A Yellowknife resident is thanking friends for raising money to replace specialist fire spinning equipment inadvertently consigned to the city’s dump.
Fire spinning is a form of performance art often using kevlar balls on chains to produce shapes through flames.
Viva Savage, a fire spinner for the past five years, had to snuff out a series of summer bookings when $1,000 in equipment experienced what she terms “a series of unfortunate events.”
Savage left the gear – “a lovely compilation of gifts given to me over the years” – in a tote bag at a party, after which the tote was mistakenly transported to the dump.
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“It was a bunch of misunderstandings, it was truly one of those things,” she told Cabin Radio.
On discovering the error, Savage raced to the dump and began rummaging through piles of discarded odds and ends for her beloved equipment.
“Oh yeah. Forty-five minutes in the rain. It was gross,” she admitted. “I had so much dump juice on my boots.
“Other folks have gone rummaging through the dump as well, looking for it. I’m very thankful they gave their all.
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“Everything was bulldozed by the time I got there.”
However, Savage’s fire spinning has been rekindled through the kindness of friends.
An online fundraiser to replace the equipment had raised $815 of its $1,000 goal as of Thursday morning, two days after being launched.
Savage says some items are one-of-a-kind and can’t be replaced, but she is thrilled at the generosity and hopes to be back in action soon.
“Such beautiful people, oh my goodness,” she said. “Super heart-warming; I guess that is what fire does.”
