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Monday, August 20, 2007
Are there any situations/things that you are afraid of?
As a performer, do you ever experience stage fright? Are there certain performance situations or environments that cause you to be afraid? Have you ever had a dreaded "burlesque nightmare?"
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I'm an actor by training and I always used to pride myself on never having had an actor's nightmare. Once I started doing burlesque, though, that all changed! Now I have nightmares where I have to do a quick change but my costume is suddenly way too large, or soaking wet, or that I have to perform a group number I never learned in front of an enormous crowd. I've even had what I've termed the Spinal Tap nightmare, where I'm in an unfamiliar venue and I can't find the stage!
The performance disasters I've managed smoothly in real life (from the commonplace costume malfunction to discovering on-stage in front of 800 people that my CD wasn't working and having to improvise a routine to unfamiliar music) don't seem to have any impact on the nightmares. After four years in the burlesque trenches, I know I can cope with the unexpected--now I just have to convince my subconscious mind of that!
Most of my fears are from a producer standpoint - are we going to get audience for tonight's show? Will we fill the venue? Are we delivering the goods to the club owner? Will I have enough cash on hand to pay the performers?
The way I see it, I'm putting on a little party. I want my guests to have a good time. Nobody wants their party to be a dud. Also, nobody wants to be the sad little girl that decorated her rec room up nice and pretty with streamers and balloons to have nobody show up. So I get the "what if nobody comes to my party?!?" anxiety occasionally, mostly when we're trying something new or putting up a show at a new venue.
Once people start showing up, the anxiety goes away. It's the anticipation that gets me.
3 comments:
I'm an actor by training and I always used to pride myself on never having had an actor's nightmare. Once I started doing burlesque, though, that all changed! Now I have nightmares where I have to do a quick change but my costume is suddenly way too large, or soaking wet, or that I have to perform a group number I never learned in front of an enormous crowd. I've even had what I've termed the Spinal Tap nightmare, where I'm in an unfamiliar venue and I can't find the stage!
The performance disasters I've managed smoothly in real life (from the commonplace costume malfunction to discovering on-stage in front of 800 people that my CD wasn't working and having to improvise a routine to unfamiliar music) don't seem to have any impact on the nightmares. After four years in the burlesque trenches, I know I can cope with the unexpected--now I just have to convince my subconscious mind of that!
Men.
Most of my fears are from a producer standpoint - are we going to get audience for tonight's show? Will we fill the venue? Are we delivering the goods to the club owner? Will I have enough cash on hand to pay the performers?
The way I see it, I'm putting on a little party. I want my guests to have a good time. Nobody wants their party to be a dud. Also, nobody wants to be the sad little girl that decorated her rec room up nice and pretty with streamers and balloons to have nobody show up. So I get the "what if nobody comes to my party?!?" anxiety occasionally, mostly when we're trying something new or putting up a show at a new venue.
Once people start showing up, the anxiety goes away. It's the anticipation that gets me.
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