Simple Act Development Exercise
Hello Burlesquers!
Whether you're creating your first number or your 50th, sometimes coming up with an idea you love is the hardest part of all.
Often this comes from overthinking, so the exercise in this post can be helpful in reminding you that burlesque is supposed to be fun. After all, burlesque is, above all things, optional -- you don't have to do it at all! However, the beauty of it is that you get to come up with everything on your own: concept, music choice, costume assembly, and choreography. This is a fully independent art form you get to do solely for your own satisfaction. So if you're going to do it, it should be fun.
For this exercise, take a notebook and write down the following:
1) Concept or theme
2) Music
3) Outermost layer of costume
4) Innermost layer of costume
For instance:
1) Spring
2) Spring by Vivaldi
3) An earth colored robe with really long sleeves and flowered gloves that will start poking out
4) Flower pasties and a squirting flower g-string
1) The color yellow
2) Mellow Yellow by Donovan
3) A yellow jumpsuit
4) Lemon pasties and a banana g-string
1) A broken heart
2) Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana
3) A valentine candy box that turns into heart-shaped fans
4) Plain red pasties and a heart-shaped g-string that splits open and red confetti falls out
It's really important, for the purpose of the exercise, to not worry about coming up with something complicated or difficult. You're not looking to impress anyone, because no one knows what you're doing. The point is to work the muscles in your creativity that make connections. The most successful concept-based burlesque numbers have coherence among the elements of music, choreography, and costume. You're building up your ability to make those connections in the format of a burlesque number, which is simply getting undressed (or the reverse, in some cases) to music (or to spoken words or in silence or with sound effects, in some cases). And keep in mind that you're just doing an exercise, rather than trying to come up with something you have to commit to. If you keep that in mind, sometimes you might accidentally come up with something you love!
Once you're ready to commit to creating a number, I have an entire book on how to create burlesque routines, featuring chapters on everything from how to come up with a stage name to how to choose music to how to get professional enough to be asked back for gigs. It also teaches how to make pasties with tassels and how to make those tassels twirl. The Kindle version is only $2.99!
Check it out:
The Burlesque Handbook
Whether you're creating your first number or your 50th, sometimes coming up with an idea you love is the hardest part of all.
Often this comes from overthinking, so the exercise in this post can be helpful in reminding you that burlesque is supposed to be fun. After all, burlesque is, above all things, optional -- you don't have to do it at all! However, the beauty of it is that you get to come up with everything on your own: concept, music choice, costume assembly, and choreography. This is a fully independent art form you get to do solely for your own satisfaction. So if you're going to do it, it should be fun.
For this exercise, take a notebook and write down the following:
1) Concept or theme
2) Music
3) Outermost layer of costume
4) Innermost layer of costume
For instance:
1) Spring
2) Spring by Vivaldi
3) An earth colored robe with really long sleeves and flowered gloves that will start poking out
4) Flower pasties and a squirting flower g-string
1) The color yellow
2) Mellow Yellow by Donovan
3) A yellow jumpsuit
4) Lemon pasties and a banana g-string
1) A broken heart
2) Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana
3) A valentine candy box that turns into heart-shaped fans
4) Plain red pasties and a heart-shaped g-string that splits open and red confetti falls out
It's really important, for the purpose of the exercise, to not worry about coming up with something complicated or difficult. You're not looking to impress anyone, because no one knows what you're doing. The point is to work the muscles in your creativity that make connections. The most successful concept-based burlesque numbers have coherence among the elements of music, choreography, and costume. You're building up your ability to make those connections in the format of a burlesque number, which is simply getting undressed (or the reverse, in some cases) to music (or to spoken words or in silence or with sound effects, in some cases). And keep in mind that you're just doing an exercise, rather than trying to come up with something you have to commit to. If you keep that in mind, sometimes you might accidentally come up with something you love!
Once you're ready to commit to creating a number, I have an entire book on how to create burlesque routines, featuring chapters on everything from how to come up with a stage name to how to choose music to how to get professional enough to be asked back for gigs. It also teaches how to make pasties with tassels and how to make those tassels twirl. The Kindle version is only $2.99!
Check it out:
The Burlesque Handbook
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