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Monday, July 23, 2007
Who are your fans?
Who are the folks that come to see your shows? Do you have any super fans that stand out from the crowd? Burlesque groupies? Are there particular types of people that are attracted to you as a performer or troupe? What is your fan base like?
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
the fans come in all types, kind of like the performers. so it is a hard question to answer. They tend to be obsessed over the same things - costume, makeup, story, dance, etc.
Belmont Burlesque has a fairly diverse fan base - we get a slew of kids from the art schools, locals from the Boystown community, a fetish crowd (despite our show having naught a fetish element), older couples from the 'burbs, younger couples on dates, photographers, doms, other performers... We attract a lot of parties - birthdays, bachelors, bachelorettes - and have even hosted an anniversary or two. There are two die-hard groups of fans that show up pretty much every show, lovingly nicknamed the Mason Jar Posse and the Juice Box Brigade, for their beverage of choice while enjoying our show. The Mason Jar guys even occasionally fly their relatives in from North Carolina to catch a Revue. We also have crossover with some of the other kitsch/cult communities like Windy City Rollers (the derby girls) and Midnight Madness, the local Rocky Horror shadowcasting group. We pick up a lot of magic nerds who crush on our magician, The Amazing Tomas (Medina) - one guy even drives up from Springfield so he can watch Tomas in action.
The Chicago scene is also lucky to have fans like Ray Koltys (of Ray's Guide to Chicago Area Burlesque), Mark Braun (of Mark's Bettie Page Page) and Mitch O'Connell (the infamous tattoo artist and creator of this year's Miss Exotic World poster) that help spread the gospel of burlesque in general and our scene in particular via their mailing lists, websites and blogs.
I thought initially we would attract a more alternative crowd, but our crowd tends to be more "vanilla" than anything else.
We have a great following from the gay/lesbian scene which is awesome. They are some of the best audience members! Duke City Derby usually performs at our shows and they bring in their fan base as well. I always really enjoy a group of "old ladies" that come regularly to our shows and stand right in front.
4 comments:
the fans come in all types, kind of like the performers. so it is a hard question to answer. They tend to be obsessed over the same things - costume, makeup, story, dance, etc.
Belmont Burlesque has a fairly diverse fan base - we get a slew of kids from the art schools, locals from the Boystown community, a fetish crowd (despite our show having naught a fetish element), older couples from the 'burbs, younger couples on dates, photographers, doms, other performers... We attract a lot of parties - birthdays, bachelors, bachelorettes - and have even hosted an anniversary or two. There are two die-hard groups of fans that show up pretty much every show, lovingly nicknamed the Mason Jar Posse and the Juice Box Brigade, for their beverage of choice while enjoying our show. The Mason Jar guys even occasionally fly their relatives in from North Carolina to catch a Revue. We also have crossover with some of the other kitsch/cult communities like Windy City Rollers (the derby girls) and Midnight Madness, the local Rocky Horror shadowcasting group. We pick up a lot of magic nerds who crush on our magician, The Amazing Tomas (Medina) - one guy even drives up from Springfield so he can watch Tomas in action.
The Chicago scene is also lucky to have fans like Ray Koltys (of Ray's Guide to Chicago Area Burlesque), Mark Braun (of Mark's Bettie Page Page) and Mitch O'Connell (the infamous tattoo artist and creator of this year's Miss Exotic World poster) that help spread the gospel of burlesque in general and our scene in particular via their mailing lists, websites and blogs.
We love all our fans. They're the best.
I don't know about my fans--I have more students than fans. But I AM a fan. I go to lots of shows when I'm not performing.
Our crowd, like mentioned above is very diverse.
I thought initially we would attract a more alternative crowd, but our crowd tends to be more "vanilla" than anything else.
We have a great following from the gay/lesbian scene which is awesome. They are some of the best audience members! Duke City Derby usually performs at our shows and they bring in their fan base as well. I always really enjoy a group of "old ladies" that come regularly to our shows and stand right in front.
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