Maggie Starfire puts flames in her mouth, very carefully, at Danny’s Bar.

Some exotic goings-on at Danny’s Palm Bar on Orange Avenue in Coronado. A girl dances on the bar top, waving live flames about herself. Suddenly, she dips a flame into a shot glass. It ignites the drink. With her mouth, she extinguishes it, and then hands it to a customer. “It’s kind of like you get a shot and a show,” says the woman, Maggie McPartlin. “I light the shots on fire, then I put the fire out with my mouth. It’s a big crowd pleaser. I’ve been dancing with fires for about 13 years now. I use all kinds of different props: staffs, fire fans, fire swords.”

But isn’t it dangerous? “It is,” she says, “but life’s all about taking risks. I think it’s fun, it’s interesting, and not a lot of people have seen fire dancing, so I like to show people my crazy hobby.” She got into it 13 years ago. Some friends showed her the ropes. “I went to Burning Man when I was 17 years old. All the people that go there do it. They had like 80,000 people. And there’s a lot of us who do fire dancing, especially in San Diego. Especially in Ocean Beach. I’ve taken classes here locally. And I’ve gone to gatherings where they teach you how to do all different fire dancing techniques, at festivals, like night fire festivals.”

She mentions Joshua Tree, where they have Hi Dez Ecstatic Dancing. “I’ve gone to these festivals throughout the years. The tradition comes from the Polynesian Islands, including Hawaii. It was initially a protection dance. It sometimes involved swords. It goes way back to ancient times. But it takes learning. First, you practice with the props, and then you light them, and manipulate them on fire. It’s really not that difficult if you’re passionate about it.”

Something I’ve always wondered: “How do you swallow the flame without burning your mouth?” McPartlin laughs.“You just kinda use magic. No: you close your mouth over, it and you must exhale as you’re doing it. It takes a lot of training. Don’t try this at home! Don’t attempt without trained professionals. If you get it wrong, if you inhale instead of exhale, it can literally ruin your life. It can kill you. You want to make sure you exhale when you do it. My mom hates seeing me do it.”

So why does she do it? “I just fell in love with it when I saw it. I thought it was so beautiful, because fire is such a deadly element, and if you can deal with, outthink that fire, it can help you manipulate other things in life. At the Ocean Beach Farmer’s Market, we call fire dancing ‘spinning fire.’ My name is Starfire — Maggie Starfire. Here, I have decided to name shots after myself and sell them for ten bucks each. Ten bucks for the shot and the show.” And if anybody else wants to learn? “They should join a group we have, on Instagram or Facebook. It’s called ‘Wednesday Flowgroup.’”

Why here? Her late daddy Greg McPartlin was a Navy SEAL Medic during Vietnam, held in awe by many. He came back and started McP’s Irish pub here in Coronado in 1982. “He always loved watching me fire dance,” says Maggie Starfire. “I’m hoping he’s still up there watching me every time I light up.”