After doing a little performance with my parrot Pyro at Logomo, burlesque artist Sophie le Sucré asked me to perform in a burlesque event Hylätty Huvipuisto ("Abandoned amusement park") 4.4.2014. At first I was supposed to do something with birds but then I decided not to since the surroundings would have been way too tricky compared to the small amount of practising possibilities. Sophie asked me if there would be something else I wanted to do. It didn't have to be burlesque: a little warm-up performance would do just fine.
I started to wonder if there was anything I'd always wanted to do but didn't dare... I had the answer quite fast. I had always wanted to dance solo infront of the audience. But dancing has never been my strongest merit. Yeah, I can move my body, but I've always been a bit weak embracing strict techniques. So this time I wanted to do something based on the feeling I wanted to follow.
I chose to do something a bit oriental but combining it to larger, more energetic motion. I did have a loose coreography and some base pillars but part of the show was just improvised. I love to dance, God I love it... And I wanted to do movements that feel good to me, reaching the passion that I often get while dancing secretly just for myself.
I've always loved oriental mythologies and esthetics but there's still this strong modern cyber kid inside me. I love music that mixes such characteristics and it wasn't hard to decide the music for the performance: I chose Seven Lions, Isis. This song kinda mixes oriental atmosphere with dubstep(ish) rhytms. I just love it!
I needed some equipment and borrowed stuff from my fellow Hellsinki RockGirl Nyoko Cottoncandy and also my tribal fusion dancing teacher Amanda Nousiainen. But I still needed more bling and visited
Zarifet, a local little boutique that sells clothing and accessories for belly dancers and other more exotic genres.
From Amanda I borrowed Isis wings. I actually had never ever even touched Isis wings before and at first I was a bit lost with them. But, after playing a while I started to figure out how the fabric behaves and what kind of hand movements and positions cause different "animated patterns". ...Don't really know how to describe it any better... My (borrowed) wings were transparent but they had this beautiful oyster nacre surface:
I remember waiting at the back stage, correcting my outfit almost neurotically. I wasn't feeling too nervous or anything but I guess my tension was
subconscious. Sure, I kinda knew that I would't make myself a fool but of course I didn't know what to expect since I had never done anything like this before.
And that's why the reactions from the audience blew my mind completely. Not only did they like it but they seemed to really love it! I don't think that any of my solo performances have ever reached that great applause. You could pretty much smell the excitement and exploding reactions of people, holding their breath and then just bursting to show their favor.
Why was it so amazing? Because I am not a dancer. Really. I'm not. No matter how my a couple friend preached that I shouldn't say that. But that's a fact. I've taken tribal fusion lessons only four months and of course studied a bit at theater school. But I've always lived with the though that I pretty much suck. Dancing isn't something I would ever been praised for.
What I waited for was words like "Oh, nice dance, way to go! Thank you for the performance." ...and not like "OH MY GOD AWESOME I JUST CRIED WHAT THE FUCK IDA O M G! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU CAN DANCE?!"
I was so touched for every comment that I had after the dance. Strangers from the audience came to hug me, many describing cold shivers and two of them cried. Woah. Mind blowing! I was also asked to do it again in August! Unbelievable! Well, sure! I'd love to dance more if it causes so strong emotions. Even though my technique isn't correct and I don't do any particular style... if it gives something to someone I'd be happy to do it more. Thank you all so much for your support!
Here are some pictures!
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Dressing room
Photo: Nina Lahtinen |
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Slowly lifting the Isis Wings...
© Jere Satamo, JS Disain |
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| "Tha-daaaaaa (szrrr) - scadada-scratchscratch-boom - thaa-da-daa... - badada thang-thang-thang!!"© Jere Satamo, JS Disain |
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Happy performer listening to applause!
© Jere Satamo, JS Disain |
Even though a video can't really show you the true atmosphere as large and amazing as it was, perhaps this filmation gives at least a little idea of what was happening. :)
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