Dear Constant Reader,
I was up bright and early Friday morning so as not to miss Stripped Screw Burlesque‘s Walk of Shame breakfast with biscuits and sausage gravy. I did forgo a bunch of good sounding classes, like chair dance, yoga, Pilates, and Zumba in favor of a hot, relaxed breakfast. The ladies had really done up the hospitality room with balloons, streamers, empty booze bottles, and discarded undies. And all the servers had disheveled hair and smeared lipstick.
Performance Tips (Kitten DeVille): I’ve had the privilege of being in a couple of shows with Kitten and that only made me more appreciative of her sexy prowling and audience-pleasing moves. It’s all in the details, as it turns out. Hand position, eye contact, chin up or down. There’s a lot of subtlety requires to really tease the audience.
I poked my head in the Keynote speech, but the room was mobbed, so I retreated to the lobby to hang out until lunch.
Oh my, lunch. When I attended the first BurlyCon, the hotel had no restaurant and the neighborhood was sketchy, so it was delightful that hospitality provided sandwiches and snacks. How things have grown and changed. Iva Handfull, Queen of Kansas City, bestowed upon us a catered BBQ lunch with 4 meats and a plethora of sides (the vegan coleslaw was terrific!). I suspected it would be mobbed and so got in line early and good thing I did too. The line stretched way down the hall. Everything was fabulous. But I suspect the hotel was cranky about the lines and the competition with their dining options.
Tease & Tone (Michelle L’amour): I have Michelle’s DVD and enjoy it quite a bit, so I was looking forward to an in-person session. I was even more delighted that it was 3 different combinations. Lots of fun, but a good solid workout. The last song was “Booty Swing”, which we used for the opening number of The Fine Art of Burlesque, so I was fighting the ingrained choreography. Then we finished with some toning work (I really hate side planks; I guess that means I should do them more) and a little stretching. A perfect pick-me-up.
Hair Pieces and Wigs… The Big Hair Class (Cha Cha Velour): It was nice to sit for a while. There were several things in this time slot that I was interested in and The Babydolls decided they wanted to learn all about big hair. Stella and I both have very fine hair that’s a challenge to style, but I learned a lot of great tips that I think will help us get more volume. #1, use fake hair…
Booty Lab (Michelle L’amour): Back to Michelle to work my ass. As it turns out, I took this class back in 2010 when it was called “Behind the Behind”, but still good to get a refresher on all those muscle movements, especially what she calls the “middle butt”. That’s what she uses when her ass goes pow. She’s got a DVD coming out soon, which is good. The class was huge and Michelle is short, so it was was hard to see the subtle movements, even when she stood on a chair.
I had planned to take Kicks & Spins with Coco Lectric, but after 2 high energy classes, I decided to conserve my energy for the evening’s festivities.
We planned to have dinner at hospitality where Brown Paper Tickets was providing Middle Eastern delicacies. Last year, we had gone to a diner, just to get out of the hotel and found out they’d had few takers. Different story this year — a mere half an hour from the opening of dinner time we were told they would be out of food by the time we got to the head of the line. So, off we went to the diner for some lovely down-time. Scandal from Bohemia and Dahlia Fatale were headed in as we were headed out, so we stayed and sat with them for some pleasant conversation and swapping war stories.
That did mean we missed the second night of peer reviews and opted not to rush to the class photo, but got ready for the Burly Prom in a leisurely fashion.
I did want to wear my Junior Prom gown (yes, I still have it), but alas, my boobs are bigger and my back more muscular than when I was 16 and I can no longer zip it up past my bra strap. Bummer. Despite Indigo Blue suggesting I just let my boobs hang out, I opted for a black cocktail dress that reminded me of the prom gown just a little. I did bring the same clutch I used back then but decided not to curl and tease my hair into the giant explosion it had been back then. Scratch was dashing in a ruffled tuxedo shirt and a fuzzy tiger print jacket. Pictured is the corsage he gave me, made by Cristal Blu (it can be worn as a fascinator too!) with a matching boutonniere.
Last year, the dance was in the ballroom, but drinks were in the hospitality rooms and had to be consumed there. This meant there was a crowd in the hallway outside hospitality and almost no one on the dance floor. This year, there was a bar in the lobby and one in the ballroom and lots and lots of dancing. It was pretty hot & sweaty in there! We mostly hung around in the lobby. After having our official Promo photos taken, of course.
More to come!
