Sistahood was a Blazing Success!!!

It's Official Ladies n Gentleman, Sistahood Cabaret was a blazing success!!! The night was stuffed full of outstanding performances of all varieties in the theme of Monstrous Beauty! Traditional Japanese pieces that ended in blood being smeared over naked bodies, multi-media pieces that offered video, music, movement and amazingly costumed creatures, outstanding Burlesque that moved and inspired me personally....and clowns ;) I felt very honoured to have shared the stage with all of these Monstrous Beauties! Each person backstage was lovely, kind and warm hearted! I love being surrounded by such performers, especially women performers!!

The place was packed by 9pm and seats were scarce! The show wasn't to start until 9:30 even! YIKES! My biggest concern was for my parents who were coming in just under the wire. My mother's plane was arriving at 9pm that night, my step dad was picking her up at the airport and they were rushing like mad to make it in time! I had the brief pleasure of seeing them for but a moment as I ushered them to their sacred seats that I'd had friends put aside. Wine in hand I let them be and disappeared off backstage to get myself ready.

Having your parents in the audience always adds another level of excitement for me. They'd never seen me do Clown thus far and this was their intro into it...tee hee hee. This piece isn't what I'd consider to be 'traditional' clown by any means but it was funny in some spots and hopefully got a message across.

Of course we're always concerned about what our parents think about *our* piece but when they're attending a cabaret. . . there's the other acts that one has to consider. I don't often think twice about this as I'm used to seeing things that push my boundaries and open up my mind. My parents on the other hand? Not so much. The final piece of the first act was up and I finally realized what I'd thrown my parents into. It was a burlesque piece that involved a *very* traditional piece of music, glittery pasties, and a vibrator. It basically ended with the woman onstage pretending to get off with the vibrator. I realize it doesn't sound that funny but it was FREAKIN HILARIOUS!!! It was at that moment that I remembered that my parents were in the audience....

My roomate had the pleasure of sitting next to my mother during the course of the night. After this piece was over she turns to my mom and says, "So what do you say to your roomates mother after seeing a piece like that?!" My mother responds, "The car is parked on Georgia street and my luggage is in the back seat. Do you think it's safe?"

~ ~ ~

Needless to say The Parents loved my piece and were very proud of me. Yay me! As for the rest of the show? To quote my mom..."It was --- interesting shall we say." I'm glad they went. It's good to push boundaries every now and again even for them.

I'm happy to say that I got video of it! The only downfall is that my facial expressions are hard to see but I'm sure you can figure it out ;0)

watch video

Here's to my second Clown Piece EVER!!!

There will be more shows coming up in the future....more likely fire shows but I'm now looking into studying more clown here in Vancouver starting in the Fall....will keep you updated!

Thanks for reading!!

Over n Out

~MF

Sistahood Cabaret!!!

Sista--what?!

Sistahood is a month long festival in Vancouver that essentially celebrates women performers of all varieties! In 2001 it started out as a one day festival but over the eight years of it's life it's now grown to a full month long celebration of the feminine performer!!! The theme of this year's Sistahood Celebration is Re:birth and Co-creation.

www.sistahoodcelebration.com

This year I've been asked to join the ranks of the Sistahood Performers. It was with great glee and a sense of honour that I accepted! I will be performing in the 2nd annual Cabaret this coming Friday, March 7th at the W.I.S.E Hall in Vancouver, BC.

The theme for this year's Cabaret is "Monstrous Beauty"...phew! That's a big one! That in conjunction with the overall theme of Re:birth and Co-Creation is allowing for an amazing night of performances! There will be taiko drummers working with a poet, a burlesque dancer with a film maker . . . the amazing list goes on! I know your asking yourself...who am I co-creating with? Um...I think it might be pertinent to ask "What". . . .

An Umbrella.
A Rola Bola
and
A Hula Hoop.

I began asking myself "What is the Monstrous Beauty of a Clown?". From there I moved into the questions of "How can a clown FIND Monstrous Beauty?!" or "What is Monstrously Beautiful about a clown?!"

The answers I discovered were rich and full of discovery for clowns to most people aren't friendly, happy or fun. They're scary, hideous and have offered nightmares to more people than not over the years! That in itself can be considered Monstrous Beauty!

My clown is a bit different than the normal Ringling Brothers fare. Lucille is soft, round, totally insecure in her body and kinda shy...okay only sorta shy. She doesn't have loads of loud horns and squeaky shoes...although she does have an affection for Balloon Animals but that's a whole nother post.


Generally, the reasons we find clowns funny is because we can all identify with them on some level. They trip and fall down and we laugh. Why? Because we all trip and fall down! It's a reality and it's funny. Their nose is actually a sign of shame...for they can't ever do things correctly, they fumble around, they make a mess....they have an engorged red nose to let society know that they're fools! But clowns are lovable, adoringly sweet and pretty funny.

With these thoughts in mind about the 'intentionality' of clown, Monstrous Beauty, and Re:Birth n Co-Creation I've been developing a brand new piece for Sistahood that I'm VERY proud to present!

Because Lucille is 'round' in many ways and I as Belva am not round...I'm more like a straight peg and she's a voluptuous being I decided to delve into this a bit more. I personally have an affection towards curvy n bumpy women---they're hot! The Hourglass Figure, the cleavage, the round bottom...it's everything I personally DON'T have for as mentioned...I'm straight as a stick. I took my personal feelings about my body being inadequate on some levels and Lucille's body being ample adequate AND looking at societies view of bodies, a little love story interwoven thru it all and got to work. How can a skinny girl get the curves that she's always dreamed of?!

This has been an interesting process for me, my body, accepting my body for all the curves it doesn't have and loving to watch the story unfold in front of me. I've been blessed to have had the assistance of my closest friend and roomate in Vancouver, Ms. Natalie Spence, offer me her help thru this as an outside eye. Gosh, she's helped to pull the threads of this together for me on SO many levels....it's gonna be amazing!

I am hoping to get some video of this so I can post up my first ever piece to YouTube and claim it to the world!

If your in Vancouver, please oh please come and watch. I"ll be the one with the big red nose on ;0) If your not in Vancouver and know someone in Vancouver, tell them to come and check back into this space in the next few weeks for I'll post a link.

This Friday, March 7th, W.I.S.E. Hall (1882 Adanac St).
Doors open at 8:30, show starts at 9:30.
Tix are $10 ... door sales only so get there early!

Over n Out

Mystress Fyre