Luckily for me, I managed to get inside the venue and get a seat just a little bit before everyone else. Fantastic because that pretty much made the fact that I traveled up from Baltimore totally worth it. Soon after I sat, everyone quickly filed into the theater, and the energy began to rise. I was excited to see my first Miss Coney Island show. I sat in the front with a small paper ballot that had a check box next to the name of all the performers for the evening.

First, there was a lovely musical intro to the show with an adorable tropical feel plus dancing ladies. After the musical intro finished, the host introduced each performer as one by one they got up and did the “evening gown” part of the competition. This part also seemed to be where the performer let everyone know who they are and what they are about via the host. They all wore whatever they wanted, big fake boobs, sparkly dresses, coney island “isis” wings, batman…baby incubator.(What-what Hazel?) Obviously anything goes here.

After that came the Talent portion of the show. This made me wonder (aside from those I already knew) which performers were burlesque performers and which were other style/type performers. Or if they all were going to be burlesque, and if so, just what kind of burlesque would they be doing? Clearly this was not going to be a show of sequin gowns and stocking peels. There was definitely going to be variety here. Everyone definitely seemed to bring their A game. We had singing (and oh my god she CUT her pertty sequin dress off as she was singing), silks (hooray to the apparatus!), burlesque, more singing and a kazoo, even a fire staff, in addition to burlesque as well.

Once all the performances were done, we were then into the “bathing suit” portion of the show. Everyone came out in whatever they wanted to classify as “bathing suit” and stood out there as it was voting time. And looking at everyone up there, I actually was thinking hard as to who I was going to vote for. It was not an easy decision. I was amongst the last of the people to hand over my little ballot. And then it was time to tally the votes, and all the performers were still on the stage, talking, posing for pictures, while waiting for the results.

It took a while for the votes to be counted, but they quickly went up on stage and announced Miss Cherry Delight as Miss Coney Island 2013. She got a sash, a crown, a bouquet, and a fan worth $100 made of $2 bills.

And then it was over. I ate at Nathen’s hot dog down the block, took the 3:45am bus home straight into Baltimore. Got back at 7am.

My photo set

So I was not aware that there was a poler this season. I had seen some video postings of a planned pole routine for the show, but I didn’t know it was for real, I thought it was along the lines of “If only there was pole in the show” Then when the finale actually happened, I didn’t know there actually was the pole until the next morning after this performance.

But the day has come, and there was a stage pole on SYTYCD.

What do you think of the routine?

Thursday May 17 2012

Making the most of my time off, I actually went to work for a couple hours and then hopped on a tiny plane to fly halfway across the country to St Louis.

Upon landing I was immediately filled with confusion, for in my head St. Louis was an almost magical place filled with so much talent and inspiration that I was expecting it to look akin to Disneyworld, but alas it merely looks like a regular city. After a slow traffic filled journey to the apartment were I was staying, I swiftly did my best to not look like I’ve spent the last few hours cramped on a plane. I proceeded to do something with my hair, apply glitter and head on out to the Thursday night show at The Coliseum.

Entering the Coliseum, I was greeted with a goodie bag including a name tag (which I proudly wore to every show there after) and the most awesomest gift: a little dog tag with my stage name on it. I was so happy to see that. The Coliseum is a rather swanky type establishment: a bit industrial with cement floors and exposed beams and ducts, but a lot of seating and couches, plus there is a waterfall wall.

I was constantly checking myself in my head, for I was actually in St Louis, and there were all these other performers around me whom I admired and respected. It was quietly insane to me. Well soon enough the show started and it was a fantastic start to the festival. There were so many performers, oh so many. It was also the very first time in my life I saw a stage pole at a burlesque show *that was not mine*. It was crazy of me to see a stage pole there that I did not load in and set up, it was kind of a thrill. Even though I was thrilled to be there, to give hugs and shake hands of some personal heros, the show went rather long to me, but hey I had quite a long day: work, airport, layover, another flight, caught a ride to host house, changed, burlesque show…I wanted to tap out before the show ended but I stayed until the very end and beyond.

Friday May 18th 2012

Starting the day off with a healthy breakfast at Local Harvest Cafe, and a little walking around happened. Wanting to find a bunch of people to get together to hang out, I realized that most everyone was performing that evening and were busy tech and/or getting ready for the show at Sheldon Concert Hall. I spent a little time walking around South Grand, basically killing time until the next show of the festival. Got sweaty walking around, showered, put on my eye glitter and beaded top and I was ready for this show.

Much to my satisfaction (yet unfortunate to my Saturday) this venue had Southern Comfort. Yes. This second show of the Show-Me festival was fantastic!! All us performers sat up in the balcony. The show was hosted by Nadine Dubois, whom I have fallen in love with her voice. Seriously, I NEED to get that woman to say my name, I’m not kidding, it needs to happen. So I was successfully lubricated with SoCo, and I cant explain how much I loved this show. I loved watching it, I loved knowing that I was a part of the festival, and I loved that I do not recall how many times I jumped out of my seat cheering, there were many times. There was such a variety of performers, pole, hoop, group numbers, singing, dancing, all top notch and I couldn’t believe that I was going to be performing the next night.

Saturday May 19th 2012

I have to admit, woke up that morning a wee-little bit hung over…actually I was very hungover. Seems I made quite a night of it with the Southern Comforts at the show the night before. Oops. I had vegetarian breakfast at Black Bear Bakery, that was fantastic if I may say. The perfect thing for me. I sat at VanElla studios on a chaise lounge for about an hour by myself killing time. Classes were going on, and I just wanted to rest up a little in anticipation of the very long day and night ahead of me.

I then went over to Casa Loma ballroom to play on a stage pole and check out the place. In all honesty, it was a bit of a shock to me for me being there, to see what the actual building looked like, how it was all laid out. I had been looking at photos of Beggers Carnival so intensely that I was quite taken-a-back to be where they happen. The place is gigantic, with an upper level for even more seating and carnival games and vending. The stage was large, the seating area in front was large, and knowing the type of show Beggers puts on, of course it was large. I was in awe for I have become so accustomed to little venues that to see a place large enough for fire and aerial – and a show that actually does fire and aerial- was fantastic.

Pretty much as the Beggers Carnival tech was about to begin, I left so I could get ready for the show. I didn’t need much in the way of tech other than “place stage pole center stage, I clean the pole, play music”. Me getting ready for the show meant I was to harbor a quiet intensity. I took my time making sure the eye glitter was carefully applied, making sure my hair was pinned up tight for I knew it was going to be a long time until I was to perform. And then I was back at the ballroom for the show. And this is when I re-saw the place in its full Beggers glory. The rigging was done, multiple trapezes set up, also a couple lyra hoops and a rope, the lights were multi-colored, the vendors were set up upstairs, the carnival games were ready to go. Many people were running around for various reasons, but I just walked slowly letting it all sink in. I simply couldn’t believe that I was actually there. After seeing so many photos posted of the events, I often wondered what it was like around the photo. And there I was.

There was a generous snack table for performers in the upstairs performer section of the ballroom. That was greatly appreciated. Soon, the enormous wait began until it was my turn to be up there. I was in the late show, but first was the proper Beggers Carnival. I had no idea that the shows were so fantastic, being there in person, so many fire performers, so many skilled variety performers, it was a little intense for me to see, because they do these shows every month and I can only dream of being a part of something so wonderful. Plus the way the acts were introduced was wonderfully fun. This opportunity is quite possibly the closest I will come to actually being in Beggers Carnival.

Well, everyone performed and I have to say that my hometown heros Trixie and Monkey were so amazing, all these years of seeing them and they still manage to impress me. Of course, as the actual Beggers Carnival show was drawing to a close, my nerves started to kick in. Then the “I’m about to do this” mode kicks in. I made sure I so much grip on my skin that it was almost ridiculous, I made sure that the pole was warm and I began to hold it to make it warm and grippy, I put on my routine outfit, I made sure everything was in place, pasties were on, and then I wait some more until it is my time.

Much to my surprise, the performer right before me actually had a Cheese Doodle bomb, opening and spilling out an entire bag of the chemically flavored puffy snack. I was shocked as to the gigantic mess and the Show Me crew standing next to me were as well. Not only do they have to deal with bringing the stage pole up there, but they also had a huge mess to clean. When she was done and I went back around to then get on the stage, much to my shock and amazement the stage was clear of cheese puffs and the stage pole was already waiting for me. Show me stage crew, you all hustle and rock!

Well, it was time for me to wipe the pole down, apply my dry hands and start my performance. Everything was going fine, that is until I touched the pole. Mere seconds into the performance, my body pretty much shut down. The second I climbed, my arms turned into pudding. I realized that the time had to be a factor, for I have never been on the pole at that hour ever. (about 2am EST) It was honestly a bizarre feeling, my mind was racing/my head was alert, but my body did not want a part of it. I was angry at my muscles for failing me! I was fighting with them to make it through this, that going to St. Louis was one of the few rare vastly important shows I will ever have, and that I was not going to let my muscles screw this up for me. So I fought, I fought with all the strength I could manage to muster up to make it through – and I did. The pole was slippery, my muscles were shot, I felt like I was screwing up in front of people – but I did it. I did it. My god, I did it.

Kriss Abigail Photography

And then that was it. A day and a half off work, a flight half way across the country, and borrowed a local stage pole, for that 3 minute and 14 second performance. When I was done, it was all a daze for I was exhausted, I was coated in a million layers of grip applied in my nervousness, I was out of breath and I was so very tired. But the rest of the show was still fantastic, I loved everyone so much.

Saturday May 20th 2012

My last day in the magical land of St Louis. Everyone gathered at Van Ella studios for one last time, there were mimosas and bloody marys to be had. I felt a bit drained out of everything in me, but I had a long day to look forward to. We all went across the street to Black Bear Bakery for the breakfast buffet that is so yummy! So many items, spring greens, quiche, potatoes, hummus, and I wasn’t even sure about half of them, it was all great and much appreciated in my tummy. Then people left there to head on over to The City Museum…which everyone assured me that its not so much as a museum but more like a big crazy playground. I was so curious and couldn’t wait to see what this place was all about.

Unfortunately traffic was encountered on the way there, due to street closures for a parade. But, soon I got my candyass on over and made my way inside. I wasn’t sure where everyone was, glad to have a few cell numbers and met up with a few to witness the children’s circus show. They sure were good for being kids. After that, meandering and exploring was to be had. Walked around, climbed around the cave area, went down a giant slide. I didn’t have much time so I tried to run through and see all that I could.

It was fun, it was a great idea that Show-Me Festival had for us to go to, and by the time the museum closed, it was time for me to leave to catch my plane. Got a ride to the airport, my flight was delayed a little. It was raining outside. I listened to the rain pound against the windows of the airport terminal. I couldn’t believe I was in St. Louis and soon was about to fly back to Bmore. I can only hope I earn my way back to St Louis again. It was exhausting, It was overwhelming, it was humid, it was hung-over, it was St Louis, and I loved it.

Soon enough I realized that I applied to the Show-Me Burlesque Festival in St. Louis, and I stand a good chance of NOT getting in. Of course it had occurred to me before that I might not be accepted, but the feeling did not hit me until I saw my friends get rejected. Their rejections and my shock with that spilled over into this deep pool where I sank, waiting to hear back from Show-Me

While everyone else around me had a show coming up left and right, I sat… alone and scared and sad. Sad waiting to hear back. While many apply to festivals not really caring if they get in or not, I needed to get in, and I mean I really needed it. Not to sound like a baby, but I needed some kind of validation. As I quickly slip into obscurity with my local scene, it is important to me to get these out of town shows. But more important than that, I have been a fan and obsessed with the St. Louis scene for years, my polesque heroes live there, and it is very important that I am good enough there to be accepted. While I can’t really relate to most all performers locally, it feels like I truly can relate to performers over there. But I need to go over there to find out first.

So after a couple weeks, I assume everyone who didn’t get into that show had moved on. But I was still sad as I was waiting for an email. I was refreshing my email import button quite often. Applications had been closed for weeks, and I would get cold sweats wondering if they were considering me or not. Was I in a “definite” pile? A “maybe” pile? Rejected?

When it officially became notification weekend, I could not stand it anymore. I was weak with fear and had no energy to do anything. I simply laid in bed, checking my email. I wasn’t sure how I would react if I got into the festival, but most of all I want sure how I would react if I didn’t.

When notification weekend ended, and I hadn’t heard back I was so confused and maybe a little mortified. I was then sure I didn’t make it, and that they were telling those who were rejected later than those accepted. I suppose my only option was to wait longer, but it was killing me. Later on in the day, we were sent an email saying that notifications would be sent out very soon. I was crying at work, crying at home…waiting. Somehow I made it through a day of work but I was officially a wreck, and I went home to lay in the dark and check my email. The next morning lead to more email refreshing. My fate is in that email. I went to work nervous and terrified, yet again. All of this emotion over a tiny little email! Soon it was lunchtime, and I was insane! I hadn’t heard back!

It occurred to me to check my spam folder.

There it was.

I got in.

And I ran home to cry, I couldn’t believe it.

I am getting so confused. Certain festivals and shows are known to have the “they’re only looking for classic” reputation. I could apply for these shows, but really I’d be wasting my time then, huh? If that’s what they want, then so be it. But is that what most shows want? Can neo ever succeed if classic is tried and true? Can variety make it, if classic is what people want? What do people want? Or is there an inclination towards classic because now it’s on a decline? And were do I fit in on all this? I’m not sure, and based on my lack of experience I don’t know if I will ever really know.

I only wonder this because, am I supposed to quit polesque? Am I supposed to throw my stage pole in the harbor (figuratively speaking) wash my hands of it all, and say “I tried and this thing is holding me back, and I quit.” Am I supposed to be myself as a performer, or be someone else? Because pole is me, everything else is not Do I do what I think others will like, or do I do what I believe in? But maybe I’m not believing in polesque so much anymore.

I wonder, should I quit?

In all honesty, seeing as how pole has been a part of my life for so many years, I don’t know if I can quit pole. To never practice at home seems sad and empty. But practicing at home is very different than shows, and I have to ask myself “Is this thing holding me back?” Is having a large prop that most people associate with strip clubs good or bad for the scene? Good or bad for me? I’m not sure now, as things are very unstable for me.

As I see shows turn to smaller venues in order to maintain the scene, this scares me. I need space to perform on my stage pole. Most non-variety acts can do their show almost wherever, but there are some of us that require more space. Would I be a more accessible performer with out the pole? While I have done a few non-pole routines, I thought that being known and working with pole was a way to stand out, and that was my plan for so many years. Maybe it’s done more harm than good.

Could me doing polesque really be a performance crutch, and if I was any good, I would succeed more as a classic performer?

I question if I am allowed to feel a little burned out from it all. I’m getting the feeling that you are supposed to do as many shows as possible, wherever, whenever, just so you can just to keep yourself going. Don’t give yourself time to think, just keep doing it.  And maybe that is good for most people.  Maybe its good for me, for the moment that I’m sitting still, I doubt my every move and question my purpose. I over analyze myself to the point that I don’t even exist.

Sometimes I get a little exhausted feeling like I don’t fit in with this scene. Maybe I bring it upon myself, but I cant help it. I think that feeling comes naturally and I don’t know how to change it.  I am constantly feeling the one standing alone with everything, the one who isn’t a part of anything but wishes she was.  Both literally and symbolically.

And in this lonely feeling, I don’t know where to turn top advise or help of any kind.  But I need different kinds of help.  I wonder if I should quit the whole pole thing because I wonder if its keeping me apart from everyone.  I wonder if I should quit performing all together because I cant keep up with everyone.  Having no footing, its making me feeling like I’m falling.

Nobody can help me but me, and that’s very difficult for me to deal with.

We shall go through month by month:

January
I had two festivals in the horizon, and I wanted to do the same routine for both. Both applications were due around the same time, but the first  festival was in early April (Jim Thorpe, PA). I already knew what song I was going to do, and I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get the routine done. I had started working on that new routine this month, getting a couple of items to edit/sew.

Also, there actually was a murder down the street from where I live. A sign that it was almost time to move.

February
Field Trip:  Philadelphia, PA. Went to the Peek-a-boo Revue show, with Dr. Lucky as their guest. I love them so much, what a talented bunch of performers.

Seeing as how it was the year of the rabbit (bunny) I along with my brother went to DC to Chinatown for the Chinese New Years festivities. Seems that night I got my first ever migraine headache, assuming it was from the firecrackers people were throwing around. My brother also got a migraine that night. Not fun.

Field Trip:  NYC. I did a day trip to go trim shopping with Petra Precocious. Drive up, spend money, come home.

Joined a gym for the first time in my life in an effort to loose this extra mystery weight I had gained sometime in November. Started going to the gym about 2 or 3 times a week busting out on the elliptical in addition to pole classes.

March
Field Trip:  NYC.  Another trip with Petra Precocious, for both trim shopping as well as to see the Trixie and Monkey duo show “All or Nothing”. The show was so dynamic, I loved it.  I blocked out my routine and started on the long road of practicing over and over.

I got really sick a week before the Jim Thorpe festival, coughing, aching, difficulty breathing and I could hardly talk.  I still pole practiced and switched from elliptical to using the treadmill in an effort to get my ass in gear for the big show.

April
Field Trip:  Jim Thorpe, PA burlesque festival. I hit the road with my stage pole.  First performance of the year.  Still pretty sick, coughing a lot.  I hadn’t performed in 6 months, coincidentally the last time I hit a stage was also in Jim Thorpe back in October.  A mini-freak out happened before the Saturday night show, since it had been so long since I last performed, I felt lost and unsure about my abilities. Reluctantly I got ready for the show, applied my blue glitter and my grip aid.  I wondered if I would make it through this performance, and much to my surprise I did.  When the show was over and all of the performers went out on stage for the winner announcements, much to my surprise yet again, I place 2nd runner-up and got a lovely check.

Field Trip:  Pittsburgh, PA. Seeing as how I was doing a routine to a Max Raabe and the Palast Orchestra, I went over there to see them perform live. They are my most favorite 1930′s orchestra.

May
Bought my X-Stage lite with my prize money from Jim Thorpe, and I love it.  So much easier to deal with.

I set up a show in Baltimore, the start of The Baltimore Birdcage Burlesque. Whipped up a new non-pole routine for this show.

Field Trip:  Philadelphia, PA.  Went up to  perform at the Poise Pole studios spring show, it was really fun, and most of all I’m glad I got to go to Geno’s steaks and sit *inside* to eat, yeah!

June
Field Trip:  Asheville, NC.  I hit the road with my stage pole.  My second festival of the year, AbsFest.  I actually got a speeding ticket on my way down, it was a VERY long drive with an extra 2 1/2 hours due to traffic, it was exhausting but I made it.  The Saturday night show shall go on record as the hottest a venue has ever been that I have performed at, and that is VERY dangerous for pole.  I fought so hard to control my body temp and fought to keep my sweating as under control as possible.  It was in fact too hot in there to pole,  but I couldn’t back out and amazingly I didn’t slip during the performance.  I didn’t watch much of the show, I had to stand outside to keep cool.  Spent a little time with Lola Van Ella and Sammich the Tramp while I was there,  and they are a pretty fantastic bunch of people,  I tells ya what.

Field Trip:  Dunellen, NJ.  I went up to Roxy ‘N’ Dukes to perform which was pretty great.  I loved the venue so much and afterward I spent the night and the next day hanging out with my cousin whom I hadn’t seen in years. (She lives not too far from there)

Field Trip:  Richmond, VA. Went to watch the June Richmond Varietease show,  simply because I was to be performing at the July show.

Also, a couple houses down from where I lived,  someone did a walk-by shooting at the front of the house. I knew it was time to move.

July
Field Trip:  Richmond, VA. I hit the road with my stage pole. Richmond Varietease.  I loved it, a great audience and I had the fortunate problem of not hearing my music due to cheering.  Turns out that was the last burlesque show at The Canal Club. Had fun hanging out a little with Deanna Danger.  I hopped on her Lyra, and those things are scary when you don’t know what to do.

I was asked by my burlesque Mamma Miss Trixie Little to perform at their big Baltimore holiday show in December! I had been planning on going to the Great Southern Burlesque festival in December,  but I scrapped plans for that festival right away seeing as how I would need a new holiday routine.

August
The second show of The Baltimore Birdcage Burlesque show in Baltimore.

Field Trip:  Richmond, VA. Went back down on a day-trip to take two burlesque classes, one of then taught by Jo Boobs, the other taught by Magnolia Jackson Pickett Burnside.  They both were good classes to take.

My husband and I looked at a house to rent because it was officially time to move out of the ghetto. We handed over our application to the agent,  and an hour later was the great east coast earthquake of 2011.  It was a sign, we didn’t get the house. I was crushed.

September
After a couple weeks, I saw another place on Craigslist, we both agreed on it, got it, and signed the lease.

Field Trip:  Coney Island, NY.  The last weekend in Sept.  I went up to Coney Island for the first time and performed with Brown Girls Burlesque. They were a fantastic group of women,  I felt so welcomed and really had a lot of fun at the show. Or course I went to Nathans hot dogs afterwards.  The next day was more trim shopping in the garment district with Anja Keister,  and that night I went to the Friday night show of the New York Burlesque Festival.  I was exhausted, but glad to run into performers from all over.

And oh my god, the Trixie holiday show is coming up.

October
Moving month.  It was horrible, I wanted it to end but the move just kept going and going: after work, leaving work early, weekends, nights, days,  I was drained.

Field Trip:  Philadelphia, PA.  I went up to perform at Poise pole studio’s fall show.  The first time I did a show, and then did the same show again the next night.  It was my mental practice for the holiday show in December, for that would be 3 shows in 2 nights.

I stopped going to the gym officially,  since I was too busy moving and also wouldn’t be living next to that gym anymore.

I turned 34. And oh my god, the Trixie holiday show is coming up.

November
Got an email from a recruiter who saw my website and invited me to audition for “Americas Got Talent”.   I didn’t even know they were going to be in DC the next week, but felt a little obligated to audition since I was asked.  Made a DVD since the stage pole was too much to set up.  They watched it while I stood outside the room for 5 minutes,  took me to another section of the convention center, took my information down, took a photo of me and sent me on my way.  The whole thing only took an hour.

Turned over the keys to the old place, the move was over, finally.

A few days later,  I performed with Gilded Lily’s again at Illusions Magic Bar.  I only had a week to prepare for the show, I felt horrible for that since I usually give myself more time,  but I made it through the show just fine. Had a good time just being around the other performers.  I did two new non-pole routines.  Rare.

Started jogging around Druid Park Lake as opposed to on a treadmill in a gym.  Started actually liking jogging outside.  And oh my god, the Trixie holiday show is coming up.

December
My busiest month of the year.

Field Trip:  NYC.  This time to guest at the Rhinestone Follies last show at the Rbar.  I felt I had to perform at this show,  because it was in a place with a ton of poles everywhere.  That bar is a little odd with the poles and the beaded curtains,  and the red lights and the padded walls,  but I was able to work the poles as best as I could.  It was a small show but I had so much fun.  After the show I walked over to Katz Deli,  yeah!  Went trim shopping (again) the next day with Üla Überbusen and that was so much fun.  I sure have gone trim shopping there a lot this year. I took the bus on this trip,  also went in the subways for the first time by myself,  and was glad to nap on the bus ride home.

The next weekend D20 Burlesque were actually in Baltimore!  They crashed at my new place,  the show was so fantastic and they are all so funny and entertaining,  it was like a breath of fresh air in Baltimore.

Now living in a bigger place,  I was able to for the first time set up and use my stage pole in my house. After having that thing for almost 2 1/2 years,  I was never able to actually practice a routine on it at my convenience. It is an amazing feeling being able to play on my own stage pole when I wanted.

And then…to top off the year was the big Trixie and Monkey Holiday Spectact-u-thon show at The Creative Alliance.  Three shows in two nights.  The performers were Julie Atlaz Muz, MisTickle, hosted my Matt Fraser, and of course Trixie and Monkey.  I was in awe of being around all these performers. Little me whose been busting her ass all year was actually at this big important show with her stage pole. I practiced so much before the show,  I was bruised all over and so sore I could hardly move.  The show was one of the best shows Ive seen, and a lot of people said it was the best Holiday show they have done.  I’m so thrilled I was actually involved.

New Years Eve, I was a little sad that 2011 was over, for it was a most awesome year.

Eventually I made it to Rbar with my big heavy bag and ready to test out the poles there. It is always a scary situation when approaching a “foreign” pole, one that I have never experienced before. When I got to them and applied my grip magic, they ended up being just fine. I was pretty excited to be able to take the bus to NYC and still be able to perform on a pole. We all got ready in the lower area at Rbar, and its pretty damn hot down there. Even though I was sweating, I liked it because I kept my muscles nice and warm. Soon enough the show started, and I was pretty excited just to be in NY. The show went perfectly well, and I love the Rhinestone follies for they are so adorable. I’d like to perform there again, if possible.

After the show, we talked for a little while, but much to my shock quite ladies few went off to perform at another show. These New yorkers really are some hard workers. I was done with my thing, and walked over to Katz Deli for a moist, delicious pastrami sandwich.

I soon found out that Coney Island is like a smaller version of Ocean City, with the boardwalk and the beach and all that. Most everything was closed, which I didn’t mind because it wasn’t crowded there at all. I walked around for a little bit to check it all out and to kill time before the show started. It was interesting to see that Coney Island is kinda like a smaller Ocean City… which I thought was like a smaller Atlantic City minus casinos. The usual boardwalk fare is there in Coney Island, rides…all that stuff.

Soon enough, I went on over to the venue, whose doors were open and I loaded my stuff on over. Sure I was an hour early, and that was fine by me. I was able to just be there, check it out, and take my time.

At almost exactly 7pm, everyone else arrives and within minutes the little dressing room was packed with the women of Brown Girls Burlesque. And every one of them were really nice, funny, and welcoming towards me. 80s music played as we were getting ready, to get us into the mood since the theme of the show was “Solid Gold”.

The show started, and (I don’t remember their names) the dancers who were representing the “Solid Gold Dancers”… wow they were killing it out there! I was third in the show order, and I first saw the audience when I actually got out on stage to perform. There were not a lot of people, but they sure were a fun bunch, and I kind of got a kick out of seeing a few sitting next to each other, bopping around to my song. Naturally I was really nervous in the beginning, hoping not to trip of get my heel caught in my skirt, but everything went as planned and then it was over.

Then 3 minutes and 50 seconds later, I was all done, after having driven for 4 hours from Baltimore, arriving at Coney Island, putting on my makeup, and waiting around for the show to start…I was done. Naturally I grabbed my drink ticket and went to the bar and got this gigantic cider bottle that ultimately I never finished for it was very large. I watched the rest of the show, and was genuinely glad that I was there. The show was pleasantly low-key, and really just about having fun.

The Brown Girls Burlesque had a cute group finale all choreographed out. I didn’t know it but they all planned a part for us guest performers to jump in and take a bow. We all posed for a group shot, and then the show was over. I had thought that I would be able to jet on over the the NYBF Thursday night show after mine, but it seems that other show ended before the Coney Island show, so no jetting happened that night. I hung out for a little bit after the show, since I had nowhere else to rush to. But of course there was no way I would leave with out getting a genuine Nathan’s Coney Island hot dog.

My Picassa photoset

Thorne Images (Photgraphed the show)

And with this, I am talking about running.

Everyone talks about how great pole is for fitness and weight loss, but I wasn’t seeing it change me much. So to advance my fitness, Ive been doing a little bit of running a couple days a week. The more I do it, the more I hate it. It bores me physically and mentally. My brain is not activated when I’m running and I can not understand why should I make myself go for long distances when short distances make me feel like I am going crazy.

I feel I really do try hard with pole, practice a move a lot so that it doesn’t hurt anymore. I currently go through about 12 poses/goals whenever I practice to add to my list of moves for routines. The fun thing about pole and working on poses is that I am totally focused on it as I do it. I don’t think about anything else as I am practicing. Whereas running, there is not a lot for me to focus on or figure out as I’m doing it.

So, should running be a physical goal of mine since it seems so many people talk about how great it is? Well, it is not a goal of mine at all, and it never will be. Ive been giving it a chance, and its not happening.

OK, there…I hate running. Sure the stamina increase is nice, but its killing me with boredom. I have given it a legitimate shot, and I’m not feeling it at all. The more I go, the more I dislike it.

Ive been poling for a 4 years now, but I do have to admit that my stamina only increased when I started running back in March. Before I was always dangerously out of breath after a pole routine. I have not lost a single pound running (not a 1), but there is a visible physical difference from photos taken in Feb and then photos from July. So yes, running has helped, I am a bit toner now and my stamina is much, much better.

But I sure do hate it!

P.S. I am only going because I paid for the membership, when that runs out, I am not going to continue.

Image credit

The first class was taught by Magnolia Jackson Pickett Burnside who was voted “Best Drag Performer in Richmond”. The name of the class was “Who the [expletive] do you think you are?!?!”. It was about character development.

We didn’t go over our characters individually, we were more so given pointers and questions to think of the answer to, as far as developing our characters. I admit that I have heard this before, a long time ago and I never paid it any attention. So I wonder if now is the time I give it some thought. I have never considered what the differences are between me and my character. I always thought my character could be an exaggerated version of myself, but still maintaining the same likes and dislikes.

It was also mentioned that sometimes the small details can make a difference, even if the audience would never know…? Really? Maybe so. I wouldn’t have thought that, but Magnolia is such a character, and I am not so much. Maybe she has a point there.

She also emailed us some videos before the class started. All the videos involved dialogue, and I was thinking that I’m not going to talk on stage so that part wasn’t much help, but really it was paying attention to everything else about the characters that was the point. We discussed the characters in them, how they stood, their mannerisms, facial expressions, and how they interacted with others. All that I have never given thought to at all. How does Bianca DuPree stand? Smile? Gesture to someone else…I really need to refine myself to these details.

In addition to that, a little marketing was thrown into the class as well. Se mentioned Facebook and how our profiles need to be filled out: music, movies, activities, anything for our characters. She talked about researching performers you are going to perform with before you get to the venue. She said we all need Twitter accounts (and everyone groaned, including me) because it is another form of contact with others. And she also stressed the importance of staying after a show to talk to people.

Fortunately, this lesson went over on time, which was great for me because it filled in the time until my next class. I really liked this class, and it is at a good point in my performing career…I’ve done some shows so I am not totally uncomfortable on stage, and I have not really considered these things about my character. I thanked Magnolia and headed on out to the next lesson.

It was a quick drive to the next class taught by Miss Jo “Boobs” Weldon. This class was called “Stripping out of street clothes” but really it was about even more than that. It didn’t so much as focus on street clothes, it was more about taking off almost anything in a graceful, attractive and entertaining manner. And I was surprising myself that I was sitting there taking notes on taking off a bra. (I do it everyday, but when on a stage it has to be done a little differently) She gave so many performing pointers about general audience eye contact, framing your body parts with your clothing, touching your skin, finishing your moves, and even mentioned that you need to portray confidence even if you are faking it.

Jo also talked about showing what you are taking off, and how you are doing it. Sounds like obvious stuff but I am sure I have not done that every time. In fact, I generally don’t do any kind of a strip tease at all, I am more of a “rip it off on cue and onto the next move” kind of performer. But my non-pole routines need more of this. Sometimes I notice that when I am in a crunch or in the zone to get all the details done for a new routine, I miss out on the importance of movements. So again I took a class that I was very glad to attend and came out with some information that I needed to hear again. She liked my Pop-Tart bag as well

After that, I got something to eat, and then it was time for the long drive home…oh that 95 N traffic sure does make a long drive even longer.

I performed at The Canal Club on July 9th, and I was booked for that show back in December 2010. I had 6 months to look forward to the show. I was nervous because I knew that Varietease was a pretty big deal down there and they always had a large audience. Then when I found out it happened to be the “Bye-Bye Boo-Boo” show, that made me even more nervous. Bye-Bye in more ways than one I suppose. I am very grateful that I got to perform at the very last Varietease show at Canal Club.

So even though I don’t live in Richmond, this still hurts a little and I do want them to find a venue to continue on with the Varietease. As a solo performer who often feels she has to travel into order to perform, I support a show that is open and welcoming to out of town performers.

Richmond Varietease, a local burlesque performing group, has been forbidden to perform at the Canal Club because of a law that prevents striptease performances in specific types of clubs that served mixed alcoholic beverages.

Last Friday evening, July 29th, students of the Richmond Institute of Burlesque, a school co-started by Holiday to “teach the next generation of burlesque performers,” held a showcase in which students made their stage debut. In the middle of the performance, Kathy Jacobs, the owner of The Canal Club, approached Holiday and asked her how much time remained in the performance. Holiday informed her that only about one hour remained. According to Holiday, Jacobs “looked worried.” Jacobs left, leaving Holiday and her students to finish the showcase.

Unbeknownst to Holiday and her students, two ABC agents (Allen Slonaker and another, unknown agent) were at The Canal Club to inform the club’s management that the burlesque performances were unlawful. In a statement, the state agency indicated that the agents “…visited the Canal Club Friday evening as a routine observation.” Jacobs asked the agents to allow the showcase to end, to which the agents eventually agreed.

The Canal Club consulted with lawyers on Monday to see if there would be any legal way to host future burlesque performances. Lawyers determined that doing so would severely risk punitive repercussions, namely that, according to an ABC statement on the matter, the “Bureau of Law Enforcement would issue an administrative violation.” As such, the club will indefinitely suspend all Richmond Varietease performances. Jacobs called Holiday to inform her of the club’s decision.

http://rvanews.com/news/burlesque-shows-banned-canal-club/49084

also

http://www2.richmond.com/news/2011/aug/02/abc-agents-crack-down-burlesque-show-ar-1213003/

also

Morgan — who has often had a soft spot for attractive female contestants — told The Post he was unlikely to vote for New Yorker Steven Retchless next Tuesday night because the act is “weird for guys to watch.”

“I am not really into male pole dancers,” he said. “It is not my kind of act. Having said that, he is obviously very good at it. He is very talented. I would just personally rather watch a woman do that — which is probably quite sexist, but it is true.”
DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION: Steven Retchless is the American Pole Fitness champ.

Osbourne blasted Morgan’s comments as “homophobic.”

“He is so bloody uptight! Piers is the type that probably wears stockings under his suit,” she told The Post. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he had suspenders and fishnets on.”

Retchless, 24, is the current American Pole Fitness champion.

“The difference between me and other pole dancers is that I do have a dance background,” he says. “That is something I bring to the competition. I am trying to bring a different dance form with each round.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/pole_vault_NAlG0ieMzV2yiAtQOnaFDP#ixzz1SVnHkiER

The building from the outside is fairly usual looking, but once you go inside you are almost transported to this wonderful little venue covered with so much personality.

I am pretty sure fell in love with the place with as I was walking through the front door. I was given a little tour, and shown where the “dressing room” area is; its actually a cute set up of couches and stools and they close a large curtain for privacy. I thought it was kind of neat. I loaded in my stage pole and set it up and I knew right away that my pole was going to like it there. Its a little warm inside. They do have AC in there, but it isn’t too powerful. My chrome pole just loves that temperature

Soon everyone arrived: Mourna Handful, Deanna Danger and Mark Slomski, and Maria Bella with Lauren Marleaux. We all ate a little something, and got our makeup ready. Time seemed to fly by, I was genuinely enjoying being around everyone. I almost wasn’t too concerned with myself and my performances for I really felt at ease and was just having fun being there.

Somehow it quickly became time for the show to start! I took a peek at the audience and the place was packed, fantastic! We all went up there and did our thing. Deanna spun around with her hoop skirt, and Mourna fluttered her white feather fans. Mark sang a song, but I didn’t see Maria Bella perform because she was before me. Then I did my thing with my feather fans and the pole…and that was the first half! It went by so fast, and I rushed to put on my next routine outfit.

The second half began and it wizzed by with Mourna splashing her way through and then Deanna kicking and spinning more. Then Mark, and Maria Bella, and then I did my thing on the pole…and we were done! I was actually a little sad that it was over, it seemed to go by so quickly.

I got help taking down my stage pole, and stuck around at Roxy ‘n’ Dukes having a couple drinks and talking, and then before I knew it, last call and it was time for me to get out of there, grabbed a quick flatbread at Dunkin’ Doughnuts and headed out.

The show was great, the audience was great (once they kind of warmed up).
The venue is pretty fantastic and feels just perfect for me, personally. I want to perform there again so much!

I wish I lived closer to Roxy ‘n’ Dukes.

Vertical Art and Fitness magazine is pretty fantastic, featuring well known pole dancers, and the layouts are very well done.

Is this available in print form? Cause I like it so much I kind of want it in my hands (also it would be a bit easier to read).

http://issuu.com/straydogscreative/docs/vertical_mayjune2011FlipBtn=true

Friday night June 3rd 2011

The adventure down started fairly normal, I picked up the rental car, packed it with my stage pole and left Bmore by 10:20 am for the long drive down.
It was a tedious morning and afternoon drive, for there was more traffic than I thought there would be. Ranging from being blocked in by trucks and then brief moments of open road, and then blocked in again… needless to say, I was getting cranky and I was maybe trying to to make up some time…and well… I got a speeding ticket. Yeah, damn it. Whatever.

Still pressing on, I saw a truck engulfed in flames with the driver standing in the street taking photos. And then I hit some real serious traffic. It actually ended up adding almost two (2) whole hours to an already 8 hour drive. I did not think I would be able to make it to the mini bus ride, which was to be departing at 8pm. Seeing as how I allowed myself plenty extra time for traffic but that time was being eaten away. I was very annoyed, I had a speeding ticket, damn it. Once the gigantic traffic jam cleared, I did not stop for anything, and just blazed through. Seeing the “Arrival Time” on my Garmen get shaved down minute by minute, as I blazed down highway 26 I thought there might be a slight chance I would be able to make it to the bus. The arrival time was reduced by about 10 minutes, and soon enough, I was driving by the square on Patton Ave.

I quickly swung my rental car in a parking spot in Asheville at 7:56pm. I shoved some money into the parking pay box and I ran. I ran towards the Friday night show venue, and saw a purple bus not too far in the distance. I kept running and saw people step onto the bus. I saw everyone file into the bus, but I kept running and soon enough there I was at the bus door. I stopped running, took a breath, said to the driver “Ah…I made it!” Stepped on and it pulled away.

Feeling pretty glad that after the longest drive to Asheville ever plus getting a speeding ticket that I made it to the bus just -in- time. The bus drove around and everyone inside would cheer and shout and wave at people outside, and it was more fun that I thought it would be.

After that I spent some time waiting for the Friday night show to start. Since it turned out that I would be waiting longer than I originally thought, I stood outside and met the talented and beautiful Lola Van Ella and Sammich the Tramp, and I was most excited to learn that they are from St. Louis! Well we, along with April LeQueen and Ophelia Cummings went to Thirsty Monk and got some yummy Lindemans beer, and it was great to site with them all and just relax and have a yummy drinkie and talk.

After we finished our drinks, we went back to BeBe Theater and the Friday night show had already started, I was able to catch a couple of routines before the end, but really I was so very tired after the trip. Not too long after that I checked into the motel and finally got some sleep.

Saturday June 4th 2011

Saturday afternoon was load in time. Most performers didn’t need a load-in/set-up time, but I sure did. I got to walk back and forth from the font door to the stage at Orange Peel for the heavy stage pole parts. Back and forth until it was finally time to set it up, and wow it was hot in there! The enormous fan on the ceiling of Orange Peel is great for the audience, but I realized that you can not feel the air when on the stage. It was warm out, the pole was so very nice and grippy, but I was concerned for my own skin and worried about getting too sweaty. I thought that since the show was at night, it would be a bit cooler. Yeah.

Once the stage pole was set up on stage, I left for a little walk around Asheville with Mourna Handful, but not too much of a walk because it quickly became time to go back to the hotel and take my second shower of the day to re-freshen up for the show. After starting in on the first layer of makeup, I went back to Orange Peel for the show.

Soon enough, all the performers arrived, and it was such a great feeling to see jugglers warm up before the show…ya don’t see that all the time. My stage pole was doing great, nice and grippy, but it was getting hotter and hotter in there. Quick tech run, and my only requests for lighting was to have them at about 50% brightness to lessen the heat on stage…anything to lessen the temperature would help. We filled out introduction information for Armitage Shanks, who was hosting the show, soon the doors were open and slowly but surely Orange Peel began filling up with the audience. Even though there were only two dressing rooms and they both were packed to the brim with performers, it was actually “cooler” being in the backstage area than out where the audience was, but really both areas were hot. I found myself going to the bathroom to stand around since it was much cooler in there that the rest of the venue.

Well eventually, the show started. And I have to respect the hell out of Maria Bella standing back there in a black vinyl jacket waiting to perform. My pole routine outfits are already pretty light and movable and I along with everyone else was slowly becoming a sweaty mess. I tried my best to keep cool, going to the bathroom to cool off, and soon a large fan was brought into the dressing rooms. I stood out to watch some routines, but since it was hotter out at the show than backstage I didn’t watch a lot of the show.

The first 1/3 of the show was over, and it was intermission time, meaning that soon it will be my turn to sweat on stage. Armitage opened the 2nd part of the show with a song, and then I got out there. I was so scared of being too sweaty and wet, I was terrified I would slip. My stage pole was moved to center by some fingers from 40 Fingers and a Missing Tooth, and I wiped it down and applied Dry Hands to the pole as usual. Only this time, the pole felt so dry it was almost slick, very strange. A few seconds into the routine, the dry feeling went away and I was officially sweaty. Amazingly I made it through the knee hold, and I see that next time I pole perform in a place this hot I need to put Dry Hands on the back of my knees. I did my whole routine, each move as planned, I just didn’t hold the poses as long as I normally do, due to the sweat. For the Brass Monkey I usually hold the pose and look out and smile at the audience, but that night I was looking straight down at the stage pole floor, and saw it coming closer to me ever so slightly, and I got out of the pose real quick. Then I did my shouldermount, superman, drop back, unziped the top and then I was done! I made it through the sweatiest pole performance ever, and I didn’t fall!

The rest of the show was almost a blur. And then it was the second intermission, and 2/3 of the show had passed, and then the third act began. Some of it I saw, some of it I was spending my time standing outside and cooling off. Eventually the whole show was over, and all I could think of was to break down the stage pole and get some food. I quickly started to take apart the stage pole, and my face felt so hot and red and sweaty. I got some help in breaking it down by someone that works at Orange Peel, he even brought everything down the little elevator and placed next to the loading area door. But I just couldn’t stop sweating. He suggested that I go take a peek through a door behind a curtain. When I went through this door he was pointing to, it ended up being the electrical equipment room – with Air Conditioning! Oh that room was so great at that moment. We both stood inside for a couple minutes, basking in the cold air.

After loading up my rental car with the stage pole, I talked to other performers and some audience members, but the Orange Peel was slowly emptying out. I knew of the after party, but really didn’t have the energy for anything other than eating and sleeping. I went one of the few restaurant/bars opened and ate with Maria Bella, Mourna Handful and Little Luna. And then slipped into my motel room for much needed sleep. I wanted to shower after all the sweat and grip aids on my skin, but really I was way too exhausted. Gross but exhausted.

Sunday June 5th 2011

Onto the Arcade for the Sunday brunch show with performances by DCs Cheeky Monkey Sideshow. The place was totally packed, and I ordered food that was never actually given to me. The show was cool, from what I could see, but I was so distracted by wanting the food I ordered to be placed in front of me. I was getting mighty hungry when the show was over. Lola Van Ella and Sammich arrived as the show ended. Since they hadn’t eaten yet and neither had I, we went somewhere else for breakfast.

We went to The Southern, where I had the greatest Lobster Benedict ever! It was so yummy, I still think about it. So, a little more walking around and then back to the hotel for some downtime. So much walking and talking this weekend, it was nice to sit and watch TV for a bit. The sun set and then it was time to go to Mo Daddys for the Sunday night show. There weren’t a lot of people there, I think most everyone was totally pooped by then. But I still made an appearance, got some food talked for a bit and then back to sleep.

Monday June 6th 2011

Loaded up the car, checked out of the hotel and was in downtown Asheville by 10:30am. Time sure flys walking around there in the heat, and soon enough it was noon. I ate at Ed Boudreaux , which is kind of tradition whenever I go to Asheville, walked around downtown a little more…and holy crap it was 2:30pm and I had a long drive ahead of me!

Getting back into the rental car, I set the Garmen to go home, and I amazingly made it to Baltimore in only 7 1/2 hours. I just drove straight home and only stopped once to fill up on gas.

And there you have it, my Asheville weekend concluded with returning the rental car (I couldn’t wait to get back to driving my beloved Forester) and getting more much needed sleep. I don’t know if I will do the festival next year, probably won’t just to try some other festival out that I haven’t been to yet. But this will hold the record as being the sweatiest pole performance that I have ever made it through.

My Picassa Album of ABSFest

Of course I was glad when word got out that there would be a pole crew on the show!

And of course I wasn’t sure they would make it far along.

And unfortunately they did not make it far.

I have mixed feelings about this; on one hand I am so happy that pole is getting on American TV more and more, so more people are getting exposed to it and hopefully it becomes more accepted. On the other hand, as someone who watches a pole performance video once in a while and it always impressed…I watched this and I wasn’t really wow-ed. Yes it was choreographed and practiced, but it still didn’t flow right and it did come across as a little “messy” being that there was no focal point in the routine. (Could I do better, maybe not but I am still entitled to my opinion about it)

Kind of not surprised that they didn’t continue on after this, and not sure that the show will have pole dance on again.

Kita St. Cyr:
Amazing! I took a character development class, which is probably not the right one to start off with. It’s a four week-long class taught by Dr. Lucky, who’s also a professor at NYU. It really helps you explore your burlesque character, which is fun, but you also need movement on stage. While I was really committed to my character, I also didn’t know how to peel off my stocking (laughs). I went about it right way and took an essentials of burlesque class. It made me want to pursue burlesque even more. I started The Rhinestone Follies after that. Now we’re starting to teach a rhinestone design class!

.

http://www.clubplanet.com/interview-with-kita-st-cyr-of-the-rhinestone-follies

Arriving Friday night, it was a mess getting ready to watch the Friday night showcase show. I was manically running up flights of stairs, ripping open my suitcase and pulled out something to wear, slapped glitter on my eyes, rummaged through my bag to pull out a feathered clip to throw in my hair, jumped in a pair of shoes, scuttled to the Opera House in time to be a little late for the show. I only missed the very beginning of the first routine, which happened to be my friend Erie Twilight. I sat with Mrs Deanna Danger and Petra Precocious for the show. After the show we all ate, but I was really tired from driving. Half the performers who were done for the weekend stayed up to drink, the other half of us who hadn’t hit the stage yet made sure to get sleep.

————————-

Saturday morning we all ate breakfast and then headed over to the Burlesque Bazaar. It wasn’t across the street like last year, this time it involved a car ride to get there, to the other half of Jim Thorpe. I spent time with Miss Mourna Handful, Valeria Voxx, Lily Stitches and Eyrie Twylite. After being there for a while we then headed back to the Opera House for the rehearsal time.

I had a lot of work ahead of me, unloading the stage pole, getting it on the stage, setting it up and then trying to warm it up.

Here is where I am a whiny pole dancer: I had only done this routine on fixed brass poles at the time. Then to go to chrome stage pole = terrifying adjustments. I warmed up the pole, it was not cold to the touch but it was still so slippery. I wasn’t sure if I was sweating from setting up the stage or if it was just really slippery. Dry Hands didn’t help completely. Itac wasn’t solving the issue totally either. All the moves I had nailed down in my sleep, I was now wavering and unsure about. Most performers only did the first few seconds of their routine at the practice run-through, but I had requested to do mine completely since I had never done it on my stage pole before. About half way through my practice run-through, I almost shouted out to everyone there “I cant do this, I quit!” I did the second half of my practice just repeating over and over to myself “I was not going to do the show, I could not do the show”. After my practice, I returned to the guesthouse, officially a mess.

Every ounce of confidence was wiped away. All the practices I had done almost didn’t seem to matter. Everything was thrown out the window (in my head) and I just cried. I thought I knew my routine and then I realized that I had to adjust grips in order to maintain the moves on chrome, and that even though this routine is a killer, now I had to work even harder to make it happen on chrome. I was terrified that all my practice and work could be destroyed due to the chrome slip. Also, I have had a terrible cough for a couple weeks and my lungs are not working at capacity. The other performers in the guesthouse with me did what they could to help me feel better…and I needed it and love them for that. They helped so much!

I did what I could to calm down, but by 5pm I figured I should just start putting on make up to keep myself busy. Taking my time to get ready, I then grabbed my bag to walk over to the Opera House to claim backstage seating for Petra and I. Of course I kept trying to “make nice” with my stage pole. Jumping on it and doing a couple moves to warm up and grip it up. Doors opened, and I just tried to keep busy talking to a few other performers, and I even tried to drink a beer (I don’t like beer).

Promptly at 8pm on the dot, the show started. Very surprising to see something start at the time they say so, that almost never happens. I watched the first half, and while I was into the performances, I was also in a daze, very concerned over my own performance.

The second the intermission started I jumped on the stage to check the pole, and it was doing better. Being in the Opera House with all the people there and in the lights, it was warming up a bit. Feeling that, helped me to feel a little better. I put on my sparkly costume, checked my lipstick, and waited.

In the time waiting before I performed, I obsessively applied iTac EVERYWHERE! Over and over again. I sprayed my skin with my special alcohol mix as well. Layers of iTac and alcohol coated my skin, and it was grippy as a MoFo. New routine jitters. New routine fears. I was thinking that maybe could drop out of the show at that moment…but I knew I shouldn’t. I have been working on this routine since January and all that work must pay off…and I also did not want to be an asshole and quit the show.

Madame Corsetiere walked out and I jumped on my pole to give it one quick warm up. Two men brought the beast to center stage and I did my pole wipe down and spray, and as I did my very last second grip check… it passed.

Breathe in. Breathe Out. I’m ready.

And the music starts and I am in the spotlight and my pole is warming up to me and the audience and we rocked it together! Pretty much on my first jump up when I felt the grip in the pole and the grip in my nervously applied layers of iTac on my skin…I felt I had it. I think I nailed my specific pole poses more than actually getting into them (I was a bit wobbly at parts) but I was pretty much right on with my timing and timing is important in this routine.

Of course I was exhausted, but I was still smiling throughout. This crazy trick heavy routine I originally choreographed in my head is actually (barely) possible, and there I was doing it in front of an awesome audience.

This would have probably been a loosing routine at any big time pole competition, but I felt like a winner when I was done with it at that moment. Wibbles and wobbles aside – I made through. Taking the mental breakdown I had earlier in the day into consideration as well as my cough made the performance all the more amazing.

Done!

I laid down on the floor backstage to calm my breathing down and the adorable Hazel Honeysuckle handed me a cold water. I tried to stretch a little so I wouldn’t be too sore the next day. And then it was time to hug everyone backstage thanking them for their support and I scuttled upstairs/backstage to peek out the curtain with Fannie Spankings to watch a few performers. She is such a wonderful smiley bubble of rhinestone energy and I now adore totally her!

So soon enough, the show was over. As a song was playing for the judges to come up with the winners, I felt I had done pretty good. As much as I have a problem with shows that have placements/awards… I will do it for Jim Thorpe because I love the town and the people there so much.

Curtain call time and we all squished on stage together. When Madame Corsetiere stepped up to announce the winners, I was wondering if there was a real chance my name would be called.

I wondered if I had done a good enough job to place.

I stood there wondering so hard – that Madame Corsetier announced “Bianca DuPree” as 2nd runner-up/3rd place!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I was shocked: Little me, the performer who is not in a troupe in Baltimore, the performer who has a hard time getting venues to pay attention to her requests to book, the performer who has to bust her ass going out of town to get a show, the performer who has felt a little rejected from her own city but accepted in other citys, the performer working so hard to earn her keep and make a name for herself in the burlesque community, the performer who is so unsure of her placement in both the burlesque and the pole scenes – just received a placement in something!

WOW!

Wham Bam Pam got 1st runner-up/2nd place and Fannie Spankings won the grand and the crystal corset award. Of course she won! How can you not love that woman? Everyone that saw me crying earlier ran on stage and gave me so many hugs and butt slaps of congrats, yelling at me “Told you so!” Yes, new routine jitters got to me big time, but paid off in the end.

I spent a lot of time hugging and talking to people at the Opera House, I was a little late in getting to Mollys restaurant for food. I sat with Deanna Danger and Fannie Spankings. While it was great to be there around everyone, I was officially beat and I had to put my dizzy little head to sleep soon. And when I finally laid down that night, it all didn’t seem real.

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Sunday morning was a very busy day. Breakfast with the Rhinestone Follies followed by a headdress class taught by Beelzebabe. A really great class, for homemade headresses are really quite simple, and I love that she learned how to make them by trial and error. I really can’t wait to make one! After that was the rhinestone technique class taught by the Rhinestone follies. I was not planning on taking that class, I thought I knew about rhinestones…but I am glad I sat in. Clearly since “rhinestone” is in their name, those women know what they are talking about and I am so glad they shared their knowledge. It is going to help me be more glittery in the future.

The next hours after that was spent back at the Opera House breaking down the stage pole. I then ran across the street to pack up my stuff from the house to load in the car, and then ran back to the Opera House to load up the stage pole. Bam, 2 hours later I was ready to head home.

I went back to the Burlesque Bazaar to give some good-bye hugs and then hauled my stage pole and my candyass back on down to scuzzy old B’more.

What a weekend.

And what a great thing to add to my burlesque resume!

PHOTO CREDIT: Mandi Martini (thanks)

I assume that the correct answer is “Yes I feel very sexy and beautiful when I am performing”. After all, burlesque is a combination of glamor, humor, and that element of sexyness that is different in everyone. How can you not feet sexy wearing something lovely on a stage with a lot of colorful lights, all that lovely glittery make up on and everyone clapping for you?

Sure burlesque can be about all those things, but I also see it as involving a little bit of illusion. Corsets are illusions, rhinestones shimmer and dazzle and almost blind you in shiny light, fringe can make you look like you’re moving more than you are, and maybe you portray the illusion of ease, when performing really involves a lot of practice and/or choreography and trial and error and work.

Maybe I’m doing it wrong, or maybe I’m just doing it different, but I do not feel sexy when performing. I’m honestly pretty scared when I’m up there. I’m scared I will mess up, I’m scared I will forget what to do and blank out.  I am freaked out for I am in a level of high-concentration. I feel exhausted and sometimes a little gross with all the grip stuff I apply to *make sure* I don’t fall or slip. I practice my pole routines a whole lot in an attempt to familiarize my body with the movements. When I’m performing I am constantly processing what I am doing and what it coming next and I always try to have my poses face the audience.  And most of all, when I am performing, I am reminding myself to smile once in a while.  No matter if I am in pain…ah…smile!

So why bother performing? Well its a personal challenge, its takes guts to do it and hopefully I will become a stronger person as I continue. It keeps me in a process of constantly achieving little goals, both physical (pole moves, sewing, shopping/acquiring costume items) and mental goals.

Do I feel sexy when I am performing? I do not feel sexy when I am performing. I am sweaty and sticky with pole grip aids, I am out of breath, exhausted, and my muscles are shaking…but it really is so much fun and I just keep on doing it.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adlais/2353154024/

Every 2nd Sunday of the month, Crystal Deans invites female church-goers into her pole dancing studio.

“On Sundays, we do pole fitness for Jesus. We do the upbeat contemporary Christian music because people have to bring their church program to get into the class, so we basically are just continuing the whole worship thing here.”

I have seen a lot of people express their problem about this and the reasons range.  But I, however, think that this is great.

Bottom line, the more people who try pole and like it, than  more people  will accept it.  The more acceptance pole dancing gets, than the better the general opinion amongst the American population.

I only hope that more pole dancers want more pole dance acceptance.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/110316-pole-dancing-for-jesus

So I made the hike up to NYC with Miss Petra Precocious to go see the Trixie and Monkey two-person spectacular.  Also the fact that trim shopping up there is very satisfying, made the trip even better.

We high-tailed from Bmore to the garment district and did our business, first going to Mood, and then Hai Trim, Daytona Trim, Top Trim, B&Q Trim…and we are getting good at doing this   We are figuring out what stores are best for what costuming need (fringe, sequin, applique, sequin fringe).  Both of us were equally ashamed as well as glad to have our purchases.  You can’t get this stuff back in Bmore so gatta stock up on a trip to NYC. On a little side-note-peeve…I don’t appreciate people going to Mood to gawk because its on Project Runway.  I mean, if a couple people go, fine – but a tour group really gets in the way of those actually buying. Sure I went to gawk since its on the TV, but I also do sew which is why I watch the show, so I go there to buy as well.  After shopping, some slices of New York pizza was surly needed and appreciated.

Anywho, getting onto Trixie and Monkey. The real reason we went to NYC.

We got to ArsNova theater in the Hells Kitchen area of New York, which is right next to Colbert Report studio.  We were there when they opened the theater door, so we sat right in the front.  It wasn’t a long wait for the show to start, and I found it to be most adorable that there were Trixie and Monkey cookies for nom-noms.  The theater was fairly small, but very, very nice.

The show “All of Nothing” was a fantastic combination of all the things that we love about Trixie and Monkey.

The show starts with them comically trying to hang themselves.  Funnyness and an attempted double hanging – yup – they found a way to make it hilarious.


They start off with the acrobatics, throw in an absolutely wonderful “puppet” story told with a little flip sign, and then of course there was burlesque sillyness, a fight scene, solo routines, and then more acrobatics and partner balancing.

They also incorporated a good old fashioned slide projector show.

The show was nudged along with strategic “dings” and titling by Mark the Marquee.  Every time Marquee Mark chimed in, we all looked over to read more of whats going on in the storyline. It made me love the use of space as well.  Often we were looking to our left and reading the lighted sign, or maybe we were looking behind us, or looking to our left and there was Monkey playing ukulele on the side wall.

They truly put in so many elements into one show, its was kind of spectacular to watch.  After the show we talked for a little bit and gave good-bye hugs and we retreated back to the motel for much needed sleep.

Wow.

Pretty thrilled when a coworker saw one of my performances, and told me he wouldn’t tell others in the office to respect my privacy.

http://jezebel.com/#!5781733/female-professor-fired-for-burlesque-performance

I thought that by eating better for a few months that I would be able to see a bit of a difference, but nope. My standard practice of “lets loose weight” eating habits (more vegetables, more water) have been failing me more and more as the years go by. Rather than lay around feeling like shit and complaining, I joined a gym. This is a very small gym very close to where I live, and the bonus for me was that they have 3 month memberships, so I thought I would first pay for the 3 months and see what I think after that. My goal is just to maybe loose 3 pounds. Yeah, that’s all I want to loose. Also to get rid of some of the squishy bits I have.

Now I consider pole to be very cardio. It gets my heart rate to the max every time I am up there. But my heart can’t be at that level for too long, so I often take “breaks” in class or home practice by just standing there and calming down until I get back up and work on something else.

Going to a regular old gym (a place to exercise with out a bunch of poles) was a much different feeling. I go on the elliptical machine, and work and work and often have a hard time getting my heart rate up to the level that pole gets me to. But I keep ellipticaling at a steady rate, and once in a while work faster to get my heart rate higher (trying to match pole, but not quite getting there) and then I go back down to a steady rate. I go for 3 miles which is generally 35 minutes, I know its not long but it feels enough for me.

Ive been doing this for over a month. So I then say to myself “Hey, I’m trying to eat better during the week, going to the gym a couple times a week as well as practicing pole…where is it showing?” 5 weeks go by, and I still feel the same. Not loosing weight, not loosing inches and wondering why I am bothering.

Its most frustrating because if I just sat on my butt and did nothing I would still look the same. Why am I eating broccoli and brown rice and spending time after work in a gym? When I’m not feeling much better?

We shall see how I feel at the end of April when my 3 months are done.

One:
Because I really do like the process to creating a new routine, so much that I just want to keep doing it. I take personal satisfaction from looking for a song, memorizing it, thinking of a costume to create, buying fabric and sewing, blocking the routine, practicing and then finally performing. For some reason, I feel more fulfillment from the creation process as opposed to actually performing. I feel if I’m not constantly coming up with something new, I’m not working hard enough.

Two:
As far as pole routines, I’m always trying to do work on new moves. There are so many and nobody can ever “be done” with pole moves. Once you get one and can do it with relative ease, you want to learn another. Every routine I try to add at least one more pose to push myself more. I believe you haven’t owned a move until you do it in a routine. An old routine isn’t good enough anymore and therefore I feel a new one always needs to be created.

Three:
I do not perform as much as most other performers. Its more difficult as a solo performer with a gigantic apparatus to get shows locally, and I can’t afford to go out of town to perform often. If I’m not working on something I feel a bit stagnant. So every single time I go to pole class is in relation to performing, every single time I go to the gym is in relation to performing. Every time I look up sequins online, make a rhinestone order, and go to the fabric store is in relation to performing. And I must constantly be trying every single day of else I’m nothing.

Four:
Finding a new song, a certain color of sequin, an iridescent fabric shade…all that stuff…inspiration to create something new. Especially going to NYC to the garment district. All too often running into a trim that I just love and have no need for (at the time) could be a new reason for a new routine.

I love the idea of doing a routine more than once, and I am probably going to start doing that this year. But last year, as I worked on my creation process, some routines I liked some were OK and pretty much got the job done, but its all a content learning/creative process for me and that must continually happen.

As I am writing this, I have one routine that I am practicing for upcoming festivals.  I have one routine with the costume items sewn but I have not blocked it out yet, and I have two routines with fabric purchased and songs selected.

And yet again, I sat through the whole show, practically smiling watching all the talent and skill be revealed before my eyes. I love how much variety there is to the show. Also how a large group number with everyone up there can be as great to watch as a perfectly choreographed solo.

I also totally adore the live singers as the performers dance, or even better when a performer singing and doing her routine at the same time! Love! I kinda wish I could do that, but singing isn’t my thing. I still respect the hell out of it.

Group numbers, solos, duos, singing, dancing, bubbles and then Dr Lucky rocked her unicorn horn and there were a bunch of heat shaped paddles…so fun!

After the show I gave Joey Martini a hug, and talked with Dr Lucky for a bit as well before dashing back to Bmore.

While she did not perform with anything other than a plain old chair…she was still a stunning performer!!!!!

She is so skilled and talented and flexible, I can not wait to see her perform again.

http://pincurlmag.com/midnite-martini

This was my first real-honest-to-god pole photoshoot involving some outfit changes and checking my list of holds I can do for the camera.

Pole photoshoot sure are hard!!! First you need to know your angles to attempt to get the pose facing forward (which is something I work on for routines, so I am a bit used to that). But also you need to hooooooold the pose for as long as you can to allow the photographer to get the photo. It feels like you’re holding forever, when its really just a couple second longer than I’m used to.

And most importantly, you need to smile!! I was almost not breathing when I held a pose to hold that smile for the camera.

Some photos went well, and others not so much, but the next time we will know better what to do in relation to the raised stage, and the stage pole and the camera angle. Still, it was really fun and I got a bunch of good shots from it.

P

I drove down 4th, and it turned out to not be too long a trip from Baltimore – about 2 1/2 hours. I got to the hotel, and then went downtown to quickly check out a little of the city before the show. I drove around looking for an interesting place to park and walk, and I happened upon the Carytown area. I did not have much time to roam, since I wanted to do the whole “getting dressed up for the show” activity, but I did manage to get some food and check out a few places enough to realize that I would go back there the next day.

So I went back to my hotel, and did my “getting dressed up for the show” thing, and headed out for the short drive to The Canal Club. Doors were for 9pm, and there was a bit of a line waiting for the doors to open, and I was standing out in the cold with a few others. Upon entrance, I was ready to get a decent seat, assuming that I would be able to since I was amongst the first to enter, only to realize that all the decent seats were already reserved and all that was left were the less than desirable seats. Bummer. So I sat down, got a couple drinks and “checked in” on Facebook Places that I was there.

Waiting for the show to start, and killing time on my iTouch, I got a notice that someone else had checked into The Canal Club as well…interesting. So as I waited and sat around for longer, a woman approached me, asked if I was Bianca DuPree and introduced herself as Deepa DeJour …the other person who checked on Facebook Places – HaHa Facebook places works and I was so amused!

So after a while, the show was opened by the absolutely most fabulous Miss Magnolia Jackson Pickett Burnside who started everything with a very high on glitter routine. And she then proceeded to sit by the electric fireplace, on a recliner and announced the performers with an amusing holiday rhyme…I totally loved that special touch to the show.

My one problem with The Canal Club is that it proved to be very difficult to see the show, and I was amongst the first to enter and I was sitting on a high chair. The place has these gigantic vertical square beams that are a major pain in the ass to deal with since they totally got in the way of everyone.

Miss Legs Malone was the guest this month. She opened and then closed the show and she is so great. For BooBooDarlin’, naturally Richmond adores their newest Golden Pastie winner. Kiki Von Kitch did a routine that involved so many items of clothing, it was pretty surprising to see it all come off, and Dolli Holiday did a lovely, graceful and pretty fan dance, with more than two fans…pretty impressive.

All the performers were great, and the one thing that really struck me was that the audience LOVES them! What a fantastic crowd with great energy. None of the performers had to “beg” for cheers, they came on full force and it was pretty fun to be around. There were a total of five performers each doing two routines, with the stage kitten doing hula hooping during intermission. As someone who plans on putting more shows together, I felt that is a set up that works. The show was not too long, not too short, and honestly…a good variety (Varietease if you will )

When the show was over, I went and introduced myself to a few performers, and then left to go take a couple outside rainy nitetime photos before retreating to my hotel.

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The next day, the weather was horrible for it was raining the whole day, non-stop. But I made the most of it and spend my afternoon back in Careytown, popping in and out of stores to check the places out and to get a break from the weather.

And then I went home, glad that I finally made it to a Richmond Varietease show, and I am most definably going to be returning to Richmond…In July for sure *wink-wink*

My flick photoset

Famous for her picture-perfect seductress look, Von Teese is known for often doing her own appearance hair and makeup.”

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/12/27/dita-von-teese-beauty-book/

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If you spend $50, she will give you a personal show.”

http://www.myfoxny.com/offbeat/card-shop-owner-pole-dances-for-customers

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Pole dancing’s destination, organizers hope, is the Olympics.

Hong Kong-based Ania Przeplasko, founder of the International Pole Dance Fitness Association, said efforts are underway made to make pole dancing a “test” event for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016. Pole dancers had tried to get on the schedule for London in 2012, but were too late to make a serious bid.

A wide range of sports aspire to join the Olympics, but few are able to reach those heights.

To be included on the Olympic program, a sport must be approved by the full assembly of the International Olympic Committee. Last year, golf and rugby sevens were added for the 2016 Olympics, while baseball, softball, squash, karate and roller sports failed to make the cut.

Organizers said Thursday’s championships marked a major step forward for sport pole dancing. The competition was held in a large arena near the Tokyo Dome, the Japanese capital’s main sports stadium, with competitors from countries ranging from Malaysia to Moldova.

Performers got four minutes and two poles about 12 feet (three meters) tall to show what they could do. Stiletto heels were checked backstage, and rules required outfits be “dignified and appropriate for athletic competition.”

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/more/12/11/pole.dancing.world.championships.ap/index.html

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http://www.polechampionship.com/

I decided to make a whole day of being out of Bmore, and I got to Philly early (a little before noon) and took a pole class at Poise.  After that, I was good and hungry and headed to South Street for a nom-nom cheesesteak.  (I only eat cheesesteaks in Philly, and every time I go there I must eat one. Ive been doing this since 1998)

After that I walked over “Fabric Row”, which is right off of to South Street, and it is Philadelphia’s fabric district. I was ready to be dazzled by Phillys fabric shop selections.

Although, instead of dazzled, it was more like a Sad Trombone “Wah-Wah”.

Understand that I was just in L.A. a few weeks ago, and I was literally freaking out walking around the fabric shops there, for I truly was dazzled and amazed at the selection…not the same in Philly…Sad Trombone “Wah-Wah”.  It did not take me long to walk through the fabric stores (as opposed to L.A. when I was walking around for hours in and out of dozens of stores and I did not even go to all of them).

I had a little time to poke around South Street before heading across town to The World Cafe Live. Not a lot of time though, and soon I was back in the car driving.  I got there early hoping to get a seat to have a decent view, and I did.  World Cafe Live is a sit down venue with food service, its in a very large building, and over all is a really neat place to watch a show from.  I ordered a chocolate martini and peanut butter pie (more nom-noms).

A little after 7pm the show started. Peek-A-Boo Revue involves a lot of people, from all the performers, hosts, the Strip Tease orchestra behind them. The opening number involved so many people it was really fun to see the dancers, the singers, the musicians, everyone run around all synchronized to near perfection.  I am a total sucker for big group routines done well.

The whole show was a fantastic variety in a way I don’t usually see.  The show would shift from a burlesque dance routine to a comedy skit to a live musical act typically with burlesque, and then back around again. It was always refreshing when a routine ended because I was wondering what they were going to do next.

They were so funny, I really had such a great time watching them! They put on a big fantastic show and it was great to sit and watch the show, eat and drink in comfort. I was hoping it would be a spectacle since the ticket price was a bit high, but really in seeing how many people are involved, and seeing just how tight and well practiced everyone was, I had no problem with how much the ticket was.

Also I am so glad they had an early show, this made it easy for me to go see them and make it home before midnight.

My Flickr slideshow

Gatta say, I friggen love being there and performing for them! Its worth the long drive to be there and meet fantastic people and just have fun.

This time around, I now have a bigger car, for I now can accommodate my stage pole, my own stuff as well as the stuff of someone else as well! So great to be able to be in a car with the stage pole and another person. This trip I went with Miss Petra Precocious.

This show had significantly less performers than the festival in March. A lot of performers had already made previous performing plans for the Saturday before Halloween when the women of Jim Thorpe Burlesque announced this show…but not me! I was open and available. It was nice because with there being less people, we got to talk to each other a bit more, and I got to get to know a few others I didn’t really get to speak with in March. Another note, we stayed at a fantastic place, very comfortable.

It was just as cold in October as it was in March when I was last there, and the stage pole was freezing from being in the car overnight. The Saturday of the show, I set the stage pole up, and warmed up myself as well as the pole. It was pretty chilly in the opera house that afternoon, they were just turning the heat on. I ran though my routine during tech practice and then we went back across the street to where we were staying to chill out and get ready. And then we all walked back across the street to go do the show.

And we all did our final preparations for the show. Like I said before, everyone was super cool, there were no problems, no attitudes, nothing but a lot of fun and really a great experience (I have so few of those, that I need them more often).

I was one of 2 performers not in the first half of the show, so I went to watch the show from the audience. All in all, really fun to be there again, stand where I stood before to watch the show. Good to see performers I hadn’t seen before.

Well, during intermission I went backstage to then get ready for my performance. The stage pole was on stage, and I went to check on it, and it was perfect. Rarely is the pole the perfect warmth and tackiness. I think even my stage pole is happy to be there! I good think I wasn’t the first one up after intermission, for I spent needed the little extra time to warm myself up again. One time I did my routine with out properly warming up and I got a bad cramp in my calf.

As usual, I like to wipe down my own pole, and apply DryHands on it as well right after wiping down. And then it was my turn to perform. And it went by so quickly!

Really, the whole show went to smoothly and wonderful. Afterwards we all went to the Broadway Grill for dinner, a much bigger place than were we went in March, much more room for everyone to eat and sit and talk and no where near as hectic. The next morning we had a lovely breakfast, I took apart my stage pole and we walked around Jim Thorpe before heading back to Bmore.

Show Photographer: http://www.tomstorm.net
My Flickr slideshow

I kind of dont agree with the music section. There is no way Im going to dance to an “Angry” song, “Good Cry” Songs sound boring and slow to me, and the examples of “Drop Dead Sexy” songs are not sexy to me.

But I totally agree with the costuming suggestion! 

http://polespinmag.com/welcome/2010/10/tricks/

Petra Precocious and I checked out of the motel and headed though the Holland Tunnel again towards Times Square. The car was parked in a lot and we went into the King Tut Exhibit. Over all the exhibit was good. It was not all King Tut items, but still really cool to see the things in my face as opposed to a photo in a book.

After that, the next mission was to check out the Pop Tart store…yes, there is a Pop Tart store.

Then we walked down through Times Square again, often getting distracted by glittery things and make up and candy.

After getting something to eat, we thought we would just hop back into the car and head on over to The Highline Ballroom for the Sunday show. Our plans were stalled upon entrance to the garage when we saw about 50 other people waiting for their cars as well. A show must have just let out. You really need to account for all the other people in NYC when trying to get something done.

Once we got the car, and arrived at The Highline Ballroom, we changed into out fancy outfits and applied make up again. Getting into the show was a little bit of a pain, for the line was very long and slow and once I got to the top of the stairs I found out I didn’t have to wait in the line if I already had a ticket. Having a VIP seated ticket, the barcode on the ticket was scanned and I went inside to look for a table, only to see that every seat in every table was taken. I was then annoyed and confused and I didn’t know where to go. After looking for someone to ask “Hey, whats up with this?” I was then directed to another line to wait to get a seat. After waiting there for a while, everyone waiting was then directed to go to the upstairs part since downstairs was already filled. :/

So after that sillyness, we went and sat against the wall of the balcony and waited for the show to start. Miss Astrid was the host, and I just love her!

I enjoyed the show, and I liked how the Golden Pastie awards were through out the show. Even though we sat all the way to the side, it was still a decent view. I wasn’t too fond of the food they had served at Highline, but the white chocolate moose was divine!

Great to see my girl Lula Hoop-Garou perform, still my hoop-tease hero! Melody Sweets venetian blind peek-a-boo song and dance was pretty great.

I was so glad Gravity Plays Favorites won a Golden Pastie! Woo-hoo pole! And I had never seen Cherry Pitz perform before, but it was very clever and cute routine.

For the group number of Burlesque Noir, it was a little odd to hear the same song used twice in a festival. Totally different routines of course, just a coincidence. And Jason Perez, he totally brought the dance moved big time!

Nasty Canasta, my oh my! Odeile Devine did ballet pointe burlesque, which is always welcome in my book.

The show closer, Midnight Martini (swoon) did the greatest stocking removal I have ever seen!! Brought the house down!

And then the show was over! All the performers of the weekend went up on stage and all the rest of us paid our checks.

After the show, I went down to see who I could talk to. I talked to a few people and then retreated over to the after party to then talk to some more people. I actually had a lot of fun meeting the Rhinestone Follies, who happen to perform in a venue with a bunch of poles already in place…woo-hoo pole! I also had a great time talking to Deanna Danger about the burlesque adventures in Richmond. And I got to talk to and hug Michelle Mynx and Katrina Dohl before we left.

Wow, and then in the dark of the NYC night, we slipped away down to crappy ‘ol Bawlmore. Meh.

This proved to be a most exciting and fun weekend filled with sequins and glitter and parking garages and burlesque shows and performers and great conversations and so many hugs!

Three shows down, no more to go.

My flickr photoset of the show

Upon driving down 36th Street, it quickly came to our attention that Mood was not the only thing happening on that street, for every other shop was either a fabric or trim store. The car was parked and we walked down the street to Mood. Its a little odd actually, for the steeet entrance is a large building and Mood is on the third floor. On a Saturday afternoon, nothing else was open in the building except for Mood. The elevator to the third floor was a bit of a throwback, for it utilized an elevator operator. An actual guy had to open the door and pull a lever to make the elevator go up. Something I had never seen before.

And then the elevator door opened, and I was in Mood. Ive been watching “Project Runway” since the first episode, and it was a bit interesting as a geek of the show to be there. But also, me as a performer who sews most of my own costumes…Mood would easily kick the ass of all the fabric stores in Maryland combined. It was a bit of a rush to walk through the gigantic store, and see tons and tons of fabric, almost all of which I wanted to make something out of. I realized I could easily find something to suit my needs there, as opposed to having to settle for a fabric at home just because it was all I had.

I could have freaked out more, but I have already purchased fabric for my routine coming up. (I do need fabric for a dress to make for an event, but one thing at a time) So we bought some feathers at Mood, and headed out to the other trim shops down the street.

Even though I tried to not freak out over the amazing selection of fabric at Mood, I had to freak out at the trim stores because there is no way that much awesome stuff is available at home. Ive even done Internet searches for such trim, only to not really find what I want (or to be forced to order 9 yards minimum!) We both were freaking out over the sequin fringe, the feathers, the crystals, the appliques…there were so many beautiful things that I have been wanting to see in person for so long, and there I was!! I wanted to buy almost everything I could to just take home and figure out what to do later, but I only bought a few specific things I currently have a need for.

I will go back to NYC to go to trim shopping again!

After trim shop excitement, we hit up a White Castle for a snack and headed to Times Square, which was only a few blocks away. Tell ya what, Times Square is a bit grating on the nervous system: so many people on the sidewalks, so many cars in the street, so many people barking at you to take their flyers, video screen signs always in motion…yeesh! We walked around for a bit, and after a while headed back to the car but not before having some NYC pizza along the way of course.

Back to the motel to do the process all over again: hot rollers, make up, hairspray, eyelashes, dress, and out the door heading to BB Kings for the Saturday Spectacular show! We parked a couple blocks away, figuring it was less time to park and walk than to wait in traffic.

When we got to BB Kings we happened on an area to watch the show that was just about the best, nobody in our way, right in front of the sound booth. It was a perfect place to watch!

The Saturday show was hosted by Murray Hill, and they utilized two large fabric half domes as “curtains” which was made fun of quite a bit by Murray.

We saw a varied mix of performers and emotions I felt watching them. Some performers I laughed, some I cheered, some danced and moved wonderfully while others I felt uncomfortable watching, unsure what the routine was about, or I felt a little bored. With so many performers at a festival I suppose the range of emotions is going to happen.

Dr. Lucky was totally hilarious, and the toilet paper just added to the whole thing. Foxy Tan was fierce as all hell.

Of course we all love Baltimores Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey (and I don’t care that they moved to NYC, they’re Baltimoreans to me). I had not seen Ophelia Flame before. I was so into her routine with all that red and the fiery silk fans. I think because of the way her red hair kept getting into her face and she kept blowing it off through out. Might have been annoying for her, but I loved the way it looked.

I was so glad to see Gigi LaFemme do Star Wars, for she was my inspiration to do my “Back to the Future” routine many, many years ago. And of course I loved Gravity Plays Favorites!

Dirty Martini was very patriotic (wink). And I was so in love with Adora Derriere costume!

It was good to see Cherry Typhoon again (I saw her in Asheville…shes so cute and funny). And Mstickles routine was dynamic…

The show was also a good place for me to see performers I have heard of and never seen before like Indigo Blue, World Famous BOB, Pearle Noir, Jule Atlaz Muz, Miss Saturn and Tigger!

Well after the show we went over to the after party, and unfortunately we were not able to stay long. Really, the music was so loud that my ears started hurting and it was proving to be most difficult to be able to talk to people over the music. I went into the lobby area to give my hears a break, and I saw a few people come out with their fingers over their ears as well. Soon enough, a few performers were already heading out, large suitcases in tow. We stuck around for a little while, but really couldn’t the volume take it much longer, and I was starting to loose my voice shouting to try to talk to people.

PS, Times Square gets real ghetto on a Saturday night!

My flickr photoset of the show
Two shows down, one more to go

I have not been there in quite a few years, and this was to be my first trip there with out being under the wings of my parents.

I went with my friend and fellow performer Petra Precocious. She picked me up at my tiny house, I said goodbye to my fat kitty, and we hopped in her car and headed up to NYC at about 4pm.

Surprisingly, we arrived to the city in a little over 3 hours. Immediately upon checking into the motel, we quickly proceeded to get ready for the Friday night premiere show in Brooklyn. It was a blur of makeup, glitter, hairspray, dresses, and fake eyelashes in that room and we were out the door and through the tunnel to Brooklyn.

The Friday night show was at The Bell House in Brooklyn, about 20 minutes from the motel. It is a very nice venue in a very industrialized area. By the time we got to the show and it had already started. As we were about to walk into the show, we were very distracted by the offerings of drag-addict.com. I mean, all the gowns of sequins and fabric boas….oh my! I REALLY wanted to buy something, but I decided not to at the moment.

For entrance to the show, they had UV light stamps and a black light at the door, a technique I do not see done often, but I do like. (no ugly black stamp design on your hand) Upon entrance, there we were, at The New York Burlesque Festival.

I actually felt rather odd. It began to sink into my head how my day just went: I went to work, went home and packed, hopped in a car and was now at the New York burlesque festival…I was a little surprised. Kind of a little weird.

The show was difficult to watch, due to the fact that I am a mere 5ft 1in tall. It was a decently large venue, standing room only. But of course all the tall people stand in front, and since we were not there at the beginning, I was dodging a lot of heads in my way to get a view. Also, if a performer was laying down or crawling, I had no clue they were even on the stage at all.

After a while, I was kind of getting burlesqued-out. Wither performer after performer and me not being able to really see anyone except for a gigantic blue bunny, it kind of got frustrating. I wanted the show to be almost over, because I was fading; I was hungry, it was late, I hadn’t eaten since lunch, my blood sugar was dropping. The resolution to that problem was simple, a little Red Bull and Jeager! We went out of the performance venue to the bar and had a drink. After having a drinky, I was feeling a little better, and we headed back to the show.

Fortunately, we were able to see the sweet performance of pregnant Little Brooklyn and her burlesque baby shower. While I did not cry during this, I really liked all the other performers giving her burlesque “gifts” and then her performing on her own…or well, performing for two really. I honestly thought that it was the show closer, for it totally felt like the end of the show, and I would have hated to go on after that…but alas that was only the halfway point!

As the show continued on, the crowd thinned out a little bit and we were able to see a bit more of the show.

About the show: Peekaboo Pointe did a very slow and still and calming french routine. Clara Cupcakes hula-hooped. The Incredible, Edible Akynos shaked and jumped and moved so fast, Faux Pas…loved the cake dress. Kita St Cyr, meow. Madame Rosebud was very dark and intense and she really moved. Kristina Nekyia performed with vintage polio crutches and I didnt see her at the show at all for she was well below my vantage point. Lady Jack moved roboticly, very poppin’ and lockin’, and I thought it was was well done and kinda funny. Cheesecake Burlesque Revue did a 60s space retro group routine. Ruby Valentine was last, and even though she used cake frosting as pasties and covered her legs with frosting and I thought that was yucky, I really liked her as well.

It was interesting to see the big name performers standing watching the show, just like us newbies, just like the non-performers. We were all struggling to see. It was also a little difficult for me to really recognize people. After all, performers dramatically change make up and often hair and wigs and I wasn’t totally sure of who I recognized in the dark with out my glasses.

We stuck around for a little bit afterwards, watched a lovey graceful rollerblader “go-go” on stage, and then it was time for a 24hour Dunkin Doughnuts stop and back to the motel.

One burlesque show down, 2 more to go.

My flickr photoset of the show

It doesn’t take a parapsychologist to know that sexy ladies + booby tassels + nerd-movie theme = gold mine. Good thing the geniuses that brought us the Holy Sh*t! Batman Burlesque answered our proton-pack-lovin’ prayers once again as Epic Win presented the “Ghostbusters” Burlesque this past weekend at The Tank in NYC.

http://www.asylum.com/2010/06/16/ghostbusters-burlesque

Well…I have noticed various people on my Facebook mention Yard Dogs Roadshow.  Enough people mentioned them that I became curious as to what they were about myself. Then it came to my attention that they were to be performing in Baltimore, so I figured that I ought to go.  Even if I didn’t know anyone who would be going, I was going to attend.

The morning before the show (Sept 23), I received an email from The Ottobar.  I was asked if I could perform!  My very first answer was “no” because I didn’t have a routine that quite matched their style and clearly no time to come up with something new.  I was annoyed I wasn’t asked earlier to give myself time for a new routine.  But then I got to thinking, I don’t have to do a new routine for every show, and I figured it was time to do “Pachinko” again so I emailed Ottobar and said that I would do it.

And I then began trying to remember the routine while sitting at work, since I hadn’t done it since the Bootcamp show on May 1st. At home I took the costume pieces out of their bag in the basement and let them air out, all those rice grain pillows…its been a while.

Unfortunately on the Friday of the show it was another really hot day here in Baltimore…truly the dog days of summer are late September with a few 90 degree days sneak in. I got to The Ottobar early to be able to do a quick run through of my routine on stage with all of the Yard Dog stuff there.  Well as soon as I walked in to the air conditioned Ottobar, my mouth was agape in the fabulousness that filled the small stage.  I saw a whole bunch of instruments on stage, fabric paintings draped up and they even brought their own red velvet curtain.  I already knew I was in for a great night!

As I made my way to the “backstage” area, I was a bit little nervous.  I was hoping that I wouldn’t get a weird feeling/vibe, especially since I’m a last minute addition to the show.  But of course, almost as soon as I walked in, I felt most welcomed by them all!!!

I quickly changed into my sushi costume to do a run through with everything on the stage, and all that stuff really wasn’t a problem for me.  After that, I waited around, petted the show chicken (how awesome, they have a show chicken!) and prepared for the show.  I wanted to get myself ready to get out of the way of the  other women in the show.  Taking a few peeks out to the crowd, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t as packed as I wanted it to be…not for me as a performer but for the Yard Dogs.

Time went by really quickly, and before I knew it someone shouted that they were going to start in 5 minutes and I was still sticking my sushi rice pillows to my dress!  I was still sweating, I had to put my wig on, I quickly safety pinned my little hat to my wig, and I was putting my gloves on as I walked down to the stage, and Molotov the bull whipper was just finishing up.  I did not see any of his act, since they had the velvet curtain up, but I was able to hear the whip cracks and that was cool enough for me.

So I was announced, and I went up there and did my silly sushi thing. And then I was done!  Didn’t really matter to me how the performance was going to go, or how it went, I was just really happy to be there and to finally feel good.   When I was done, I was still sweating, and ran back upstairs to put on a tank top, and then ran back downstairs on stage to pick up my rice with a little help form a couple people.  I really wanted to get everything off stage quickly to get out of the Yard Dogs’ way.  I then went back upstairs and changed into a dress to then go back out to watch the Yard Dogs Road Show’s show.

Still sweating, wearing my wig since my hair was just not working for me in the heat and sweat, I went up to the upper seating area because I knew the AC was strong up there.  A really nice couple recognized me as having just performed and moved aside to give me a place to sit for the show..they were so sweet.

And I sat and watched the show, and I fell totally in love with the Yard Dogs Road Show!  I mean, its a little hard to explain just how amazing everything was.  Its like all these visions and ideas and styles that I have in my head, I saw on that stage…it was perfect. I watched the entire show with a huge smile on my face. 

Their style, their sound (a trombone and an accordion…sexy!) all the talent they have, the costumes on the dancers, and a magic guy as well…perfect!  They are so tight and so talented as performers, I was so impressed. They threw confetti to the crowd, they have a chicken, smoke machine fog, crystals on costumes… I wanna run away and join the Yard Dogs Road Show!!!!

After the show, I stuck around talking to people, I got a couple of their CDs, and even had them sign a poster for me.  I hung out until they had to break down all their equipment.

I am so grateful for the Ottobar for giving me this opportunity, and I am in love with the Yard Dogs Road Show, for they are so nice and so talented, and they all kind of helped me feel a little bit better.

My flickr photoset of the show

Now the nerd fight has been taken to a whole new battleground: a burlesque show. The members of New York City’s Epic Win Burlesque troupe are unabashedly nerdy, and often unabashedly naked. ”

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/09/burlesque-star-trek-vs-star-wars/

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I fell on my forehead and the pain went all throughout my neck and back, and I had a headache for 2 days afterward. I was really quite surprised I was in so much pain from falling a short distance of my hands to my head.

I suppose I am lucky I only was hurt in a minor way.

Mother left paralysed after pole dancing

It can be refreshing to see a whole-nother type of pole and how its used. So many body twists and flips, wow!

(From Wikipedia)
Originally mallakhamb was introduced as a supporting exercise for wrestlers. “Pole mallakhamb” was started by Balambhattdada Deodhar sometime between 1800 and 1810. Later on, his student Damodarguru Moghe realized that only major grips can be developed with a pole and used cane instead of a pole. Subsequently, the unavailability of cane resulted in rope mallakhamb. Almost 25 to 30 types of mallakhamb apparatus were tried and tested over the years.

In this variation, a vertical wooden pole is fixed in the ground and the participant performs various acrobatic feats and poses while hanging on the pole.

The mallakhamb pole used in competitions is a straight pole made of teak or sheesham wood, standing 2.6 metres (8.5 ft) in height with a circumference of 55 centimetres (22 in) at the base. It gradually tapers to a circumference of 35 centimetres (14 in) at the top.

Pole dancers never make it through on “Americas Got Talent”, so its good to see that they made it through to the semi-finals down under.

I like that they had two X-Stages, but I am not so much a fan of this routine in particular.  All three are fantastic, but the problem is that with three of them doing something on two stages at the same time, nobody really stands out and it becomes a bit visually confusing, and the moves almost become lost amongst all the motion.

I thought that if I got into pole, that I would meet more women who were into performing or who had that as a goal of  some form.  So I got into my classes hoping that I would feel like I belonged in there and make connections with other future performers.  After a couple years of the pole classes, even though I get along with everyone just fine and I like the women there, I still feel a bit out of sorts.  I don’t know if its because I don’t have kids, or because I don’t live in the suburbs, or if its because I did not get into pole dancing to feel “empowered” (that word irks me), or maybe I listen to different music than most people, spend my spare time doing different things…I feel like a weird one there.

Last fall I went  to watch a big pole competition, and while everyone I know who also went felt energized and excited afterward, it was at that show that I truly realized I didn’t belong.  I did not leave the show feeling inspired, I left thinking that I am just not the person for this scene.  Most of the performers chose less than enthusiastic music (in my opinion), maybe something slow and melodic or something more rock styled, but at the end of the show, seeing all the women perform not once but twice…I couldn’t remember everyone.  I only remembered certain moves, but not their routine as a whole.  I noticed that there was very little connecting with the audience, almost as if they didn’t care if there was a theater of people watching.  (This stuck me as a little odd since I was getting more into the burlesque scene and that stressed on performing outward to the audience and connecting in some way.)  Sure they were all strong and flexible and anyone should admire and respect that, but I personally wanted to add a little more of my attitude to pole. (if that’s possible)

So I focused on burlesque.  I have a stage pole and did shows. I performed polesque at a big show, at some little shows, the two shows I produced, a couple  out of town.  I averaged a show a month and while that might sound like chicken shit to full time performers, a show a month totally consumed my life, for each show was a new routine and that became my everything: from researching images to researching music, sewing, practicing, reviewing and re-blocking and then practicing more…each new routine took over every spare minute of my day.

As I focused on burlesque classes (which were amazing), I was too busy to go to pole class, and would only go ever so often just as a way to get a little tiny bit of exercise. I was weakening.  I spent my weekends and some week nights attending to as many burlesque shows as I could, to learn even more by watching closely. Watching performers facial expressions, the way they positioned their hands, the way they stood and walked, and hoping that if I studied that I could improve myself as a performer.  I feel the only way I can really work on how I carry myself on stage is really to perform more and learn from experience.   I have not performed much, still I’m under 10 shows, which makes me feel like such a phony amongst more seasoned performers.

But right now, I am just so tired. I don’t know if I put too much work into my routines and it has left me mentally drained. As I watch my other burlesque friends perform more, I can’t help but feel like now I don’t fit into burlesque as well.  Mostly because in doing polesque…I can not perform at just any place as easily as others.  I need venues with space to accommodate the stage pole, and be able to move the stage to the side to allow the other performers in the show space.  I cant perform in any place with loud speakers and a couple lights pointed towards a pre-determined area.

I kind of felt like a stranger the last few shows I performed at, maybe because I am new and the other performers were not.  Sometimes I wonder if I should bother anymore, if I’m putting so much into performing and getting little in return.  The process is enjoyable (its great to set up little goals and accomplish them), but the pay off of the actual shows can be less than expected.   I felt fantastic after a festival in March and after the burlesque bootcamp show in May, but after most shows I honestly don’t feel so positive.

So I take a break, and get back into pole, not to feel “empowered” or “sexy” but because I kind of have grown tired of my current level of skills and I have created a long list of pole poses that I am working on.  I want to go to less burlesque shows for a while since I wonder if I have been to too many recently and I am growing weary of it all.   I doubt that I will ever be as busy performing as I have so far these past few months.  Not sure if that is a good thing or not.  Its nice to be able to have time to really let a routine work its self out with time and not pressure, and its nice to have the time to work on new pole skills as well, and not tell myself  “I have to get this move in 2 weeks cause I have a show and would love to do it” only to get to the show realizing that my muscles aren’t ready yet and take it out of the routine 5 minutes before I perform.  But also, it was a little fun knowing that once I did one show, I had another to prepare for as soon as possible.

I doubt that I will feel like I’m really a part of the pole dance scene, and I doubt that I will ever feel like I’m a part of the burlesque scene.

I wonder if I need to focus on just accepting that I, a Libra-Scorpio cusp (really, I am) is really just meant to be in between the two scenes.

Stock photo

http://burlesqueseattle.com/2010/07/30/charm-citys-trixie-little-a-qa/

Gravity – Plays – Favorites

And then another four words to add to that:

I – finally – saw – them!!!!

I found out a month ago that they were the special guests for “The Best Night of Your Life” burlesque tour. Our paths have yet to cross in this pole/burlesque world, and after a couple years of me waiting, our paths finally crossed!

Right now my car is a piece of crap, and it stalled out twice in one day the week of the show. Mr DuPree said I could borrow his car, seeing GPF meant so much to me. Yay!

It took me a lot longer than expected to make it to Pittsburgh. Why would they choose to shut down a tunnel the one weekend I go? Ive been to Pittsburgh twice before, the last time 5 years ago…why shut it down now?? I spend forever fighting with my Garmen in many attempts to get me to the hotel. I was worried I wouldn’t even make it to the show, everything was taking so long. I wondered if I should just go to the venue and skip the hotel, but I really wanted to change and get all prettied up before the show.

Well, after circling various streets, and doing all I could to avoid the shut down highways and the packed alternate routes, I took the tiniest of side streets to the hotel, and I had about 20 minutes to change and then head back to the venue. I made it to The Rex theater and found a parking spot no problem. It was almost 7:30pm with a showtime of 8pm. I was concerned that it would be packed and I would have to sit in the back.

Much to my joy, when I walked into The Rex, there were chairs arranged and most of them were empty, so I sat my little candyass right in the front row. Totally worth the drive and the rush out of the hotel to be able to sit in the very front! I was most excited to see Gravitys’ stage pole all set up on the stage. I had a nice conversation with a couple sitting next to me, and they told me it was their first burlesque show, awwww. We talked about photography stuff and in the meantime, the audience was clearly tired of waiting for the show to start, for they started clapping and shouting and making a commotion in an effort to hurry up the process. The show was listed as starting at 8pm, and at about 8:15 is when the audience started making a ruckus. I was shocked, for in Baltimore we seem to wait around another 45 minutes to an hour for the show to start and we don’t really make a scene about it.

It seems The Rexs’ dressing room is to the back and upstairs, and eventually all the performers made their way down, through the seated audience and into the back stage area. This was a set up I had not seen before, and I thought it was rather interesting, for everyone started cheering seeing the performers progress towards the stage. It took a little while longer for the show to start, but soon it started.

First was Peekaboo Pointe, and oh baby, can she bring it! And then was Lil’ Miss Lixx, whom I had not seen before and I think she is fabulous! Cute and funny and sexy all at the same time.

Kenny Law sung us a tune whilst he played the ukulele, and then Katrina Dohl, aka part of Gravity Plays Favorites did a fan dance with a twist in the beginning. I was glad to see her do something non-pole, for sometimes I wonder if I should be doing non-pole routines myself.

And then Coco Lee (stage kitten) dragged the stage pole to center stage, and wiped the pole down with alcohol. I was actually feeling all fluttery inside for I was about to see my personal pole heroes! It was also good to see that Gravity Plays Favorites do a fresh wipe down right before they go on.

Seconds before they went on, I realized that I needed to take photos…but I also needed video of this as well. Wondering how I could accomplish this, I realized that I have two arms! Left hand held my compact camera for video, right hand held my SLR camera for photos. I had never done both before at the same time.

And I did it, I watched them perform and I took photos and I took video. I had to, they’re my heroes!! It was so weird to see them, in front of me…as opposed to me only seeing them perform via little videos on Facebook or YouTube. It was kind of amazing to be right there in front of them!

During intermission, I bought a raffel ticket, and thanked Peekaboo Pointe for bringing Gravity Plays Favorites closer to me! And when they announced the winner for the raffel…I won! I got Kenny Laws CD, a tour poster, a Lil’ Miss Lixx lighter, and pasties made by Peek-a-boo Pointe (nice black ones, and not the hot-mess-hot-glue ones I make). The show continued on and I was so glad to see Michelle Mynx do a pole solo.

And of course, closing the show was the dynamic duo once again!

After the show, I saw Gravity Plays Favorites walk out from backstage. Michelle Mynx asked me if I was Bianca, and I just shouted “Yes, I love you two, youre my heroes!” and gave her a big hug! It was cute. So I waited for them to take photos and talk with people, and we had a couple drinks at the bar and talked some pole stuff. Michelle helped me on trying to get my knee hold (damn that knee hold!) on their stage pole. And then they had to pack their stuff up and break down the stage pole and all that. I waited for a while, but they were clearly busy and I went on my little way.

It was still fantastic to see them in person, and I swear this will not be the last time!!

My flickr photo set of the show

Right after Asheville, I was home for a few days, and then went to Lexington, KY for another out-of-town weekend. And again, I was also too tired and busy to think of a new routine. And then the weekend after Lexington, I was still exhausted from my back-to-back long weekend drives.

The first thing for me to think of was: pole or non-pole. It took me about a week to come to the conclusion of not using the stage pole for this show. Ultimately I realized that since this is not my show, and since the venue is small, and since I was opening and I did not want the stage pole to be in anyone’s way on stage for the entire show. So I decided on a non-pole routine.

By the time I settled on the song and finalized what I wanted to sew, it was already July 4th weekend and I was a mess, for I was certain I would never finish the outfit in time. 7 days later, I was pretty much done, much to my surprise. Sure I had some sequins to sew on, and I also needed to practice in my outfit to adjust for faster/timely removal…but I was mostly done.

So I worked on blocking movements and memorizing. That took a week. Then the week of the show, I was able to actually practice and video tape and review. And boy did I ever review and practice! I practiced at home, I practiced at work, I practiced anywhere I could. I wanted to perform as tight as I could, with no wavering as to what move to do next, for I needed to be able to hold my own amongst the pros I who will be going on after me.

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The day of the show, it was hot! We got into 100 degree territory that afternoon. I had to take two showers before the show. A flyer for the show I had seen said that the show would be starting at 8, I figured doors would be around 7 and that I should get to The Ottobar at 5. My I sure was the early birdy! I was the 1st performer to show up, but at least I was in nice air conditioning.

Having time to kill, I ran through my routine on the stage a few times to feel more comfortable. It took a while for everyone else to show, and seems I got the show time wrong and the show was scheduled to start at 10. Time went by fairly quickly talking amongst ourselves backstage and before I knew it, it was 9pm and there were people entering the Ottobar waiting for the show to start. The performance schedule was posted on a wall and I was to be up first, and then there would be a break, and then the show was to start. My time was 10pm. As 10 approached, I got dressed and ready to perform. But they decided to wait a little longer, and I hit the stage at like 10:30pm.

Right before getting up there, I did go through my personal pre-performance-mental-process (as opposed to Asheville) and I think that I made myself more nervous. I stood there waiting to go on, and in my head, the nerves were more so than I had ever felt before.

Now usually for me, the nerves go away when I actually start performing my routine, but this time they didn’t go away until half way though. I was so nervous I almost dropped my fans! But I didn’t drop them. Then I was done. Its such a weird feeling to work so hard on a routine, spend so much time and energy sewing, memorizing, and practicing…and then its over.

And who knows when I will do this routine again.  Stage Kitten Deanna Danger gathered my things, Murray Hill asked who sang my song (cause its funny) and I ran backstage.  I changed and I ran back down to watch the show with the rest of my crew.

Sure it felt weird that I performed and then there was a 10 minute break and then the show started, but the situation was kind of weird to begin with since The Ottobar asked me to perform and not anyone from Burlesque-a-Pades. A little strange, but it still got me on the stage non-the-less.

Great to see Murray Hill again, he remembered me from the show he hosted that I was in back in Philly in September 2009! That was really cool. It was also cool to see these well-established-and-never-in-Baltimore actually perform in Baltimore. The show went on with out an intermission, and they all had these fabulous outfits that all the pros have, of course. It was also cool to talk to them a little bit after the show.

None of the other performers saw me perform, since I was the opening act and they all were busy getting ready for the show. So all in all it was a good experience for me. It was a little bit of an odd situation, but I did my best to make sure that I was going to do my best!

My flickr photoset

Photos of me by: Rohrvision Photography

1. Make An Entrance
2. Delay Eye Contact
3. Be Shiny
4. Use Your Hands
5. Do A Lil Dance
6. Watch The Makeup
7. Build Tension
8. Use Your Breath
9. Take Charge
10. Have Fun

http://glo.msn.com/relationships/tips-for-trying-burlesque-4600.gallery

As soon as I got there Thursday (June 10th 2010) night, I walked around downtown for a little bit. Not long though because I was pretty exhausted from the drive. I easily fell asleep that night.

Friday morning (June 11th 2010) I had hotel breakfast, went to visit a friend and ran-though my routine one last time. Also I did a lot of looking around the shops downtown. I personally think that the shops there are a on the tad-expensive side

Friday night was my Asheville performance.

While most other performers are probably flexible as to where they can perform, I along with my stage pole, have special needs. We need a room large enough to accommodate the stage, both width and height. Due to scheduling changes I was moved from the very large spacious room to a much, much, much smaller room where the stage pole just barely fit. Unfortunately, I had created a new routine for Asheville involving adding a topper/cap to the pole, adding about 4 inches to the top…which is a lot to be added for a small room.

The dressing room was really hot.   My make up didn’t go on quite right. We had to get our stuff out of the dressing room before the show was over, and I’m so glad I didn’t loose anything in the shuffle.

I was the last of the performers of the evening, which I appreciate that they wanted me to close the show, but that also meant I had a whole show to sit there and stress over performing.  I did the best that I could.  A few things went wrong during my routine, and of course I didn’t mess up during my practices so I felt a little caught off guard.  But with all the practices I did in the weeks before, me kind-of loosing my place in my performance, I was almost able to remember and continue on. Everyone thought I did great, but I personally felt otherwise. Never-the-matter.

After my performance they played the Paolo Garbanzo film about him becoming the official jester of England. While this would have been interesting to me on another occasion, I had just performed and I had to re-gather everything, change our of my costume, take apart the stage pole, and mingle. It was enjoyable to meet new performers and talk with others I had met attending ABSfest last year. Unfortunately, my body seems to hate me and I had suddenly came down with an awesome case of Laryngitis and I was hardly able to talk…I pushed myself, but it wasn’t easy.

The evening ended sooner than I had thought since most people left, and I packed up my stage pole into my fancy rental car and retreated to my hotel and microwaved some soup, hoping to help my thought.

The next day (June 12th 2010) I was ready for a very busy day. First thing, I woke up and had the hotel breakfast and then made my way to downtown to take Michelle L’amour’s advanced burlesque class. I was not exactly sure what this was going to be; a motion class or a sit-down class. It was a motion class, and it was very interesting to see all of us shimmy and shake behind her…and of course she does it all so perfectly. You would be surprised as to how tiring it can be to wiggle your shoulders for 3 full minutes. The class involved posture, poses, hands…everything to make you look the best you can. I appreciated the class very much.

Right after that, I ran across the street to the Orange Peel to take Lula Hoop-Garou’s hula hoop class. She is totally my hoop-tease hero…and I don’t even hula hoop! Yes, hula hoop tricks are harder than they look, but of course that goes for almost every skill out there. I even got a tiny little bruise on my knee attempting knee hooping. Of course, as a pole dancer, I’m used to getting bruises.

So right after the hoop class, I met up with “Hat and Rat” whom performed right before me last night, and we headed to Ed Boudreaux’s for some real North Carolina BBQ. We walked in just as the FIFA game was ending, and the place cleared out quickly. The wonderful sauces they have there are so yummy! I went there last year and I waited anxiously for a whole year to eat there again. I even had some food left over for a midnight snack. (My hotel room had a fridge and microwave)

I quickly went back to the hotel and whipped myself together to get ready for the big burlesque show that night. I took another shower, curled my hair, put on blue eyeshadow and glitter and I dashed back downtown for the show. The Orange Peel opened the doors later than they say they will, and I got there at a decent time to be kind of near the front…meaning I was able to get in and save a few seats for “Hat and Rat”.

As I mentioned, I was not at my healthiest. I had Laryngitis, plus my eyes were hurting as well. I am assuming it is a combination of an allergic reaction to mascara as well as allergys from the local air…my eyes were red, irritated, burned and were overall generally gross. At the Orange Peel they do not have AC, but they do have a gigantic overhead fan, which probably did not bother most people as much as it bothered me and my sensitive eyes. I spent much of the show squinty-eyed and shielding my face from the wind.

The show was a little hit and miss with me. Overall it was a good show. A big miss on the event for me was the lack of the more apparatus-type acts that were so prevalent at last years show. I was disappointed when I entered and did not see any silks, hoops, or trapeze rigged up and ready for use. The show last year had so many such acts and this year there weren’t any.

My most favorite performances were of course Lula Hoop-Garou, Michelle L’amour who made me swoon, and Cherry Typhoon who is practically  a human Japanese cartoon, she was fantastically funny! I really enjoyed the juggling antics of Forty fingers and a missing tooth, the quick wordiness of Sidetracked, and the silly retro Star Trek attitude of  Salome Cabaret. I missed Pearl Pistol because I had to run to the bathroom and splash water in my eyes to relieve them from being so dry because of the gigantic fan.

When the show was over, all of the chairs were quickly cleared out and more mingling…of course difficult for me with the Laryngitis. Conversations went until the wee hours and then I was truly exhausted.

Sunday (June 13th 2010) was the Tiki Brunch at The Yacht Club. Of course I got there later than I should have and only saw the last few performances. The yacht club is rather amusing since, well…its very tiki-ish. I ate my breakfast, and much to my surprise in walked Michelle L’amour (swoon) and she sat next to me at the bar (squee)…it was the only available seat. We talked for a little bit which was nice.

I went outside and talked with some other performers for a little bit longer. A few people were to be heading home that afternoon, but I was glad I decided to stay the extra day so that I had a full day left for whatever. Standing outside, Lula Hoop-Garou and Pearl Pistol came by, but they arrived too late for the tiki breakfast, and they had decided to go elsewhere for food and invited me to join them. Seeing as how I had nothing planned, of course I jointed them.  I hugged Michelle L’amour good-bye and went to join them for Breakfast 2.0.

We went to Tulepo Honey cafe were I felt I had no choice but to order a large sweet potato pancake (yummy), even though I had just eaten breakfast. We talked about performing in our cities, them from Chicago and me from Baltimore, and talked about what we thought of Asheville and other fun stuff like that.

After that I went to the house they were staying at. It was a large house on beautiful property (my husband saw the photos and said “I want a house like that”). We all got plastic round tube-floatys and went splashy-splashy in the creek behind the house. It truly was fun and lovely to be water relaxing and splashing in North Carolina.

After a few hours I left them for the evening and went to spend my last evening in Asheville walking around downtown again. Sure most everything was closed, but I still enjoyed myself, I ate more soup at The Noodle Shop and later I got ice cream.

Monday morning (June 14th, 2010), I woke up, loaded the fancy car with everything, checked-out of the hotel  and headed downtown one more time to check out some more shops I did not have a change to see before. It was a hot day out, and I walked around for a little over an hour and a half. Eventually I just was not in the mood to walk in the sunny heat, and I also had to get my candyass back to Baltimore.

My very last stop in Asheville was Double D’s, the double decker bus coffee house. That place is small but cute, and the iced mocha coffee drink I got was quite refreshing.

And then I headed home. 8.5 hour trip. Pretty far, but totally possible by oneself. The fancy rental car did make the drive very comfortable.

My Flickr photoset of Asheville

Article about the weekend

We spent some time together in Asheville, NC and this is her performance from that weekend.

I was a hot-mess that night (blood-shot allergy eyes and laryngitis) I could not do much cheering so I’m pretty sure the whistles are from me.

Lula Hoop-Garou at Orange Peel, ABSFest 2010 from lula houp-garou on Vimeo.

Gravity Plays Favorites | Show-me Burlesque! 2010 from Hannah Radcliff on Vimeo.

Virgin Airlines painted a pretty lady on a plane, in celebration of the airlines 10th anniversary of flying non-stop from Vegas to London.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/Dita-Von-Teese-wing-walks-killer-heels-flying-lady.html

Seeing as how Palace of Wonders is terribly tiny, and Jo Boobs was to be performing, I was sure that it was going to be ridiculously packed in there.  Since I was not in the  mood to deal with being in the back of a crowd of people at Palace of Wonders, I choose to get there as early as I could, which ended up being 8pm.  Also turns out that I along with Miss Moxie Madhouse were the first people to enter.  Didn’t bother me one bit that I was there so early, that just meant more time for drinkies.

As the evening continued, more people came in.  It got crowded but it wasn’t ridiculously packed, which I rather liked.  Although, it could have been the fact that it is Memorial Day weekend, and people tend to  leave the city on such weekends.  A few of our cute faces from Trixie’s Bootcamp class were there, and its  always fun when we can get together.

The host was Johnny Porkpie, who also performed boylesque as well, and that is always a refreshing thing to see. Jo Boobs, Gal Friday, Trixie Little and Johnny Porkpie all performed.  And even though it was only four performers, the show was a lot of fun and still high energy and all that good burlesque stuff!

During intermission they were having signups for the mailing list.  And of course I slap my email address on there.   Then when the show started, an email address was to be pointed out from the list for someone to win a free copy of the Burlesque Handbook…and it was me, TaDa!!

I had Jo Boobs sign my book, I finished my drinkie and we all headed on home.  Moxie Madhouse made me a yummy omelet when I got to her place, and I drove home afterward exhausted yet glad I went.

My photo set

The Trixie Little’s Burlesque Bootcamp recital went off spectacularly!  I could not have asked for anything more.

We all got there nice and early and each went through our routines on the stage for our final practice.  Interestingly enough, each and every one of us mentioned that we were early on our cues…even me.  We all figured it was because we were pretty nervous and excited for the show. It did not take too long for us all to do a run-through and then we went to put on out makeup.

I wanted to give myself plenty of time for my makeup.  (As opposed to me forgetting my makeup case at the hotel for the Jim Thorpe burlesque festival and running back to get it, leaving me 20 minutes to do my makeup and get ready for the show)  I had Photoshopped my intended make-up plan on a photo of me, and printed it out to act as a “roadmap” for applying the makeup.  I did this because I have never done a large patch of pink eyeshadow on my eyes before, and I wanted to do whatever I could to help myself out.

Dr Lucky arrived and introduced herself to all of us.  I couldn’t believe that she was going to stage kitten for the show, actually I was very shocked when I heard that, pretty awesome!

There were so many women in this show, most of them brand new to performing, all nervous but of course  getting along, sharing glitter, tape, safety pins and glue and taking pictures.  Once I was done with my makeup, I figured to go out into The Ottobar and hang out for a while.

I was the last of the bootcamp women to perform, and I had quite a bit of time until I should be putting on the many pieces of my costume.  So I stood out there, talking to people, trying to be calm about the whole thing but realizing that once I went back to put on my costume,  the nerves would come.

Right before the show started, we did a huddle and a cheer and then Trixie Little went out on stage and had everyone pledge of allegiance to pasties and thongs. And once the show started, it was all a blur.  I had seen the performances before in all of our practice classes, but it was so great to see them once again with the crowd and the lights and the makeup.

Miss Moxie Madhouse (priss turned hippy) was the first to step up there, and I saw something in her face that kind of seem powerful, for even though I knew she was turbo-nervous going on first, she did not show it at all.  Then Gigi Holiday (superhero bitch), Roma Mafia (jolly leprechaun), and Scarlet Let Her (budding Medusa) all came and went from the stage, all of them pretty much killing-it in their own ways.   I loved watching them all, and knew that with every performer leaving the stage, that was one more closer to my weirdness stepping up there.  I left before the end of the first half of the show to allow myself a whole lot of time to put on all the parts of my costume.

About 40 “rice grains” were carefully attached to my white dress, each one getting attention to make sure it was well velcroed on.  It took me all of the intermission and help from Petra Precocious (bee keeper) for the rice to be attached.  I had practiced a few times with the rice before, but for all the practices I kind of half-assed slapped them on with out a care, for the actual show I paid attention.  Once all the rice was on good and secure, I put on my seaweed wrap and then put on my wig with my hat safety pinned to the wig to assure that it wouldn’t fall off.

Since I was the last of the bootcamp performers, I saw the entire second half of the show through breaks in the curtain and at an angle, but I still watched it as much as I could.

I  was backstage in time to see Summer’s (Orange Peel) performance. She is gorgeous, legs to die for, and everything in her routine was orange!    As all the performers finished and stepped off stage, I’m sorry I was not able to congratulate each one, but I was spending my time getting into my mental “zone”. I watched them all in a bit of a daze, and thinking about my routine very hard.  Then Petra Precocious (bee keeper) came out, with a bunch of pom-pom bees popping out of various places of her costume as well as a strategically placed honey pot. Cyndlicious was a beautiful butterfly with big graceful wings…and then it was my turn.

I am aware of my mental process for performing and I embrace it now:  During the performer right before me,  I feel very nervous, but when my name is announced, the nerves peak-out and then drop as soon as I step on stage. And then, there I was, a big silly sushi roll stepping out onto the stage.  A  tube of green, 40 “rice-grain” small pillows, plus a fish tail! I was nervous about my routine, nervous that people wouldn’t “get it”, nervous about not hitting my cues right with the music, nervous about my hat falling off, nervous that my body might be shaking, nervous about stumbling, and nervous about being last.  But my routine seems to have been a hit!  Ive spent weeks paranoid I would be a big weird failure of the whole show, so Im glad people thought it was funny and interesting.

* And then it was over *

I ran off stage, ran out to the audience, saw a little of Dr Lucky, and then had to run back for the on-stage champagne toast.  Trixie and Monkey performed one more time as I put back on my pink top and had a sip of water. We all were called back onstage one at a time. It felt pretty amazing, the stage was filled with all of us who learned burlesque and practiced routines and sewed costumes and glued pasties for all these weeks, and I loved them all and the audience was cheering, and it was awesome!

I lost my voice for a bit, cheering for everyone and talking over the music.  I stayed late after the show talking to people, and maybe I was a little reluctant to let the experience go.  But I was tired and hungry  and of course eventually I left.

Seriously, some of the best money I have spent, taking the classes and the cost of the costume…but it all has helped me in so many ways!

Now I have another 6 weeks for a new routine, and I’m worried about creating it with out Trixie and the class to help me.  Eeep!

Events at the weekend ranged from hot rod car shows to burlesque shows. It’s a family friendly event (not the burlesque part of course) and everyone dresses like they live in the 1940′s-60′s. This is what being a modern day pinup or rockabilly person is all about.

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There is also a video

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-430606?hpt=Mid

From starting the first class with running though routine ideas, I knew something good was going to come out of this process.  Of course I’ve been a bit stressed out for I am trying something new, personally, I am not going to be a woman in a pretty rhinestoned gown slowly seducing the audience.  There have been times that I wish that is what I was doing…but Trixie Little stressed on us to be creative and try to push an idea out and I honestly believe that we all are going out of our comfort zones in one way or another.

The past 3 weeks I have been working on my costume.  So much of the time has gone to going to fabric stores and coming home and trying things out.  Then realizing that the idea worked and I need to buy better fabric…or didn’t work and I need to think of something better.  I have various “layers” to my routine and so many different fabrics were purchased and messed with to try to make my silly idea actually happen.

Besides my work and my fabric, I believe Trixie Little to be the best burlesque teacher!  Sure I haven’t been taught by many, but I am just in awe with her knowledge of performance and what works and what doesn’t.  I had my one-on-one class with her a few days ago, and I walked in with my routine roughed-out but not-quite-polished.  In half an hour Trixie Little went through it with me and seriously cleaned it up and pointed out parts  in the song to really hit with my movements, which is exactly what I needed!

I walked out of my private class shocked as to how dead-on perfect her recommendations and suggestions were.  I wish I could have her look though all of my routines!

Aside from benefiting from the experience of Trixie Little, suggestions from the other class students have been helping me out as well.  I cant image how my routine would have been if I had not gotten the input from everyone.  I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be half as good as I think it is now.

The next couple days we are going through everything including everything: our worked-through moves, entire costumes, wigs, pasties.

I’m only nervous for the show, hoping that everyone “gets” what I am doing.

Arriving into the area late Friday afternoon, somehow I managed to check into the hotel, heat up my hot rollers, throw them in my hair, let them cool, busted out a single front roll, left the hotel and made it to the Mach Chunk Opera House in Jim Thorpe, PA.   No time to poke around the town right away, but with the short drive through town as well as the walk to the theater, I was instantly pleasantly surprised with the delightful Victorian adorableness that is Jim Thorpe, PA.  I seriously need to come back for another weekend, sans burlesque festival.  Colorful Victorian buildings are a welcome change from Baltimore’s falling apart, or burned up structures nobody seems to care about.  (Sure a city is much different, but its still refreshing to see nice real estate anyways)

At the theater, I recognized a couple performers: Miss Eerie Twilight and Miss Mourna Handful, and I sat with them and we all listened to the organizers run through the show.  A couple performers did a run-through of their routine to get used to the stage space.   We all also walked around the theater, backstage, and balcony to become familiar with the place.  I took my stage pole out of my car and set it up on the stage, just to get that task over with.   A large man helped me get the stage pole up onto the stage, and that help is always appreciated from me.  I like to screw the parts in myself, but the transportation of the entire thing and lifting it onto stages I need help with sometimes.

We all left the Opera House and walked down the street to the restaurant Pepperjacks for an eat-meet-great of sorts.  It was a bit crowded in the downstairs bar area, but it was still a rather enjoyable evening with burlesque talk about shows and cities and performers.  I totally love hearing stuff like that, because I often feel like I’m out on my own at home with what I do.

Drive – Hotel – Sleep – Wake up – Drive to Jim Thorpe, PA

It was breakfast time.  We were provided a complimentary breakfast at the lovely Albright Mansion.  In my head, I thought this complimentary breakfast would be similar to a free breakfast at a hotel, with trays of scrambled eggs and an English muffin.  I was so wrong, for Albright Mansion is a gorgeous little proper English Civil war era restaurant.  We arrived at this beautiful little place, and in walked 5 fabulous women all with big glittery flowers in their hair ready for some yummy breakfast goodness.   I looked at the menu, and was astonished at the very reasonable prices considering the charming ambiance.  Seriously, for the same breakfast price as Bob Evans, was this Albright Mansion.  With all the fanciness and at a price I could appreciate (for the next time I come back to Jim Thorpe)

After breakfast, we all went to the vendor area to spend some money.  I happened to have met a fellow pole dancer there as well!  Ha, of course!

After that, I walked around town for a little while, and then I had to drive back to my hotel (15 miles away/30min) to get my stuff for the show that night.  Back to Jim Thorpe to practice my routine one last time.

I drove all the way back down to Jim Thorpe (getting used to the drive by then) and ran back into the Opera House.   Walking into the backstage area, I saw Count Scotchula, of Peek-A-Boo Revue.  He was the person behind my very first show with my stage pole, in Philadelphia, back in September 2009.  And it was funny to see him again, and have him call out “Ahhh, Bianca DuPree, I recognized the stage pole!”

I met up with the other pole dancer I had just met, for she wanted to try out my X-stage.  She tried it out and gave it a thumbs up!  Wow, Ive heard so many people complain about the X-Stage that I don’t know what to think of it sometimes.  She explained she tried out the new Platinum Stage Star-Base pole recently, and that thing is no good, and she explained why.  I was thinking of buying that one and selling my X-Stage, but she convinced me otherwise. Looks like me and my X-stage will be together for a while.

After I did my routine run-through, I was ready to put on my make-up for the show.  I looked around for my makeup case.  Then I remembered I did not grab it from my hotel room! My hotel is a half an hour away, meaning it will take an hour to go there and back!  Without hesitating, I put my shoes on, ran out of the Opera House, ran to my car and bolted back over to my hotel room.  The whole hour drive to the hotel and back, I was cursing myself for picking a hotel so far away.  Then realizing it wasn’t that much of a pain until that moment, and then cursing the fact that I’m a dumbass for forgetting my makeup case in the first place.

I ran back to the Opera House, and I had to mad-rush myself to get ready.  I had a little over half an hour.  Sure that seems like plenty of time but somehow I still forgot to put the rhinestone things in my hair (not really that big of a big deal, I just like to be glittery).  I did do the sponge roller in front, side small bun, more eye shadow and more glitter, and I also remembered to put on my pasties…very important.

As I was holding my pasties in place, I heard a loud cheer from the audience and that meant the show was starting, on time.  Damn, I was hoping it would start late.  So I had to hurry to get my outfit on, making sure to get the items on in the correct order for ease of removal, and ran down to the backstage to warm up, since I was in the first half of the show.

Standing backstage, I was watching the beautiful storm of glitter and feathers and performers waiting to be announced and performers having just finished their routine.   Two women were actually waiting to be announced for their very first show ever, at a festival!  How fabulous of them!

And there I was hopping around, trying to stretch a little and to warm up.  All the while, I was repeating to myself “Smile, you’re ganna smile, don’t make ugly face, smile” And then it was my turn to perform.

The theater was packed; they sold out the show.  I walked over to my stage pole, wiped it down, put a little Dry Hands on the pole, and waited for the large men to lift the stage pole to center stage.  It took them a little longer than expected, but they came and strongly lifted that stage pole to center.  I stepped up and did my routine.  Cheers for all the pole poses, but I was trying to focus on smiling throughout my routine.  And then…I was done, and exhausted.  No matter how many times I do it, every routine wears me out.  I ran backstage, panting and relieved that I didn’t slip on the pole.  I was proud of this performance, no mistakes, and I smiled.

There were a few more performers after me, I tried to take a peek, but was thwarted due to the probability that the audience could see me peaking. Poop, I tried.  I changed into a dress I brought and proceeded to put away my some of my stuff during the intermission.  So strange, doing all that driving and preparation just for a 4 minute routine.  I went down to the Opera House lobby, and a few people recognized me as the pole dancer.  They were all so surprised at my routine and figured I must be very strong.  Amusing, since Im not the most perfect pole dancer out there, and a lot of pole dancing is gripping with skin and physics of the body.  But I love the compliments!

I went back into the theater.  The show was sold out, and there weren’t any available seats for me, so I stood on the very side to watch the rest of the show.  I totally loved the show, and I kind of wish I could have seen the entire show, I bet it was awesome.  I was impressed with the variety of everyone performing.  From hula hoops, big feather fans, small silk fans, singing, comedy, my pole, and a group number…so many different interpretations of burlesque really inspire me.

At the end of the show, all us performers went on stage and they announced 3^rd, 2^nd, and 1^st place.  To be honest, I didn’t even know we were being judged at this show until a few days before. I am personally very against competitions, they bother me, but since this is truly done for fun, I accepted the situation.  I didn’t place, hey, I didn’t think I would.  Im just starting out after all.

And then we all packed up our things and made it down to the restaurant Molly McGuires Pub & Steakhouse.  When I walked into the restaurant, I wanted to run away, for the place was just about the most packed tiny restaurant I have ever seen.  By this time, it was about 11pm and I hadn’t eaten anything since my English breakfast at 11:30am. So I needed food asap.  But this was the only place open in the area, and I felt I had almost no choice but to stand there and wait.  My feet hurt, and I was starving.

Soon, everything fell into place, tables became available, I ordered a hot sandwich I talked some more to other performers.  Much to my surprise I found out that so many of us in this show were beginners as well, having performed for less than a year. I felt so much like I belonged with everyone, into burlesque but just starting out and very focused on getting into more shows and learning more.   When our hostess Madame Corsetiere walked by, we had asked her how long she has been a host, or if she was a stand-up comedian, for she was so comfortable on stage.  Much to everyone’s surprise, she admitted “I’ve never had a mic in my hand in my life…I’m just a smartass!”  Even our show host was new to it!  That actually made me love the show even more.  I never would have guessed she’s never been on a stage before.   Fantastic!

Drive – Hotel – Sleep – Wakeup – Check out – Drive to Jim Thorpe, PA

Couldn’t make it to a 10:30am class, for I wanted my English breakfast.  Oh, the debate, burlesque class or yummy complimentary food…the food won.

After that, it was back to the Opera House for a hula hoop class.  Hula hooping right after eating made my tummy feel weird, but the class was fun anyways.  I was trying to go for the move where you are hooping at the waist, and grab the hoop and then bring it over your head. But whenever I went to lift the hoop, I would stop the thing I grabbed it so hard and then I kind of messed up lifting and would hit my shoulder? I couldn’t figure it out.  I was able to hula with my hand over my head, and have the hoop drop down t my waist and continue to hula with my waist.  I was also working on the vertical isolation type move.

After the  hula hoop class, it was time for some more walking around Jim Thorpe, this time for a more leisurely walk.  I enjoyed myself, and after that I loaded up my car with the stage pole and headed back to good ol’Bawlteemore.   Exhausted from driving and excited about meeting wonderful people and the possibility for more shows in the future.

My Flickr Photo Set of the weekend

The photographers photo set of the show

This is my second go of burlesque classes, the first time was three years ago.  But this time around I have a couple of shows under my rhinestone fringed belt (And I mean a couple, I’m no seasoned performer over here)  But I am feeling good in that I am not totally uncomfortable on stage, yet slightly aware of what I want to work on in myself.

Before class, we were to come up with 10 routine ideas.  Yeah, a whole 10 of them.  Somehow I wrote down 12 ideas though and picked out about 10 songs that I would like to perform to as well.

We started off with theater movement exercises and then broke up into smaller groups to talk about our ideas and flush out whats the better idea and think about what are the top three idea to discuss with the whole class.  So we all sat down and quickly had to run through out routines with a couple other women.  That was helpful, but the most helpful was when we talked about our ideas with everyone.

All of us brought up 2 or 3 routine ideas to discuss with the whole class.  First of all, it was very interesting to hear what everyone came up with on their own.  It was almost a way of seeing what kind of person they are when hearing their ideas.  And secondly, it was fantastic to hear Trixie Little’s opinion about the idea, the execution of it, what will work and what wont.  That was worth the price of the class alone…and we have only just begun!

DO NOT USE:

Kitten, Kitty, Vixen, Honey, Von, Lux or Deluxe, Lola, de Ville, Violette, Pinky, Femme or Belle.

Why, you may ask? Because these names have been taken a million times over! Seriously, this is like calling yourself Jennifer.

Nothing is more shattering than coming to perform and having an audience member say “Oh, I thought you were that other gal!” And, honestly, you don’t need to tread the same ground; you should want to have your own, individual personality.

http://itsachick.com/perfs/StripteaseSymposiumBurlesqueName.html

Honestly, Baltimore has some of the best performers in the country. Their acts seem to have a witty edge and enthusiasm that is half Greta Garbo and half drinking a 40 after hours in the Charleston.

If you haven’t been to a show before, picture a room packed to the rafters with fold-up chairs (if there are chairs), a forest of Natty-Bos and plastic wine glasses perched precariously by everyone’s feet, probably more women than men (all of which have the best lingerie drawers in the city), and a woman or man up on stage doing the smartest, funniest, striptease shimmy you’ll ever see.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/midnight_sun/blog/2010/02/a_peek_into_baltimores_burlesq.html

As far as the debate, Im actually for pole dancing to be in the Olympics.  I don’t care about the whole sexy issue.  I would love for society to see pole dancing as a sport and not something that “strippers” (note: the quotes) do.  I want it to get more respect for women train and practice so hard to make the physical achievements, as gymnasts do.

Honestly, I am not just into pole dancing for the sport and fitness of it.  But I am 100% aware that it is highly physical and athletic and I want it to be seen as such.  Forget “sexy”.  Its so hard to shoulder-mount up, get into the extended Butterfly, whip into a Jade, flip that to a Superman, Gemini, get vertical then Yogini, and Twisted grip slow dismount.

I doubt it will be accepted.  So many people still think that pole dancers are strippers, its so frustrating and I don’t know how long it will take for that opinion to change.

Nerd burlesque is all the rage these days, and our friends at Asylum recently attended the Epic Win’s Holy Sh*t…Batman! Burlesque show in New York City, and brought back photos of its burlesque interpretations of Batman characters like Two-Face, The Joker, Riddler, and Harley Quinn.

There are photos of the performers and an interview on the link
www.comicsalliance.com/batman-burlesque-dancers/

But at the end of January I realized that I should try to apply to the Jim Thorpe, PA burlesque festival and the best way to show what Im about to people who have never met me is a website of course! (says the web designer). Also I was supposed to perform at the Baltimore Tattoo Convention in early February (which I got blizzard-ed in my house as the convention went on downtown even though people could not really attend)

Either way, my site is there. If you like it, thanks! If you think its a bit much, probably so. If you think that Im silly for having a site when Im just starting out and have really only done 3 shows…sure. But Im a web designer, sites are my thing.

BiancaDuPree.net

I just found out about Miss Glory Pearl, and I wish I could meet her!

EeeeeYaowwwww!!!!

That is all I can say about this routine!

They did Stormtrooper, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, C-3PO, Princess Leia and Jabba the Hutt.

View more pictures here

Here is pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about pastie tassels.

Admittedly this post is a weeee bit late (like over a month), but my mind has since then, been SO VERY preoccupied with the polesque troupe show, that I couldn’t look through the photos I took and write up anything, until now.

I and a fellow pole dancing friend of mine went down to Charlottesville, VA. Its about a 3 hour drive from Baltimore, so its not too bad actually. The weather couldn’t have been any more beautiful. We signed up for the 6-7:30 class taught by Sara Cretul, “Miss Trixter”.

The class took place at the E-Fit dance studio. It appears to be a ballroom dancing studio, complete with a full light set up. They installed a bunch of poles for the workshops, with tons of room between poles. I’ve never seen a pole room so spacious. I also saw quite a few women from my pole studio, and that was really cute to see that they too made the trip down.

Starting the class off with some stretching, I see that I am one of the least flexible people on the planet. We then warmed up on the pole; climb to the top and drop down and repeat, shoulder-mount hold, (stomach muscles), underhand grip hold, underhand grip from a height and hold…I was tired after warming up. She then went over a few moves. I got some help on my Jade, while I can’t do a slip to save my life, I definitely have the hold down. I also, somehow got the twisted grip handspring. Not as graceful as Sara, and I can’t hold the pose for 10 minutes like her either, but I somehow got the move.

The poles were also spinny poles. I have a stage pole of my own that can be put into spinning, but I have never been on a pole in spin-mode. So I tried at that class. The worst feeling in the world! I did a helicopter spin to a Gemini, and the way I stop that spin is by gripping down on the pole with the skin on my shoulder blade. Only, on the spinning pole that doesn’t stop for shit. I gripped down as I naturally do, and just kept on spinning on the pole. And I felt scared and with a slight panic going through me, for all I wanted to do was stop. Quickly and un-gracefully I got off the pole. Only to realize I will never do that again.

I probably didn’t push myself too hard at the class, for I was not too sore afterwards. The rest of the evening was chill, just sitting in the hotel room watching “South Park”.

The next day involved more gorgeous weather, and some light shopping and walking around downtown Charlottesville.

We got to the theater at 2pm to get our seats and waited for the show to start.

The stand-up comedian/host wasn’t too great, but I was not there to see her. All the woman in the show did two routines. The first was about a minute long, and was to demonstrate strength and flexibility. I was really into many of these mini-routines. When there is such a short amount of time, the woman just got right to it, and they were fantastic.

Then, they all did a second routine, to a full length song. Some I was not really feeling, and others I liked. There were many slower songs, and I personally prefer more upbeat/energetic songs to dance to. A few dancers stood out to me from their stage presence, not so much based on how hard their moves are.

Once all 12 women were up, Jayne Butterfly performed….oh my god, that woman is amazing, and the drive down there and price of admission was well worth it to be able to see her perform.

Then the winner announced. Not that I totally agreed with who won, sure they all were excellent, so it must have been difficult to decide the winner anyways. Although, I was so glad that my old teacher, Jessalyn Mediary achieved “pro” status!

A bunch of us all stood outside and talked while waiting for our old teacher to come out to congratulate her, and then we went home. I was exhausted, and I didn’t even drive. And that concludes my pole dance filled weekend.

Good god!! I saw this live online that night, and I realized that Marlo is totally my new pole hero! I have heard of her before, but I never looked up any videos of her. The second she walked out, I knew I was going to be into whatever she was going to be doing. Could she be any more hotter and gorgeous and strong on that pole? I think not. Two words: Ta Dow! I want to be like her when I grow up.

—

Here is the same routine, from the audience perspective

At the 1st Annual New York Burlesque festival

How can anyone not love a Death Lay, removing a bra, red balloons, and a Jade…yes!  Tell you what, I love it. I wish I could do a death lay.

Hmm, I don’t think I like this too much.  Maybe its just that Im so tired of every thing out there involved with pole being turned into a competition.

And this web site sure is stressing the word “sexy”. Count how many times its used on the first page.  Its used to many times, I thought this was a scam or something…like they were adding the word “sexy” for search engine status.

Yeah, ok, pole it sexy…but it can also be more than that ya know.   Strong beautiful woman can have a little more of a personality trait than just sexy.

http://www.pinup.me.uk/behind-the-curtain-at-the-new-orleans-burlesque-festival-with-trixie-little/

I drove to Philly, all by my lonesome. I did not know anyone who was available to go with me, which actually caused me to be rather upset, but I knew I still had to make it through no matter what…that’s showbiz…ha!

When I first made it to Philly, I went to The Painted Bride, just to check out the area. I have never been there before, and obviously the building was really interesting, and I was curious as to what the stage was like. I went in and asked if I could just check out the stage for a sec, but I was told there already was a performance going on, and I wouldn’t be able to see. All well, I thought it couldn’t hurt to just go ask. I was really wondering how much space there was around the stage, and if my pole would be able to fit. I would just have to wait until later in the day.

So, lets go forward to later on in the day, or well, later at night. At 9pm I made my way to The Painted Bride and went through the backdoor while the band was unloading the van.   I saw the stage, and it’s a very low stage.   Large and low. Then I went  to look around the sides, and there was not a lot of space.  In fact, there was hardly any space on the sides for anything since there were lights and curtains, and then a wall.  Inspecting and calculating, I realized that the stage pole was not going to fit off stage.    Basically that means that my stage pole was going to be visible on stage for the whole show. Kind of a bummer, since I would have liked it to be totally off stage until I perform, but that’s just how it goes.

I built my stage pole, and it was a nice quick assembly (sometimes the assembly can be troublesome). And then I got myself ready for the show. Most of the other performers were all ready getting ready.


Only myself and one other woman, Greta Von Tapp, were solos. Everyone else was a group act. There were four great ladies from New York, The Love show, who perform regularly, and they were to do 4 routines. Then there was Greta Von Tapp, whose from DC respectively (nice meeting someone a bit more local to myself) she was doing 2 routines. Two other performers listed on the flyer I was given were not there, but there was another group, Pink Hair Affair, who did two routines. I had just one routine, Count Scotchula did one routine, Murry Hill was to sing in the beginning, and then there were a couple wacky/weird videos thrown into the show as well. So it was to be a long show.


And it all got a late start. Must have been past 11:30pm when it started. Murray Hill was the host, and who doesn’t love bad jokes, crackin-wise, and polyester? The theater wasn’t packed, but it also wasn’t empty. Less than half full, but still there was a crowd.  Actually a rather comforting amount of people, since it was my first show and all.


So I waited and waited till my time was coming up. I watched the woman dance, and sing, and flex and reveal their pasties, and I waited.


In the big bright dressing room there was glitter on the floor. The room was warm from the lights around the mirrors, which I kind of liked since I was able to keep my muscles warm as well. After a few acts, and a couple wack-a-do videos on the screen, it was my time.

Three men carried the stage pole over to the center of the stage, and Murray Hill mentioned seeing my route earlier in the day, and also announced that this was in fact, my debut performance.   I walked out, gave the pole one last wipe. And then I took it over.

I danced to Michael Buble’s swinging cover of the Beatles classic “Can’t buy me love”.  I adore that song.   My first move was a catch spin with a flip up into a pretzel.  And once I hit that and the people started clapping, I was thinking “Yay, they’re ganna like it”.  I was glad to find the grip to get my no-hands brass monkey, and that I made my body go around enough to reach my hand back to make my Chantelle pose at the end. Usually I make it, but sometimes I don’t. But I was so glad I made I that time, of course.   I couldn’t really see the audience, it was all black in front of me, with the bright spot light shining on me.

I had taken my handspring out of the routine, since I hurt my shoulder a few days earlier (in pole class trying something silly), having replaced it with a simple cross legged drop back, which is fine since I was able to snake climb up and do a brass money a lot easier with the change.  I also took out the noodle spin with leg wrapping in front, because I can’t get out of that smoothly.  But all in all, I nailed everything I planned.  No slipping on the pole for me (since its chrome and I usually use brass, sometimes I slip on the chrome, and I had been slipping a lot in practice).  Also, I made sure ‘everything’ was tightened on the pole, so there wasn’t  any spin to the pole what so ever (it can be in spinning mode, which I don’t like, or spin a little when a little loose).

And then I was over, and everyone seemed to love it.  Murray Hill carried me off stage on his back, and then went over to the stage pole and did a few silly poses to a little bit of my song.  Silly and funny. And then I was done! I loved it. I’m glad the theater wasn’t packed, but wasn’t empty.  It was a still a decent amount of people, especially considering that it was like 1:30am by the time I got on.   So I saw the rest of the show in the audience.  There were woman from The Pink Hair Affair with wings.

Count Scotchula used hand puppets to lip sync The Scissor Sisters cover of Pink Floyds “Comfortably Numb”, and that was pretty funny, but a weird cover, I actually didn’t recognize it when I was watching the show.

Gretta Von Tapp taking her clothes off while tap dancing was cute.

And The Love show did their last performance with all four of them doing solos, and they are a group of fab woman. Too bad Im like, never in NYC, because I would totally go see them often.

After that, the band had to set up. So basically the show ended and then started back up again. In that time I took my stage pole apart.

I stayed late to see the band, Corn Mo and .357 Lover, oh, but I was so tired. It was about 2:30am when everything was over, and I took my time getting the pole parts into the car.  People who were standing outside smoking helped me with the sage, and getting it into my car.  They were so suprised that the stage pole came apart, I suppose they thought I drove a big van up to Philly with the stage already assembled.  But no, that thing actually fits in an average sized car.

By 3am, I was leaving the Painted Bride.   found a Wawa by the hotel and I was asleep at 4am. I felt relieved that it was over, over joyed that it did go well, I didn’t slip, I didn’t fall on my face, I didn’t miss a move, and everyone loved it.

While I wasn’t terribly impressed with her, and I certainly wasn’t impressed with this particular performance…I was most amused at seeing pole dancing on “Americas Got Talent”

(Would have preferred seeing Trixie Little on there, but never mind that one.)

http://www.nbc.com/americas-got-talent/video/clips/week-12-mario-and-jenny/1155208/

First of all, I believe there is a difference between stripper and pole dancer. A big difference. Sure there can be overlap, and unfortunately most people don’t understand there is a difference, and therefore assume that if there is a woman on a pole, that she is a stripper…and that is not necessarily so. This is what will always hold pole dancing back from being seen as the sport that it is.

But the key word here, is “woman”. This is supposed to be a toy for kids. So what do we think about that? On one hand, it might be good to teach girls the sport of pole dancing and that it is different that a lap dance stripper. On the other hand, could it be bringing more adult sexuality to young kids…and then again, isn’t most of society bringing in more adult sexuality to kids anyways?  Ah, but if so, should parents continue on that trend?

There is no right or wrong here to be honest.  If you are offended, don’t buy it.  If you agree, than get it.  Although, I don’t know where this thing is being sold, or if it is legit or not.

Its all a personal matter of beliefs.

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/photo_of_poledancing_doll_has_parents_in_an_outrage.html

In case you didn’t know, the R-Pole was to be the next generation of stage poles.  No heavy stage parts to lug around, no big stage base, just a flat circular section and a pole.

Seems like a great idea, and I was curious about the price, really curious, especially since I wanted a stage pole in the worse way.  So I waited on this RPole, I kept checking their site, and they said they were going to release prices in late July, but once the days spilled over into August, I was tired of waiting and I got an X-Stage.

But last week, it seems that the R-Pole had a release party and announced their prices. They are only selling to UK for now, so I couldn’t get one if I wanted to.  That, and the price (conversed to USD) is about double what I paid for my X-Stage.

There are some photos of a release party  here.

And a video of the pole in use here.

I must say, now that I see actual photos of the pole…I flat out don’t like it.  I hate the squishy pinkish mat.  It looks sloppy, not something I want on stage with me when doing a performance.  I despise the color of the mat as well.  Just because Im a woman, dont assume Im really into that color.   The whole point of the R-Pole is this revolutionary base.  And the base is what I don’t like about it.

I am glad I got my X-Stage when I did.  And Im totally over this R-Pole.  Maybe the next version after this wont bother me, but for now, slightly impressed with the idea, but not the execution.

Online thread about the R-Pole, a good read.

It is the most heaviest thing ever, it comes in two large bags for the floor panels, one gigantic bag for the stage base, and another bag for the two piece pole.

So that means that Im now ready to start in on my stage shows. (First one next month!)

http://www.poledancecommunity.co.uk/pole-dancing-at-national-day-controversy.html

But of course there are those who were not too happy about pole dancing being there for National Day , which bothers me.  Im so glad that the powers that be over there were open enough to allow pole dancing to be displayed for all to see, and show that its not something to be ashamed of.

I swear the US would never be open minded enough to allow pole dancing to happen on the Mall on July 4th.

Ha, maybe we should get together with our stage poles and go down there and make it happen anayways…but maybe no.  That X-Stage is not something to take on the Metro on the busiest Metro day of the year.

Awesome…and I really want to do the pole rider experience. Oh, that thing needs to make its way down 95 South.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/Driver-peddles-his-sexy-rickshaw-ride.html

So its good timing.

—-

So… You want to be a Burlesque performer…? PART 1

Now I have a few tips to share, to hopefully shed some light and help get your career in tassles on it’s merry way!

http://www.jacbowie.com/blog/2009/08/so-you-want-to-be-a-burlesque-performer-part-1/

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jollyness/2485271227/

They now have the first three issues available for online viewing, in a flip-through format.

Its good to know, so I can let my subscription run out, but still check in on the magazine once in a while. While I love the idea of a pole dance magazine, Pole2Pole is rather poor quality.  Its quite difficult to read through, literally, since a lot of the graphic design and formatting has clearly been done by an amateur, or maybe a student who hasn’t learned the basics of readability yet.  I also don’t like that they focus so much on the British side of pole dancing, totally ignoring that there is another large country in this planet into pole dancing as well.  I just hope that another pole dance magazine comes out asap, and make Pole2Pole step up in quality.

Either way, flip through the magazine online, and don’t worry about getting a subscription.

The Hollywood star’s striking appearance was often put down to the contrast between her ample cleavage, tiny waist and swinging hips. Her vital statistics were an amazing 37-23-36. But her voluptuous body was not all God-given, it has been discovered – she boosted her bust to a D cup using a heavy duty padded bra favoured by strippers and burlesque dancers. Now one of her bras – known as a Fling – is up for auction in Britain after being unearthed after 50 years in a private US collection. The heavy-duty bra – which “perfectly positioned” and enlarged the breasts was reinforced with extra straps running in a triangle from the centre of the bra over the shoulders, similar to how a suspension bridge works. It had underwired half-cups that were intended to lift the film star’s breasts into an impressive cleavage. It even had an extra pair of outer cups sticking out an inch to give the impression that Monroe had a larger chest than in reality.

Pantara Blacksmith. Who would have thunk?

A world renowned pole dancer on morning television?!

Well it happened a couple weeks ago in San Antonio.  She was teaching a series of workshops over there (I  wish I could have taken a class from her) and went on TV to promote and spread the respect for pole dancers everywhere.

Here is the video from “Great Day San Antonio”

Tonight they are playing at the Toronto Burlesque Festival.  If I had a passport, I would consider going there. But all well.  Nontheless, I love them and yet have never actually seen them perform in person.

So on this weekend of them  performing, I have a video.  Its over a year old, most of their videos on youtube are.  But its great no matter what.   They use a lot of shoulder mounts, hip holds, and brass monkeys all over the place and on top of eachother.  If you dont know them now, you totally should.

Well I attended the Sunday afternoon showing of the Chinese Acrobats.
http://acrobatsofhebeichina.com/

And we all know why I went to that show…the pole of course!

To be honest, I was not terribly impressed with the Chinese acrobats.  Maybe Ive seen a lot of acrobatics like that on TV, maybe I look up so many mind blowing youtube pole dance videos on my own, but the show was generally OK.

Of course the pole was the very last act. I was watching the whole show, spinning, tumbling, plate spinning…wondering when the pole was coming on.  There was something large on stage, covered with white fabric, I knew it had to be the poles.  And then the fabric dropped and there were four men on two poles.

Some of the stuff was decent, some geminis, flagpoles.  I really liked the two times one man lept from one pole to the other.  I especially liked when he caught the other pole with his legs.  Very impressive.

Overall, they were ok.  Im glad I got to check it out for free though.

While I don’t have any issues about overweight people personally, I really did not like this episode. (Not that I am a follower of DYAO, I only saw this one because there was pole dancing in it) I just found it to be rather unfair that they threw a pole at them for a week and probably expected something more than what was given. It takes so long to build up the muscle strength to be able to really accomplish anything. Plus with the extra weight the people had, it makes things much more difficult for them. Not to mention that they were on a spinning chrome pole. Chrome is rather slippery, compared to brass, and spinning poles scare me. There is some loss of control on the spinning poles.

However, I can appreciate when more people are exposed to pole dancing as a sport, I also appreciate when people truly realize just how damn difficult pole dancing is. The contestants were struggling with everything they had, and lets be honest, really they were only doing basic moves.

And my biggest problem with the episode…they kept calling it “stripper poles” and referring to “stripper moves”. Sorry, but thats the wrong phrase-ology. Just call it “pole dance”. Most of the contestants called it “pole dancing”. The host kept saying “stripper”. Some strippers can pole dance, and some pole dancers strip. But I see a difference, and I know I’m not the only one.

I was not able to find many videos of the contestants performances at this time, but here is what I came up with for now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcM_v4paW-I

http://jezebel.com/5314283/dance-your-ass-off-poledancing–milf-face?skyline=true&s=x

And this is a review of the episode:

http://www.examiner.com/Pole-dancing-disaster-on-Dance-Your-Ass-Off

Needless to say I was disappointed that all the judges hated them.  I mean, come on! They are American, and they have tons of talent.  More than most people to go on that stage.  They are smart, funny, strong, and the best thing to come out of Baltimore.

Here is what Trixie had to say (I hope I can post this):

Such a long flight to LA for 10 seconds of television!  I guess we were too saucy for NBC!  They edited out all the fun parts like me spanking Monkey and feeding him his banana…Monkey getting into a fight with Piers because he didn’t believe his real name was “THE Evil Hate Monkey”…and me insisting the Hoff was being modest about how much training it took for him to get his “monkey” to behave!  Not to mention all the back stage shots of me brushing Monkey’s mustache and him swinging from the ceiling beams!  Boycott that show, people.

One would think with all the visual interest that they provide, they would have been given  a little more air time.

The R-Pole. A stage pole, with no elevated stage, its more like a flat platform stage area.

This pole is supposed to be coming out…soon. Like really soon. Hopefully in the USA, soon as well.

I am debating if I should buy this pole/stage or the X-Stage.  I like that this one has a flat stage area, meaning it must be a lot easier to set up and transport.  The reason I want a stage pole is for transportation for shows.  So the flat stage is a bonus.

My only deal breaker will be the price.  I think the X-Stage is $800.  If the R-Pole is more than that, I will not get it.  They have not yet announced the price yet, and I can only hope it is less than $800 as well as sold in the USA, so I dont have to pay more for international shipping and all that drama.

Looks like she teaches at: http://www.danceogden.com/, which is in….Utah!  Ah, they are the ones who did Pole Fetish!

http://www.polefitnessassociation.com/

Here is their listing of benefits of becoming a member:
• PFA Tank Top(one size fits all)
• Marketing
- Professional listing with contact information on this web site.
- Professional media representation for our industry, including an assertive campaign directly targeted to specific media to continue to lift the fitness credibility of our art and sport.
- Credible and vast web exposure affiliating you with the PFA and promoting you as a MEMBER along with other WORLD LEADERS in the area of Pole Fitness.
• Membership Card
• Monthly Newsletter
• PFA Member window sticker

And I wonder if that is worth it?  Is this site big enough that the advertising is going to pay off?   Pantera Blacksmith, Fawnia Dietrich, and Jenyne Butterfly are listed as members, and that’s a pretty good thing to me.
Here is their mission statement:

Represent and lead the Pole Fitness community worldwide by defining and promoting standards for training, safety, equipment, terminology, and technical specifications to unite and empower Pole Fitness studio owners, professionals, and enthusiasts everywhere in celebrating the sport of Pole Fitness as a rigorous, tasteful, and athletic art.

And their Vision

Underlying the mission are four supporting vision statements that define how the Pole Fitness Association will deliver value to the industry:
1. Be the recognized authority and trusted advisor on Pole Fitness to studios, professionals, enthusiasts, media, and others globally.2. Be a catalyst for the development of all industry related standards, including terminology, training, certification requirements, progression of training, etc.

3. Signify to the Pole Fitness community everywhere that a studio with our certified affiliation means you are qualified to deliver sound value to your customers in all areas of pole fitness, including safety, training, ethics, facilities/equipment specifications, business management.

4. Galvanize Pole Fitness studios, professionals, and enthusiasts worldwide to market, network, educate, train safely, and learn from one another to nurture the profession and promote our athletic art.

Maybe the site needs to be updates to look more professional.  Maybe they need to advertise more.  Then again, are there community’s that are out there to make money and not really provide anything useful?

Yes, Yes, Yes!

This is happening in Virginia!!!

The East Coast Competition is happening in VA, even closer than the first show in NYC was in March.

Consider me there.
I swear I have to go to this.

www.uspoledance.com/RegionalCompetitions_uspoledancefederation.php

I was there.

The night before that, I had my heart breaking experience at a show…oh, I was so very emotionally crushed after that night.  I actually cried for 3 days and was barely able to make it to the “Elegance” show.  I couldn’t find anyone to go with, I asked 7 people, and I had to go alone.  Going over crappy stuff in my head, I did not want to be in front of people at all, but realized that there was no way I could let this show go by with out seeing it.

I am glad I went though, because the thought of a burlesque show at a classy strip club fascinated me…and the fact that Catherine D’Lish was going to be there, well I had never seen her perform before and I knew I really had to be there.

Miss Astrid, the host, called Catherine’s act “The greatest show to never hit Baltimore” (or something like that) and she was right.  Catherine was o-o-z-i-n-g sexiness that I could not believe my eyes.  I took photos of the show, and I couldn’t take a bad picture of her at all, it was amazing.

So, here are my photos of the show.

Anyways, the article also mentions a little bit of the history of Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey, whom are on the very short list of the greatest things to come out of Baltimore, MD.  And the article also goes a little into the preparation about the show, which was something I was personally wondering about too as I was there.  I wondered how annoyed the Hustler dancers were that the place was pack with people not interested in seeing them, and probably not in the mood for a lap dance.

And I love that the article brought up this:

A man tipsily approaches the stage with a bill in his hand; Paco Fish, taking the man for a club regular, pulls him back and tells him to drop the tip onstage, so he doesn’t disrupt the routine. But D’lish, who got her start as a teenager in seedy strip clubs in San Diego, knows exactly what to do. She has the man slip the bill under her garter belt, then remove one of her elbow-length white gloves with his teeth. Then she sends him back to his seat.

When that happened, I thought it was kind of awkward, but Catherine D’Lish played the whole thing off so smoothly, I couldnt believe how classy the whole thing ended up being.

Read the article here: http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/sub.cfm?ArticleID=1260&IssueID=74

But it looks very cute anyways, and I hope it turns out well for people.

Mini top hats can get very expensive when looking online, like ebay or etsy. I understand in materials and time it is the value, but sometimes I just want a lovely little hat and I cant spend a lot of money on it.

Also, a great shortcut is to get teddy bear top hats.  Ive seen them in the fuzzy velvet coated plastic (not so great) and the stiff felt (much better).

http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs29/f/2008/069/f/4/Mini_Top_Hat_Tutorial_by_fetishfaerie_stock.jpg

Its telling a little story of her trying to get the mens attention, and then it rocks into her tearing the hell out of her pole, and the sexy women dancing below her with the chairs… I wish I was in this routine!

Not that I am anywhere near her level as far as strength, but I feel a little proud that the pole will be on national TV, and hopefully earn more respect.

http://www.felixpoledancing.com.au/news/2009/06/felix-pole-dancing-tonight-show/

Antix Fitness Studio presents
‘Rock The Pole’ A Rockin’ Pole Dance Revue
Friday, June 26, 2009
at the Above The Underground in Redlands(the lowest bar in town!)

Show starts at 9:00 pm
* World-Famous Guest Performers!
* Pin-Up Girl Contest!
* Pole Dance Battle!

http://antixfitness.com/PoleParty.html

There are also workshops going on the Saturday after the show.  Again, I wish I could make it.

http://antixfitness.com/GuestInstructorWorkshops.html

As soon as I got to Asheville late Friday afternoon, I knew I was going to like it there.  It feels like a great little place, with a lot going on in a compact area.  We walked around downtown for a while, and I instantly loved it.  It kind of gave me the feeling on being in Montreal…with all the lovely stores and all the walking.

Then it was a mad dash to the hotel to get pretty for the mini-show that night.The show was good, and it was the first time I had seen these performers since I came from so far out of town.  After that was drinkie time, and it was also the first time I spoke with Trixie Little and the Hate Monkey.  That was really fun!

Then I had to hurry to sleep to then hurry to wake up to hurry back downtown in time for my classes.  My first class was about Vintage Hair, taught by Talloolah Love.The class was fine and all…I just hope that my hair can make the vintage happen. Ive tried and failed. But I dont know if I have failed because I am doing it wrong, or if I was not using the right product. I need to go to Sallies, again, to look for correct products.

After that was the class “Amplify your Assets with Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey”.  It was a lot different than I thought, and maybe yeah I was a little uncomfortable running around the room looking at everyone…but its stuff I needed to do.  Especially since the kind of act I am into wanting to perform is a lot of action and motion.  I need to get comfortable looking and connecting, even if I can only look out for a few seconds.

And then I had to run across the street to the Orange Peel club for “Intro to Aerials with Guerrilla Divas”. That was really fun, I only wished I could have tried some harder moves. I am used to holding my body weight so I wanted to try advanced tricks, but didn’t really get the chance, but also I have never been on one of those hoops before. The woman were great, and I kind of want to get into the aerial scene…but my heart is still into pole. (I wonder if that counts?)

After a little stroll downtown and some food, then came  a dash back to the hotel room to get pretty for the big show that night. No photos allowed at the show, unfortunately. (Whaaaaa)

The show was good, and then I was exhausted, and fell asleep as soon as I got to the hotel, only to wake up early, pack up, check out, and make it back downtown for my class “Business of Burlesque with Katherine Lashe of the Syrens of the South” That class was pretty informative, she mentioned a few things I never thought about.

And then I had “Women’s Make-up & Hair for Stage with DeLacey Heartbreaker Santini”. She didn’t go over hair, but she did make up. Seems I am supposed to use contour and highlights for the stage? Apparently. I have never done that before. Ive seen everyone else do it, and I don’t know why I never did it myself.

And then I was done with Absfest. Seriously, I want to do it next year, I want to teach and be in the big show. Big time. I am going to see what I can do to get to do it next year.

My Flickr Set of photo of the weekend

I like that Asheville is having a burlesque weekend, and at least there is one pole dancer down there.

http://www.mountainx.com/news/2009/060309askville

Wee, I am going to this.  I will be leaving on Thursday for part of the big drive down.   I can thank my husband for this, since we are taking his car.  (My car might not be able to handle the trip)

They are trying and all, but it does not look like a winner in my book.

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/32000/get-teased-by-a-burlesque-massacre

Currently in post-production, Timberwolf Entertainment’s Burlesque Massacre from director Timothy Whitfield is described as “an off-the-wall, over-the-top tribute to 80′s slasher films with a Saw twist.” A deranged burlesque dancer lures a group of female performers to her brother’s home. What follows promises to deliver plenty of “gore, nudity, lesbian love affairs, and all-around bad taste.”

A Brooklyn beauty who performs in panties and pasties is suing the Learning Annex after videos she did for the company were posted online identifying her as a “Young Sexy Porn Star Stripper Dancer” and a “Big T— Sexy Teen Girl.”

Tara Heffner, whose stage name is Veronica Varlow, led a Learning Annex seminar on burlesque dancing last year.

She also provided advice on sultry dance moves and how to apply glitter lipstick in videos she did for the company’s affiliate, OneMinuteU.com.

When the videos surfaced on YouTube, the sexy siren was no longer simply dispensing tips on how to get “sparkly, burlesque lips” or “how to be sexy and flirty.”

“She’s a burlesque performer and she takes it very seriously as an art form,” said her lawyer, Ivan Saperstein. “She’s purposely avoided nudity her entire career to avoid being harmed in this way.”

The Manhattan Supreme Court suit accuses the Learning Annex and contractor PHI Media of trashing Heffner’s good name by connecting her to X-rated entertainment.

“She was outraged,” Saperstein said. “She views what she does as a burlesque performer as being no different than what the Victoria’s Secret models do.”

The suit says the “porn star” and “sexy teen girl” tags have damaged Heffner’s business and caused her “great mental pain and anguish.”

Read more:

Photo Credit

http://www.theatre-productions.com/Shows/naked_truth/cast.htm

This riotous comedy play, from the writer of ‘Girls Night Out’ teams up Lisa Riley, star of ‘Emmerdale’ and ‘Fat Friends’, with a cast of stars from stage and screen.

The Naked Truth is a hilariously witty play set in a pole dancing class; run by a skilled pole dancer. It’s a woman thing, as five very different women struggle hilariously to conquer pole dancing for a charity event. As their lives unfold and unravel, they bond together sharing laughter and tears in this funny, sad and touching play.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-pole-dancing24-2009may24,0,4099017.story

While pole dancing has been gaining acceptance in recent years as a form of physical fitness — classes are offered in gyms and dance studios across the country — there have been few performance opportunities outside of exotic dance clubs for dancers who spend years perfecting their skills and seek professional, artistic recognition.

“There’s just not a lot out there right now so that people can see pole dancing as a serious dance form,” says Leigh Acosta, a 30-year-old pole dance instructor, aerial artist and recent performer at the showcase. “I think a lot of people still see it as something scandalous, the way people thought burlesque was scandalous, or belly dancing.”

I’m a little disappointed the pole dancers were not featured more.  I know this is supposed to be about this DJ Talent guy…I don’t see how he made it past auditions to be honest…but there should have been a little more emphesis on the pole dancers.

Last summer, there was a pole dancer who made it through the first cut on “Americas Got Talent”. Then, during the next round of cuts, where they separate everyone in to 4 groups, and only 2 groups make it to the next round, well I never saw her again, and I was not pleased.

http://talent.itv.com/videos/video/item_200233.htm

So I get my top hand on the pole, swing my leg, and then quickly grab the pole with my lower hand, try to kick up in the air with my legs together, and then split my legs apart.

I havnt gotten there yet, but I found a beautiful photo showing me exactly how it is to look.

I love the corset top, the choker, the gloves, the long skirt in back, and the garters with the garter belt!  Ahh, why didnt I wear this for my pole performance? To me, this is polesque, fo sho! Its classic burlesque, with a few little changes made for pole. (the gloves with no hands, no stockings, no long skirt in front to get in the way of climbing)

Its perfect!  Who is this woman?  Does anyone know?? I wish I could tell her how great her costume was, and I wish I could see a video of her performance.

Here are more photos

I cant go, of course.  Im in Baltimore, MD and I cant really spend my money on the trip, since I need it for food and rent.

I suppose that I can only hope to perform in something like this, hell…even something on a smaller scale.  I just have this desire to really bring burlesque and pole together.  Although…pole isn’t very “vintage”.    Maybe I wouldn’t fit in to this…I don’t know.  Still, I wish I could go.

That’s awesome!
Maybe I cant rule out Utah as a place to move to, the cost of living is low, and there is pole dancing, woo-hoo!

Here are a poop-load of photos of the event

I had JUST discovered this site last night! Im so excited to see something like this, with a gigantic list of all known (or at least submitted) pole moves.  I have some photos I would like to add to the list actually.

Opening the night was a performance from Nitzer Ebb members Bon Harris and Jason Payne. With Harris in a sweater vest, Payne in a propeller beanie and both in taped-up, thick frame glasses, the EBM stalwarts played a set of reconstructed video game music. Samples from Donkey Kong and other beloved games were twisted into beat-heavy jams fit for a night at the industrial club as the duo moved in a stiff, robotic fashion that resembled the Tri-Lambs homecoming prize winning routine.

The dancers arrived armed and outfitted for an arcade battle combining old school games with newer fare. Who gets to tap their name into the list of top players?

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/nightlife-and-events/video-game-burlesque-with-memb/

I found out about this a few months ago, and I am still kind of waffling over to go or not. I am leaning more towards going, the only problem is that it is a numbing 8 Hour Drive Away.

I cant believe its coming up in three weeks. And as of right now, Im feeling about 70% like Im going. Its only $100 for five classes, and there are 5 that I would like to take. I would really want to go and meet people as well.

——-

Im not a teacher, Im not a professional competitor.

Someday I will be able to perform more, but until that time comes, all I can do is practice.  I want to bring together other pole resources/finds as well as talk about practice and what I am trying to accomplish.