About
Hello, hello! Namaste. Allow me to introduce myself:
So my name is Asraiya and I live to dance but my body wasn't built to professionally do ballet so I did acrobatics and cheerleading instead in my early teens then discovered I'm a natural at acting which became my major pursuit when I went to college. After 4 years of focus on theatre I became less than inspired as it artistically limited me to pre-determined scripted characters interpreted through the vision of a director and I wanted more expression than that and determined I wasn't being taught that. I also discovered that all my superiors as a Starbucks barista had worthless art degrees and I was recommended for promotion without one so I decided to earn money instead of pay more and spend a year or two reconsidering how the world works and hoped I'd find a middle line between passion and occupation. Never really did.... lol
Yes, I took a vow of poverty and passion won the day I found the circus troupe called 'The Ever-changing Festival of Now' based at Evergreen State College which I immediately up and ran away with becoming a clown, stilt walker, fire dancer, and choreographer in 1997. The Now didn't last long so I moved on but remained committed to the calling so Burning Man would be where I belonged. First year there I met and formed the fire troupe MagmaVox in Seattle who went on to inspire the eventual creation of Circus Contraption but not by me, I moved to San Francisco in 99 and eventually worked for Burning Man LLC and performed quite a bit solo, or with bands, as well as the Mystic Family Circus.
At this point I'm name dropping because you already know my life story since I'm sure you're living it (work + art + relationships x repeat x infinity) so I'll conclude with a list but be sure to remember the last one because that one is mine and not one I joined so it is my instrument of investing in myself for my art and describes precisely my intentions ~ PURE Cirkus, Spinergy Arts, AraKus Productions, Super Geek League, SSP, Wreckless Freeks, and Heartsinspyre Entertainment.
Light your Heart on Fire!
