ivan, or Ivan Bellari, or just ivan.... ummm ivan

[Butterfly Man]

clean & green

very green ... very cool ... I get it ... I get it!

[worldwidese]

Why so green?

Would give more compatibility if you jumped out of bed and changed all that green to a new background color. Preferably something patterned like flames or plain red or yellow.

[Ivan Bellari]

ooooookay

thanks robert .. i like the green too ...

i wanted colors that i liked, and i like the combinations of black/green/white/copper... and i wanted to stay the hell away from red.. every goddamned fire troupe web page in the freaking world is red heavy... witjh a few excellent exceptions !

i don't wanna have to explain everything ... and i know there will be people out there who just wont like the web page..

i decided that since it was mine it would be something i enjoyed, and for the most part i do enjoy it...

i had no idea that it would be difficult to make , now i know why people are paid to do that sort of thing...

anyway .. it's running and will be tweaked, updated and fixed until i'm pleased completely ..

someone come visit and bring me some ribs...

[zarlesis]

I liked the page. Its different like you said compared to other fire performers, and the latin phrases are an interesting addition. I totally know what you mean about web pages turning into a huge ordeal. I was just curious if you were also going to continue with ash circle.

[Ivan Bellari]

what? Me quit Ash Circle?

.... why would i stop working with ash circle? ...

thats not so much an option... but loki is focused on other things and not really open to perfrorming year 'round .... sooooo if i want to continue to work year round .. then i have to have my own thing going on too...

hence the creation of exsulis, and the new web page...

but yeah , as long as loki keeps booking ash circle to perform, and as long as they want ivan to be there.. i'll be there..

in the meantime.. exsulis is a way for me to market shows aside from those with ashcircle.

for the record.. working with loki is too fun to cut out of my life completely ...

[Ivan Bellari]

one week later....

well, i tweaked it a little..
changed the layout a little
worked some colors a little
but it's still green
and i still like it

damn web page...
it eats up my slacking off time..

look if ya want exsulis but i still don't see the point to having people critique my work .. taste is subjective... and lots of people have a different view about what is right, wrong, marketable... etc...

and while your at it .. answer the e-mail i wrote you ..

( i'm sure there are people who haven't )

g'night.

[Ivan Bellari]

hmmm

So ….

I breathe fire… it’s something I am very proud of… well not just that I do it, but that I do it pretty well…. Well enough to make it an important part of my show…

There are risks… actually there are a lot of risks… everything from flu-like symptoms to death… yeah actual death.

Most common , Mt. Vesuvius Revenge.. It’s fun stomach cramps and the permanent placement of yourself on the porcelain throne. Takes about a day to clear up. Other great things - sweats , nausea, and in my circumstance even worse dental problems than I had before. The ways I could die as a side effect of breathing fire- blowback; that’s when the fire runs all the way back to me and the super heated air gets into my lungs and crisps them from the inside out, toxic poisoning; the fuel I use has a skull and crossbones on the bottle .. that’s a sure sign that it shouldn’t be ingested. And all the other crap cancer, liver failure, etc. Then there is the most probable. One day I will just blow my brains out because one more idiot has come up to me and said “ I can do that!”.

This truly is the only bad thing that I have ever encountered while performing. I refer to theses people as “sparky, or spanky, or sometimes the idiot”.

I’m gonna paint a portrait of “the idiot” or ’le idiot for you.

Most of the time ‘le idiot is almost always surrounded by friends, who will say during a show “I CAN DO THAT!” then proceed to pull out a lighter suck in the fumes and ignite them with a quick puff. Or fill the cavity of a closed hand and try to ignite it. Then after the show ‘le idiot will barge forth and say “ I can do that you know , you want me to show you?” I always smile and say “ no thank you” … but what I really want to do is grab ‘le idiot by the shoulders and shake them till they snap screaming “SHUT UP YOU F*CKING MORON!!!! JUST SHUT THE F*UCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!”

So where does ‘le idiot come from? I have no idea but I’d like to microwave that particular place until they are all sterile. But the true stamp of ‘le idiot is the need to stand out, self esteem so low that they need to hop up and down and try to prove that they are more worthy of attention than anyone else.

A good friend of mine ( loki ) when confronted by ‘le idiot always asks “ You can do this? Wow! What’s the name of your show?” this confuses ‘le idiot and like a traditional idiot they just keep talking not realizing that after loki utters those word he just goes on automatic nodding and smiling.. Ignoring ‘le idiot.

It’s not that I doubt that ‘le idiot can breathe fire. The skill for a single breath is pretty easy to grasp. But when I’m out there doing a show.. It’s more than spit, burn, repeat. I have to try to make it look effortless, all the while making sure that it’s safe for 1) the people around, 2) the area around 3) me!. And yes it’s almost always in that order. And that’s not counting all the stuff that every street performer is worried about .. Like gathering and keeping a crowd, putting on a fun and entertaining show, and making a living.

There are also those people who want to know how I do what I do… I look at these poor misguided souls with a much more affection. I explain to them that I spend hours practicing , work very hard, and if they really want to learn they can pay me to tech them … that scares a lot of them off… the ones that stick around usually are a little more serious about learning… I have a system for teaching.. Safety, then contact fire, then fire eating, then fire breathing. So far no one has lasted until fire breathing. And no one lights up until they can repeat the litany for safety. Thus far, no one has been serious enough to stick around to learn how to breathe fire.. And that’s fine by me.

Then there are my peers, other performers who use fire in their work. Most of the time these people are safe, sane , and really good at what they do. But for the record. Juggling with fire is not fire breathing, nor is eating fire, or contact fire. I have in my heart utter respect for their views, and I listen to what they say very carefully. Then do things my way.. This is a little close minded of me I realize . But for the record every piece of advice I have ever gotten from another true performer I remember and think bout when I’m preparing a show .

The best advice I ever got was from Phil of the silly people… he said to lose the fire. And one day when I have enough skills to do an hour long show without fire I may just do that. ( see Phil I was listening ) But I don’t think I’ll ever quit fire breathing … it’s just too amazing to do .

But I make most of my decisions on what I KNOW I can do. It affects how I work with a crowd, the stunts that I attempt when I am performing, and more importantly it is what gives me the confidence to do what I do . And lets face it … confidence is what makes a show really good. Confidence, Character, and Currency.
I respect the advice given but I also know my limits and those are the only boundaries I have.

Once I was accused of being afraid of the fire performers coming up behind me. Unfortunately I don’t watch what’s behind me just those that are ahead of me. And professional fire performers are so few that I could still be at the bottom of the list and not have that many people ahead of me. But the ones that are ahead of me are amazing.

Over all , I love working with fire, and I love performing.. The risks are small compared to the pay-off and since I am the one who deals with the risks then I have the right to choose.

Just a few thoughts.

[Eveish]

Yep, those idiots are annoying! I get loads of them coming up to me during or after shows. I had one guy last week come up WHILE I was fire twirling to try to take my staff off me, he was drunk and decided that he could twirl better than anyone else because he tried it once in Vegas!
..You get those, they're no fun, but on the whole I find fire perfoming great, I still learn new things about fire and about my audience every show.

[Ivan Bellari]

baby steps ...

"baby steps towards enlightenment!"

i met a guy once, he was the santa at a christmas party .. i was there as a guest of a friend... a group of us were drinking too sweet punch and talking when he came and joined us for a bit then went and changed out of his santa suit....

man was he rough looking.. sleeve tattoo's.. more metal in his face than a human should have... one side of his face was a mess'o'scars... his name was rash..

nice guy, liked to use the term " baby steps to enlightenment." said he got it from a bill murray miovie... said it was the best we could hope for.. just baby steps...

it calmed him..

i met him at a christmas party at a maximum security prison... he was serving 25 life sentences ( or so he said ) appealing 2 ( "it's the principal of the things, ivan... " )

whenever i feel like the world is being boneheaded i think about little babysteps towards enlightenment...

it calms me

as an aside

alice , one day i'm gonna chase you and marry you ( and whoever you are hooked up with ) we'll raise sheep dogs on a farm near the ocean... it'll be nice.. you can serve cake.

[Scot Free]

Re: ooooookay

Originally posted by Ivan Bellari

i don't wanna have to explain everything ...
i decided that since it was mine it would be something i enjoyed,

DAMB STRAIGHT!!!
YOUR website is a representation of YOUR character, YOUR estetic, and what YOU think is cool.
The thing about you as a performer is that people really like to see Ivan enjoying himself, on stage and off.
You and I both like green and the mystrey of what wicked picture will be exposed from behind those freaky coin things.
That being said I suggest adding direct links to photos, videos, CV and contact info right on the index splash page for the producer or agent who doesnt have time or dosnt care to explore the site and find out as much as they can about who Ivan "is" and how he choses to represent himself. Kind of an "agent friendly" splash page.
Once someone clicks "ENTER" they are in your world and who the fuck cares what some marketing book says about what color will trigger confedance or repultion.

[Ivan Bellari]

neato

good points scot...

and so i did it .. quickly.. i'll tweak it later
thanks for the good advice man!