Backstage at Temple of the Virgins: Coco TeAmo, Nina LeVoix, Sincerely Yours, Rosie Cheeks, and Jo Weldon. Photo by Broadway Brassy.
The best Way to raise the bar on your understanding of how to affect and audiences is to submit your numbers to others for critique. An outside eye will give you insight a mirror never canâŠ.
A great way to conduct critique sessions is to get together a group of performers prepared to present their numbers at any level, from the beginning stages of ideation to the numbers they have already performed.
1. Be prepared to give at least one positive and one negative comment.
2. Think about what the performance is like from the audienceâs point of view. You may state your pet peeves, but a statement like, âI hate it when performers turn their gloves inside out,â is not as useful as comment such as, âI couldnât see your hands at that point.â
3. While you are critiquing, if you disagree with another personâs critique, it may be appropriate to say so; it helps the performer tremendously to know that not all critiques are to be taken as gospel.
4. When critiquing, keep in mind the nature of a given performerâs audience, if you have an idea what that might be, as well as of your own credentials and experience of the criqtiuers. Are people with your preferences and point of view likely to be in the audience?
5/ If you have an idea, donât offer it to the performer unless you are willing for them to use it. If you want it for your own act and they canât actually incorporate it into theirs, say so.
1. State the level at which you believe your performance to be, whether it is just and idea you not yet sure youâre going to manifestâ or a fully developed number youâve already been performing for years.
2. Try to resist the urge to overexplain your number and justify your performance decisions. You usually wouldnât have that option onstage, so itâs not relevant. The people doing the critique will let you know if it âreads.â
3. While being critiqued, simply listen and take notes. Donât argue or explain any more than you would be able to do with the viewing audience. You may, however, say things like, âI was hoping it would look like I was riding a motorcycle, so what do you think I can do to make it look more like that?â
4. It is okay to explain what type of show you expect to be in or what kind of audience you expect to see your performances. It may help those doing critiques to put themselves in that context.
5. Try incorporating at least some of the suggestions you receive into your numbers.
This is what we do backstageâwe say to each other, âOh my god, you would look even more like a chicken if you did this move!â It doesnât hurt your originality or self-expression to collaborateâit makes it stronger!
The above is an excerpt from The Burlesque Handbook. by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque (est. 2004). You can purchase or download it immediately at amazon.com. Learn moves, costuming tips, history, and more, for less than the price of a single burlesque class!
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