Dancing with fire
Jay Garrovillo and his fire poi
* Jay Marshall Garrovillo is Iloilo City's first fire poi dancer. Watch his moves and you'll be mesmerized
POI is a form of jugging balls that originated from the Maori people of New Zealand. As the art progressed, the form made use of different media like the tail poi, glow stick poi and the fire poi.
The latter is considered as the ultimate performance poi that is made of chain, kevlar blend wicks, sometimes also stuffed on the inside with more absorbing non-melting material such as cotton, that can be soaked in kerosene and set on fire.
Travelers to Boracay Island can attest to the adept hands of dancers as they perform the fire poi. Well, there's one Ilonggo who has brought the art here in the city and he's no less than Jay Marshall Garrovillo, dancer, host and performer.
When he was working in Club Panoly, Boracay in 2003, he was amazed with how the dancers performed with the fire poi. Early this year, he saw the tail poi performed by Kate Gaylo, a student of WVSU who competed in the Miss Nursing search and eventually became Miss Nursing and Miss WVSU. "I thought it was sexy, so I asked her to teach me," Jay said.
It was in March 2007 when he performed before the public. "The Patikeros played that night and their drumbeats just felt so right for the poi," he said.
Jay Garrovillo
Jay has been practicing the poi for seven months now. He would wake up at 4 am and practice his skill for an hour. Then, an hour before his gym session in the afternoon, he does this again as part of his warm-up exercises. Doing the poi is a good cardiovascular exercise. In fact, it's better than jogging, Jay said.
"I also study the art through the Internet. I go to YouTube.com, download the videos and study them. My room is small, so I record the video in my cellphone and then bring it outside the house. There I practice, with the village kids watching me. Sometimes, they join, too," Jay said. "Every afternoon, the kids would look forward to seeing me perform outside the gate."
He met Rachel Lobangco when she was here during a performance and they had a short session together, which gave him the chance to use fire poi for the first time.
That session was documented and he uploaded it on YouTube.com; the titles are Pino Poi and Pinoy Poi 2. His first major fire poi performance in Smallville can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com.com/ watch?v =GTv_S5faus8.
Jay is always invited to do hosting jobs, thus, he makes it a point to perform during these events as a bonus. "It's a good gift for couples during their wedding or the celebrators during their birthdays," Jay said.
Recently, he hosted a wedding reception at Edsa Shangri-la Hotel and he also performed the tail poi and the glow stick poi (his latest addiction, as he claimed).
He performs every Friday, 10 pm at Coco Grill and Club Bora after that. He starts with the tail poi, wherein he makes use of a thin rope. Then, it is followed by the fire poi. His dance normally last five minutes and this performance never fails to amaze the guests.
That's Jay Marshall Garrovillo, Iloilo City's first fire poi dancer. Watch his moves and you'll be mesmerized.