Integrity and honesty drive Las Vegas performer, yoga instructor

Southwest-area artist, dancer and yoga instructor Jamie Tam, known to many in the entertainment and yoga communities as Jada Fire, started her journey as a performer in Las Vegas on Sept. 11, 2001, when she left her home state of New York bound for Las Vegas just three hours before the World Trade Center towers fell.

"Everyone remembers where they were that day," she said. "It was the beginning of a journey for me to a new life, but it was such a strange way for it to begin."

That morning, Tam said she faced her own mortality.

"I'd been at the airport in New York that morning," she said. "My heart went out, and still does, to all those families who were affected. But it made me more determined than ever to live my life the way I saw fit, with integrity and honesty."

And that's exactly what she did.

It wasn't long before Jumbotrons along the Strip featured videos of Tam fire dancing, bidding visitors to see Jada Fire perform.

"I've been really lucky," she said. "I didn't study performance art or dance -- I'm more self-taught. But I've had some success."

Tam has been a painter and artist all of her life and studied art and indigenous cultures in college.

"That led me to only explore them further, igniting a passion for ethnic dance and performing arts," she said.

Tam said she always has walked to the beat of her own drummer, deciding after college to study tribal dance, belly dance and trapeze arts with a troupe in Costa Rica.

"I suffered a real injury there from falling 18 feet to the ground," she said. "I had been studying about alternative medicine before that and sought out a medicine man who literally healed me in two days. I was more convinced than ever that my path was to help people in this way."

Tam eventually opened her own yoga studio, developing a new form called expressive yoga, which focuses on breathing and is beginner-friendly.

She still teaches these classes at two Barefoot Sanctuary locations in the valley -- studios that she runs.

"What we do is very primitive," she said. "There are no mirrors in our studio. Sessions are candlelit and feature live drumming. It's about expression and letting go."

Drop-in classes are $14.

Sanctuary studios are located inside the Whole Foods Market at 6689 Las Vegas Blvd. South and 8855 W. Charleston Blvd.

For more information, visit barefootsanctuary.com.

Las Vegas resident Glenda Hayes said she has attended a few of Tam's yoga classes and couldn't go anyplace else.

"I've become a bit spoiled," she said. "It's not like regular yoga studios where you get the feeling people are there to be seen. There's a real connection."

Tam has big plans for the future, with ambitions to become an author and perhaps eventually open another studio, although she admits the latter is a bit down the road.

Tam began writing a metaphysical comic book based on a character with her own stage name about seven years ago. She describes the book as part self-help and part autobiography.

"It's about helping people find their inner goddess, finding that inner strength," she said. "I expect I will have it published within a year, whether that's self-publishing or through a house."

Tam said her goal is to help people tap into their own sacred sense of self, exploring creativity and sensuality, along with intuitive flow.

"I think too many of us go through life not in tune with our bodies, let alone our hearts and minds," she said. "Through my dance and yoga classes, I try to help people find a way to connect with their own spirituality. I want people to feel empowered."

Contact Southwest and Spring Valley View reporter Amanda Donnelly at adonnelly@viewnews.com or 380-4535.