amidst the glitter - a brown woman's perspective

Afterglow of NYC

2010-05-30T10:51:00.003+01:00

The only way to write regularly on this blog, is to just write regularly. Here's hoping this time it sticks.

I just returned to the UK after spending a month in my old home NYC. It was a beautiful, fast-paced exciting month of performing, teaching, rehearsing, meeting and connecting with friends.

And as I sit in Manchester, my current home, I am thinking about race and why it's important and why I can't seem to stop thinking about it, which, if you know me, isn't a surprise at all.

And if you don't know me personally, check my artist statement (for my non-burlesque work, but still completely relevant) which I think explains a bit:

I am an interdisciplinary artist engaging with the practices of movement and words; the writing, choreographing, performance and poetics of dance and text. Central to my existence in this world is the fact that as a person I cannot and will not separate myself from my art, my race and my political beliefs. I create art for life’s sake, breath by breath. I make art out of necessity to communicate truths with the world at large. I am interested in the process and beauty and function and the mess of life, seeing the edges, breaking the fourth wall. I strive to create art that is in dialogue with communities of people, art that shares the aesthetic of blackness in all its unique glory and improvisation, while at the same time celebrates the hybridity of my experience. Art that inspires, spreads understanding and compassion and calls for a deeper look at this society’s crippling isms.

I've been told before that I'm obsessed with race. I wouldn't describe it that way. I would say I'm constantly deeply aware.

Daniel Alexander Jones, a brilliant playwright and professor who I worked with in my 3rd semester of grad school, broke it down:

"I recognize race as a social construct that has no valid basis in science. Because it was created as pseudo-scientific evidence for colonial expansion, genocide and domination of much of the globe, and because it is the linchpin of the maintenance of these colonial systems in a supposedly post-colonial age, it will always carry the violence and cruel blurring of real and unreal that are in its “dna” – it always leaves its colonial residue.

Secondly, racism is a disease. Like alcoholism, or other such addictive illnesses, it is corrosive for those possessed by the disease and destructive for all those around them; and it seduces through its provision of “answers.” Because it is a disease – it defies logic.

Thirdly, the enduring presence of the construct inside concrete social policy, as the continuing core rationale for mass murder globally, and in particular, its peculiar role in the concept of America, in the maintenance of the inequities of the socio-economic system of the country, and in the consciousness of all Americans, means that while it is a false construct, it has, through its functions, been invested with life – it is a real unreal thing."

Burlesque for me is about expressing oneself, much like my relationship and understanding of poetry and it wasn't until I heard poets besides Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson that I realized I too could partake in this art form. That people like me could have a say, share our voice, our experiences, add to the conversation and creation. With burlesque it is the same.

I'm a student of the Black Arts Movement of the mid 1960's to mid 70's in the States and the idea of institution building is at the core of how I move in the world, creating a space for oneself and for others in communities that often don't have access to present and perform their own work. That is where the idea for BGB comes from. And sometimes when I start going on about BGB to some people I can sense that they don't really see why this is so important, but experiences I had over the last two weeks I was in NYC reminded me just how crucial that is.

On Saturday May 15th, Chicava HoneyChild (Creative Producer of BGB) and myself led BGB's second one day intro workshop for our Broad Squad Institute. Wow. It was a beautiful afternoon, filled with inspiring women who are all about exploring their sensuality and creativity. Amidst the sequins and shedded feathers from the boas we shimmed and shared, talking about everything from creating a name that has meaning to you to what it means for a brown woman to take her clothes off in public.

Then the following Wednesday I was up in Harlem. Billie's Black the So Damn Happy Happy Hour with BGB curating the evening. We had a blast. The audience was primarily Black women and many who had never seen BGB before, and some who had never experienced burlesque at all. We were up there expressing ourselves, celebrating brown women's brains, bodies and stories and the feedback that I got after the show was superb. It wasn't just about us being sexy up on stage for the audience, the women in the audience felt sexy and inspired, through us they saw themselves on stage. Their own bodies celebrated. For that hour the American standard of beauty was not bombarding them from magazines and billboards and the television screen.

Till next time,
Miss AuroraBoobRealis

just a quickie about creativity and my identity

2010-02-03T14:31:00.002Z

I love how creativity works, in writing a blog about U.S. Black History Month, I of course was thinking about my own identity as a Black woman who is multi-ethnic, and how in the UK people mostly would just call me mixed race, which as an American who was born into the myth of the "one drop rule" I don't identify simply as mixed race... which then got me researching the origins of the one drop rule and then I realized that this is all research for a piece I'm creating with BGB for our Culture Classics show in May. Creativity rocks!!!!

And of course since I just spent the last 40 minutes reading all this info on the one drop rule, now I'm running out of time to write this blog about Black History Month. So stay tuned...

peace and movement,
Miss AuroraBoobRealis

Musings...

2010-01-31T23:18:00.005Z

I haven't glued on fake eyelashes or swabbed spirit gum around my areola since Halloween. On this last day of January I realize that means it's been three months since I've performed burlesque. Which is the longest time I've gone without since I began in 2007. But just because I haven't stepped on stage all glittered and costumed, doesn't mean I've been uninspired or lazy. I've been in a deep creative surge, it's just this creative surge has manifested itself off the burlesque stage.

I've been planning and conference calling and co-creating curriculum and lots of burlesque research, and dreaming about my next big piece... debuting on May 15th when I'll be back in NYC for our next huge show called Culture Classics.

Sorry couldn't resist throwing in a quick plug even those we're still some months away.

I've been creating more of a presence for BGB on the web, we just entered the world of twitter!

https://twitter.com/BGBurlesque

and our group blog will be launching in two weeks!

Also stay tuned a bit further down the line for our BGB website launch (this I can't take credit for at all - Dame CuchiFrita has taken the lead and is working with a great designer)

Funny, I started off this post all introspect and then suddenly I'm plugging everything BGB. Which actually is understandable if you know me, because since March of 2007 I've practically been breathing BGB.

It started as just an idea that had been sitting in my brain for a while. I have a lot of those. Some have yet to see the light of actual creation. And then one day I was talking on the phone with one of my best friends from undergrad, I don't even remember how we got on topic, but all of a sudden this idea forced it's way through the creative chaos of the rest of my brain and made itself known. I told Maya about this idea to create an all women of color burlesque troupe. Maya, being the awesome Taurus that she is, grasped on to the idea and surprised me by saying "Let's do it!" Honestly if she hadn't said those three words, BGB would still be just a thought floating around my brain, without even the name of BGB to give itself structure, because Maya also came up with the name.

And so Maya and I began by reaching out to women we knew, who were performers in other disciplines and we gathered. And talked, and shared ideas about burlesque...

What an incredible journey it has been so far. As I sit in my living room in Manchester, thousands of miles away from the rest of the women of BGB, I have a smile on my face, writing this has placed me deep in memories and excitement for what is still to come.

peace and movement,
Aurora

New Beginnings

2010-01-19T21:20:00.000Z

It's been a while. In fact more then that. Basically I started this blog and then well... as you can see, it fizzled real quick. I don't think I was ready for the commitment, but now it's 2010 and I'm in a much different place.

Literally.

July 31, 2009, I moved from NYC to Manchester, UK. Definitely a change.

The first six months in Manchester I've been focusing more on my other performing identity,

1) because those were the opportunities that were most frequently coming my way

2) because it took me a while to learn the NYC and to a lesser extent, the US burlesque communities and I wasn't quite in the mood to start from scratch again

Well that's not totally true, I have met a few great burlesque folks in Manchester and actually was part of a show during the Whitby Goth Weekend on Halloween.

So I've dabbled, but I miss the glitter on a regular basis. And recommitting to this blog is my first step to focusing on creating a burlesque career for myself in my new country of residence. I don't want to just do burlesque when I return to the States.

Ahhh, new beginnings, so lovely, the fluttering in your belly and tingling in your heart.

See you soon, but for real this time.

peace and movement,

Miss AuroraBoobRealis

a look back at BurlyCon - part two

2008-12-06T01:44:00.000Z

Now where was I... ah yes, Friday afternoon.

At 1pm I went to Dr. Lucky’s History of American Burlesque 1860 - 1930. At the beginning Dr. Lucky went around the room and had everyone state why they came to the session and then she broke it down from the beginning, talking about the moment in 1868 when literary burlesque was transformed to live performance by Lydia Thompson and the Blond Bombshells. These women were disrupting the gender hierarchies in the theater of their time. Dr. Lucky then took us through the 1870s when managers merged burlesque with the structure of minstrel shows.

Just writing the term "minstrel show" makes me cringe a little, but I know it's an area to study that I don't know enough about. In Baba Israel's book, Remixing the Ritual: Hip Hop Theatre Aesthetics and Practice, he quotes Eric Lott from his essay Black Face and Blackness: The Minstrel Show in American Culture.

"...James Weldon Johnson similarly remarked that minstrelsy... constituted the only 'completely original contribution' of America to the Theatre.... These judgments appear terribly misguided now, given that Black face minstrelsy's century long commercial regulation of Black cultural practices stalled the development of African-American public arts and generated an enduring narrative of racist ideology."

Baba then writes "How do we negotiate the authentic artistic contributions of minstrelsy origins and also challenge its racist and limiting legacy? In our current mainstream popular culture, race is being played to the extreme."

So yeah, I definitely want to learn more about minstrelsy and its influence on burlesque.

And back to the workshop, next Dr. Lucky talked about Vaudeville and burlesque, and how Vaudeville defined itself as the antithesis to burlesque, how vaudeville was "clean and orderly" and catered to women and "all classes".

Throughout the next hour I took 5 pages of notes. Dr. Lucky went on to cover the myth of Little Egypt and the 1893 World's Fair, the Cooch Spreads (which she admitted is her favorite thing to write on the board of an academic institution, Burlesque Wheels (touring circuits around the US,) Ziefield's Construction of the American Show Girl, Minsky's "Modern Burlesque" and more.

and that's all you get for now, stay tuned for part three, where I recount Tigger's Boylesque workshop and more...

peace,
Aurora

reflections in the rain part one - a look back a BurlyCon

2008-11-30T17:42:00.000Z

It's Sunday November 30th and I'm sitting in my apartment trying to be productive. It's hard when this fluid filled cough won't go away and it's raining outside. And just as I finally sat down to type out this blog all about BurlyCon, when Missy Elliott's The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) comes on my itunes; shuffle is so my favorite way to listen my music.

How fitting. And suddenly I find myself calling this post "reflections in the rain" not at all what I had written in my journal. But I'm gonna go with it because I believe in trusting the process...

The road to BurlyCon started at the New York Burlesque Festival back in September. Friday night backstage I met Miss Indigo Blue and she told me about BurlyCon. That night I went home, checked out the website and got excited when I saw one of the panels was about cultural apropriation, racism and exoticism. When I saw Miss Indigo Blue the next night I asked if I could be on the panel and she said yes. Fast forward to my birthday in October, my husband gave me the idea of asking friends to make pledges to get me out to BurlyCon and it worked!

BurlyCon was awesome! I am so happy that I made it out to Seattle to take part in the first year. And I couldn’t have made it out there without the complete support of my strong community of friends and family who by giving $10,$15, $20, $50 and two $100 pledges, allowed me to buy the plane tickets and the BurlyCon admission ticket. So thank you to (in alphabetical order) Akynos, Alanna, Baba, Becky, Dame CuchiFrita, Desiree, exHOTic other, Fanya, Fem Appeal, Gale, Jeanine, Jeremy, Lady Luscious, Maya and Michael, Mo, Mtume, Pamela, Pamela and Steve, Paul and Ricky, Piper, Rebecca, Rozz, Sarah, and SunShine Fayalicious.

And let me say it one more time, BurlyCon was awesome! Congrats to Miss Indigo Blue, Dane Ballard, Dale Rio, Jo Boobs and all the volunteers and presenters and participants.

Okay, okay, I’ll get onto the meat of it…

BurlyCon was the silver lining in the rain cloud. Actually more like the wild glittered rainbow that comes out after the rain.

I arrived at the conference Friday just after noon, because I missed the welcome at 11am at first I felt a bit shy and unsure. Scheduled for the lunch hour were various meet and greets, one for new performers (0-3 years), one for new producers (1+years), another for POC (people of color), and a final one for new teachers (1+years) I was torn, a part of me wanted to go to each, but then I heard there was free food in the hospitality/vending room, so of course I practically ran there first and prepared myself a sandwich. Then I decided to head to the POC meet and greet. When I went to the room where it was scheduled I didn’t see anyone so I basically just sorta wandered around and introduced myself to Alotta Boutee (one of the founding members of the Harlem Shake) who I found chilling in the lobby. It was great to meet her, she was really down to earth and friendly, and I think I did of a pretty good job of not geeking out at her (warning, tangent upcoming)
See when BGB was just this small group of women sitting around Shimmy's living room in Brooklyn discussing what burlesque was to each of us, Harlem Shake, the first burlesque troupe of all Black women, was a huge inspiration to us.

Stay tuned for the next installment, where I talk about more of Friday afternoon's activities at BurlyCon.

peace,
Aurora

a quiet moment of reflection before I dive into BurlyCon

2008-11-07T18:42:00.000Z

It’s Friday morning and I’m sitting on my friend’s couch in Seattle, excited and just a bit nervous about tomorrow. Tomorrow is Saturday. And Saturday is the day I get to participate in a panel on cultural appropriation, racism and exoticism within burlesque at BurlyCon. I’m excited because this is a topic I’m passionate about, and nervous - not about what I’m gonna say, but because I’m wondering who will feel motivated to come to this panel, and I’m hoping honest conversation and communication will spring forth. With all that has happened nationally this week, I'm feeling inspired to build connections and bridges...

Stay tuned for more updates from BurlyCon throughout the weekend. Now it’s time for me to get ready and head over to the first day.

peace and pasties,
Aurora

Why Burlesque? Especially as a woman of color

2008-10-28T18:48:00.000Z

Taking my clothes off in public means something different because of my skin. Sometimes I wish it didn’t, but most of the time I embrace this difference, driven to communicate the complexity of my being as a brown woman expressing a sensuality that is multidimensional. I am not a primitive beauty wrapped in silence for the pleasure of the master. I create worlds with the sway and twirl of my limbs and radiate my own pleasure. I speak and dance and breathe, balancing all that the history of my skin means to me...

Last week I performed at a benefit for the LES institution ABC No Rio and it was a great night.
It began with a silent art auction, then the always incredibly funky Hungry Marching Band and then burlesque. Boobie Von Trapp, myself and Jezebel Express. It was wonderful to share the stage and dressing room with them.

I asked the host to announce me in the usual way – Miss AuroraBoobRealis, co-founder and artistic director of Brown Girls Burlesque, an all women of color burlesque troupe. Fast forward to after I performed, I was walking around talking to people and handing out my cards. I get in a conversation with this one woman and she admits that until she heard the host announce me and talk about BGB she’d never really thought about it but yeah, she hadn’t seen a lot of women of color doing burlesque. Exactly I said.

That is one of the reasons the idea of starting an all women of color troupe came to me. Because in the two years that I was going to see burlesque as an audience member, I had seen only one brown woman on the burlesque stage in NYC, one of the most diverse cities in the US. Why? I knew that they existed… Why wasn’t I seeing them? Maybe I just wasn't going to the right venues. Maybe I just wasn't in the know.

I wanted to do burlesque, but I didn’t’ want to be a token, constantly performing at venues where I was the only one, I wanted to create more of a presence of women of color on the burlesque stage. It’s ironic, I’ve often participated in conversations about the frustration of being seen as always representing our people, never being seen as an individual and suddenly I’ve found myself wanting to rep something larger then myself as a performer. Now when I perform at venues, even if I'm the only brown woman that night, when the host says I'm from BGB, it makes the audience think.

I like that.

welcome to amidst the glitter - a brown woman's perspective

2008-10-15T04:31:00.000+01:00

I remember in high school, and later in undergrad passionately debating the issue of when a black writer would ever be able to drop the label of "black" and just be a pure writer.

As if one could separate and dissect the various aspects of oneself, [the human heart can beat outside of our chests without any help for only a few fleeting moments]

Every artform I practice has always been tied to my experience of this world as a woman of color, a Black woman with a white mother, a woman of mixed heritage...

and burlesque is no different.

This blog is about the beautiful sexy world of the bump and grind - from a brown woman's perspective.

My goal is to write a new blog at least once a week, but sometimes it might be more if I'm feeling inspired.

peace and pasties,
Miss AuroraBoobRealis