A little less conversation...a little more action please....

A little more then a year ago, I was approached by a co-worker (none other then the lovely Gigi!!) and asked if I would be interested in dancing with a troupe that she was working with here in Calgary. With a few years of dance training behind me and a love for performing that is seemingly endless, I agreed whole heartedly to come and audition and check out what the troupe had to offer. The troupe called themselves Kabuki Guns Burlesque.
Fishnets, corsets, tassels, ruffle bums, hot pants, glitter, feathers and fans, diamonds, high heels, gloves, polka dots, leopard skin, satin and silk, pasties in all their twirling and occasionally blazing glory, and anything and everything that sparkled.

To say I was interested was an understatement.

One of the crappy things about leaving is all the things you have to say goodbye to. Family, obviously. Friends, that’s a given. But experiences are a difficult thing to close the book on. It’s tricky to pinpoint what exactly you’re leaving behind. Is it the people you have shared these experiences with? Of course that’s part of it, but it’s so much more then that, especially when you’ve put so much of yourself into what you’ve been doing. Doing a play is a different beast altogether, the very nature of that type of performance is a build-up towards something, tech-week, opening night, closing night, even the cast party! Performing together brings people closer and creates a unique bond, it’s a fact. And although it’s always sad when you say goodbye to your little family of the past few months, you’ve always known it was coming, the time allotted was very clear.
But when you’ve been part of a performance project that goes through cycles of build-up and wind down only to build-up again, that’s constantly changing and moving in new and interesting directions, where there are always new challenges and anxieties to face, combined with the fact that it’s an all female collective that must deal with issues like body image, self image and identity, and the ever present questions about how burlesque is in fact different from stripping…..and you’ve got an interesting ride. To say the least.
I have lucky enough to meet some fabulous women because of the troupe and last night, meeting with them, discussing business, upcoming shows that I am sad to not be able to be a part of, to see the new projects and directions the troupe will be taking in the coming months, it really hit me how much I’m going to miss this. And how much I’ve gotten out of being able to do this, experience this, the dancing, the girls, the good, the bad, and everything in between.
People can say what they want and goodness knows, I’ve got some strong opinions that others may disagree with. Personally, I found it almost funny at times, that in a world where porn stars are celebrities and music video’s can have R ratings, people seemed to get awfully uptight about a few girls in sequined pasties. But burlesque, for me, was about, IS about putting yourself out there in a way that’s a little bit dangerous and it takes some major ovaries to get up in front of a crowd, feel sexy, BE sexy, show off what you’ve got and do it all with a smile and some killer choreography. It’s hopefully about being an example of how beauty doesn’t have to fit into a single or certain mold. It’s about knowing within yourself why you love doing this and not letting anyone else that doesn’t approve, or understand let you forget that. It’s about being sexy in a way that might not be conventional but that feels right for you.

To be honest with you, I can’t say that I’ll ever close the door for good with my time as a wannabe pin-up. Kabuki Guns dances on without Holli Day though…for now. If you are ever in the Calgary area and you have a chance to check them out, you should, they have information about upcoming shows and the troupe itself on their MySpace!!!

So with the knowledge of a few final drinks to be shared with some of the sexiest girls in Calgary to come (I hope!), I will pack away my fishnets, corsets, tassels, ruffle bums, hot pants, glitter, feathers and fans, diamonds, high heels, gloves, polka dots, leopard skin, satin and silk, pasties in all their twirling and occasionally blazing glory, and anything and everything that sparkles…for now.

Comments

Stephen Beckett said…
Hi,

How about a link to my blog on your blog? Do it and I shall promise to update it tomorrow. Deal?
August 14, 2007 at 12:08 AM
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