Cozmic Wonderlan Spins Fire and Builds a Hustle

In this episode of the Kanawha Valley Hustlers podcast I talk with Cozmic Wonderlan, a sponsored aerialist and fire performer. Cozmic explains aerial work in plain terms: spinning and dancing in the air. She started as support behind the curtain for friends in LGBTQ and burlesque spaces, then stepped into performing herself and stuck with it.

We clear up the fire side too. Cozmic isn’t a fire breather. She focuses on fire eating, transfers, and skin-to-skin tricks. She’s been doing aerial and flow arts for three years, and fire for a year and four months, building experience through gigs and partnerships.

We talk about mistakes that cost time and money. Cozmic points to giving people the benefit of the doubt, offering space to perform, then learning some aren’t as dedicated as they claim. The hard part is being both the friend behind the curtain and the booking person at the same time.

When expectations aren’t met, Cozmic moves quickly, mainly for safety and for protecting the business and the performers. She also calls out a misconception: burlesque and “midnight ballerinas” aren’t the same thing, and burlesque is more about performance than money.

On skills and business lessons, Cozmic wants to show more bottle walking and keep leveling up fire transfers to aerial apparatuses. The best $100 she spent was on proper insurance, and the biggest waste was costuming, because you can rewear and still keep a signature look. The skill she thinks everyone needs is open mindedness and a willingness to learn, and the belief she holds onto is listening to your conscience.