Mimicking is when the artist is mimicking movements she learned that she thinks look good or sexy. Reveling in her body is what happens when the artist is fully present and confident, regardless of what what she’s wearing or how she’s moving. Reveling is when the artist is present in the very center of herself. Instead of making an exaggerated pin-up inspired facial expression, she might be standing center stage taking a deep breath with a neutral gaze to arrive fully in her body. Instead of strutting in stiletto heels in a prescribed way that she learned is ‘sexy,’ she might choose to be barefoot--or wear combat boots or tennis shoes--if she feels more in her own skin that way. Whatever she is wearing or however she is moving, she is certainly aware of all that she is both sensing physically and feeling emotionally and is working with that, and using it as fuel for her expression.

When she’s performing in reaction to something (either rebellion OR submission). By reacting, I mean she is using her act exclusively as a way of being outrageous for outrageousness sake. She is expressing what she is not, who she is not, who she is flipping off, instead of expressing who she IS. By submitting, I mean the artist is on stage to be pretty or funny, to fit in with what she thinks will give her acceptance, to simply entertain the audience. She’s essentially wearing a mask. Revealing happens when the artist is radiantly coming alive, full of vitality, truly expressing herself. Revealing happens when she has transcended her need either to push against, or succumb to whatever social or personal obstruction exists to her being herself. We’ve been trained for so long to be pretty &/or funny to earn acceptance and praise. When the artist has had her full fill of OMG and WTF at how she’s been oppressed and not seen and not heard and not mirrored and not appreciated, and then instead of calcifying in anger about it all, or drowning in grief and powerless surrender, she takes the time and care to choose what she would like to create with her life, in this case, beginning with her burlesque solo. She uses her solo to create a template for the life she chooses to live, and to inspire others from her very example.

When the artist is moving constantly, with an absence of stillness she is actually blocking connection with her audience, and with herself.. When the artist incorporates enough artful stillness (read: continues to breath throughout it) in her performance she is allowing herself to both deepen her tangible presence and the possibility of giving and receiving between her and her audience. Before an artist has even shown me her act, I can be 90% sure that if I could only give one piece of feedback that would be most useful it would be to do LESS. To move less. To take more time with the chosen movements. An artist doesn’t need to do much on stage to completely captivate an audience.