Thursday, October 13, 2011
I suck!!
My poor neglected blog, how I've missed you!! I will remedy this lack of updates over the weekend. In the meantime, if you wanna see me dance, check me out tomorrow night at Noches de Destape in Alexandria!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
2 Weeks Until Lexie Goes Solo!!
That's right, only 2 weeks and counting until I hit the Phase stage all by my lonesome. I'm oddly not terrified by this prospect...yet. I'm sure two weeks from now there will be a Full on Panic Mode part II type post. I think this is really important performace for me though. I feel comfortable with my title of "burlesque dancer" for the most part, but part of me feels like a sham. I've never quite done the whole shebang by myself, with the exception on two very short solo performances at the end of a workshop. Its not too tough to dance around for 75 seconds. Hell, if you forget the choreo, you could basically do a two step, shake your boobs, and then it's over. Performing to an entitre song seems both daunting and exhilarating. You never realize how long 3 1/2 minutes is until you have to fill it up with movement that a) doesn't look stupid; b) entertains the audience; and c) you can actually remember while you're on stage. But at the same time, the thought of performing something that came from my own crazy little brain seems so exciting. To know that I was solely responsible for the creation of something that other people might enjoy (that isn't food, I am a hell of a cook lol) seems so gratifying.
Without getting all out there about it, sometimes I think of this whole burlesque thing as so much bigger than individual performances on a stage. At least that's how it is for me. Who knows, some people could just love the attention, or enjoy getting nearly naked for people or need the tip money, or, or or...But that's half the reason I love it. Because it can mean as much (or as little) to you as you'd like. For me, it's about being true to myself. Lol come to think of it, that sounds a little odd, that my true self is a seductive dancer that removes articles of clothing for an audience? I don't quite think that's what I meant though. I just mean that embracing the fact that my interests are (and generally have always been) a little off the beaten path. Every time I send a video to my sister doing my latest pole trick, her first words are always "I still can't believe you have a pole in your bedroom..." Doing burlesque is not something your parents want to write about in their yearly Christmas card update and imagine me trying to explain to freshman year roommate at the HBCU I attended why my ringtone was Toxic by Britney Spears and that yes, I really did have Aaron Carter's That's How I Beat Shaq in my iTunes library. But that's just me. And it's taken 25 years and some girls dancing around in pasties to accept that. I am slowly but surely learning how to be wantonly unapologetic for who I am. And at the end of the day, if no one else likes it, who cares? I know that I'm being 100% true to myself and I LOVE that, and that's what counts, right?
Okay obvs this post got all waxing poetic by accident, but the whole point is, come to Phase July 20 to see me shake it, solo style! I promise to make it worth your cover charge :) Plus there are going to be other equally awesome gurlies performing that night. And if you just can't wait that long to see us again (and who could blame you?) come out to our upcoming shows at The Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan on July 9th and The Red Palace on July 14th.
Without getting all out there about it, sometimes I think of this whole burlesque thing as so much bigger than individual performances on a stage. At least that's how it is for me. Who knows, some people could just love the attention, or enjoy getting nearly naked for people or need the tip money, or, or or...But that's half the reason I love it. Because it can mean as much (or as little) to you as you'd like. For me, it's about being true to myself. Lol come to think of it, that sounds a little odd, that my true self is a seductive dancer that removes articles of clothing for an audience? I don't quite think that's what I meant though. I just mean that embracing the fact that my interests are (and generally have always been) a little off the beaten path. Every time I send a video to my sister doing my latest pole trick, her first words are always "I still can't believe you have a pole in your bedroom..." Doing burlesque is not something your parents want to write about in their yearly Christmas card update and imagine me trying to explain to freshman year roommate at the HBCU I attended why my ringtone was Toxic by Britney Spears and that yes, I really did have Aaron Carter's That's How I Beat Shaq in my iTunes library. But that's just me. And it's taken 25 years and some girls dancing around in pasties to accept that. I am slowly but surely learning how to be wantonly unapologetic for who I am. And at the end of the day, if no one else likes it, who cares? I know that I'm being 100% true to myself and I LOVE that, and that's what counts, right?
Okay obvs this post got all waxing poetic by accident, but the whole point is, come to Phase July 20 to see me shake it, solo style! I promise to make it worth your cover charge :) Plus there are going to be other equally awesome gurlies performing that night. And if you just can't wait that long to see us again (and who could blame you?) come out to our upcoming shows at The Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan on July 9th and The Red Palace on July 14th.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Lots 'o updates!
Okay so obviously I've sucked at updating for the past month. So much has been happening in my burlesque life, as well as my real life, blogging fell to the wayside for a moment. But never fear my loves, I'm back!!
Okay so let's rewind to last month, my first time performing at Phase. I made it through the show without passing out, vomiting, or getting anything thrown at me (with the exception of some dollar bills, heyyyyy lol). I felt pretty good about it...mostly meaning that I felt good that it was over. I know that the dance could have been a lot better, I could have conected with the audience more, and generally not looked as terrified, but hey, that's life. Everyone was super nice and supportive and I obviously wasn't too scarred because I somehow talked myself into signing up to perform at Pride and for our Moulin Rouge show.
PRIDE
Okay so we did a group number for Pride, a fantastic mashup of "Show Me How You Burlesque" and "Blow." We worked HARD on that number. Three weeks of practicing, twice/week, for 2 hours/night. I can say with complete confidence that we were one of the best acts out there that day. The day of Pride arrived and it was approximately 10 trillion degrees. We had to show up down town partially made up, so riding the metro with my super blue eyeshadow and mohawk made for a pretty interesting ride :) Although the day was not without it trials, I think we all came together as a troupe and did an amazing job. When we hit the stage in our rainbow colored corsets 85% of my nerves left me (not 100%, I'm still new at this after all...). I was just excited to showcase all our hard work. Of course it started pouring as we performed, but we didn't care...and neither did the audience for that matter. They were so interactive and people couldn't get enough of Dani's voice. Yes, bad ass Lady Justice sang Christina Aguilera and KILLED IT! That was my first time attending any Pride festival and it was a very cool atmosphere. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I would have loved to stay and partay for a while, but I was wiped. Plus I had to get home and rest because we had rehearsal for our Moulin Rouge show the next night.
Moulin Rouge
We literally had a week (and by week I mean 4 hours spread over 2 days) to learn the choreo for the group numbers for Friday's show. A daunting prospect? Yes. But we're the fucking DC Gurly Show so of course we rocked it. Friday's show was AMAZING. We opened with a group performance of Lady Marmalade and closed with El Tango de Roxanne. We even busted out a can can line at the end! The whole show was so well received and this was definitely the least nervous I've ever been while performing. That could be due to the fact that I wasn't performing solo, but I like to think its mostly because I'm finally getting the hang of this performing thing.
What's next?
We have an administrative meeting this week and there are some suuuuuuuuuper exciting things on the agenda. I won't tell what they are, but I will say, look for some new and exciting places to see me and the Gurlies and some pretty awesome themes coming up VERY soon! Also, look for me at our July show when I have my very first SOLO! Eeek, even thinking about that makes me nervous, but I know it'll be awesome. I'm also incredibly flattered that one of my fellow Gurlies, Sugar Cane, asked if I would perform with her for her first number. The bylaws say that you have to perform with an "experienced" performer for your first number. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say I'm an experienced performer, but I'm flattered all the same :) I'll definitely post the info for that show when I get it.
Okay thanks for bearing with me through this loooooong ass update. I'll get better at updating more regularly so I won't have to write a novel next time!
<3 Lexie
Okay so let's rewind to last month, my first time performing at Phase. I made it through the show without passing out, vomiting, or getting anything thrown at me (with the exception of some dollar bills, heyyyyy lol). I felt pretty good about it...mostly meaning that I felt good that it was over. I know that the dance could have been a lot better, I could have conected with the audience more, and generally not looked as terrified, but hey, that's life. Everyone was super nice and supportive and I obviously wasn't too scarred because I somehow talked myself into signing up to perform at Pride and for our Moulin Rouge show.
PRIDE
Okay so we did a group number for Pride, a fantastic mashup of "Show Me How You Burlesque" and "Blow." We worked HARD on that number. Three weeks of practicing, twice/week, for 2 hours/night. I can say with complete confidence that we were one of the best acts out there that day. The day of Pride arrived and it was approximately 10 trillion degrees. We had to show up down town partially made up, so riding the metro with my super blue eyeshadow and mohawk made for a pretty interesting ride :) Although the day was not without it trials, I think we all came together as a troupe and did an amazing job. When we hit the stage in our rainbow colored corsets 85% of my nerves left me (not 100%, I'm still new at this after all...). I was just excited to showcase all our hard work. Of course it started pouring as we performed, but we didn't care...and neither did the audience for that matter. They were so interactive and people couldn't get enough of Dani's voice. Yes, bad ass Lady Justice sang Christina Aguilera and KILLED IT! That was my first time attending any Pride festival and it was a very cool atmosphere. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I would have loved to stay and partay for a while, but I was wiped. Plus I had to get home and rest because we had rehearsal for our Moulin Rouge show the next night.
Moulin Rouge
We literally had a week (and by week I mean 4 hours spread over 2 days) to learn the choreo for the group numbers for Friday's show. A daunting prospect? Yes. But we're the fucking DC Gurly Show so of course we rocked it. Friday's show was AMAZING. We opened with a group performance of Lady Marmalade and closed with El Tango de Roxanne. We even busted out a can can line at the end! The whole show was so well received and this was definitely the least nervous I've ever been while performing. That could be due to the fact that I wasn't performing solo, but I like to think its mostly because I'm finally getting the hang of this performing thing.
What's next?
We have an administrative meeting this week and there are some suuuuuuuuuper exciting things on the agenda. I won't tell what they are, but I will say, look for some new and exciting places to see me and the Gurlies and some pretty awesome themes coming up VERY soon! Also, look for me at our July show when I have my very first SOLO! Eeek, even thinking about that makes me nervous, but I know it'll be awesome. I'm also incredibly flattered that one of my fellow Gurlies, Sugar Cane, asked if I would perform with her for her first number. The bylaws say that you have to perform with an "experienced" performer for your first number. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say I'm an experienced performer, but I'm flattered all the same :) I'll definitely post the info for that show when I get it.
Okay thanks for bearing with me through this loooooong ass update. I'll get better at updating more regularly so I won't have to write a novel next time!
<3 Lexie
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Full On Panic Mode
As I signed in to blogger to write this entry, my breath quickened and my heart started racing. Why? Because I'm was going to write that my performance is tonight. No, I'm not on my way to the show, I'm not sitting backstage. I'm sitting at the dining room table at my employers house...and I'm scared shitless. This does not bode well for the evening. Why can't I just get regular jitters? First performance anxiety is not good! It's so ridiculous. I know this dance. I know this place. I know these people. Apparently none of that matters because as I sit here in front of the computer, I am literally freaking out. My palms are starting to sweat. What if I suck? What if I forget the choreo? What if they boo me? My rational brain knows that none of these things will happen. But my totally irrational mind says that all this will take place, and more. I was going to write all sorts of interesting and fun tidbits about what you'll see tonight and how awesome everything will be, but unfortunately now I'm too nervous to make any sense. Just know that the show will be AWESOME. And so now need to go calm myself and practice about 100 trillion more times before the kids wake up... If you want to see how it all turns out, come on out to Phase 1 tonight and check out me and the other Gurlies!!
Monday, April 18, 2011
The countdown begins!!
It is exactly 1 month until I hit the stage for my first performance with The DC Gurly Show!! I'm sooo excited/nervous! I'm glad Lola will be dancing with me. I'm working on choreography now, mostly while the kids are asleep at work, and hopefully I'll have something semi-fantastic to show her when we meet up to practice. I'm excited to shop for my outfit, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm looking for...but I can't say what it is. You gotta come to the show to see! It's May 18th, I realllllly hope I see you there!!
<3 Lexie
<3 Lexie
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Sad Lexie :(
My phone has been blowing up today with emails from the other Gurlies full of excitement for tomorrow night's show. And I'm sad. Because I won't be there. I'm going to New York for my best friend's birthday. She's been my friend since I was 11, I wouldn't miss it of course, but I am uber bummed that I am missing the first show that I'm officially a part of the troupe. I know this weekend is going to be awesome, but I can't help feeling like I'm missing out. So if you're not busy tomorrow night circa 9:30, go to the show and cheer your heart out for my fellow Gurlies like I would if I were there! And take pictures!
<3 Lexie
<3 Lexie
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Lexie's Coming Out Party!
So after much debate, I decided when I'm going to hit the stage for the first time. May 18th at Phase One in Washington, D.C.-so be there! After much guidance from my favorite burlesque mentor, Miss Lola Rose, I'm ready to show off what I've got, or at least a little of it. She'll be dancing my first number with me (THANK GOD) and a bunch of the other amazing Gurlies will be strutting their stuff as well. Our fearless leader (and show producer) Private Tails has also helped me with this journey...mostly by telling me that I'd attend my first interest meeting, rather than asking :) Between her prodding, Lola's inspiration, and some balls that I mustered up from somewhere, I'm finally ready for my debut. Come check us out! And if you can't wait that long to get a taste of the Gurlies, check us out April 15th!
<3 Lexie
<3 Lexie
Monday, April 11, 2011
Who is this Lexie Starre...
and why should I read her blog?
Fair question. The short of it is that I'm a member of the DC Gurly Show and I'm a burlesque performer. Our troupe is awesome and you should go to every single thing we do because its amaze-balls every time.
So there you have it. Check out my blog to see where and when I'm performing, what I'm up to in my burlesque life, and when my other bad ass Gurlies are taking the stage.
For those of you who actually care about how I got here though, feel free to keep reading...
In real life, I dress like a bum. I don't wear makeup (unless I'm going out, which coincidentally, I rarely do). I don't do my hair. I am the antithesis of sexy. You will typically find me in jeans, a hoodie, chucks, and a ponytail. Unless its hot and I wear flip flops and a t shirt, but that's pretty much what you get. I wasn't always like this, hell I was even nominated for best dressed in high school. My college roommates actually forbade me to go shopping sometimes because there was just no place to put all of my clothes. There are a few factors that have contributed to my desexification process. Some are pretty cliche, but whatevs, that's life.
1. My job-In real life, I'm a nanny. I went to school so I could teach high schoolers the beauty of the Spanish language and then realized wtf, this is sooooo NOT for me. Then I taught preschool for a little while and suddenly there were bells and whistles and neon signs like "THIS IS WHERE I NEED TO BE!" Unfortunately with all that fan fare came bill collectors, low bank balances, and no social life to speak of-fyi, preschool teachers get paid shit. So I figured what better way to combine two things I love, teaching kids and being able to pay my bills, than to be a full time nanny? Unfortunately, spending 10 hours a day with little ones lends itself to slight laziness and acute desexification. In other words, I dress like a crap 50 hours/week. Who needs cute clothes and accessories when you know you're going to end up covered in yogurt, paint, some type of bodily fluid, or on a reallllly good day all three?
2. My weight-Now, by no means is this going to be some self loathing diatribe about how much I hate my body and how hideous I look all the time. In all actuality, my weight isn't horrific. But it's also not where I want it to be. The freshman 15 + relationship weight + generally laziness sometimes has gotten me to where I am, but I'm working on it. I'd love to just throw clothes on and not spend 10 minutes wondering if something if flattering or not. Because most of the time I decided "not" and throw on my typical uniform and say fuck it.
3. A really bad break up-I won't harp on this one because it's in the past and uber cliche. Same old story: Girl meets boy, girl falls madly in love, girl finds out boy is a lying, cheating, sack of ass garbage, girl is left wondering why she wasn't good enough for him. But fast forward roughly two years and you find girl not giving a shit about said boy and is actually much better off :)
How I began trying to resexify myself
Enter Living Social. Yeah, that doesn't sound that sexy, I know. But they had a deal for some pole classes, which I'd been wanting to try forever, so I finally did...and I loved it. That's not to be confused with being good at it, but I did love it. And so began my foray into "exotic fitness." One day a burlesque class popped up on the schedule. I loooove stuff like that, old school sexy is what I call it. Not necessarily showing your cooter for a dollar, but being hot as shit all the same. So it only took me two weeks to get the balls to actually go to a class, where I met the love of my burlesque life, Lola. She's a phenomenal dancer, an amazing motivator, and an all around beautiful person. She's always telling us "any BODY can be sexy." And I'm really learning to take that to heart. She's also a member of the DC Gurly Show and so of course I went to see her perform at one of their shows. And another, and another. Until Private Tails finally said, "so I'll see you at the meeting on Wednesday, right?" Stupid me, I'm like what meeting? And she looked truly perplexed. "So we can get you on the stage." And I looked equally perplexed in return. But under that confusion, there was a kernel of interest. And that interest led me to actually go to said meeting and meet a bunch of awesome women who are all beautiful and sexy and courageous in their own way. I'm 1000% sure that they all have so much to teach me and I can't wait to learn it.
Here's a brief prospectus for those of you who might have gotten a little bored in the middle:
- I am rather unsexy for the following reasons:
I can't wait to share my burlesque journey with you, so stay tuned!
<3 Lexie
Fair question. The short of it is that I'm a member of the DC Gurly Show and I'm a burlesque performer. Our troupe is awesome and you should go to every single thing we do because its amaze-balls every time.
So there you have it. Check out my blog to see where and when I'm performing, what I'm up to in my burlesque life, and when my other bad ass Gurlies are taking the stage.
For those of you who actually care about how I got here though, feel free to keep reading...
In real life, I dress like a bum. I don't wear makeup (unless I'm going out, which coincidentally, I rarely do). I don't do my hair. I am the antithesis of sexy. You will typically find me in jeans, a hoodie, chucks, and a ponytail. Unless its hot and I wear flip flops and a t shirt, but that's pretty much what you get. I wasn't always like this, hell I was even nominated for best dressed in high school. My college roommates actually forbade me to go shopping sometimes because there was just no place to put all of my clothes. There are a few factors that have contributed to my desexification process. Some are pretty cliche, but whatevs, that's life.
1. My job-In real life, I'm a nanny. I went to school so I could teach high schoolers the beauty of the Spanish language and then realized wtf, this is sooooo NOT for me. Then I taught preschool for a little while and suddenly there were bells and whistles and neon signs like "THIS IS WHERE I NEED TO BE!" Unfortunately with all that fan fare came bill collectors, low bank balances, and no social life to speak of-fyi, preschool teachers get paid shit. So I figured what better way to combine two things I love, teaching kids and being able to pay my bills, than to be a full time nanny? Unfortunately, spending 10 hours a day with little ones lends itself to slight laziness and acute desexification. In other words, I dress like a crap 50 hours/week. Who needs cute clothes and accessories when you know you're going to end up covered in yogurt, paint, some type of bodily fluid, or on a reallllly good day all three?
2. My weight-Now, by no means is this going to be some self loathing diatribe about how much I hate my body and how hideous I look all the time. In all actuality, my weight isn't horrific. But it's also not where I want it to be. The freshman 15 + relationship weight + generally laziness sometimes has gotten me to where I am, but I'm working on it. I'd love to just throw clothes on and not spend 10 minutes wondering if something if flattering or not. Because most of the time I decided "not" and throw on my typical uniform and say fuck it.
3. A really bad break up-I won't harp on this one because it's in the past and uber cliche. Same old story: Girl meets boy, girl falls madly in love, girl finds out boy is a lying, cheating, sack of ass garbage, girl is left wondering why she wasn't good enough for him. But fast forward roughly two years and you find girl not giving a shit about said boy and is actually much better off :)
How I began trying to resexify myself
Enter Living Social. Yeah, that doesn't sound that sexy, I know. But they had a deal for some pole classes, which I'd been wanting to try forever, so I finally did...and I loved it. That's not to be confused with being good at it, but I did love it. And so began my foray into "exotic fitness." One day a burlesque class popped up on the schedule. I loooove stuff like that, old school sexy is what I call it. Not necessarily showing your cooter for a dollar, but being hot as shit all the same. So it only took me two weeks to get the balls to actually go to a class, where I met the love of my burlesque life, Lola. She's a phenomenal dancer, an amazing motivator, and an all around beautiful person. She's always telling us "any BODY can be sexy." And I'm really learning to take that to heart. She's also a member of the DC Gurly Show and so of course I went to see her perform at one of their shows. And another, and another. Until Private Tails finally said, "so I'll see you at the meeting on Wednesday, right?" Stupid me, I'm like what meeting? And she looked truly perplexed. "So we can get you on the stage." And I looked equally perplexed in return. But under that confusion, there was a kernel of interest. And that interest led me to actually go to said meeting and meet a bunch of awesome women who are all beautiful and sexy and courageous in their own way. I'm 1000% sure that they all have so much to teach me and I can't wait to learn it.
Here's a brief prospectus for those of you who might have gotten a little bored in the middle:
- I am rather unsexy for the following reasons:
- My job causes me to dress like a grungy 12 year old
- I got fat
- I was in a shit relationship
- I left that douchebag
- I'm getting in shape
- I found the amazing DC Gurly Show
I can't wait to share my burlesque journey with you, so stay tuned!
<3 Lexie
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