Irina Jang & The God of the Fire Dance
In this post, we hear from Irina Jang, a friend of the Women’s Institute, as she shares her experience meeting God through dance and how He used her passion to carry her through the darkness of 2020 with Fire Arts. We hope it encourages you to lean in and follow the God dreams inside of you with hope.
By Irina Jang
Aloha! My name is Irina Jang! I was born in Beijing, grew up in Hong Kong, and am now based in Hawaii. I’ve been a professional circus artist and performing artist for the past six years, training and performing in dance and circus, including flying trapeze, aerial arts, acrobatics, physical theater, and now newly the fire arts. I see my passion and talent for performing as my ministry, to bring God’s love, light, joy, and hope to those around me and those who watch me. I spend a lot of time training and stretching in order to maintain my physical body and health so I can perform to the best of my ability. I travel a lot for work, and I love it although it can get quite lonely constantly meeting people and then having to say goodbye. I love to eat and people say I eat a lot for my size haha! And I like to sleep, but my body needs a lot of rest to recover from all the intense physical activity I do almost everyday.
What are you hoping the world sees when you’re dancing for Jesus?
I hope they see Jesus through my dance. His love, light, compassion, and hope for everyone. It is my worship, praying, warring, being a vessel for God’s light and healing for the world.
Why did you choose to do fire dancing?
The Fire arts add an extra element of empowerment, freedom, light, and beauty to my dancing. It makes it even more powerful and beautiful. To me it is symbolic of the Holy Spirit being with me and for me. And when I dance as a means of worship and prayer, I pray that the people watching are touched and moved by my dance and the Holy Spirit as well. It is also a form of spiritual warfare for me, a battling in the spirit through physical movement, asking for the Lord’s protection or creating an atmosphere or shield of protection over myself and those whom I’m fighting for, the world or specific people and prayers. I pray those who see are touched by my dance and receive healing and answers to the things they’ve been praying for. I hope people can see God through my dance, and that my dance as worship can be the medium and bridge between people and Jesus.
Have you ever experienced a moment of discouragement when you wanted to give up dancing? If so how did you persevere and push through?
When I first started dancing, about 8 years ago first without fire, it was really hard, frustrating, and discouraging. It still sometimes is hard to train and maintain my dance skill and training. I started dancing “late” in life compared to other dancers, so it took a lot of hard work, discipline, and persistence to keep training. There was a steep learning curve for me, and my body didn’t understand movement or couldn’t move in the ways it can now. Many times I questioned why I wanted to keep pursuing dance or whether to keep training, whether it was “too late” to become a good dancer. But I was [persistent] and determined, and with God’s help I was able to continue to pursue dancing which became a passion. I attended a three month dance discipleship program with Life 150 Church and dance ministry in North Hollywood, California, and more and more I learned and understood how dance could be a form of worship, praise, and source of strength, and healing for myself and others. Dance and movement developed into a big form of my worship and prayer life. I started practicing the fire arts just this last December. The palm torches, Fire staff, and Fire fans fused with my dance and former gymnastics and circus training adds such a beautiful element and extra depth, light, and layer to my dancing. It’s like everything just got upgraded when I wield Fire. 2020 was a very hard and dark year for me, I prayed to God for hope and a way out of a lot of grief and a seemingly hopeless situation and world, and God gave me Fire. It was like he gave me Fire because knew I needed extra light and strength in order to fight against all the pain and darkness inside me and in the world. Fire symbolizes hope, strength, healing, resurrection, life after death. Fire dancing is my fight against the darkness and injustice in the world, and a prayer for freedom.
To hear more from Irina, follow her on instagram @irinarosejang. The post below is from Feb 2, 2019, we thought it would encourage you!
On Wings like Eagles
You think I’d be used to living out of suitcases by now. I seem to pack everything I need to survive in any weather situation, from freezing cold to sunny beach, in one big suitcase and take off somewhere with no definite plan of where I’ll end up next. That’s how my life has been ever since I quit my job in Hawaii and started my Circus journey over the past 4 years. A true run-away-and-join-the-circus-vagabond. Lol!
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That’s how I ended up in New York.
Having left Hawaii supposedly just for 2 months of summer, but ending up staying in California to dance, then going on to New York to train [for the] circus. 2 months became 1.5 years.
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That’s how I ended up in Punta Cana.
Having left New York supposedly just for my brother’s graduation in Hawaii for a week, but ending up going to California to teach aerial, then getting the CREACTIVE offer. And instead of going back to really pack up before I moved, I went straight to the Dominican thinking “Oh it’s just for four months.” I ended up staying there for 11 months. Lol!
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That’s how I ended up in Las Vegas.
Going to Colorado for a wedding on Christmas, supposedly for a week. With no solid plan after, ending up road tripping to Vegas but then getting sick the whole time....So deciding to continue the road trip....All the way up to Canada this time! And after 4 days of driving and 2 weeks of delightfully freezing, getting to live and play in the beauty of winter, decided to fly back to Vegas and conquer it this time. Instead of it conquering me. Haha!
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Still it’s stressful to pack and fit everything in my suitcase, trying to not be charged for overweight luggage. Still I wonder how I have so much stuff to lug around when I travel. Still, I wonder how I can live off so little. And so open-endedly.
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Grace. That is all. I learned to live with just what I need, and be content in any and every situation. I learned to have faith, and trust that God would provide for me always. That’s the only way I got here. Living open-handedly.