Too Hot To Handle

So at the end of every moth there is an awesome show called Live Burlesque in Las Vegas. It's held in a small venue inside a bar called Boomers. I have gone to many of the shows and have had a blast every time I have been in the audience. Well I was lucky enough to perform in the September show Too Hot To Handle.

I was told by a friend that it was going to be amazing on the stage due to the energy in the room. Let me just say how right that person was. Just think you are in a room filled with burlesque enthusiasts. These people need no lesson on etiquette at all, I should know I am usually sitting out their with them.  The people in the audience played back with me as I performed and I I got tot grace the stage with some awesome performers.

So here are the great photos that were taken of me. The photographer is MHA photography. She does a ton of the events in the community so go onto facebook and check her out!!

Working on a festival

So this year marks the first ever Las Vegas Burlesque Festival. Yes our city hosts BHOF (Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend) but our festival isn't anywhere near like BHOF is. And because of this we also didn't want to be in competition with this amazing weekend either. Honestly all of us want to be there so why would we want to start a burly rumble with them. Since this is the festivals first year they needed a lot of help getting things done. Honestly when they were first starting I had no idea how I could help so I didn't initially volunteer, but thanks to my dear friend Kiki, we make lots of trouble together, I became part of the festival just two months ago.

What goes into a festival is crazy!!!!! I had no idea how much work it was going to be and didn't care either, because I was able to help. I became a sponsorship person for the festival since they needed the help and I am a helper. Now only being two months away from the festival this job is harder than I think it would have been if I had started a few months back, but I have done everything in my power to gain us assistance in any way I could. I was able to get us some assistance, but not as much as I think I can next year.

Now all the crazy that goes into a festival is bonkers. Luckily for us we have a fearless leader she has a vision and wanted to stop at nothing to make it a reality. And so far we are making it a great reality. We have three days for performances, which I am in one of those nights, starting at our local place the Boom Boom room inside Boomers bar and than we head downtown to The Plaza showroom for the other two nights. We have performers coming from all over the place including other countries. To be a part of it all three nights is ridiculously exciting. We even have a day where we are having a party at Du Barry's store. Now if you don't know Du Barry's you should damn it!!! Du Barry's has great dresses and jewelry. I bought a dress from their after seeing all the fabulousness at BHOF the one night I went. Their dresses aren't for the normal crowd. I am talking beads galore and jewelry that would make your glammed out grandma proud. AHHHHH...I love this place. Anyways, we are even having a bazaar that Sunday and Thursday night where you will see tons of amazing glittery things to purchase. How exciting is this gonna be!?!?!?!?

So I got a little side tracked with explaining the hard parts behind the scenes. Can I just say Money! Money is always the huge factor with all of this. We have gained a few thousand from our generous donations that our community here in Las Vegas. But we have had to deal with absorbing most of the upfront cost, which is something I am hoping to solve next year. A lot of our money comes from tickets sales, and we are doing amazing with those!!!!! I am hoping we have a packed house the whole weekend showing everyone that locals are loved too. Now many other festivals hold competitions and we made the choice not to do that, but to just celebrate the amazing art that we bring. Housing performers and getting them around is a whole other thing as well. I am looking forward to being a tittie taxi that weekend (I'm even painting my car for it) so that many of the ladies and gents that will be at the hotel will have rides to the other events that we have going on. We are even offering a brunch to the performers. That was a whole other thing that had minor complications to it, but we solved those as well. It's crazy how much work gets put into all of this before it even happens.

Then end product I honestly can't wait to share with all of you after it's over. The people I have gotten involved with are allowing me to really see what this community is all about. It's amazing to see that so many will band together for a weekend of good times for all. I'm so freaking excited for this event to fucking happen I might pee a little when I wake up next Thursday morning knowing that it is the beginning for the weekend.

Negative opinions

Now I will state this if you think differently than I do that is fine. We all have the right to our opinion, but lately I have been reading articles about how degrading burlesque performing is to women and that we are still kneeling to a patriarchal society. But take a moment and think about what legends have done and during the time they did it. They worked their asses off and most of them had children to care for as well. They did what needed to be done and beyond that as well. They showed women that it didn't matter what we did, because whatever it was we could prove to the world that we will do it our own way. They have given many women the strength to stand up and say we love ourselves. If you think about it a patriarchal society is not about us loving ourselves and being happy in our own skin. It is about loving what a man thinks and what he says is okay.  Granted I am glad my hubs likes his chubby bunny it's an added bonus ;)

But if you sat with any of the women and men who perform now our stories start off very similar. We didn't love ourselves when starting our classes for one reason or another. Either it was physical appearance or emotional turmoil something that kept us from loving ourselves was happening. Now through our own journeys we began to see ourselves in a different light. We started looking in the mirror when we were naked and saying hey this isn't so bad. For me personally I had had a baby boy who left his journey across my lower body and that can't be changed. I love my son to the point of pissing him off when I ask him for a kiss because I do it so often. But it didn't leave my self esteem in tact. I cried thinking my husband didn't find me attractive anymore and the fact was I didn't find myself attractive at the time.

Burlesque was an eye opener for me. It reminded me that I should love me I earned every mark I have. Some showed me that I could over come my own demons, others reminded me that I was given a miracle, and the rest reminded that I gained them through truly finding happiness in my life. So why not be ecstatic about finding an art form that allows me to do two things I love, dance and being naked. Yes I love being naked...I get made fun of for it all the time by my hubs. I grew up dancing in a world where I was too big and short, which caused me to have years of eating disorders and many suicidal moments thinking I was never going to be good enough. Now I get to dance and have fun doing it in my own skin that I earned.

So when bashing us performers for the art we bring to the stage I will say this...Kiss my fucking ass and all the other naked asses you have seen. If you hate this art form and laugh at me for calling it that DO NOT go to a show. Stop allowing your friends to drag you to shows and shut your damn mouth already. Also remember you are the reasons many of us got into this art in the first place. We were constantly told we weren't worthy of what we were doing just like you are trying to say. You know what our responses have been slapping glitter on us and twirling our pasties to our hearts content. We love the skin we are in now and laugh at people putting us down.

Burlesque is our courage and our way of telling the world we are finally happy.

Legends

So being in Vegas those of us in the community are surrounded by many women who started this art form and many who were and are chums with them. Now for me I find them intimidating. So far though none of them have been nothing but nice to me when I do speak to them. So far I have met Tiffany Carter, Tempest Storm (whom I love), Dusty Summers, and I was lucky enough to perform on the same stage with Gypsie Luise this past weekend.

After performing with Gypsie I told her how great she was and what an honor it was to share the stage with her. She gave me a hug!! Really I was not expecting that at all. Seeing these great women on stage still shaking their shit like no tomorrow makes me proud to be a part of it all.

None of these women came from easy lives and for any of us who now do this as a full time hobby have nothing in comparison to these ladies and their lives. If you don't know who some of these ladies are you should look them up. I am personally waiting for Dusty's book to come out and for the documentary to be done on Tempest Storm. These ladies paved the way in my opinion for women's liberation and a path for women to love them selves again.

I know it's short but I wanted to put it out there anyway.

glittery kisses to you all.

Figuring Festivals out

I just want to start out with... this is the third time I am trying this out cause my pad crapped out on me in the middle of me writing it and it didn't save :(

So over a month ago I decided to apply for my first festival. Let me tell you these applications are no freaking joke peeps. When I filled it out I had no idea what I was having to fill out. At first glance I started freaking out, but decided why the hell not and did the best I could. I went for one close to home since I didn't want to try for something across the country. So I applied for the Hollywood Burlesque Festival. If you are anywhere near them go to their event I keep seeing those who re getting in, including a few Vegas peeps as well.

As a new performer I was not ready for all the items they were asking for, but did as good as I could for the moment. Now let me say that when I filled out the application I knew as I was going through it that I wasn't going to get in. I knew this because one I had performed my number at that point twice and as I learned quickly I didn't have most of what they needed.

So now that everything is all said let me point out items for all you burlesquers who may want to apply for a festival and have no clue what the hell is going on.

Research festivals and what they are about before ever thinking of applying for one. Know the dates and don't stress if it doesn't work out in your favor. There are festivals going on all over the place just smile and try again. Getting denied to a festival isn't the end of the world it just means work harder and try again.

All righty all the things to realize before applying for a festival. I apologize now if I forget anything.

• First there is a fee. Nothing big just enough to cover whatever they need to cover in the process.
• If you enter a festival DO NOT go into it thinking about money. This is a way for you to get your name out there and meet new faces. In my humble opinion unless you're so well known around the world and have done this for many many years you should be doing this for the art not the cash.
• Give them at least a month to get back to you about your application. This isn't an easy process and sometimes they end up with a shit ton of applicants, that's a lot of videos to go through.
• The video you send in should be professionally done. Make sure you have a video that has good sound, good lighting, and doesn't miss any of your number. I sent the only video I had at the time and the lighting wasn't good and there was a section of my number that you couldn't see. So it is better to have a good video than an ok one.
• Get professional photos taken. If you are as lucky as we are in our community in Vegas you should know a ton of photographers who are willing to help a sister/brother out and give you a discount. We all know that we aren't swimming in cash so anyone willing to assist deserves a big kiss for doing so. Also your photos for festivals are used for programs, social media, and anything else they may need for the festival.
• Do your social media. I've known plenty of people who are hesitant when it comes to this part. None of us want to deal with weirdo's and some are fearful for their jobs. You would be surprised how helpful this is to have. Festivals want to have the ability to promote you so having a social media site assists with that. It also allows for them to check you out and see what kind of performer you are. This means, a word to the wise, don't post emotional crap online and don't start fights with other performers through social media it is petty and childish. This also means once you have yourself established and feel that you want to take your performance to the next level think about putting together a website. This way you can link your music to your site and all your videos, accomplishments, and photos as well. DO NOT put shitty videos from someones phone on your site it doesn't look good at all.
• Know what type of performance you are giving. I know this may sound weird, but it is something to think about. Is it a classic burlesque number, Neo-burlesque, shimmy and shakes, bumps and grinds? You will need to give a quick description of what your number is. Honestly I had no idea what mine was until I was forced  to think about it.
• Know the difference between a bio and an introduction. I am now learning this due to getting into another festival that is coming up. I ended up getting help from a mentor of mine. Bios are what are read in the programs and websites. They can be a bit personal if you want. An intro is what the Emcee says before you go on. No one wants to hear the 100 things that you will be doing or your life story. So be creative about this and have fun. I may have to post the info a friend wrote about dealing with all this in the near future. She is a wise woman.
• Tag lines!!! This isn't a necessary thing to have but can be fun. Research other performers and like you should have done with your name make sure you aren't mimicking another performers tag line. It's all about respect for everyone remember that. My tag line is the "Naughty Nerd of Burlesque." This gives people many things to think about like "are we getting to see the stereotype nerd number?" " what kind of nerd are we talking about?" Now for me it's all about the fact that I am a huge geek (nerd rhymed) so I love this culture and it is my life outside of burlesque so why not.
• And again remember it isn't the end of your life if you don't get in. You are good enough and as long as you are still loving what you are doing don't give up.
• http://snapperburlesque.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-i-learned-being-festival.html If you want to know even more you should read this blog post and you will be educated far more than what I just put out. :)

Yay hope you enjoyed it!!!!

Feeling like a teenage dancer all over again

So many may not know I grew up dancing. I was classically trained in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and modern. I also did hip hop, belly dance, and a little of Irish step dancing. In my early 20's I competed in Scottish highland dance as well. 

Holy fuck that's a lot to tell. I never go into how much dance background I actually have with any performer because it makes me feel like I'm showing off. In reality I am far from that girl anymore. I rebelled in my late twenties and started tattooing myself instead. Where I came from I was the stocky short girl who never had the body type that was needed to be picked in an audition. So to say the least auditioning for anything makes me incredibly nervous. Now coming from my background I tend to get very serious in auditions, size up the competition and begin telling myself how I'm gonna fail. Yes my self confidence is in the hole I know.

Now to the real story.

A few weeks back I saw a post on the main group page for burlesque in Vegas about an audition for 4 performers to be reindeer in an Xmas show. First glance I got excited, than I began thinking so I was not about it, than a friend said she was going so I decided to do it as well. Being new I still doubt my abilities from time to time. Now if you know anything about me when I'm nervous I play with my bangs none stop....I mean I don't stop and by the end they are plastered to my forehead. So here I am in this audition and there is only one performer I am intimidated by so I focus hard on what im doing. 

The choreography was fun and the concept the choreographer has is really cute. So I do my best, with a bum ankle as well. And hope that I am one of those cute little reindeer. I did get to audition with some great people though so that part did end up being really fun. Now when I get home I explain to the hubs how if she goes for a look I'm probably not on that list. But if I did get picked and wasn't part of the look I would beg to have a gingerbread cookie in my mouth as we went on. I don't deny I'm a bigger girl I actually love me for once since I've started this journey so why not play on it? 

But low and behold I was not the only big girl picked....I'm actually a little disappointed I can't be the chubby girl eating food while dancing. 

So now I will be a stripping reindeer this December!!!!!

I guess all the dance my mom paid for all those years ago are finally paying off. Lucky for me she is proud she has a stripping daughter. I'll have to post a pic of that little old lady soon.

Journeying through a galaxy of rhinestones baby!!!!

Busy busy busy

Wow....life has taken off recently. Since my showcase I have been performing my one number around my fabulous city. It's been a great ride so far. I even have a concept for another number thanks to Sugar Shagmore. I even was asked to perform a group number for a show inside a major hotel/casino, the Mandalay Bay inside the foundation room. I have met some new people who warm my heart with glittery joy. The latest is I became a part of the first ever Las Vegas Burlesque Festival!!!!!!!

So yes life has been crazy busy for me. I'm loving every minute of it too. Performing has been amazing because I have started sharing a stage with some amazing performers that I am now getting to know. In the mists of it all I was able to be a part of a number that allowed me to now know Sugar and May Blush as well, I love all our drag names. Anyways, because of that performance we are now looking to expand it and try and get it into a festival!!!! Also I auditioned to be a reindeer for an Xmas burlesque show and I got it!!!!! So I will be doing that in December. 

The festival is going great. We have a great venue downtown. The Plaza is an older hotel that screams old Vegas and we have  the privilege of being in their show room for two nights of the festival. The first night is at our usual spot the Boom Boom room at Boomer's Bar. I had the opportunity to perform there for the first time this past weekend and let me say it was amazing. So three nights of great performers taking their clothes off is gonna be amazing!! 

I've only been a part of it for a short period of time, thanks to my girl Kiki, and couldn't be more excited about it. I can't wait until next year so I can do more for the festival. This being our first year doing all of this has been a great learning experience for me to see what really goes into making a production happen. It isn't easy ladies and gents let me tell you now. 

So to say the least today I am cramming out a bunch of posts today to make up for the lack of info I've put up.

Cheers to titties and glitter!!!!