When I know that I have a month to prepare for a performance, I think woo hoo, plenty of time! And then life happens and suddenly the performance date is upon me. Tonight was no exception. On September 3rd, Christabel mentioned that we had the opportunity to perform at Tease-O-Rama, which features the best burlesque performers in the country. Although neither Satise nor I had ever done burlesque, it sounded like fun! Christabel suggested that we partner hoop together, since she had just recently given us our first partner hooping lesson. Satise and I thought that was a great idea, even though we'd only partner hooped with each other once since Christabel's workshop. We thought that with a month to prepare, we could practice each Friday (when I have the studio reserved for my personal practice), which would give us several hours to practice partner hooping and put together a routine.

The first Friday was very productive. We got into our rhythm and practiced hooping around the waist, and then we practiced the waltz step that Christabel had taught us. Then we got ambitious and tried some more challenging moves, like shoulder hooping back to back while doing zest, as well as one person doing a full turn inside the hoop. The next Friday, Satise was out of town for her mom's birthday. The Friday after that, Satise performed at Ruby Skye so we couldn't meet. The following Friday (last week), we were at Hoop Camp in Santa Cruz all weekend. We brought our partner hoop, but the schedule was so packed with classes that we only managed about half an hour of practice on afternoon.

When we got back from Hoop Camp, we knew we had to really buckle down and get to work because the performance was only days away. Satise had suggested using "I Can't Do It Alone" from the Chicago soundtrack. On Monday night, most of the All Stars were unavailable for our regular rehearsal, so Satise and I used the time to choreograph our routine. After two hours, we had most of the beginning and all of the ending, but we still had one section in the middle that was a question mark. We met once more on Tuesday after work to finish choreographing and go over the entire routine. The studio wasn't available, so we met near my work and practiced until the sun started to go down. Even though we both would have felt better with a little more practice, we knew that this was our last chance. We both work during the day, and Satise's son's birthday was on Wednesday, so we ran through the choreography as much as possible. Near the end, our bodies and minds were not cooperating. Things that had worked the night before were suddenly no longer working and we were dropping our hoops constantly. Since it was starting to get dark and cold, we called it a night and headed home.

On Wednesday, I put on the t-strap ballroom shoes I'd planned to wear with my costume. I'd worn these shoes with the same costume for our photo shoot in February, but I hadn't done jumps or anything tricky then. This costume was the last one of the photo shoot and we were behind schedule, so I only got eight shots (three different poses) in this costume, so I hadn't had time to go crazy in these shoes. I brought the shoes to my Wednesday night class so that I could try them out on a wooden dance floor. To my frustration, I could not do certain things. I think this was partly because the shoes are still very new and not broken in (the soles are leather, so they are smooth on the bottom when they are new) and partly because I borrowed the shoes from Christabel, who wears a half size larger than I do. In any case, knee hooping was quite a challenge. I could barely get the hoop back up my legs, and it was a struggle to keep the hoop from falling while knee hooping. I think this is because I am used to having my heels on the ground, and with these shoes my weight was pitched slightly more forward. I could also feel my feet sliding back and forth on the smooth wooden floor. This worried me because Satise and I had put a leg hooping section in our routine. I went home and walked around in front of my house trying to scuff up the leather soles for a little more traction, which helped, but I was still afraid that I would jump into the hoop and my feet would slide out from under me. I went back inside the house in the hopes of finding some other black shoes. I tried on the black spats Annie had made for another costume, but they looked like clunky moon boots when paired with the frilly knickers of the vaudeville costume. In desperation, I tried on some platform boots and they looked much better. Whew!

In the mean time, I was starting to have some concerns about doing this performance. I realized that I know NOTHING about burlesque, so I felt I had no business performing at an event that was specifically for burlesque performers and fans. I worried that our routine was too musical theater and not burlesque enough. I was afraid that the seasoned burlesque professionals would wonder what in the hell we were doing. I thought that this might reflect poorly on HoopGirl and the All Stars if the burlesque community thought we had a lot of nerve coming to a burlesque showcase and doing a dorky musical theater routine. Then I thought about the wide range of performances I have seen fall under the umbrella of "burlesque" and I realized that I was freaking out over nothing.

When we arrived in SF, I drove around looking for a parking spot. I found a lot nearby, so I pulled in and parked my car. A man came over and handed me a parking ticket. He asked if we were parking overnight, which seemed weird. I said no, and he said that he still had to charge us the $12 fee (as opposed to the $8, both of which were advertised on the big sign in the lot). I was rummaging around in my bag to find money, so Satise handed me a $20 to give to him. I handed it to him and he said he would go get our change. I continued to hunt through my bag so I could pay Satise for half the parking. We started unloading the car, deciding which hoops and which bags to bring inside. I looked up to see where the guy was, which is when I saw a big sign that said to pay at the box. Apparently we just bought some homeless guy tonight's dinner. Yes, we are out of town yokels.

I walked over to the box where we were supposed to pay. It wasn't one of the old school boxes where you just shove money into the little slot that corresponds to your parking spot. This one was electronic and wanted me to enter my parking space number first. When it said I could pay, I could hear the little motor inside whirring, but it wouldn't take ANY of my dollar bills, even the nice crispy ones. This machine didn't take them and then reject them. Even though I could hear the motor, there was nothing pulling at the bills so it was like trying to shove a dollar against a wall. There was a sign on the box that said anyone who didn't pay would risk having their car booted. I just got back my stolen car two days ago, so I was not about to risk having anything happen to my car. With a sigh, I decided to find somewhere else to park. Luckily Shane spotted a metered spot right across the street, so I ran back to my car and got a sweet spot that didn't cost $8, $12, or $20.

When we arrived at the Rickshaw Stop, everyone's name was on the list but mine and Satise's! Luckily we looked dressed up enough that they let us in. We climbed up the stairs to the tiny dressing room. There were only a few other girls there, but I'd already seen the list of performers for the evening and knew it was only a matter of time before the room was overrun. We had plenty to do before show time, so Satise met with the sound guy to discuss cuing our music. The stage manager asked us if we needed help bringing our hoops onstage. All in all, everyone was very helpful and accomodating, so we were able to relax. Satise reminded me that my tiny top hat might get in the way while hooping, so she suggested I warm up a little bit to make sure I didn't need to reposition it before our performance. Thankfully she had pinned it in the perfect place, so I didn't whack it with my hoop during any of the moves we had choreographed. We found a small spot upstairs where we had just enough space to spin our hoops (although some moves resulted in pipes, walls, and other solid objects getting smacked), so we ran through the routine a few times. Satise had been smart enough to bring her ipod dock so we could practice with our music, but the music from the party was so loud that we could barely hear. We reviewed the choreography a couple of times and then we each practiced the moves that we had shoe/hat concerns about. At that point, I was ready and wanted to perform right away. Luckily it was almost show time!

We were fourth in the lineup, following Belles du Jour. Earlier I had mistakenly told Shane, Carson, and Susan that we were performing after the Scenic Sisters (this gaffe was because I'd seen the Scenic Sisters perform with Belles du Jour a few months ago, so I now have them inextricably linked in my mind). After I realized my mistake, I scampered around to each person to let them know that the Scenic Sisters were not performing that evening and that we would be going on after Belles du Jour. That's when I realized that Belles du Jour had taken the stage, so I threaded my way to the crowd and found Satise backstage. It was actually a blessing in disguise because I didn't have time to get nervous!

Our performance went well - a few mistakes here or there, but it was so fun! The crowd was very supportive (and Shane later said that we got the loudest applause of the night), and they LOVED the partner hooping! Afterward, I couldn't walk five feet without someone stopping me to say how much they enjoyed our performance. Everyone was very receptive to hooping, so this may be just the beginning!

Satise and I talked about how we would have loved another week to work on this routine, but what we proved to ourselves tonight was that it's entirely possible to choreograph and rehearse an entire routine in three hours. A little bit of hard work is all it takes! I'm not one to encourage procrastination, so my point is not to wait until the last minute but that when you really buckle down, you can get things done. I know that is not a huge revelation, but there seems to be a huge lean in the hoop community to improvise and go with the flow (which has been a huge challenge for me), so it's nice to see that a few hours of preparation can go a long way!

Even when a routine is choreographed, you never know what will happen. Catherine Zeta Jones speaks at a much lower volume than she sings, so I couldn't really hear when she was talking in the middle of the song. Since I knew I wouldn't be right on with the lip syncing, I decided to just scrap that and improvise with some facial expressions. I also didn't realize that there would be a big sign on an easel on the stage. I saw it just as I was about to do a trick near the end, so I scooted a little further downstage and then almost whacked Satise. No matter how much you prepare, shit happens! I've learned to accept that no performance will be perfect or exactly as I planned and that it's okay to just go with it.

On a totally shallow note, doing events sponsored by Hustler, Good Vibrations, and BPAL is AWESOME. The swag bag they gave to the performers included fishnets, underwear, a vibrator, a garter belt, and perfume. Sweeeeet.

After all this talk, here is the video:
www.vimeo.com/1873389