With an intense desire to journey through the U.S.A., Nick Duennes left his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and drove across the country with a girlfriend in his trustworthy 1999 Honda Civic he affectionately calls, “Gina.”
Portland, Ore.was their destination but they never made it that far north. They visited friends in California then headed back east. The girlfriend returned to Ohio and Duennes traversed to the Black Rock Desert of Nevada to partake in his first Burning Man event— experiencing the otherworldly like energy that has attracted thousand of participants each year.
After breathing in the dust of the Great Basin, the Santa Ana Winds pulled him back to California where he settled in the quite suburbs of Simi Valley.
At 25-years-old, Duennes is a full-time sociology major at Moorpark College who seems to have grasped the concept of living his life fully. His plate is full — yet he finds room to develop new skills such as of eating and breathing fire.
“Working with fire has so much risk,” said Duennes, ” but it’s a pure moment.”
As a child, Nick’s mother, Josie Duennes, said that he was always a kind and an easy-going child— he didn’t show signs of unusual interests, such as playing with fire.
“Nick was always been good at most anything he’s tried,” said Josie. “He’s a bit of a renaissance man.”
In addition to working with fire, he’s also into heights.
At 6-foot-4, when he dons his 20-inch wooden stilts he’d be tall enough to paint a single story house with no ladder. But instead of earning decent money as a housepainter, Duennes would rather be practicing his juggling skills, a talent he established when working at an independent grocery store produce in Ohio.
As for fire breathing and eating, he now trains professionally with the fire troupe, “Machina Candeo,” based in Los Angeles.
Principal founder and creative director of Machina Candeo, Ty Cy-Phy, likes Duennes laid back attitude and also his level of seriousness that he brings to the troupe, who is called by his stage name, Dunes.
“Dunes is enthusiastic, self motivated and a quick learner,” said Cy-Phy. “He’s a joy to work with.”
Fire performing is a serious art and potentially the most dangerous job in circus and street performance.
Cy-Physaid each artist must have an individual liability insurance policy in order to perform.
If danger is in Duennes blood, selling sharp knives may be considered a job worth doing. He recently joined the sales team at Cutco trading fine cutlery. Yet, don’t expect him to juggle knives to close a sale. Like most struggling artists, you need a safe and regular day job.
Though, regular may not be a term used to describe Duennes, aside from thriving to be a skilled professional fire performer, he sees himself becoming a writer and college professor in his future.
It seems kindling a variety of adventures and risk taking is part of his roadmap.
In fading red paint are his own words written on the back of his beloved “Gina,”
“My tires shall be my typewriter, punching my story across the holy open road.”
