SO BURLESQUE.
I know, I pop up to babble for ten paragraphs and I disappear for months.
Well, whatever!
So I took my class back in February. It was fantastic--just really fun to dance again, and it was very much an atmosphere of feeling good about your own body. I spent hours at home trying to dance the routine we learned in my tiny living room (though with limited success). I even felt brave enough to tell my mom about it.
A few weeks after the class, the troupe that I'd taken the class with posted that they'd be having open auditions. I figured I'd go for it, though I didn't have much of a shot since the only real dancing I've done in the past 10 years or so was that workshop. But the woman in charge had said something at that class about how sometimes girls would audition for her, and even though they were fantastic dancers, she didn't pick them up because they just couldn't get past making the "sexy pout" and burlesque was all about the smiles. So I thought, fuck, if there's anything I AM good at, it's smiling. When I was in the high school Broadway revue, I got moved to the front in multiple numbers not because I was a better dancer but because I could keep a smile on my face.
Well, without going into it too much, it turns out that was the right strategy. I was one of three girls who got in.
I still can't quite believe it. I keep rolling it over in my mind, checking it again and again, as if it didn't really happen and if I just review the memory closely I'll realize it. But I went to the first practice tonight, I was really there, I sat in Ginger Snapps' living room and took copious notes about what to wear and how to style my hair and where to find cheap ballroom shoes and when we're making dress forms etc.
We did a bit of dancing, and it is clear that I'm going to have to work bloody hard on this particular dream. But I don't feel too outpaced, since the other two new girls were just as raw as me. It's going to be hard work but it's going to be amazing. If there's one stupid thing I love, it's dancing a routine over and over and over and over. I don't know why, but it's really fun to me. I love learning choreography.
The theme for the troupe's stage names is sweets--the bosslady is Ginger Snapps, and tonight we met Kit Kat, Honey Dew, Toots E. Popp, Sweet Tart, and a couple of others whose names I didn't catch. The tricky part is that the first word has to be something like a name/nickname - so Apple Dumpling or Mint Julep wouldn't really work. I've been thinking about mine and while I've considered several--Pumpkin Pie, Rainbow Sherbet, Vanilla Bean--I think I like Star Burst the best. It seems to fit me the best.
So, yeah. WELCOME TO BURLESQUE.
Well, whatever!
So I took my class back in February. It was fantastic--just really fun to dance again, and it was very much an atmosphere of feeling good about your own body. I spent hours at home trying to dance the routine we learned in my tiny living room (though with limited success). I even felt brave enough to tell my mom about it.
A few weeks after the class, the troupe that I'd taken the class with posted that they'd be having open auditions. I figured I'd go for it, though I didn't have much of a shot since the only real dancing I've done in the past 10 years or so was that workshop. But the woman in charge had said something at that class about how sometimes girls would audition for her, and even though they were fantastic dancers, she didn't pick them up because they just couldn't get past making the "sexy pout" and burlesque was all about the smiles. So I thought, fuck, if there's anything I AM good at, it's smiling. When I was in the high school Broadway revue, I got moved to the front in multiple numbers not because I was a better dancer but because I could keep a smile on my face.
Well, without going into it too much, it turns out that was the right strategy. I was one of three girls who got in.
I still can't quite believe it. I keep rolling it over in my mind, checking it again and again, as if it didn't really happen and if I just review the memory closely I'll realize it. But I went to the first practice tonight, I was really there, I sat in Ginger Snapps' living room and took copious notes about what to wear and how to style my hair and where to find cheap ballroom shoes and when we're making dress forms etc.
We did a bit of dancing, and it is clear that I'm going to have to work bloody hard on this particular dream. But I don't feel too outpaced, since the other two new girls were just as raw as me. It's going to be hard work but it's going to be amazing. If there's one stupid thing I love, it's dancing a routine over and over and over and over. I don't know why, but it's really fun to me. I love learning choreography.
The theme for the troupe's stage names is sweets--the bosslady is Ginger Snapps, and tonight we met Kit Kat, Honey Dew, Toots E. Popp, Sweet Tart, and a couple of others whose names I didn't catch. The tricky part is that the first word has to be something like a name/nickname - so Apple Dumpling or Mint Julep wouldn't really work. I've been thinking about mine and while I've considered several--Pumpkin Pie, Rainbow Sherbet, Vanilla Bean--I think I like Star Burst the best. It seems to fit me the best.
So, yeah. WELCOME TO BURLESQUE.