Ugla Mani
I use my passion to light a spark in others!
Hello, I am Ugla Mani. I am an artist, sculptor, fire dancer and many other things.
For me, art and fire dance go hand in hand: they are both forms of flow.
I operate best in my owl state (my flow state of mind). That means that I operate best when I'm learning and growing. When I'm painting with music blaring in the background or flowing with my fire props in my yard or at an event I put my all into it. I'm taking out my frustrations, and I'm expressing my love. All the feelings!!
My soul is laid bare for all to see in my dance and my artwork.
As an artist:
I've always been an artist. I remember the first piece I did. I was in seventh grade and there was a special guest that came in that day, and he showed my class how to do a charcoal drawing. He had us choose from different pictures to draw. Then, he had us fold up the canvas paper and the picture we had, then draw faint grid lines. He told us to just focus on one box in the grid at a time. He said to draw what was in that box, and then move on to the next. I drew a man holding a violin.
I remember feeling so much joy while drawing my piece. When I brought it home to show my mom it made her so happy, and that made me happy.
For me, art and fire dance go hand in hand: they are both forms of flow.
I operate best in my owl state (my flow state of mind). That means that I operate best when I'm learning and growing. When I'm painting with music blaring in the background or flowing with my fire props in my yard or at an event I put my all into it. I'm taking out my frustrations, and I'm expressing my love. All the feelings!!
My soul is laid bare for all to see in my dance and my artwork.
As an artist:
I've always been an artist. I remember the first piece I did. I was in seventh grade and there was a special guest that came in that day, and he showed my class how to do a charcoal drawing. He had us choose from different pictures to draw. Then, he had us fold up the canvas paper and the picture we had, then draw faint grid lines. He told us to just focus on one box in the grid at a time. He said to draw what was in that box, and then move on to the next. I drew a man holding a violin.
I remember feeling so much joy while drawing my piece. When I brought it home to show my mom it made her so happy, and that made me happy.
I was an artist from that day on!
Fire performance:
The first time I was introduced to fire was at a pagan Harvest Moon festival. It was one of many firsts for me that day. But when I saw that naked woman dancing with fire fans in front of everyone, it awoke something in me that I didn't know was there. A dormant fire reignited into a small flame.
The second time I saw a fire performance, I was so touched and in such awe! I didn't know that this could be done! I had never seen things like this in my life! I had just met these people, and they touched my soul in a way that no one before had.
I watched in awe from the sidelines for a while and obsessed over tutorial and performance videos before I even picked up my first prop, which was a pair of fire poi given to me by a dear friend. I loved my poi but they didn't quite fit me right at the time.
Once I worked up enough courage and self confidence, I decided to get a rope dart. That was it! I was hooked. The start of my flow journey!
Since the beginning of this I have picked up the contact staff, dragon staff, palm torches and fire eating torches.
I still have much to learn, but that's growth. It's part of the journey.
You can find my many adventures here!