Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

I know I missed your Friday Tip this week (and B.A.B.E. students didn’t get their weekly newsletter). I was felled by a head cold this past week and wasn’t good for much more than sipping tea and reading trashy novels. Here’s your belated tip:

Trouble twirling? Your tassels might be too light.

A small, light tassel is going to be harder to twirl than one with a little heft to it. Replace it with one with a longer body or a bit of weight in the head (a plastic or wooden bead works nicely). Sally Keith was said to have weighted her famous tassels with buckshot!

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! Although the weather is rather beautiful right now, here at The Manor we are awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Lee, which will hopefully lessen in intensity before arrival.

Your tip is my answer to the frequent question, “what should I do with my hands?”

When in doubt, arms out.

A lot of the time we’re using our hand to remove garments or manipulate props. But when you’re not, a good option is to hold your arms away from your body, in a way that suits your character or the mood of the act — relaxed, graceful, strong, &c. It’s an expansive gesture. You are both revealing yourself and taking up space on stage.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Hi friends,
Scratch here, filling in for Miss Mina with today’s Friday tip.

Asking for help is hard, but necessary 

None of us — not you, me, or even Miss M. —  can do it all by themselves, all the time.  But for whatever reason, a lot of us (yep, me too) have a lot of trouble asking for help.  Either we want something done exactly the way we want it done or we’re afraid of being a burden…or we’re just afraid of being rejected.   All of those things are bad, it’s true, but collapsing under the weight of your own obligations and deadlines is even worse.  Somehow, too many of us have gotten it into our heads that “Asking for Help” = “Failing”, when the exact opposite is true.  Getting some assistance when you really need it doesn’t guarantee success, but not getting it at a critical juncture does guarantee failure.  Most of the time, most people are happy to help, and sharing your load with someone else can lead to collaborations, inspirations, and more.  The next time you think “I can’t do this alone”, remember you don’t have to.  Help is just an email, text, or call away.
-=Scratch

Dear Constant Reader,

I hope you’re having a good Friday. We’ve been having big rainstorms all day and Bartholomew A. Cat has decided the best thing to do is nap the afternoon away on the fabric I spread out for cutting. Anyway, here’s your tip:

Make your bed right after you get up. 

Tip courtesy of Scratch.

What does this have to do with burlesque? A couple of things.

It’s a way of making a little bit of order out of chaos and it doesn’t take very long.
You have accomplished one thing right away that day, which can help motivate you to do more.
f you’re one of those people (like me) who lays costumes out on the bed to double check before packing, you have a tidy platform to do so.
When you get home late after a rehearsal or a show, you have an inviting place to lay your head.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! How about a tip? Yes? Good. Here we go…

Trends come and go; stay true to yourself.

There will always be that thing it seems like everyone is wearing or doing or using. Just because it seems like the whole burlesque world is wearing a mesh corset or clacking their heels or performing to that song that you can’t stop hearing everywhere or portraying a character from the latest blockbuster movie right now, you don’t have to.

I’m not here to say you can’t jump on a burlesque bandwagon, but don’t do it because you think the audience or the festival committee or the judges or your peers think you should. Do it because you think it will be fun or it speaks to you.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! This is a  bit of a specialty tip today.

If you tap dance, you can make sure you always have a good dance surface with a tap board.

How many times have we had to perform on carpet or some other less than ideal stage? It can make a regular burlesque routine challenging, but for a tap dancer, it can be impossible to perform.

The answer is a tap board — a portable wooden dance surface. You can buy them or make them (there are plenty of tutorials out there). For our most recent show, Scratch constructed one for Ava that was disguised as a briefcase, which opened flat when she was ready to dance on it. (it’s not light, but Ava handled it with grace).

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.