Sparks of Passion: Exploring Tucson's Thriving Circus Arts Scene with Fire Performer Zoë Rae
On this week’s show, we’re going to speak with Zoë Rae. She’s the co-owner of Cirque Roots and she’s also a fire performer. We’re going to discuss Tucson’s commitment into the circus arts and the passion which draws fire dancers together.
Today is April 16th, my name is Tom Heath and you’re listening to “Life Along the Streetcar”.
Each and every Sunday our focus is on Social, Cultural and Economic impacts in Tucson’s Urban Core and we shed light on hidden gems everyone should know about. From A Mountain to the U of A and all stops in between. You get the inside track- right here on 99.1 FM, streaming on DowntownRadio.org- we’re also available on your iPhone or Android using our very own Downtown Radio app. Reach us by email [email protected] — interact with us on Facebook at LifeAlongTheStreetcar and follow us on Twitter @StreetcarLife
Our intro music is by Ryanhood and we exit with music from Runfell, “Fire Dancer.”
Tom Heath
Good morning. It’s a beautiful sunny in the old pueblo. You’re listening to KT DT Tucson. Thank you for spending a part of your brunch hour with us on your downtown Tucson community sponsored or rock and roll radio station. On this week’s show, we’re going to speak with Zoë Rae. She’s the co owner of Cirque Roots and she’s also a fire performer. We’re going to discuss Tucson’s commitment into the circus arts and the passion which draws fire dancers together. Today is April 16, 2023. My name is Tom Heath and you’re listening to Life along the Streetcar. Each and every Sunday, we focus on social, cultural and economic impacts in Tucson’s urban core, and we shed light on hidden gems everyone should know about, from a mountain to the University of Arizona and all stops in between. You get the inside track right here on 99.1 FM, streaming on downtownradio.org. We’re also available on your iPhone or Android by using our very own downtown Radio Tucson app. And of course, you can interact with
Tom Heath
us on Facebook and Instagram. And if you want more information about our show, our book, maybe listen to some past episodes or just contact us to let us know what’s going on in the world, head over to lifelongthestreetcar.org. And of course, you can listen to our podcast, which is on platforms like Spotify, itunes, iHeartRadio, all them cool places like that. Well, today’s show is a little bit about planning your weekend at the end of the month because I want to talk to you very briefly about a cool thing I get to do on April 29. It’s not in the urban core, but it’s an opportunity to host keep Tucson sketchy, which is a sketch comedy show. They’ve been doing this for years. This is their 9th episode. They spend a lot of time putting together really good comedy sketches. We’ve seen them several times down at the screening room. This one’s actually taking place at the Unscrewed theater. It’s on the 29th at 09:00 p.m.. And the only reason I bring it up is because they asked me to host. I think
Tom Heath
that’s so cool. So I’m going to go out there and try my five minute monologue. Trying to be a little funny out there and hopefully don’t stink up the place too much. You can get more details on the Keep Tucson sketchy website or head over to our Facebook page and we’ll connect you with all the details. But before you see us on Friday the 28th, you’re going to want to go over to sky bar and hang out with Zoe Ray and her fire dancers. We had a chance to talk with her. She’s a co owner of Cirque Roots and she’s really been passionate about this for years. So we thought I’d get a little insight into this circus element that we have here in Tucson and find out more about this event on the 28th at Skybar.
Tom Heath
Zoe, I think you’re the first person that plays with fire that we’ve had on the show.
Zoë Rae
Oh, awesome. Yeah, I’m a Pyro. I’ve been dancing with fire for about 1213 years now.
Tom Heath
Okay, just to be clear, this is like in a controlled environment. This isn’t like some kind of you burning things down and dancing around?
Zoë Rae
No, I use martial float arts props. I started out with fire hooping and then have progressed into fire fans, rope, dart, zip, poy, and there’s a bunch of other smaller props out there, so I kind of do it all.
Tom Heath
Well, none of those words make any sense. We might dig a little bit deeper into this, but I want to have you on the show for a few reasons. One is you do this really cool event, which we’re going to talk about. It’s a monthly event where you get out there and show the public some fan, fantastic dance moves with your fire. You make fire dance, I think is what you said.
Zoë Rae
Yeah, it’s fire dancing, really. I’m part of a fire troupe, too, so I get to perform with some other beautiful people and be creative. And that crew I am with, and I’m also a co owner of is Cirque Roots. We are a downtown studio and circus production company over off of Maine near Dunbar, 901 north 13th Ave. We’re part of the Splinter collective and we have a studio in there and we’ve been open for 13 years. I actually run the business with two other women, Brittany and Stephanie. And yeah, we have been thriving. We made it through the pandemic. We’ve changed like a lot of other dance yoga studios.
Tom Heath
How did you get involved with Cirque Root?
Zoë Rae
Cirque Roots.
Tom Heath
Cirque Roots.
Tom Heath
I’m sorry. How did you get involved with them then 13 years ago, what was happening in your life that you said, hey, I want to go join these other women and create a performance environment?
Zoë Rae
Yeah, I’m from here. I’m born and raised in Tucson. I went to La. To pursue a career in film, and I had a hard time meeting people, so I got into hula hooping. There was a meet up in the park and a friend of mine was like, oh, you should come. It’s really great atmosphere, really nice people, and then you’re outside. And so I did that and I met a ton of wonderful nice people, and it was a great way to get in shape, move. I love to dance. So that was a nice combination that I could kind of bring all that together. And then I moved back to Tucson.
Tom Heath
About how was a hula hoop scene in Tucson at that point?
Zoë Rae
Actually, pretty minimal, but I came across a few people who were like, oh, I know someone who hula hoops, you should meet up. So I eventually started my own group meet up group at Himmel Park every Sunday at eleven and did a hooping in the park. And I did that for about three years. And over that time, I met a bunch of other hula hoop performers. And eventually we’re like, oh, led hula hoops had just come out. And that was like 2009, I believe, between 2007 and 2009. And we were like, well, we should start a hula hoop troop with our led hoops. And we became the opening act to a group called elemental artistry, who was a fire troop in tucson. And some of those women were in our group, and they had a gig at sky bar. And usually they would throw bigger events over like the summer solstice, winter solstice, autumn equinox, and they would invite an umbrella of performers, acro yogis and led hula hoopers, and then fire performers and live music. And we would all perform there. And then fast
Zoë Rae
forward two years later, steve and I at solar culture was like, hey, I have this space over here on tool, and I think a circus studio would be great there. And so we all were like, we.
Tom Heath
Had saved what was that space?
Zoë Rae
It’s actually where kinetic arts was. Okay. And they are now moving over to the old movement culture center. So, yeah, that space over there is changing a bunch. But, yeah, we were over there for about almost four years until we moved into a new location over at the splinter collective warehouse. And now we’re on our 13th year total.
Tom Heath
Wow. It just amazes me how these things evolve over time. Like 15 years ago, if you just said, hey, you’re going to be doing fire dancing in tucson, you’d be like, no, that’s not me.
Zoë Rae
Well, even just led hula hooping, you think that’s like the silliest thing you could think of, but it really attracted a lot of new friendships and community that I definitely wouldn’t have met any otherwhere else.
Tom Heath
It’s very interesting. I was watching a television show, and one of the characters I’m not going to go into the whole detail of it, but he ends up at this club seeking his girlfriend that he had just broken up with. But they’re trying to get back together, and there’s this whole scene where they don’t talk, but they just start dancing together. And then there’s like this hula hooping.
Tom Heath
And I’m like, man, I should learn.
Tom Heath
How to hula hoop, because that’s really cool. He just starts doing that in this club and it goes from there. So now I know that hula hooping is a thing. I don’t think I’m going to hula hoop, but it was interesting.
Zoë Rae
I mean, circus arts in general attracts and creates a new kind of you. A lot of people get into it because they are seeking something a little alternative. Maybe they don’t want to do the same traditional type of workout. But it also usually involves a community of people. And for us, choreography group performances at cirque roots has always been primary. So a lot of people who just come to participate end up being in our group. We never really do try outs. It’s more like if you like to hang out with us and get weird.
Tom Heath
Also, there’s got to be a huge amount of trust between the group. Definitely you do some things that require your partner to do something correctly, otherwise it not only doesn’t work, but it could be dangerous.
Zoë Rae
Yeah. Communication is key in a lot of what we’re doing, whether it’s fire, acrobatics, and even just like, having good boundaries in this kind of age we’re in, it’s all about consent. And so building new relationships from scratch is a lot of what happens.
Tom Heath
So the Cirque Roots, that has all kinds of different disciplines involved with it. You’re primarily focused on the fire dancing side.
Zoë Rae
Yeah. Well, we don’t necessarily have a lot of fire classes, so we’re usually before you play with fire, you should be actually practicing with your prop. So we have an open gym time that we call circus jam, and that allows people to come in, bring in their prop or try new props. But it’s a lot of skillshare. We have a lot of people right now with staffs and Dragon staff, so it’s been interesting watching people pick that up pretty quick. Or we even have a lot of people who’ve had marching band experience and we’re flag twirlers and so we have them coming and they’re just like kicking butt too. But yeah, for me, I love fire dancing, but a passion of what I really love to do is stilt walking and doing that with fire is fun. Or stilt dance. And stilt partner acrobatics is great. But again, having a team of people to do a choreography is what keeps me going forward. And I think that’s a lot with a lot of my troupe is very similar.
Tom Heath
So you do different performances around town, you’ve got events. I think you probably are hired out for events as well. But you have a standing gig at Skybar.
Zoë Rae
That is correct. Yeah, Skybar has been hosting us for over 20 years and before that was hosted, elemental Artistry used to have that gig and we would perform with them every once in a while, like I mentioned earlier. But yeah, we had to take a break during the pandemic. But yeah, we just started back up two months ago and yeah, we’re in the parking lot every fourth Friday, our shows at 815, we do about a 20 minutes fire show. We have about usually four to five performers and a great variety to some music, and then we hang out afterwards too. So we’ve also built a community of friends who usually come start their night there or end their night there, depending how their week went. And then we’re usually eating a slice of pizza too.
Tom Heath
So 815, it’s on the fourth Friday, which this month will be April 28.
Zoë Rae
Yeah.
Tom Heath
And then is there a cost to come and attend and watch.
Zoë Rae
No, it’s free. And Tony, who runs Brooklyn Pizza and Sky Bar, he usually has another band playing after us, too, so you can also catch some free music. And it’s really nice. The patio, too, where we are, we’re in the parking lot and then the patio is right there. So we get a really nice ambiance of just fourth avenue walk bys families. A lot of people who’ve never seen us before will just stop and watch.
Tom Heath
Oh, I can imagine. It’s a spectacle that I would imagine quite impressive to see.
Zoë Rae
Yeah, we love it. It’s like busking, so it really puts like it’s a different we can spin fire in front of each other almost every day, but it’s more exciting to do it for people and even just watching a lot of my friends performers progress in their performance, it’s pretty inspiring. Just for myself as well.
Tom Heath
This idea of playing around with fire and dancing with fire every day is kind of interesting. A little scary too. Hey, we’re going to get back to the interview with Zoe Ray, talk a little bit more about the history of fire dancing and some of the things they do with Cirque Roots in just a few minutes. But first, I want to remind you that you are listening to life along the Streetcar on downtown radio 99.1 FM and streaming on downtownradio.org.
Tom Heath
All right, we’re back to finish up our interview with Zoe Ray of Cirque Roots. Be performing on the 28th at Sky Bar in their parking lot there, doing some fire dancing and something. I’m interested to check it out. So we’ll finish up our interview here and talk a little bit more about the history and some of the other things they do over at Cirque Roots.
Tom Heath
Is there a history to fire dancing? It seems to me very spiritual, very not just it’s fun to do, but there seems to be a deeper meaning to it.
Zoë Rae
No, we talk about it all the time. Each of us have a different type of background. A lot of us have very professional jobs. Like, we have a lawyer, we have a therapist,
Zoë Rae
teachers, people who are just doing their day to day jobs. And the reason why we love fire, that we all kind of combined spirit. We’ve found that anytime you light up, it’s the most centered grounding space you can have because you have to be safe, right? You don’t want to burn yourself. So you’re at the most or others. Or others. Definitely not others, but yeah, having that space where you’re just grounded and you have to be aware of your surroundings.
Tom Heath
And be present, it’s very interesting. I watched I went to your website, which is Cirqueroots.com, I think, and I was looking at some of the photographs and a couple of videos in there and it’s very elegant, it’s very rhythmic. It’s not just like, hey, let’s juggle fire. There’s a connection and a rhythm between the performers. It’s really interesting.
Zoë Rae
Yeah. We used to do a lot more. We’ve had more seasonal gigs. They’ve changed a little bit after the Pandemic. But with all the events we’ve ever done with fire, it’s been usually around solstice events, seasonal events. Tahona Chul used to hire us over the holidays. We used to do the Celtic Festival. And now we’ve been slowly producing our own solstice shows over the winter. We keep it very generalized, but something with being outdoors, with just the elements is again a grounding experience for us. But for everyone else involved, it doesn’t matter what you believe in. We’ve found that families of all ages really enjoy watching us. Yeah. Combined force of messy, like being kind of dangerous, but safe. And like you said, there is an elegance to it as well, because you have to respect the element of fire.
Tom Heath
Yeah. I think in watching it, what I’m impressed with is how close you interact and yet there’s no danger involved with it. I mean, your proximity is close, but the fire is not getting on any. I know. I was just really impressed with how the choreography was with some of what I saw online. Obviously people want to come see you. They can head up 815 4th Fridays. They can learn more at your website about other events that you’re doing.
Zoë Rae
Yeah, definitely. Also, Instagram and Facebook is a great way to stay connected with us.
Tom Heath
Same thing as at Cirque roots.
Zoë Rae
Yeah. We’re really an umbrella of performers. And because we have a studio, we have other people renting our studio for practice. So we’ll even promote a lot of our Friends shows that are going on because there’s just so much, like, circus in Tucson right now. I think even after the Pandemic, a lot of people have moved here from other states and have brought more circus to town.
Tom Heath
You mean actual circus? We hear a lot of times that there’s a circus in town.
Tom Heath
It’s usually like a political or some kind of commentary.
Tom Heath
But you’re talking about actual circus. Actual circus performers. What if somebody wants to get involved though?
Tom Heath
Do you?
Tom Heath
Workshops, classes? You said memberships.
Zoë Rae
Yeah. We slowly have opened back up. We have two classes right now. We have an acro yoga class that happens on Mondays from six to seven. So it’s like a partner acrobatics class. You don’t need a partner. All levels are welcome. It’s a $10 drop in, and we do sell class passes. And then on Thursdays, we have a circus conditioning class, which is mostly body conditioning, lots of reps, but we try to keep it pretty silly and not take it too serious. That’s a $5 drop in. And then we do have two open jams going on right now, our circus jams, which is, again, maybe you already have a skill set of hula hooping poi spinning. You can come out and just hang out with us and practice in the mirror or learn some new skills from someone else at the studio. And that happens on Mondays and Thursdays as well. And then we have one more class. That’s what we call stretch club with Joanna, and that happens first Mondays from 730.
Tom Heath
Wow.
Zoë Rae
Yeah.
Tom Heath
You guys have a lot. So it’s cirque roots. C-I-R-Q-E roots.
Zoë Rae
Roots like a tree.
Tom Heath
I’m assuming all your classes and everything are listed on there.
Zoë Rae
Yeah, and we do have memberships. Right now, we mostly just have our key holder memberships. That’s really what keeps our doors open. We have a lot of aerial artists that rent our space and come in and practice on their own time. Okay. Yeah.
Tom Heath
And did I hear in there there’s hula hoop classes in case well, this.
Zoë Rae
Summer, we are planning to announce some workshops we’re going to do. Probably it’ll end up being, like, a two week series, and we don’t do a lot of kid programming. There’s a lot of other people who do that in town. Our main focus is adults at play, but we never turn anyone away.
Tom Heath
All right, well, I’m looking forward to April 28 at the Sky Bar. It starts at 815. Do you get enough crowd? Like, if you get there at 815, will you actually be able to see, or do you have a large enough crowd? Should you get there early?
Zoë Rae
I recommend getting there a little bit early because it’s nice to get a beverage and then hang out and yeah, the patio does fill up pretty quick. I feel like everyone gets a good show because the way the patio is set up there is a little bit of a grade, so it’s not too bad. Even if you’re in the back, keep.
Tom Heath
An eye on the website in case those hula hoop lessons come out. You never know, I may want to.
Tom Heath
Take you up on that.
Zoë Rae
I’ll put you on the newsletter. I’ll let you know.
Tom Heath
Anything else that we haven’t talked about?
Zoë Rae
Anything?
Tom Heath
Any big events or things coming up that we should be highlighting?
Zoë Rae
No, not right now. For us, again, we just love hanging out together and doing our own thing, and a lot of our participants have their own gigs going on, too, so it’s nice to see that everyone’s flourishing and being creative.
Tom Heath
Zoe Ray of Cirque Roots and our, I think, first fire performer on the show.
Tom Heath
Thanks.
Tom Heath
After five and a half years, thought we’d heat things up a little bit. Yeah, pun intended. And I look forward to seeing you on the 28th and learning more about what you are all up to.
Zoë Rae
All right? Yeah. Thank you, Tom. Thanks for having me.
Tom Heath
All right, once again, Zoe Ray with Cirque Roots, one of the co owners there and also a fire performer. We’ll see her on the 28th over at Skybar on Fourth Avenue. Well, my name is Tom Heath. You are listening to Life Along the Streetcar in downtown Radio 99.1 FM and streaming on downtownradio.org.
Speaker 5
You’re listening to Ktdt, Tucson, Arizona, 99.1 FM, downtown radio. I’m brother mock host of a show called Radio Club Crawl that airs every Tuesday at 03:00 P.m.. We try to focus on most of the bands that are coming through Tucson and we give you a tasty taste of their music. You want to check out what’s happening around Tucson? Check out Radio Club. Crawl, Tuesdays, 03:00 P.m. Right here on Ktdt, Tucson, Arizona, 99.1 FM, downtown radio.
Tom Heath
Thank you very much. Enjoy your evening. Bye bye. All right, and once again, a huge thank you to Zoe Ray of circuits coming into the studio there at the Tucson Gallery. As you know, we have a studio set up there because each week I say, as you know, I hope you know, but if you don’t know, every week we have a Meet the Artist event down at the Tucson Gallery and we record a podcast. It’s a separate one from Lifelong the Streetcar. It’s actually called Meet the Artist and it’s available on the Tucson Gallery’s website, tucsongallery.com. It’s also on Spotify and it’ll be on a few other platforms soon. And we’re building out a really nice collection of the stories from our local artists. But we have that studio set up there. So now if I need to interview someone and we don’t want to do it by phone and want to meet somewhere central downtown seems to work for a lot of people, then we get to use that studio as well. But it’s Tucson Gallery, it’s inside the proper shop, so you can always stop
Tom Heath
- Open Thursday through Sunday and check it out. If you had any more information or wanted to learn more, just go over to the website tucsongallery.com. Well, we are kind of coming into the home stretch here of the show, but you’re going to want to stay tuned for words and work. Coming up here at the bottom of the hour. We got Ted Prozelski who interviews writers and others from the labor movement. And then he’s followed by Ty Logan at the top of the hour. And then we get back into some music for the rest of the day. And then remember, starting with Paleo Dave, monday mornings, 07:00 A.m., your rock mix starts up again and we’ll run through Saturday. All the details and shows, all the volunteer DJs and their histories and why they do what they do. You can find them all on downtownradio.org. And if you head over there, you’ll probably find something you like. You might find something you don’t even know about. And that’s where I find the most excitement with this station is I listen to
Tom Heath
a lot of different types of music that I wouldn’t normally listen to, honestly. Some of it I’m not a big fan of, but at least I’ve been exposed to it. And I’ve listened to stuff that I just didn’t think I would like and I really enjoy it. And a lot of it’s to do with the music, but also the curation by our DJs. They just do such a great job of putting together thoughtful shows and it’s a couple of hours of their time. In some cases they might do multiple shows, but it’s hours of preparation each week. And I’m so appreciative for them for doing that and exposing me to some more work. And speaking of putting together quality shows, we hope we do that for you here on Life Along the Streetcar. I’ve had a good run of great topics as we’re rolling into the second quarter here of we’re in the second quarter of 2023 already. It’s amazing. Next week we’ve got on the show a young lady from Costa Rica. She came here from Costa Rica via many other states as part of the music program at the U of A.
Tom Heath
She’s a violinist. She’s also studying a lot of other really fun things at the university to expand on that musical knowledge. Her name is Sarah. She’ll be our guest. Just kind of want to get a feel for what it was like. How she got to Tucson is a fun story and then what she’s been experiencing since she’s been here from really an outsider’s perspective and the programs that the university have to welcome in, students from abroad. So we got a wide ranging set of topics, but a great interview and we’ll have that for you next Friday. And if there’s something you think we should be covering you’re listening to this show, you listen to the podcast maybe and you’ve got some ideas about some hyper local topics, things that happen from a mountain to the University of Arizona.
Tom Heath
Hit us up.
Tom Heath
Instagram, Facebook, tag us in those things. It’s Lifelong. The Streetcar easy for us to find. We just hit 1000 followers on Instagram. So super excited about that. Although as much talking as I’m doing today, we’ll probably end up dropping a few of those. But anyway, head over to our website, Lifelongastreecar.org. There’s a contact button there and you can also learn about the show’s history and maybe some past, past episodes there.
Tom Heath
Well, our guest today, Zoe Ray, she.
Tom Heath
Is a performer with Fire and found some Fire music from Runfell. It’s from an album, I believe I’m pronouncing it right, Von Heimer, but the song is called Fire Dancer.
Tom Heath
I hope you have a great week.
Tom Heath
And tune in next sunday for more life along the streetcar.
