Yes, it always does haha. But worth it once you get it in front of a crowd

LOL I typed ego but my phone knows my brain too well I guess

I sadly did an awful cringe inducing game of thrones themes show as the show was ending that was awful and embarrassing 😂

Sometimes you can get by spending as little as $150 for a full costume with some thrifty ingenuity. Other times you can end up spending $400 or more for specific things like vintage pieces. It just depends. And everything is used many times for many performances so it should be worth its price in the long run.

It can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks if you’re working specifically on that piece for any amount of time. Sometimes you throw it on the back burner and only finish it after months. Again it just depends.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record it just depends when you know it’s finished. Sometimes you just feel oh that’s ready to go. Sometimes you’re in something you’ve worn for a year and think I could add this and change this. There’s no correct answer.

I’ve been a dancer since I was like 5 years old, and started doing more traditional theater when I was like 13. Went to college for theater and still occasionally to this day will audition for a little community theater performance or something. But since I started doing burlesque that has pretty much been my primary passion.

You got a big part of it.

A burlesque show is a variety show with an emphasis on comedy and risqué or at least somewhat risqué performance styles. Basically various performers will come out and perform everything from songs to dances to comedy to magic to acrobatics and pretty much everything inbetween. It’s all presented in a very tongue-in-cheek manner and the humor is usually naughty by nature. It can be sort of more modern humor but there is also in a lot of burlesques a dedication to the tone and aesthetics of the 1920s and 1930s. And the most iconic image associated with burlesque is female performers, like myself, coming out in tiny outfits and dancing while gradually losing clothing. Again, all in a very tongue-in-cheek way. But it’s pretty much the most fun live show you can go see and an even more fun show to perform in.

The audience. There’s no “theater etiquette” in burlesque. There’s hooting and hollering and whistling and laughing and all sorts of calling out. It amazing and as a bonafide attention wh0r3, it feeds my whole exactly how I need it to.

And at this point no, I feel very confident and comfortable doing burlesque. On the rare occasion I do traditional theater I get extremely nervous though.

Oh yeah

Well anytime I ever sang before was in like school musicals which were all supposed to be dramatic and it made me so unhappy because I always thought I was a terrible singer.

But then doing burlesque I got to sing songs that were supposed to be funny and it was great! Who cared if I was a little off key when they were supposed to be laughing? And then after doing that a fair bit I started to feel like I was actually getting better at signing so now I can stand to sing a serious song in front of people.

No, haha. Peggy is a hero!!

Very similar actually!! In burlesque there is just also a fair amount of focus given to risqué or suggestive performance styles as well. For example, many of the dances I perform often feature me in little more than a thong and some pasties. And our comedy is often scripted to be very lewd and obscene. So the audience gets to hoot and holler, all the while we’re making them laugh. It’s immensely fun to perform in and see performed!

I’ve heard of it of course. Sounds amazing. I’ve done sci-fi/space themed shows before but specifically Star Wars would be a lot of fun

Preciosa makes beautiful crystals. And it all depends on the show and the theme. If it’s appropriate to make the costume sparkle I’ll mark it shine haha.

More solo numbers these days but I do still love a good ensemble number.

I actually just love any chance I’ve gotten to sing. I’m primarily a dancer but over the years now I’ve gotten the chance to do pretty much everything and singing is my absolute favorite! Funny because I used to hate ever singing.

I’ve been doing burlesque for many many years now and have definitely been honing my stage persona for all that time.

Obviously Dita Von Teese is just ivonic and amazing and I got to see her show once and it was incredible! Didn’t get to meet her though sadly.

Haha, a bit of both honestly. I’m a little older now and that has become a little bit of the appeal for me I’m told. So my numbers are less acrobatic and energetic these days than they used to be. So burning fewer calories I guess. But I still try to keep a somewhat healthy diet and semi-consistent workout schedule. Looking good is still a part of the job

Stegosaurus

I’m not in it for the money that’s for sure. It pays okay but not enough to support yourself alone, much less a family. Definitely have to be willing to work other jobs if you want to do this

Well the big thing is that there are less and less people wanting to perform and therefore less people attending. So that’s a bummer. But new dance styles are getting incorporated. I myself like things that would have been performed in the 50s 60s and 70s just as easily as today. But when there is a younger dancer now they often come equipped with dance styles far more modern. It’s cool, honestly. But definitely different.

Not just a lot. There used to be a criticism that burlesque was perpetrating male fantasies about scantily clad women, but in the past ten years that’s pretty much flipped to empowerment. So not really anything I’ve found to complain about

First show I was ever in, that was just an eye opener to what this whole style of performance is and can be.

My first time touring an act which was crazy. On the road with other young actors just focused on performing and crushing every set. Probably the most fun period of my life.

And then helping build from the ground up the show I’m a mainstay at now. Essentially gotten to help bring together wonderful people who I love working with at a place we can all come home, and I’m almost like a celebrity within the walls of our little establishment so that feeds my ego haha

“Hollywood Icons”. We all got to dress up as actors from the golden age and do impressions and it was so much fun. Got to recreate scenes from famous movies. Bu there’s so many fun themes I’ve gotten to do.