22
Jun 2012

Fashion Friday

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This week I feel sexy in…

Fringe Festival Green!

Admittedly, I’m not usually big on t-shirts in summertime, but this baby comes with status!  This is the first time in four years that I taken part in an Ottawa Fringe production. I knew that was the right decision, but I also knew that if I wasn’t involved with the festival in some capacity, I would have the sad.

Those of you who have attended  Ottawa Fringe know that the whole operation would pretty much crumble if not for the crack team of volunteers who make sure that tickets get sold, artists are paid and the courtyard remains a hip-happening good time.  They’re a supremely cool gang and I aspire to be supremely cool…if only by association.  I decided to enlist and join the volunteer ranks.

Am I ever glad I did. Yesterday was my first-ever shift working box-office at one of the venues. I had a blast! The work (with mostly involved processing tickets) was delightfully low-pressure. My favourite part was chatting with patrons as the purchased their tickets, hearing their recommendations for shows they’d loved…and rantings about shows they did not.

I also enjoyed prancing around in my t-shirt, which as you can see says I’m straight up legit.

 

But with a big t-shirt comes big responsibility. It is forbidden to wear the volunteer t-shirt on Fringe premises when off-duty, lest one become mad with power. One may not consume alcohol or drugs while dressed in volunteer green. Whatevs. I’m high on handing on tickets and hanging out at the uber-exclusive Volunteer Headquarters AND the fact that my shirt is so big…I don’t need pants!

 

Speaking of no pants, those of you who aren’t Fringing tomorrow night should come out to Babylon for the biggest Burlesque party of the year. That’s right, tomorrow is the Fifth No Pants Dance Party.  I’ll be on stage with my fellow Lily Ladies, dropping my drawers – and most of my other garments – for one hell of a good time!  More details can be found here or on the cheeky poster below!

 

Categories: Burlesque, Community, Fashion, Fashion Friday, Fringe, Fun Stuff Tags: , , ,
29
May 2012

Afrodite and Me

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Winston T. Cat is sexy and he knows it! Photo courtesy of Kevin Reid

I’m fond of telling people “You are sexy. You just have to believe it!” That’s right peeps!  Grab your inner hawtness by the balls…or the labia…or any other genital of choice and work that foxy mojo! Sexiness isn’t not an exclusive feeling reserved for specific body types or age ranges. Sexy is something that everyone is. The moment you own it, it shows.

That’s what I say. That’s what I believe. But also? That shit is HARD, yo!  At least for me.  My sense of sexy evades me. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of it in the mirror. I feel its kinetic dance when attractive people enter my orbit. I rarely know what to do with it. As often as not, I become giggly…even a little ditzy, which unfortunately, are not my most appealing qualities.

But I haven’t embraced it as a fully integrated part of my identity. I both love and envy those magnificent people who lead with their sexuality but I’m afraid.  I treat sexy the way some might treat a priceless piece of jewelry. For the most part I keep it securely guarded. Occasionally I’ll put it on, but it make me nervous when I do. In a way the fear is kind of complicated but in another way it’s very simple. I’m afraid that if that if I let my sexy self shine, that someone will take it away from me.

Yep…it’s the same old, unoriginal but entirely real fear that holds most of us back. The fear of getting hurt.

 

Mighty Afrodite is gonna read you a story. She's gonna read it REAL good! Photo courtesy of Ricardo Savoury

Mighty Afrodite is my burlesque persona. If Afrodite had heirloom jewels she’d wear that sparkly shit all over town! Girlfriend has no fear. She is only about awesome.

Afrodite knows she sexy!  No one has ever told her any differently. She’s born from the part of my soul that was impervious to harsh words, cruel actions and false images.  She’s the persistent voice that urges me to keep going when I want to give up on myself. She’s the loving part of my heart and the living manifestation of all my hedonistic urges.

Mighty Afrodite is my permission to lead with the sexy (she’s also a great excuse to buy glitzy lingerie).  Through my alter ego I can unleash the lion and be the sexy goddess of love, fun and the disco fabulousness!

For now my sexy beast liveson the stage and  goes by a different name. But I am Afrodite and she is me. So who knows? Perhaps one day, regular everyday Nadine will lay a little more claim to that Mighty Afrodite mojo.

Categories: Body Image, Burlesque, Sex Tags: , , , , , ,
07
Mar 2012

My Favourite Things: Burlesque Story Boards

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When I started doing burlesque I was surprised to discover that for me, one of the more challanging aspects of the art form, were the costume elements. Specifically how to dress to undress.  My everyday disrobing involves yanking garments from my body and hurling them to the floor. It takes ten seconds. My audience is The Man of Mans. No need to keep certain bits covered when I ditch my duds. Dude has an all-access pass.

Meanwhile the logistics of taking it off in a burlesque routine are a bit more involved. Layers and fastners, and what piece comes of when and in which direction. How to make it all enticing, beautiful and choreographed in time to music.

As soon as I began burlesquing, I began making costume lists for my routines. It’s a helpful practice but I still find it challenging to transpose the visuals in my mind into words.

Then I had an idea.

I’m a visual learner. I also love to draw, particularly clothes and fashion-related things. As a kid I used to spend hours sketching fantasy outfits. I knew I’d have an easier time planning my outfits, if I could see them. And so burlesque story boards were born!

The process was very simple. First I found a website with printable fashion figure templates.  I printed a few, cut them out and pasted them on another piece of paper:

 

Next I scanned the image and created a PDF document of the figures. I wanted to story board a routine with that involves about six stages of undress, so I printed out two pages.

 

Time to draw!  I’m much better at putting outfits together then I am at taking them apart. I realized that if I began by drawing the starting outfit and going forward, it’d be tough to make corrections if I accidentally missed a step.  Instead I began with the final look…

 

…And worked my way backwards.

 

Added a few notes…

 

…And voila! A burlesque story board!

I love this activity. It really does help me figure out how to get (nearly) naked. And better still it combines my latest grown-up passion with one of my favourite childhood passtimes!

If you’d like to see this storyboard go from page to the stage, please come on out to Rockalily Burlesque‘s next show The Nearly Naked Truth on March 23rd! The $15 dollar ticket gets you a night of music, dancing and a whole lotta sexy!  Best of all, the proceeds go to Ottawa’s favourite pro-choice sexual health organization – and my employer – Planned Parenthood Ottawa!

Hope to see you there!

 

 

Categories: Burlesque, Fashion, Planned Parenthood Tags: , , , , , , ,
24
Feb 2012

Fashion Friday

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This week I’ve mostly been dressed like this…

Be-penguined pants!

The unsexy clothes are due to a very un-sexy  cold that’s left me feeling like this:

Faceplant!

While the rhinoviral spores and my immune system battle for supremacy, I’ve taken comfort in tea and an exciting new proposition.  The lucious ladies of Rockalily Burlesque invited me to join their ranks officially, an offer that I happily accepted.

I’m a straight up burlesquer! Legit, yo!

So this week I’m in big and baggy sick-day style but once I kick the cold, I’ll be spending a lot more of my time (un)dressed like this:

Photo by John Finnigan Lin

Categories: Burlesque, Fashion Friday Tags: , , , , , ,