Playing With Fire In Boracay

Fire is hot, true, but playing with fire after sunset, in the island of Boracay is hotter.

Boracay is known to be one of the top destinations for Filipinos and foreigners, especially during weekends, holidays and summer vacation. The small island offers the best of both worlds for many—the grandiose nature through its turquoise waters and powder-like white sand beaches along with its wild crowd of mixed nationalities and nonstop parties on several bars and clubs. And as the crowd goes wild and fiery every night, fire dancers like Nelson Pelayo decided to take the “fire” on the next level.

The exotic and graceful discipline of fire dancing was introduced in Boracay last 2006 a Thai named Thomas. A ploi, which is a pair of arm-length chains with handles on one end and wick which is soaked in kerosene for the fire on the other is used for the dance. Thomas taught Nelson, along with other natives, the basics of fire dancing for an hour and just told them to watch instructional videos on Youtube if they wanted to learn more. A year later, Nelson was already a fire dancer. “You must first need to master the basic before you can apply your tricks,” he said.

Like most people in the island, Nelson goes out on the night but unlike guests, he leaves for work. With their last set starting at almost one in the morning, their show finish late so his usual days are spent sleeping.

Growing up in Boracay, Nelson admits that the island which most tourists and guests consider as paradise, seem like a normal place for him. The white sands, the bright blue waters, the tall coconut trees and the celebrities all over the place don’t fascinate him anymore.

Currently, Nelson with his group, perform three sets at Sandbar by Bamboo Lounge every night. On the first song, the fire dancers perform for all in the open but after it, curtains around the lounge were drawn and the fire dancers now only dance for the customers who paid Php295 for the fiery entertainment. After each set, a tip box for the dancers were passed around and the tips collected are later on divided to them. Most of the time, customers give the dancers personal tips as well. Nelson said his earnings are enough for his expenses, like a regular employee he receives his salary on the 15th and the 30^th.

The money might be good, but the hazards involved with the dance aren’t. He said that burns and scalds are part of the discipline. Nelson recalled another fire dancer where after spitting gasoline from his mouth for a trick, it back fired causing first degree burns on the dancer’s entire face, but the show must go on. The fire dancer used one hand to douse the fire on his face while the other hand continued with the fire dance. As for Nelson, fortunately, the most for him were minor burns and his hair catching fire. There were also instances where fire dancers accidentally swallow the kerosene they hold on their mouths for their tricks. And the cure for this ingested kerosene? Eating sugar. That’s what people said, so that’s what fire dancers do. And if that’s true, who would have thought something sweet and simple can deal with something hot and dangerous?

As for the fire dancers, their audiences and the crowd in Boracay—playing with fire sure is fun, what more dancing with it.