From Fire Performing to Fine Metal Art

Savanah Stahl, a third-year art education major, brings the heat to Millersville University - literally. Trained by professional fire-eating and fire-breathing instructor Thomas Santiago, Stahl has mastered the art of fire performance and has even performed with big music acts like Lauryn Hill and Zion Marley. For nine years, Stahl has wowed audiences across the country, but she now has plans to pursue her passion for teaching and her interest in fine metal work.

Stahl first discovered the art of fire performance as a teenager attending a music festival with her mother. "I was so captivated," she said. "I ended up speaking to the performers after the show, and they told me about websites where you can buy props." She then taught herself tricks through YouTube tutorials. Six months later, at another event with fire performers, she learned about intensive safety procedures and lit her fire staff for the first time in a controlled environment. She said the fire performance community encouraged beginners like her and often let her try new props to explore the range of the art form.

After establishing herself as a performer, Stahl moved across the country to Colorado, where she spent four years teaching skiing. She later returned to Pennsylvania and taught environmental education at two nonprofits in Adams and Franklin County. Those experiences helped Stahl realize her calling for education.

Her years of fire performance, working as a ski instructor and teaching environmental education inspired her to apply to Millersville University to major in art education. "Building stage presence and engaging with a crowd are skills I hope to carry over to when I am teaching in a classroom," she says. Stahl has always had a passion for art, pursuing various forms such as dance, performance art, metalwork and painting.

"When I was in high school, my art teacher brought us to tour Millersville," Stahl said. "I remember seeing students' work hanging inside the building and thinking, 'I wonder what it would be like to have your work hanging on the wall.' When selecting a college, MU was the only place

in my mind I wanted to go."

After graduation, she hopes to teach in a high school and connect students with art, using nature to inspire youth to create and get outside.