A hot show has erupted on the cool shores of Pacific Beach. The Fire Lane is a team of acrobatic, fire-breathing beach performers that light up the beach most Thursdays through Sundays after sunset before a captivated audience outside World Famous restaurant at the foot of Pacific Beach Drive. During the show, Jonathan Nowaczyk somersaults over a torch held by a volunteer in the audience. Fire breather Keane Carlson wields flaming tethered balls of fire called poi. Poi is the traditional Maori practice of twirling a ball at the end of a cord. Carlson lights the balls on fire and twirls them around both his partners and their bodies. He calls it an amazing “visual visceral” effect. Guys like Carlson are known as “burners,” he said. Their guerilla acrobat and fire show will soon be moving to SeaPort Village and Mission Beach, Nawaczyk said. “We’re not really supposed to be there but we still get support from everybody, even police,” he said. The two performers, both 22, have teamed up over the last few months to wow crowds in Pacific Beach with daring acts of fire and less-refined acts of humor. And their stunts truly are dangerous. One of Carlson’s fire-breathing stunts backfired into his face and nearly burned his beard. The two own separate private companies. When not performing, Nowaczyk teaches his acrobatic skills through his company, Planet Jemini, in cooperation with the Sophia Isadora Academy of Circus Arts. The fire-wielding Carlson works at his family’s business in industrial refrigeration. The irony of a burner working in refrigeration is not lost on him. “In a way I’ve always been rebelling against the family business,” Carlson said. Carlson is a certified hypnotist and also works to make a living teaching stunts through his one-man performance company called Spyre. The performers are part of a larger circus and performing arts community that has sprang up in San Diego over the last several years. The Sophia Isadora Academy of Circus Arts in North Park is one of a handful of circus schools in San Diego, said co-owner Cheryl Lindley. Lindley, 50, named the school after her daughter, who died in a car accident while coming home after teaching circus. They carry on the circus performing tradition in her name, she said. Through teachers like Pietro “Pops” and Joyce Canestrilli, a circus art performing family, the school offers training in trapeze, acrobatics, juggling and Mongolian contortionism. “Circus as an art form is marvelous because it’s unlike any others,” Lindley said. “There’s something for every body type and personality.” The school offers a free juggling community event every Friday night. The academy also offers a summer camp for children. Nowaczyk is a teacher at the school and a high-level student himself, Lindley said. While training performance groups throughout the city, Carlson and Nowaczyk say they’ll continue entertaining the masses. They’ve already ignited the beach communities with their fire-breathing, acrobatic stunts.
