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When Jacob Felder and Kara Chambers rehearse, they tend to attract the attention of the neighbors.

After all, their practices are conducted in the yard and usually involve eating and breathing fire, cirque-style balancing acts, hula hoops and stilts. [Photo gallery]

Together, Felder, 53, and Chambers, 27, make up Exuro Entertainment. For the past year, the dynamic duo has been thrilling audiences with their performance art, consisting of cabaret, mime, robotics, puppets, fire dancing, cirque-style balancing acts, hoop dancing and stilting. They have performed in a range of venues, including festivals, roller derbies, private parties and school programs.

“What we are doing is unique and basically unseen,” Chambers says.

A meeting of the minds

Three years ago, Felder and Chambers met while performing their respective acts at an event at the Millennium Center in Winston-Salem.

Their meeting was a bit of destiny.

Both had been searching for someone dependable and capable of attempting a challenging routine. And then they found each other.

“When I met Jacob he was wearing a full silver man costume and approached me in character,”

Chambers said. “His energy and style stood out from everyone. I thought he was interesting and creative. I didn’t know exactly how we were going to mix our performance styles, but I knew I wanted to work with him.”

After their initial collaboration, Felder, an independent artist, came under the umbrella of Exuro Entertainment in 2009.

Chambers is a self-taught fire-dancer who became interested in the art form through belly dancing.

“I had a belly dancing background, and so I was immediately drawn to it,” she said. “I was excited by the mystery, and I think it takes courage and concentration to work with it.”

Once Felder met Chambers he decided to join in the “hottest” portion of the act. Like Chambers, Felder is also self-taught with a little help from Chambers’ friends in what he calls the “fire community.”

After a few one-on-one lessons in technique and safety with well-known fire-breathers, Felder now breathes and eats fire. Although he says fire-breathing is dangerous, he says it was easier for him to learn than working with some of the more complicated tools.

Felder and Chambers are a modern day odd couple, if only in the professional sense. When you first meet them, it’s quickly apparent that they aren’t your average pair. They should have their own theme song, and the tune ought to have an element of toughness or else you aren’t doing them justice.

Chambers wears a horseshoe bar pierced through her septum, and on this day she is sporting bright red knee-high boots. Both Chambers and Felder boast a large tattoo crawling up their thigh.

His is a flower garden, stemming from his love of gardening. Hers is a scorpion, a nod to the connection she feels to her passionate astrological sign of Scorpio. They are both petite and impossibly fit, with every muscle in each of their arms on display.

To see them today you would never guess that they joined forces only one year ago. They finish each other’s sentences and share a passion for healthy eating. They exercise and practice meditation, talk about their significant others and trade family stories.

“We have a great rapport,” Chambers says. “And we laugh with each other.”

“We have trust,” Felder adds. “When you are doing the things we are doing you take it slow, and our previous experiences are a huge factor. We have an awareness of our bodies. Your mind doesn’t wander during our act. Both of us think about making sure the other one is okay.”

Choreography decisions are made cooperatively with Felder and Chambers having their own area of expertise. Chambers is the go-to woman when it comes to all things fire, while Jacob has the final say if they are working with balance and yoga. Both are enthusiastic conspirators in the creative elements in their routines, whether it’s new costume designs or a pair of stilts Felder finished building for Chambers.

Curious by nature

It is no surprise that a creative curiosity is something that fuels both artists. Neither Chambers nor Felder owns a television. They simply entertain themselves.

Chambers, who is currently enrolled in Salem College studying Studio Arts, says things get old for her quickly. With a body and mind that seldom rests, she says she is constantly thinking of props, costume ideas and how to integrate what they are doing into different social environments.

“I grew up interested in other people’s perceptions of the world,” Chambers says.

Growing up in Stokes County, Chambers said she was blessed with a supportive family who was receptive to the idea of her wrestling on an all-boys team and riding BMX bikes in middle school. She credits her mother with an understanding of her need to try everything life has to offer, at least once.

Felder’s upbringing was a little different. Although he values his country roots, he says growing up in a small Southern town was difficult with a family who inadvertently didn’t foster his talent.

“When I was younger, neither my father or anyone else in my family realized my potential as a performing artist nor were they aware of the training or the career opportunities for performing artists. It just wasn’t a part of the local culture,” Felder says.

But a defining moment came later in Felder’s adult life during a conversation with his father, whom Felder says carried guilt for not recognizing his potential earlier.

“My father said, 'I wish we’d have sent you off to a circus or a performing arts school when you were a little boy, but we were just country folk, and we just didn’t understand,’ ” Felder says. “I felt like we had kind of come full circle.”

Working toward his goal of becoming a performer for the better part of his life, Felder, who refers to himself as “an old hippie,” has been through his share of difficult times.

“Everyone thought (I) was a little different. I wanted to grow my hair out as soon as the Beatles came out, I wanted my grandmother to make me a pair of bell-bottoms, and I was a yoga-practicing vegetarian by 17. Talk about a lonely teenager,” he says.

At the encouragement of a friend, Felder took up yoga, which led to a 41-year journey in immersing himself in the practice. Decades of intense yoga followed by dance training has given Felder, grace and an ergonomic understanding of the body necessary for his current profession.

Seemingly content today, Felder attributes his current joy to the simple life he has made for himself full of valued friendships, good health and the fact that he is no longer a suppressed artist.

When asked why they engage in such a risky occupation, they cite a certain validation they receive from the audience for the hard work and training that goes into every performance. They know how rare it is for people to witness such unequaled entertainment. However, the main reason brings out broad smiles from both performers.

“We really just want people to be awe-inspired and happy,” Felder says. “Put 'happy’ in capital letters.”

Contact Erin McClanahan Rainwater at eringrey718@yahoo.com

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