"It's a battle between body and mind. Sometimes you have to make yourself slam once, even if you fall pretty hard." - skateboarder Andy MacDonald
The past
couple of months have been a rollercoaster, and I'm still on the ride.
However, I wanted to take a bit of time to
write about my experiences.
July was spent doing Tuesday Tease and
rehearsing with
Fuego Danza Company.
We
were accepted in the
San Antonio Burlesque Festival's Saturday Night
Spectacular.
Because it was our first
festival as a troupe and we were competing, we spent time tightening the
choreography and making sure the new line-up got all the steps down.
Everything went well for me until the week
before the festival.
I pulled my left
hamstring…putting on dance shoes.
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Photo by Sheridan Original
www.sheridanoriginal.com |
It sucked.
Taking inspiration from the X Games (which
was probably not the greatest idea since I later paid for this decision), I
made up my mind that I was going go all out even if I would have to hobble
off-stage afterward.
I tried to take it
easy before show time, but we had a few rehearsals left.
As I said, it wasn't
the best move, especially with our hectic schedule.
However, I still had a great time.
I got to bond with the troupe and see the
friends that I made last year.
The
workshop with
Miss Indigo Blue on facial expressions was invaluable.
I even incorporated part of her lesson to my
performance that night.
Unfortunately
fatigue reared its head at the worst time: I blanked in the middle of our
performance. Although I recovered and
the crowd loved us, I was still bummed. I tried to not think about the
competition because that's how things become not fun. All the performances were so awesome that it
wasn't hard for me to just sit back and enjoy the rest of the show. Fuego didn't take home a taco award, but that's
okay. Everybody worked hard, and I had
fun.
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| Photo by Miracle Bennett |
When we got
home, I didn't have much time to rest.
I
had to start rehearsing for
A Plumb Askew Revue's Popcorn and Pasties: a Film
Strip.
It was the first time I'd be
performing my O-Ren Ishii act after I made some changes.
I had received some helpful critiques from La
Divina after my
Evil Queen performance, and I had tried to make revisions for
the Dallas Burlesque Festival.
It wasn't
quite there yet so I kept working on the routine.
Again, Indigo Blue's advice came in handy.
I improved
a lot, but something felt off.
With a
better sense of my identity as a performer, I'm not sure it fits my
vision.
I won't put O-Ren to rest for
good, but I’m going to have to think on this act some more.
Despite all this, I had a blast at Popcorn
and Pasties.
It was fun geeking out
backstage with friends, and
Vivienne Vermuth did an amazing job on my make-up,
which alleviated some of the frenzy.
I
enjoyed watching how different movies inspired my fellow performers.
There was something for everyone at this
show, and I'm glad I was a part of this diverse cast.
Check out the video by Lisa Loving.
I have at least one more post to write before I'm caught up. In the meantime, I'll share more of Miracle Bennett's photos on my
Facebook page. Also you can catch me with Fuego this Friday at ¡Ritmo Caliente! No samba group number this time, but I'll be debuting a new act.
Click here for tickets.
