Roderick Carder-Russell looks like your average everyday college student. He works at ITS, is a Philosophy major and lives in Ashland. But like many college students, there is much more to Roderick once you ask him some questions about his favorite hobbies and interests. Ask some random students in the HUB this question and you will probably get answers like “playing Beirut” or “partying man!” I asked Roderick, 23, this question and got a most unusual reply. Roderick is an expert fire-eater, fire breather, sword swallower, escape artists, juggler, and self-piercing extraordinaire. That’s right, he does all of these extremely dangerous routines with the confidence of an NBA star playing Horse in his driveway. Roderick has not only mastered these activities but he has a performance act that incorporates all of these into one mesmerizing show, which leaves one big question: How the hell did you learn this stuff?
“With sword swallowing or fire eating/breathing, it takes a tremendous amount of research before you ever actually perform any of these stunts. It’s pretty common to spend months, if not years, just researching all of the techniques and dangers that go along with doing this,” Rode-rick said. He started at the age of sixteen with juggling as a hobby. He started with three balls just goofing around, but his interest in moving forward with his new skills quickly peaked, so he advanced into other areas of juggling. Like using clubs, which eventually led to flaming clubs, fireballs, and knives (with he does blindfolded). “It was the danger aspect that enticed me. The ability to push the human body and mind to its limits. Seeing what the body and mind are capable of. Seeing what was possible, and impossible, and conquering it.” After mastering the juggling routine, he made his move into the more extreme areas of performance. Fire eating was his first challenge. He did tons of research when he was twenty and got proper hands-on experience while in NY from Eric Dalaigh, an expert in this field. This led to fire breathing, which is significantly more dangerous and took much longer to learn, simply because of the risk involved. “I learned through email, talking with other fire breathers and getting to experience their knowledge and technique on how to properly execute this.” As Roderick explained, one of the reasons fire breathing is so dangerous is that it involves putting fuel in your mouth. If you swallow just a little or even inhale the fumes your in serious trouble. When it comes to spitting the fuel, you have to have everything timed perfectly, because if you’re off by just a little (we’re talking fractions of a second here) you can kill yourself. A slight draft in the wind, poor calculation, the fumes from the flame getting to close to you and several other possible scenarios all spell certain death for the person involved.
The sword swallowing was most recent. It started with interest, again, in pushing the body and mind past what it is capable of doing. Swallowing swords takes incredible concentration and focus, a hell of a lot of work, both physical and mental and is something that not only needs to be learned but mastered. It is also very dangerous, just like fire breathing, and as a result of the danger there are only about 50 sword swallowers in the world. After again doing countless hours of research and preparation, he was able to get guidance from Dai Andrews, a Maryland based swallower, and began the actual process this past year. In fact, over Spring Break he went to Italy to study with Thomas Blackthorne, a renowned performer who tutored Roderick in several areas of performance and technique. Constantly perfecting his craft, Roderick is a dedicated performer in his own right, having taken all of his abilities and combined them into a spectacle that he performs wherever he gets the chance. He’s played as a street performer in New York, done shows in Canada, did the Forum last year here at PSC, and also does a regular dose of holiday gigs and fund-raisers. “I have no interest in doing stunts. I want to communicate an idea to the audience. That there is a sense of wonder and excitement about what a human is capable of. I like to present it as very theatrical, rather than flashy, showboat kind of style. All of this takes a certain mindset, a belief. For example, in Escape Art you have to believe you’re going to get out of your bindings. Handcuffs, straightjackets, there made to restrain people, keep them from immobilized. You can struggle and struggle but if you don’t believe you can get out, you won’t, plain and simple. You have to be able to remain calm and use your mind, and with that and a little physical prowess you can get out of everything. It comes down to combinations of the mind and body.” And being able to dislocate limbs as well, as Roderick has the ability to do with alarming ease, although he is considering giving up Escape Art due to the heavy physical demands it puts on his body. If he does give it up, it will have to wait until after the fourth of July, when he has a gig booked in New York. He will be shackled by a police officer and pushed into the St. Lawrence River.
Has he ever gotten seriously hurt? “Not seriously. I get cuts from juggling knives, and sometimes blisters in my mouth. If you breathe fire, you’re going to get burned, but nothing serious. I’m lucky, but I’ve done a lot of research and I know what the chances are.” And what if you wanted to try this yourself, what’s his great advice? “Don’t. Don’t pursue it unless you’re deadly serious — literally. You need to do lots of research and make sure you know exactly what the dangers are. And of course, months of preparation.”
“And,” he says jokingly, “it’s a good way to show off to chicks.” Ah, now that’s what I’m talking about.