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