Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anthony “Fyrefli” Gasaway, Jr Joy “Kuma” Rowe. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Anthony “Fyrefli” Gasaway, Jr, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
There comes a point in every creative’s lives where we hit an impasse between sacrificing our time, energy, focus and freedom to work a day job, and wanting that same level of aforementioned factors to dedicate to our passions. We are often taught in public schools to have “dreams”, and look at our careers and such in a way of saying “it would be nice to work in this field,” but to accept that we have to get a “real” job, denoting that the only ways we can support ourselves are through preestablished fields of industry and work. While we understand that there is a journey of working jobs and doing what we need to do in order to gain our stability and take care of the bills at first, there’s always the “dream” that you can do what you love full-time–and until you take the reins and figure out how to make that possible, most of the time, people give up on those “dreams” for the sake of “reality”, when the truth is that there really isn’t any need to.
We first realized that we wanted to pursue our creative and artistic paths professionally at young ages; it’s easy to work a regular job and only do what is asked in exchange for the security of knowing you’ll be paid and make enough from one or multiple jobs to cover your basic needs. You’ll gain financial stability, but lose your personal time, energy and freedom to use your days creating and manifesting your artistry.
To pursue the professional path means taking on the responsibility of organizing, detailing, researching, planning, executing said planning, maintaining, and establishing your branding(s) in a way that will allow you to switch the primary source of your income and focus onto your artistry with either full or majority dependency. It can be scary at first, because you now begin to occupy the same headspace that Founders and CEO’s of companies utilize when starting and/or running their perspective businesses–businesses that started off as “dreams”, mind you.
We knew it was time to make the switch when the desire for us to do what we love and teach others to do the same, grew to a point that we could no longer neglect our opportunities to do so. We had resources, research, allies, and a lot of prayer behind the decisions, and have steadily been working towards growing what we do for a few years now, meanwhile teaching others to do the same. No one can wait forever, and sometimes the Most High will put it in your spirit to move on something, and when He does, you move on it.
Anthony “Fyrefli” Gasaway, Jr, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Joy “Kuma” Rowe, and myself, Anthony “Fyrefli” Gasaway, Jr., are professional dancers, instructors and community advocates who founded the internationally-known dance crew, FyreNation Crew, which hails from Atlanta, GA.
We both teach HipHop Foundations classes in various dance programs, as well as workshops, in which we go over the original values, virtues and focuses of HipHop culture, as well as the foundations, fundamentals, vocabulary, terminology, and technique of the Street Dance element of HipHop. A lot of our classes are often held in areas where the students don’t have previous knowledge or comprehension of the fullness of what HipHop as a cultural movement is, or the elements that make up the culture, and we use our classes to teach them dance and life lessons all in one.
Kuma created a family-friendly community event called WeOnFyre Cypher, which happens monthly and travels to different cities, states and countries to give communities a free, safe, welcome and open space for dancers, artists and creatives of all walks to mingle, fellowship, network, exchange and touch base with the general community. I, Fyrefli, created our kids’ battle series called CypherNation, which is a family-friendly competitive dance league for the youth. I also created the Battle to Business Mentality classes, designed originally to teach dancers what they need to know, and providing them the resources and knowledge to begin the first steps of solidifying their paths towards being professional and respected as such; the class has expanded since its debut back in 2018 to include material for artists and entrepreneurs of all walks. By creating these events, we are able to reach out to the community on all fronts and encourage other artists and creatives to pursue their own dreams, using the resources and contacts that attend our events to make it happen.
We spoke in a previous article about what makes our business different than others, and honestly the biggest thing we do that people often tell us makes us different is that we build our network connections on loyalty and honesty. If we say we’re going to do something, we do it; if someone asks us for help with something, we provide the help. We don’t make false promises, and when we go into any ventures or deals, we always set up meetings, have long discussions over the potential endeavors, and create documentation solidifying what everyone involved agrees to do, we sign it and get to work. We don’t haggle each other or use our friendship with the connections we have as an excuse to get free, or discounted products or services, and we don’t promote the people in our network in a way that suggests they can use our names or relationships to get discounts on what we offer. Our network isn’t just dancers–we have our own cinematographers, photographers, emcees, graphic designers, DJ’s, event coordinators, social media managers, sponsors, and even international representatives of FyreNation Crew and our collective network. Everyone in our collective network respects one another, understanding that even as friends, we are all focused on creating the pathway for people like us to turn their passions and dreams into real careers, and that means we must respect each other’s businesses, brands, services and professionalism so that others will do the same.
Our network has this mutual loyalty and respect because oftentimes, the narrative is that you can haggle small businesses for cheaper rates and services, or use your friendship, family ties, or other relationship statuses to default-qualify for free or discounted services. The hardest part of maintaining your business is often lack of true support; a lot of people want your professional services, but they either want to pay very little or not at all for it. They don’t value your work the way you do, and will try to convince you that your rates are “too high” or that you’re being “greedy”, “unrealistic” or even “disrespectful” just because they do not want to pay your rate. The saddest part is that family and friends are often some of the first people to present this mindset to aspiring artists and creatives, which can be very discouraging. This is why we built our network on not just educating and protecting, but also on supporting and helping the artists and creatives solidify their layouts for their businesses and services, meanwhile bringing people who are willing to respect their brands into the network as leads to send their way for work.
This is why our network is well-known and we are often spoken positively about in the community, not just because of the fact we’re running a dance crew filled with amazing dancers of all ages, but because we represent more than just being a social icon. We’re always consistent in who we are, and our focus has always on being able to live off of our passions and teach others to do the same so they can experience a freedom often thought intangible or unreachable. We aim to address and solve the issues we often hear about in the community because it does the community no good to know there’s a problem, but not try to solve it.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
A story that illustrates my resilience would be how the WeOnFyre Cypher came into existence. When I began my journey as a dancer, I did not have many other dancers around me and I had stage fright. The few dancers that I knew were not able to teach me and they were also very hypercritical about my level of dance. I soon discovered that if you did not previously know, or were known and accepted by the existing dancers in the community, you would be kept out of the loop on the events and sessions often held by these dancers for their own perspective circles.
I began looking up information on local dance studios in hopes that this would be my bridge to finally connect with the dance scene, as well as help me with my fear of being seen in such a raw form as dance portrays.
Unfortunately that was not the case.
The studios did not teach the type of dance I was interested in and from the reviews that I read pertaining to these studios, I knew that they would not be a good fit for me. I began putting myself out there though, telling my friends I wanted to perform, and not long after making these affirmations, an opportunity to perform in a neighborhood festival arose. I was able to choreograph a piece for an autumn festival, and the community loved it so much that they invited us out to many more of their events.
I went off to college and stopped dancing for a while, and my mother unfortunately became progressively ill in 2013; I made the decision to leave school and stay with her until she passed away 2015. In that time I found solace in dance and I began creating a plan to have an event for all dancers at any level, skill or style of dance. I have always loved how each style of dance tells a story in its own way and portrays so many different emotions that people shy away from in daily life. At that time I realized that dance was what kept me going on the stormy days and made me shine on the sunny ones. I began wondering how many other dancers needed this type of therapeutic release and a safe space to release their emotions, and this is where the seed of the WeOnFyre Cypher was watered for the very first time. Its first event officially launched in 2020, and traveled as a free monthly, free community event in and around Atlanta, as well as to other states, and traveled to Uganda on September 24, 2022 with an audience of over 200 participants–dancers, emcees, singers, community leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs from multiple villages and other countries in Africa were in attendance, along with dozens of kids–to become officially recognized as an international event and movement. A movement that started as a dream and a therapeutic release for myself has now become a movement and symbol of hope, fellowship and unity for national and international communities.
–Joy “Kuma” Rowe
For myself, Fyrefli, my journey and interest in being a professional dancer and community supporter originated back when I realized in high school that dance helped me get out of my shell. I’d been bullied most of my younger years and didn’t have a lot of friends, but one thing that I often leaned on was music and art as an outlet for emotions I often struggled to articulate, comprehend or resolve. My parents were very instrumental in introducing myself and my siblings to different genres of music as we grew older, starting with clips of old Ed Sullivan shows, Motown documentaries and music collections, biopics of artists like The Temptations, The Jacksons, and so on, but what really set the tone was how there were weekends where my parents would turn off the TV and play music and we would dance in the living room. My Dad was the first person I ever saw Popping and Breaking, and that spark is what led me to have an interest in dance as a whole. I saw clips of the original films like “Beat Street” and realized there was a whole world of people who move like my Dad, and I wanted to be part of it, because I was always treated like an outcast, and the HipHop community seemed to welcome people a lot more willingly than society itself. Following my exposure to street dance, movies like “You Got Served” gave me a more modern view of the moves and styles of dance, and I spent countless hours in my room trying to perfect my movements and become a great dancer. I went to my 8th grade dance, where I ended up getting into my first battle ever, and earned my nickname “Fyrefli” for quite literally “lighting up the dancefloor”.
9th grade rolled around and I realized then that I wanted to do this full-time, and make a living dancing and supporting the arts. There are narratives even in some of the other dance-related films like the “Step Up” series, which portray the dancers as struggling financially and putting their all into winning a big competition to pay their bills and rent, and while the satisfaction of seeing the little guy win big was admirable, I began to wonder what all it would take for a dancer to stay sustained and established from just dancing. My Dad also gave us all beneficial talks in business and being smart with finances, so I knew from a young age that being smart with money was a must; I was randomly thrown in a 12th grade Recordkeeping class in the 9th grade, which furthered my understanding of basics with finances as well and how to manually manage them, and since I also had an eye for cinematography, writing, and graphic design, my class electives in high school included Theater, Technical Theater, Journalism, Video Tech, Spanish I and II, CAD Design. I’ve used skills from almost every class I’ve taken, but the one thing that people consistently told me was that I’d have to quit dancing after high school and that dancers can’t make a living.
So, I set out to prove it could be done.
I’ve worked a host of jobs, on top of running my own business out of college doing photography and videography work, and along the way I looked at what it would take to adequately make a sustainable living from dance by doing research on both business management, as well as keeping up with the history and training in the styles of dance I’m proficient enough at to teach. It took me several years of being told it wasn’t possible, ending up homeless due to unfortunate circumstances, and moving from my home city of Houston, TX to Atlanta, GA for a new start. In October of 2018, I officially resigned from teaching martial arts to focus on the mounting opportunities to embark on my journey as a professional dancer, and I’m proud to say that I’ve been living off of my passion ever since. Everything from traveling out of state to places like New York City, Boston, Orlando, Nashville, and plenty other places to teach and perform, to appearing in professional music videos, TV shows, and countless radio and video interviews have been part of the journey, and I consistently keep myself focused on doing what needs to be done to open that door for not just myself, but others who aspire to do the same. I did take part-time work for a few months during the pandemic to help make ends meet, but I never stopped reaching out to the community and making connections, keeping contact with friends, business associates and potential leads, and I even began teaching the system I created to establish myself as a professional in a class series I developed called “Battle to Business Mentality”.
I became official with my now fiancé, Joy “Kuma” Rowe, on October 25, 2020 and a few days later, she was with me as I took a filming and music video appearance gig in Chattanooga, and drove back to Atlanta where I got a call to appear in a second music video being filmed downtown that same night. We spent the drive up to Chattanooga talking about things that would help her create and build her professional dancer profile, which was something that I offered to help her out with months before we became interested in each other, and I always thought it was ironic how the day we talked about it, she ended up being on two professional gigs with me. I remember saying to her something along the lines of “this is how life is for me, are you ready for this?”
She and I co-founded FyreNation Crew, have done countless major events nationally and internationally, appeared, performed, taught classes, workshops and intensives, and we became engaged on May 29, 2021. We thank the Most High for what he’s blessed us with, and through our actions we’re still proving that everyone who told us we couldn’t do this, or told us it wasn’t possible was wrong, meanwhile teaching others how they can do it too.
–Anthony “Fyrefli” Gasaway, Jr.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The mission driving my creative journey is to allow creatives to know that they are appreciated, loved, and supported, even if others around them don’t particularly understand their creative language, it’s always good to know that people like myself, and the network of like-minded creatives in our growing network definitely do. I always tell people that even though you may not be someone’s “cup of tea”, you could easily be someone else’s “glass of water”.
As a creative myself, I have struggled with wondering and pondering ideas such as “what would someone do with this?” and “what is the purpose of the thing I have drawn/created?”. Such doubt-based internal questions can often originate from the imprinted idea of the starving artist, where they tell us that we will never be able to live off our art and have a stable life doing so. However, art is all around us in Knick-knacks, books, graphic novels, vases, billboards, blankets, furniture, etc., and I want creatives to know and see their worth and not allow someone else to tell them how much they are worth or how much they should be compensated, if at all, for their creative hard work.
–Joy “Kuma” Rowe
I agree with Kuma, there’s a weird approach people take when they don’t understand artistry; they want it, but don’t really understand what artists like us go through to make what we make and do what we do. Our value is as both a passion and occupation, the same way a gardener loves everything about growing vegetation of various backgrounds, but also knows they can sell what they grow to make a living. Seeing people give up their dreams for the sake of making a living off of jobs that leave them feeling unfulfilled, tired, and sometimes bitter is enough for me to continue the mission of showing, creating and advocating that creatives don’t have to sacrifice their time, energy, focus and creative abilities for the sake of working a job that occupies all of their time. Some can’t do it because they don’t have the time to, and they don’t have the time to because their time is occupied with a job they neither want nor enjoy doing. They don’t have the time to look into turning their passions into careers, and this often means they don’t have the resources to do so, which leads them to not having the time to stop and find the resources, so ultimately they end up trapped in a loop of working and giving up 80 to 90 percent of their time doing something unfulfilling.
We have gathered the resources and created the path to help those who really want to make the jump do so wisely, and with proper preparation and guidance. The goal is freeing the minds of worries including how to adequately utilize their abilities to generate sustainable income, by giving them a helping hand in doing so.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @fyrefli.il3git @_kumaofficial_ @fyrenationcrew @weonfyre @cypherrulesradio
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/FyreNationCrew
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-fyrefli-gasaway-318122219/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIPij54yojDPMC_B8-w1oDQ