A little more Leeloo
I gotta limber up again for these last couple pics… Let me put my corset on, too…
Special thanks to Lawrence M. Green for taking this pic of my stretching out. He was always at rehearsals helping out with whatever we needed and I truly appreciate all his hard work.
Okay, now to WorldCon, waiting to head over to the Masquerade. Chaz (aka Hazel) shot the following pics, too. I swear if he hadn’t been there, I might not have had any documentation of me in my costume. Thanks, Chaz! đŸ™‚
Jason was nice enough to go with me…
I was kind of nervous, and by this point very tired. The nervousness was more like an old friend to me, though. Back when I did a lot of theatre, even though I was running the light board, or sound board, or pulling the grand curtain, or running a followspot, or being ‘the person who clipped in Judas before he hung himself in Act II’, I always got a twinge of nervous energy. When the audience was ready to be entertained and it was my job to support the entertainers, there was a certain thrill in that. And this time, I was actually an entertainer!
My number one goal–one that’d measure the amount of success I had on stage–was to not fall off the stage. It’s no secret that I can’t dance, so as long as I just did the best I could and most of all, had fun, I’d be fine so long as I didn’t fall off the stage. It was a pretty good drop and I didn’t want to get hurt. In all honesty, I have no idea if I did the routine correctly. The darn wig killed my peripheral vision, so I have no clue how I did. But even if I screwed up, I did it with gusto. I did it like I meant it and I had fun while doing it. And no, I did not fall off the stage. Therefore, in my own mind, I was a huge success!
And there’s just this funny thing about cancan dancing…and wearing a cancan dress. It made me do something I would never do in my regular life. I always had this strange compulsion to hike up my skirt! Even before going on stage to dance, I must’ve flashed the entire audience. Guys took pictures and I proudly held up my skirt. I dunno what came over me. While wearing a cancan skirt, all I wanted to do was hold it up. That, in itself, was a little adventurous experience for me…
There you have it. I…as Leeloo from the Fifth Element…danced the cancan at Worldcon 2006.
Up next… I…as the non-skirt-holding-up car chick I really am…remove an intake manifold in about twenty minutes just to prove I can do it. Although putting it back on took a little longer…
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September 2nd, 2007 at 12:23 pm
[…] already posted some pics from Hazel (here and here). But I’ve found more since […]
November 5th, 2007 at 7:32 am
“And there’s just this funny thing about cancan dancing…and wearing a cancan dress. It made me do something I would never do in my regular life. I always had this strange compulsion to hike up my skirt! Even before going on stage to dance, I must’ve flashed the entire audience. Guys took pictures and I proudly held up my skirt. I dunno what came over me. While wearing a cancan skirt, all I wanted to do was hold it up. That, in itself, was a little adventurous experience for me…”
Ms Slayter:
I had to write to respond to your comment.
First of all, I had to laugh about it.
There is NO strange compulsion at all. It’s a feeling of empowerment.
The Can-Can has been known as the world’s first dance that has been exclusively been associated with women. When women dance it, they feel truly in control.
That is why Gwen Verdon became a huge Broadway star.
I know because for three years, I tried to enlist a real can-can dance troupe from Paris for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade here in New York.
Le Clairette Can Can is supervised by Claire Duport, who danced the Can-Can for the Follies Berege.
http://www.clairette.org
She is a wonderful lady and we have beem friends for four years.
The best can-can troupe here in America is Madame Gigi’s Outrageous French Can-Can Dancers, of Dayton, Ohio.
http://www.cancan-historicdance.com
The can-can is a spectacular dance that requires a lot of skill. It can draw raves from audiences when it’s done well.
David Price, who authored the book, “CANCAN!” said the Can-Can is not about the dance, it’s about the attitude, it’s about the costume and it’s about the underwear.
Dancers in shows can work very hard and go home in anonymity on most nights. But a can-can dancer can flash her frilly bloomers and receive roses at the end of the night.
Look how much guys wanted to take your picture.
In a way, I can’t blame them….;)
Take care,
Kevin
November 5th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Wow! Well said, Kevin! Thank you for such a great comment.
I agree it requires a lot of skill. Going into it, I had no idea that (1) the dress would be so heavy, (2) that I was expected to not just lift it up, but toss it around and most difficult (3) stand on one leg while tossing the dress and kicking with the other leg. It may not read like much, but the act of doing it was something very, very new for me and I’m still amazed I did it at all. I’ve never been a dancer…ever…And never imagined I’d perform onstage. I was always a technician hanging out backstage, pulling ropes, pressing buttons or aiming followspots.
And yeah, I hadn’t thought about it before, but there is definitely a sense of empowerment. Perhaps that’s the real reason I felt compelled to lift my skirt! (I suppose the empowerment and the fact that probably 90% of the work in that costume was in the ruffles, bloomers and stockings I slaved over while building!)
Thank you!
November 5th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
You’re welcome.