marymari

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

Yes! Burlesque is a risqué variety show. The strip teases are obviously like the iconic brand of the performances, but really there such a huge emphasis on comedy and having them be fun and enjoyable. The best part of doing burlesque is that you get to do everything. I get to act, dance, sing, perform comedy, occasionally I’ve even done magic. It’s a performer’s dream!

It was a summer in college and I was a theater major so any way I could get paid to perform I was dying for and a friend of mine who was also a theater major heard about this open audition for a burlesque show and we decided to try it out. Worked out an awful routine, made it into the show, and got a few laughs. Been hooked ever since.