Our Story
Gaea Lady and Kiki Mason co-created the Ignite Fire Keepers in 2019
and it’s evolving every moment.
Gaea Lady
Pussy Magic Priestess, Fire Keeper, Silk Creatrix, Kitchen Witch
An enchantress by nature; she integrates a lifetime of experience into her intentional style which reaches globally. Gaea loves to play, dance, laugh, and embody the unseen into being through performance art ritual, unique handmade costuming, the flow arts, and human connection.
As a teacher, Gaea seeks to share knowledge and empower others, forging connections and igniting inspiration. Gaea seeks to bring light into the world to awaken others to their innate magic.
Gaea is ranked internationally in the top 50 burlesque performers & is an award winner & 5-time invitee to the Burlesque Hall of Fame’s Las Vegas Weekender. She is a certified Temple Body Artist. She calls Chicago home, and loves to travel, dancing around the globe.
She lives her life as art.
Integrating dance, art, visuals, costuming, concept, fire, silk fabrics, temple dance, hoops, and deeply-seated intention, her inspiring performances mesmerize and unite all who witness in shared sensory experience.
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Gaea fell in love deeply and swiftly with Fire in 2009 when she saw Pyrotechniq dancing with fire at the underground party “Resonate” in Chicago. Two weeks later, her friend April placed blazing fire fans in her hands at an open ‘Combustion Thursday’ fire practice. She was hooked. Now, she is honored to bring fire into being on stages all over the world. She specializes in hoops, fans, torches, double staff, and ritual performance.
Using her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she creates performances & experiential retreats fusing depth into reality through living her life as art. She deeply believes that sharing her love of performance, fire, silk, flow toys, food, herbs, and life bring us together to experience the daily magic in a way that radically transforms this paradigm.
Ranked internationally in the top 50 of the “most influential burlesque artists” for the past years, Gaea has performed all over the globe: notably at the Burlesque Hall of Fame 2016 where she won “Best Debut” and “Most Classic”; at the 2017 & 2018 “Icons & Allstars” show; in the “Movers, Shakers, and Innovators” Showcase with the Vertical Sideshow in 2017; and in competition for the Queen of Burlesque in 2019. Gaea headlined Carnivale de Sensuale (Denver), Spellbound Burlesque (Phoenix), Private Exhibition (Indianapolis), Texas Star Burlesque, & shows in Rome, Torino, & Treviso, Italy. She graces festival stages with feature performances & instruction: including Show Me (St. Louis), Minneapolis Burlesque Festival, Envision (Costa Rica), Electric Forest (Michigan), BurlyCon (Seattle), Symbiosis (California), Oregon Eclipse (Oregon), Burningman (Nevada), and Bhakti Fest (California). In her home base of Chicago, Gaea performs regularly at: Unbridled at Untitled, the Vertical Sideshow, the Drifter, the House of Blues, Raks Geek, the Darling, Alhambra Palace, and more.
Gaea brings the electric passion of her performances to her teaching, which she has been practicing in all forms of dance since the age of 16. She aims to inspire students to express their innate magic through embodiment, presence, and technique. Traveling across the world, she has taught at BurlyCon, the New York School of Burlesque, New Orleans School of Burlesque, Studio L’amour, Minneapolis Burlesque Festival, Detroit School of Burlesque, Danyasa in Costa Rica, and in Denver, Reno, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Italy, St. Croix USVI, San Francisco Bay Area, Ohio, & St. Louis. Currently she co-produces Ignite Fire Keeper retreats with Kiki Mason: Ignite Your Inner Flame Retreat, Shine Your Light Retreat, and Fire Alchemy Gathering. This trio of embodied transformational fire dancing retreats offers a way to deepen your joyful experience of life through fire.
Gaea is a certified Temple Body Artist through Sofiah Thom, and contributes both movement & meals to the Initiation.
Gaea is also a vegetarian chef, and she travels the globe to teach and nourish with her kitchen witchery at movement and wellness retreats. Gaea frequently facilitates & cooks for the Temple Body Arts retreats in Costa Rica with Sofiah Thom & is a certified Temple Body Artist.
Kiki Mason
A life in flow…
Kiki Mason is a certified Temple Body Artist, occupational therapist, sound practitioner and mindful movement guide, Kiki infuses mind-body-spirit offerings for groups and individuals desiring to live an abundantly joyful and sacred life. With over 15 years in clinical therapeutic & bodywork, alongside her extensive intuitive movement and flow-based practices, Kiki’s uniquely playful and grounded style creates sacred space for clients to explore how to live life as a ceremony, guided by their own innate wisdom.
Kiki uses embodiment rituals and nature-based teachings, with fire ritual and dance as the foundation of her medicinal offerings. As a master fire artist, Kiki has over 10 years of fire and fire-dancing experience has trained with top instructors. She has guided countless humans using fire as a tool for personal transformation. For over 7 years, she has co-lead and hosted highly regarded fire and flow wellness retreats in the Virgin Islands.
Kiki is the co-owner of Villa Larimar, a healing retreat and wellness center on the beautiful island of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands and was also co-founder, lead dancer, and instructor for Phoenix Fire Collective, a group of fire and performance artists using fire as a sacred and spiritual practice. In 2021, Kiki birthed her latest fire performance troupe called Purafire, to dive deeper into the ritual and spiritual connection with the fire a sacred tool for living fully.
When she is not running transformational fire goddess workshops or co-creating embodiment flow retreats, you might find her meditating on a mermaid rock, fire-dancing under a full moon at sunrise or soaking up the good vibes in the Caribbean Ocean.
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Yoga found her in 2001 and then bellydance shortly after in 2003. Fire came later in 2009, along with a move to the US Virgin Island of St. Croix. Founder of the first fire dancing troupe on St. Croix, Kiki was troupe leader of Kiki and the Flaming Gypsies from 2011-2017 and then later co-founded a new fire troupe called Purafire in the BVI’s while living on her sailboat with her partner.
Kiki has been the creative force behind fire dancing in the Virgin Islands and is well-known on the islands as the "original flame dancer". She loves to initiate new fire dancers into the artform and promotes it as a spiritual practice that is meant to be shared. Fire has been her greatest teacher and guide as a healing modality and meditation practice. Her deepest desire is to co-create a healing arts community in the Caribbean and establish a place for re-treat, using fire as the medium for transformational healing and deep connection to nature and ourselves.
She has been honing and teaching her fire practices as well as her elemental-based style yoga classes and her meditation practices of creating earth mandalas and walking labyrinths in workshops and retreat settings across the US and British Virgin Islands. She continues to perform for special occasions and to share her love of the dance with others.
Kiki is a Temple Body Arts Facilitator with Sofiah Thom’s School of Temple Body Arts as well as a Temple Tribal Fusion (TTF) trained Bellydancer with founder Tenley Wallace. She is also certified in Zen Shiatsu with the Costa Rica School of Massage and Thai Bodywork Massage with the Toronto School of Thai Massage. She has also studied bellydance since 2003, specializing in American Tribal Style and Tribal Fusion.
With a Master’s in Occupational Therapy, Kiki integrates her extensive knowledge of health and science within her movement practices with a playful and holistic approach. Kiki is a strong advocate of the art of flow, incorporating flow concepts into all of her classes. Kiki instructs classes and workshops in Bellydance Fusion, poi dance, flow arts, earth mandala and meditation practices and in the Rasamaya Yoga Method. She is also Reiki Master certified and empowers people to live their dreams and dream BIG. Kiki believes in the power of connection with nature, community building and establishing the space to express your unique creative voice.