The creative process

Many of you have been reaching out and asking about Burlesque, the creative process and how it works. It’s hard for me to speak about that sometimes because my creative process is my own, we each have our own way of communicating our intentions on stage and our own way of working through the motions, trusting the process.

For instance, I’ve been practicing over the last week for an upcoming show in Chicago, just getting myself comfortable with the routine I’m putting on stage. I had a last minute change up because my designer was not able to attain the needed fabric in time to make my costume for the Chicago show, this put me in a position where I had to change it up last minute and run with a different routine and costume. To some folks this is the end of the world. And on some days, for me this would feel like the end of the world. But the reality is when performing, you have to be prepared for change. Everything is subject to change. Each venue you work at has a different floor plan, different lighting, different music tech sound tech etc. This means that you’re working with many different personalities that work in different ways. You have to be prepared for anything. You have to be prepared that they have downloaded the wrong song, the lighting isn’t what you expected, the floorplan is overwhelming or underwhelming, your luggage didn’t arrive, there are 1 million issues to tackle when performing and that’s just putting the act on stage. The physical act of putting your act on stage can throw you 20 different curveballs. And then you take into account the years, months, days, weeks leading up to your performance. How do you work through the ugly patches? How do you trust that you can accomplish this task even though your body doesn’t wanna listen to you?

For the most part I condition, that at least ensures me that my body knows how to do the movements. By conditioning I mean I practice those movements over and over and over again to the same music until I know them like the back of my hand. But still you have to anticipate for change. For the venue being smaller or bigger than you thought it would be. Is there room to do floor work? Is the floor someplace you want to be? In many venues floor work is nearly impossible because the floors are simply not clean enough. Staff infection is a real thing and it is a son of a bitch. I have unfortunately contracted staff infection from dirty bar floors several times in my life. Make sure that your costuming can double as a rug for you to do your floor work on or you have to make it interesting while standing. There are so many elements to putting on a routine from selecting the music, creating the wardrobing to match the music, making sure that the music is unique to your routine, making sure to practice in your costume every single day so that you understand exactly how your costume fits, goes on and comes off. So that you understand if there are any areas that need to be stitched, reworked, rethought, backed etc.

And then you have your props. You could have the most beautiful props in the world but if you don’t understand how to use them effectively, that’s a problem. I try to remind myself that I don’t have to do backflips during my routines, I just have to know how to effectively style my costume and use my props. I just have to make sure that my body knows each movement in and out and that my brain is sharp enough to be able to use improvisational techniques when necessary, and they’re almost always necessary. Also as I’ve been told on many occasions by many performers, if you smoke weed before you go on stage, make sure you smoke weed before you practice. If you’re sober when you go on stage make sure you’re sober when you practice. If you drink before you go on stage make sure you drink when you practice. Thems the rules, I didn’t make them but I do abide by them. And as a rule, I don’t drink before I go on stage. In my personal experience, it only serves to upset my stomach and increase the probability of accidents on stage. I wait until after my performance so that I can fully enjoy a cocktail with my friends without compromising what I have worked so hard to make look flawless.

Anyhow, these are my thoughts on what it takes to put a routine on stage and roll with the punches. Change is inevitable during life performance. Make room for it. Welcome it. Embrace it fully with both of your arms, make it your best friend. Then you’re prepared for anything. It’ll all look more natural.