition to this website. Please click “Like” to get updates and information if you are a Facebook user.

If you are a performer/drummer/photographer/safety who would like to be part of our collective, please join our internal group where we will be sending out regular updates with practice schedules, performances and other information. Please include a brief letter of intent when joining because membership is moderated. We look forward to hearing from you!

Links:
Pyromancy Facebook Page
Pyromancy Performers Facebook Group

Pyromancy performing at Buffalo Infringement Festival

One last minute reminder that PYROMANCY will be performing our final show for Infringement Festival Sunday August 1st at 9:30 pm in Days Park (map) in Buffalo NY! Hope to see you there! . This performance will be spectacular with some new surprises.

Pyromancy also has some secret guests! Day’s Park is at the West end of Allen st. (map)

  • • Check out the event information
  • • Read the article about this show in Buffalo News Artbeats Blog
  • Hope to see you there!

    Video: Summer Solstice

    [iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/hQ_RZCdeWEg” width=”420″ height=”315″]

    [iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/SrS0Y9TXY” width=”420″ height=”315″]

    6-22-10
    Performer: Gillian Tunney
    Props: Fire staff / double staff
    Venue: Summer Solstice