Ooh La La!

Before we start, be sure to vote for my blog in the year's Best of Portland Awards. I won the award in 2007. Click HERE to vote. Best Blog category is in the City Life section. Vote for me!!! Thank you!

I bet most of you are surprised that I don't have a comment on the Inauguration. Well, you saw it, there's not much I can say about it. It was amazing to watch and it was nice to watch the younger half of our country really come together. It reminded me of the MTV Inauguration Ball for Bill Clinton in 1992 when Natalie Merchant sang, "To Sir, With Love" to him. It was nice. Now President Obama....GET TO WORK! Just kidding. Seriously, though, don't rest on your laurels and wait for him to do all the work. Each and every one of us has the power to make change in our world. He can't do it without us. And remember what JFK said, "It's not what your country can do for you, it's what YOU can do for your country."

Please read the next post as it's about a pretty cool fundraiser coming up on Valentine's Day.

So, if you've read my blog for a few years, you know I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day and the way the flower, greeting card and candy industries rape us into feeling guilty for not partaking. I don't need 2/14 to celebrate the love in my life. I do that every day. This year, I know, some of you think I would flip flop on my feelings since I have a boyfriend. Well, I still feel the same about the holiday. Luckily for us, we have some AMAZING plans for the holiday. We are attending a cabaret show in South Berwick ME. It's a fundraiser for cancer and it comes with a four course meal. It's put on by Tricycle Dance Company out of Dover NH. Also, our good friend (and gorgeous I might add) Emily is in the show. I contacted Carrie Tyler, the mastermind behind the show and I interviewed her for my blog. Also, you'll see that the show is $75.00 a person. Right away you think...What?!? It's really not that expensive when you think that you get a four course meal and a two hour show. I know for a fact, that aside from maybe Denny's, in Portland you won't even get a decent meal per person for that amount. At least this way, you get a great alternative to the regular Valentine's Day stuff, you get a great meal, a great show and you get to help out Save The TaTa's - an organization raising money for breast cancer research.

(That's our friend Emily in the bottom frame....)

Tell us a little about burlesque and why it's making a comeback.

This show is actually cabaret, not burlesque... so we will be getting "mostly naked" or down to bras occasionally... we didn't want to scare everyone over dessert for the first year. But we do perform both, the major difference in burlesque there are exposed tatas typically with pasties or tassles.. and yes, we have all been practicing our tassle twirling. Traditional Burlesque invovles alot more comedy or vaudeville style acts with gorgeous stripping women thrown in. We are more what I call "vegas burlesque" more than just taking our clothes off, our dances are theatrical in nature and tell a fun little sexy and often funny story.

But to answer your question I think burlesque is making a come back because it's empowering for women. There is nothing quite like claiming one's own sexuality and saying to a crowd of people, "I am absolutely gorgeous, and so are these other broads"... plus, it's fun... nothing quite like it.

What inspired you to put this show together?

Honestly - it was a trip to vegas for my bachelor/ bachelorette party. Crissy the Exec director and I went to a burlesque show and sat through the entire performance going "we can do this, we should do this, new england needs this" We came back and we did it

Why did you choose to donate some of your proceeds to "Save the Tas Tas"?

Because we love that this is a company that finds the silver lining in such a terrible disease by showing their support through humor and their commitment to their foundation to raise as much as possible to help fight breast cancer. We all love their message and that they have chosen to use the word Tatas.... how can you not love that word? How can anyone not love boobs? cans? breasts? jugs? tits? fun bags? knockers? No matter what you call breasts it makes you smile... they are probably the only part of the body that universally when you call them by name does that... We must save them, they are fabulous.

Why Valentine's Day?

Really - what better day of the year to premiere a sexy fun show

What can we expect from the show?

In short to laugh and to blush. In general to have a fabulous sexy evening with an incredible meal in a gorgeous space.

How did you compile your cast of dancers?

A few of us were already dancing together casually, and we picked up the rest along the way. Some of the girls have tons of professional experience in dance and theatre and others of us not at all. It was really all about who wanted to do it, and who was committed to the project. It's a lot of time and work to produce a show.

I saw one of the rehearsal clips featuring a song by "Vampire Weekend," which happens to be one of my favorite bands of 2008. Now, I wouldn't automatically associate them with burlesque. How did you choose the songs for the routines?

Oh, they were random picks... things that inspired me while I was driving in the car mostly. I'm truly a terrible driver, when I drive I start to choreograph in full costume in my brain.. the inside of my brain is a little like a full scale circus 100% of the time complete with elephants and flying monkeys... just wait till you see what we can do when we actually have some money. Right now i'm trying to figure out how to turn ourselves into giant chess pieces with no budget... I often shell out my ideas and the songs that inspired them to the dancers and just let them run with it - we see what happens. All pieces are collaborative, in general one person has an idea, and then someone else takes it and becomes lead choreographer for the piece, but everyone gives input.

How long is the show?

As a show about 2hrs, but with dinner it will probably be more like 3hrs.

If people want to bring a group, how many people per table?

10 is the max per table.

Tell us about the four course meal!

It is going to be a fabulous meal. The Red Barn is a gorgeous venue already we are just the icing on the cake. There will be a cocktail hour starting at 6:30 and then after the seating we begin the show and the next three courses! I have attached the menu for your perusal.

Now onto you….you're the co-founder of Dover Yoga and Dover Pilates. How did you end up being a Yoga instructor?

Oh that is such a long story... but basically I knew after my first yoga class in the 90's that i wanted to be a yoga teacher.. i thought it was weird but really special. A few years later I got drop kicked into teaching when a position opened up at the health club I was a personal trainer at... after that yoga & pilates kind of took over my life, I opened a studio and well...that's where I happily exist now.

How did you go from Yoga instructor to burlesque dancer?

Well it's a short ride really between the two (yoga teachers consider yourselves warned), movement is my life, and my other mission is to empower women, and I have always been a fan of cabaret and burlesque dance... it all just kind of happened to blend together one day and 'poof' you have a burlesque dancing yoga teacher. Plus it's really fun... since I headed down this road I have never felt sexier or more confident in my entire life... I run a workshop with the executive director Crissy called "Bad Kitty" which is just for women. Bad Kitty is a combo of burlesque style dance, pilates & yoga... It is a great time and really helps a lot of women come out of their shell and feel sexy. We teach them a routine each session... many take it home to show their very happy partners. Currently we are working on a chair dance to Southern Culture on the Skids "Camel Walk"

How does Yoga help you in dance?

Other than the obvious of keeping me limber, it keeps me from being too hard on myself. Before I moved to the Seacoast I was studying dance professionally in NYC. It is every bit as hard and terrible as people tell you it is. I smoked a lot of cigarettes to stay thin, and barely ate. I spent way too much time worrying about whether I was half as good as the other dancers rather than enjoying myself. Yoga is at it's truest an educational look into our psycho-emotional bodies. It takes all your garbage puts it in front of you and says - "okay here - you ready to deal with this..?" It teaches you how to deal with adversity and remain calm. Nobody's perfect, and while I am lightyears away from the judgemental person I was when I danced in New York, I still have moments of doubt when I am in a room of other dancers. Then I remember my more yogic way of thinking that life is nothing if not bliss and peacefullness and then I just twirl around say 'to hell with it' and have a good time.

Yoga has been around a lot longer than most people realize. For anyone out there considering Yoga, give us one really good reason why they should act on that consideration.

Just one?!... if nothing else - it will put you in touch with your body in a way no other form of movement can. Yoga is a practice. It is what we do on our mat that reflects our daily life.

I brought up Yoga to someone last week and he said, "Why pay all that money for Yoga classes when the gym is only 15 bucks a month?" Tell us how the two differ?

Gym yoga is great...I started in a gym. That said, there is nothing quite like a yoga studio.. it's often quieter and filled with like minded people and as such yoga studios typically have a good community that supports them. But if you can't afford a yoga studio by all means take classes at a gym.

Do you think it's any easier for someone who's out of shape to start Yoga than it is to start back at the gym? Is one of the other easier on a beginner's body?

Nope I think they are equally hard. Yoga can be very frustrating, it can also be very joyful. The big difference though might be that at the gym you are very public kind of an "all eyes on you setting", yoga is very personal and when your on your mat that is your own little microcosm. So it's like being in a room with a bunch of people all in their own little universe... very different than a gym, so in that sense it can be easier. Does that sound totally hippie dippie?

Most people have an idea of what Yoga is, but many still have no idea what Pilates is. Tell us a little about it.

Pilates is a methodology of movement created by Joseph Pilates. It is based around creating core strength through movement, and uses your arms and legs as levers and pulleys to add resistance. The movement is based around functional movement and therefore is very linear in style. THere is a system of apparatus associated with it which helps to bring the body into optimal alignment. It tends to not be very spiritual, although in our studio (with us being both a yoga and pilates center) there is a lot of crossover.

Do you recommend that a person do Yoga AND Pilates or is doing just one beneficial enough?

YES!!! I recommend everyone do both. In general over the last 17 years of teaching movement I have discovered that yoga tends to make the arms and legs very strong and stretch the body, but does little in general - (someone will argue this i'm sure) to strengthen and really align the core and spine. Pilates on the flip side does amazing things to strengthen the center of the body, but as far as the mat work goes does little to strengthen the arms and legs, and involves very little stretching. The apparatus associated with Pilates is a little more complete in nature and the middle ground. No form of movement is ever 100% perfect and I highly highly recommend some combination of Yoga and Pialtes for everyone

What can we expect in the future from Tricycle Dance Company?

We are currently working on a modern show called Scorned Woman which addresses women's issue through modern dance and spoken word. We are hoping to tour that show to universities. We have also casually begun work on a burlesque version of the Nutcracker which we are currently writing the music for and seeking a venue to perform in for 2010. We hope to make that an annual holiday event. Know anyone who will have us?

Here's your chance to say anything you want…..

PLEASE Tell everyone you know about this show... With the economy how it is, we need to all show support for our artists, I am seeing way to many friends in the art community struggling. We are just starting out ourselves and need every bit of support possible to continue to do our work.