Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! Thankfully, the heat has broken a little, but if you like heat, I invite you to join The BeauTease at our upcoming shows: Queens of the Jiggle in Salem on July 27 and Isle of Tease at House of Hatchets in Hyannis.

And now for your tip:

If you want to film your acts, invest in a tripod.

Even if you have a friend who can hold your phone and film for you, it’s never going to be completely steady. No one to help? No problem. Set up your tripod and camera and hit record. And a tripod can elevate your camera over the heads of the audience, so you can set it up somewhere where it’s not going to interfere with the audience’s view (and no one is going to knock it around).

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 20 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,

I hope you’re keeping cool! It’s wretchedly hot here. Rehearsing in summer is a challenge — I don’t want to wear layers and everything sticks to my sweaty skin!

Speaking of the seasons, here’s a related tip, coming from Scratch, who manages most of the troupe’s costumes and similar stuff.

Rotate your stock.

If you’ve got props and costumes that you only use for acts at specific times of year, like holidays, pack them up and put them into deep storage when you’re not using them. There’s no reason for them to be taking up valuable real estate in your closet out of season. Then when Halloween draws closer, you can unpack your creepy costumes and pack up your summer barbecue act (remember to clean everything and make any necessary repairs before it goes into storage).

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 20 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,

If you’re in the US, I hope you had a pleasant (and maybe contemplative) Independence Day yesterday. For all my other readers, I hope it was a nice Thursday.

I’m still thinking about options for group choreography. Here’s another one:

Have every other person do a variation of the movement.

For example, odd numbered dancers in the formation move forward while the even number dancers are moving backwards, then they switch.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 20 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! I hope you’re having a lovely last-Friday-in-June!

Last week’s tip got me thinking about group acts and simultaneous movements.

Vary group movements with cascades.

Instead of everyone moving on the beat one, just the first person does, the next starts the movement on beat two, and so on down the line. It’s trickier, but looks great!

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 20 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! I *think* the heat here in New England has broken. I’m grateful it was only a few days over 90F. For those of you in more balmy climes, stay cool!

Here’s your tip:

When creating group acts with performers in synchronized movement, the lowest common denominator wins.

When you’ve got multiple people performing the same moves at the same time and one or more are clearly struggling, the act is not succeeding. If the goal is unified movement and if the way to get it is to simplify a section, there’s no shame in that. Performers all have different skills, which can be highlighted elsewhere in the act.

Obviously, everyone should practice to bring their level up to the same place, but if it’s just not working, take the choreography down a notch. In this way, you respect all your performers’ abilities and everyone looks good.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 20 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! We just had a lovely torrential downpour. I do love rainy afternoons in the summer.

Here’s your tip:

Contrast is important.

To quote Scratch, contrast is what makes photographs great, Twilight Zone twists effective, and jokes funny.

Having some sort of contrast between the story and the music makes your act interesting. Letting the music dictate the story throughout the entire act can flatten your performance.  Do something unexpected. Surprise the audience.

I don’t want to use a negative example from an actual act (so many come to mind), but I can’t think of a hypothetical right now, so I’ll just give you a positive example instead. If you saw The Wrathskellar or Vamps After Midnight, you might have seen an act to  “If I Can’t Sell It”, a double entendre-laden song about a second-hand chair. Many performers have used it in chair dances, not surprisingly. However, our version, for Halloween shows, uses a coffin and a seductive undertaker instead. The contrast between the expectation of the lyrics and the actuality of the choreography is very entertaining (at least according to our audiences).

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 20 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! I’ve been sharing items from the American Burlesque Collection on my Patreon. The most recent was a costume made by Hedy Jo Star and I also wrote a bit about the designer. If you’re interested, you can get access for as little as one dollar a month!

I’ve got a lot going on right now. I’m teaching Introduction to Burlesque on Thursday nights, Isle of Tease is June first at House of Hatchets, and Devastasia starts teaching Introduction to Burlesque on Sunday on June 2nd. In July and August I’ll be teaching fan dancing!

And now, here’s your tip.

Check the ceiling height of your venue.

Performance spaces, especially for a niche art like ours, can be, shall we say, quirky, and there may not be a huge amount of clearance above. For example — a converted basement. While that’s fine for stand-up comedy, it’s not awesome for showgirl headdresses or fans.

I am not a particularly tall person and I have performed in places where I could touch the ceiling. Over-head fan sweeps would have been a disaster. However, if you know in advance, you can modify your movements (or choose a different act). The summer we performed on a harbor cruise, we reworked the choreography of our trio just a little bit to better accommodate the low ceiling of the ship’s interior space.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 20 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this