Taking Life for a Spin: All the world’s a stage for professional baton twirler Sarah Hawkinson

You could say Pawleys Island native Sarah Hawkinson plays with fire, but with a positive spin. She also juggles a few things in her day-to-day work life.

The 28-year-old baton twirler, fire twirler, baton teacher, and fire and flow artist has been baton twirling since she was six and hasn’t taken a break since then. Her first competition team was with Carolina Dynamics out of Waccamaw Elementary School, where she originally learned how to spin fire.

“I went to their practice after school one day and saw the girls tossing the batons and doing stuff, and I was interested, so my mom let me join,” says Hawkinson. “I had always done dance and gymnastics too, and once I was doing all three, my mom said I couldn’t do all three, so I chose baton and dance.”

Hawkinson continued to twirl through high school and helped coach beginners when she was just 15 years old.

“I would make the routines, and I’ve always loved teaching,” she says. “I think choreography is just so fun. I love music, and I think movement is medicine, no matter what the movement is. … And that, with music, is always telling a story.”

She went on to be a member of the Tiger Twirler team for all four years at Clemson University, a dream she had since she was in the second grade, when she first participated in the “Tiger Twirler for a Day” camp.

Hawkinson moved back to the beach after college to help Coach Laura Card with Carolina Dynamics, but then Covid hit, classes and school in general all shut down, and she had to get creative with her twirling talents. Inspired by her first Electric Forest music festival she attended in 2018 in Michigan, where she first saw LED batons used, Hawkinson picked hers up and practiced on the beach.

“During the pandemic, that’s all I did,” she says with a laugh. “I would work during the day, and I would go to the beach after work and just spin my batons by myself for a long time.”

It was also during that time that she stumbled upon some people who were spinning props, not batons.

“I was introduced to this world of flow art, which is what we call fire and flow arts,” says Hawkinson, “and it’s basically spinning different types of props that either glow or they’re fire.”

Some of these spinning props, she explains, are poi, a contact staff, a dragon staff, and hula hoops.

“I had met some people online who were doing this in Myrtle Beach, and they invited me to come to a flow jam or fire jam, which is when everyone meets up and someone brings music and you all take turns, spinning your props, and you can share skills and learn different tricks,” says Hawkinson. “You get to know people in the community together because we all share this passion for using props.”

It’s also how she was able to meet Ann Winter at one of the jams; she owns Over the Moon Productions, a local, professional entertainment company that specializes in circus and theatrical performances, including fire art, LED shows, stilt walking, balloon artistry, face painting, magic, juggling, and more. Hawkinson auditioned and made the team in 2020. Initially performing at area resorts, the troupe now performs its variety show on the stages at Broadway at the Beach, Barefoot Landing, RipTydz Oceanfront Grille, and Bummz Beach Café over the summer.

“This year’s LED show is 20 minutes and this year’s theme is ‘Electro Circus,’ so we’re all clowns,” she says. “It’s incredibly silly and has been a hoot to create for sure.”

Over the other seasons, she runs her Tidewater Twirlers competitive baton twirling team, which was previously known as Carolina Dynamics; she took the reins after Coach Card, who is like her second mom, retired last September after teaching for 25 years. Students start at age 3, including Card’s granddaughter, a cherished full-circle moment.

Hawkinson also writes grants and coordinates outreach programs for the Pawleys Island Festival of Music & Art, something she has been doing for the nonprofit for the last five years.

“I juggle batons, but I also juggle all of my work,” she says with a laugh. “People ask me what I do, and I tell them, ‘Well, I have a few jobs.”

For more information on Tidewater Twirlers, visit them on Instagram at @tidewatertwirlers. And for a complete summer entertainment schedule for Over the Moon Productions, visit Overthemoonmb.com.