Dear Constant Reader,
Well, I tried to set in motion a fix to the problem with my Faerie Queene prop, but was thwarted. The fabricator was closed, despite their posted hours. I settled for an email outlining my issue. Waiting to hear back.
Also, I posted my Friday Tip and sent out the B.A.B.E. newsletter.
And the usual: I did my Challenge despite having a severe case of the I-don’t- wannas and fell asleep reading Goddess of Love, despite a fairly early hour.
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! By the way, the weather is kind of nuts here in New England. Last week we had one of the warmest days on record and it’s supposed to snow next week. If you’re coming for a visit, just pack everything. That’s not your tip, though. This is!
Consider your venue when selecting an act for a show.
Some acts are more appropriate for some venues than others. A big stage in a theatre calls for an act that can fill the space — this is a great time to use your big props. A bar wants something a bit more streamlined. Raked seating means the audience can actually see your floorwork. Performing in the round isn’t the best for a fan dance (although I’ve done it!). If the only “backstage” is the ladies’ room, choose a costume that’s fairly compact. &c., &c., &c.
Like this tip? There are lots more in Miss Mina Murray’s Little Book of Better Burlesque.
Dear Constant Reader,
I spent some time on improvements to The Faerie Queene. One involved picking the brains of some amazingly talented friends. I’d call that a successful start. The other was picking some items up from the fabricator, which was a fail. Not a total fail, but I should have stuck to my guns and not let someone I thought knew better persuade me to go in a slightly different direction. Also, always do the math. Math doesn’t lie. I can fix the problem by *sigh* throwing more money at it.
I submitted one class proposal to BurlyCon, did my Challenge, and read a couple of chapters of Goddess of Love (Lili goes on a belated honeymoon).
Dear Constant Reader,
Wednesday is BeauTease rehearsal day (it’s like Prince spaghetti day, only with less carbs and more rhinestones). We started with our challenge, which does suck less when you all do it together.
Then we ran some solos. I’m still working on The Faerie Queene. Scratch identified a problem and how to solve it, which brought up another problem, but I know how to solve that too.
I spent a tiny bit of time scraping my bath tub. I’m going to have to find some time to some in when there’s not a rehearsal and devote a chunk of time to it. The act is kind of at a stand-still until I get the whole thing scraped and then resealed.
And yes, I read a chapter or so of Goddess of Love (Lili won her big court case; her career is really taking off.)
Dear Constant Reader,
I spent a little time practicing one of my magic tricks for The Faerie Queene.
In the evening Scratch and I went to B.A.B.E. for the first session of Burlesque Your Way. I’m always so delighted to teach this class and see what fabulous things the students come up with. We have a great mix this time: 3 students who took the Mystery Box class (one of whom has also taken Your Way before), one of The Expositionettes, 2 brand-new Intro grads, and Pearl, our apprentice. I can’t wait to see how things evolve from this first class.
After getting home from class and mucking around on the computer, doing some iTunes management, I was going to just go to bed. Scratch reminded me I hadn’t done my Challenge and I crankily dragged my ass off to do that. That’s 6 days in a row. I seemed to remember that you need to do something for 3 weeks to make it a habit.
And then I fell asleep reading Goddess of Love
Dear Constant Reader,
I have absolutely nothing interesting to report. B.A.B.E. admin, Challenge, book. That’s it.
Dear Constant Reader,
Sunday is BeauTease rehearsal day. We all did our Challenge together, which still sucks, but at least we all shared the suckage. I did a little B.A.B.E. admin and ran The Faerie Queene. So rusty. I’m overthinking parts of it and I’ve got to just practice, practice, practice.
Dear Constant Reader,
Not much today. I did do my Challenge (and went to the gym; does that count?) and I did read a couple of chapters of Goddess of Love, but much of the day was consumed with my taxes, the most time-consuming portion of which was for B.A.B.E.
Dear Constant Reader,
I did the usual Friday things — posted a Friday Tip and send a newsletter to B.A.B.E. students. I also did the BeauTease Challenge and read couple of chapters of Goddess of Love.
I spent some time working on improvements to The Faerie Queene. They both rely on other people, so this was just getting things rolling.
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! Your tip today comes courtesy of Betty Blaize, who, as we speak, is on the west coast with her Bharatanatyam (classical Indian dance) guru preparing for an amazing dance performance she’s going to present in Boston next month.
Betty’s choreography creation metric: one minute of music = one hour of choreographing
For every minute of music in your act, expect it will take you an hour to create the choreography for that minute. Similarly, if you are teaching someone else a choreography, plan on one hour of teaching time for every minute of music.
This is just a rule of thumb. You might be on fire and whip through your creation process. You might get stuck and things take much longer than expected. Once you add more people into the dance, you need to add more time for both creation and teaching.
When you’re figuring on how long it’s going to take you to go from zero to performance, this is a great metric to keep in mind.
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 