Facial Expressions: or, Avoiding the "Dead-eyed slut doll face."

Though I realized I've probably been beating the proverbial unicorn to death throughout the Intro to Boylesk Class when it comes to the topic of eye contact, I can't help but personally feel that burlesque is an eye contact sport!

(If bedazzling were a recognized competition, I'd finally have trophies to take home to my father.)

Consider this: performers from stand up comics to singers all work with a microphone and utilize various spin-offs of that popular—albeit overdone—phrase: “everyone having a good time tonight?” However, as strippers we don’t necessarily have that luxury of sound. Instead we rely on an arch of the eyebrow, a pouting lip, a crooked smile, and an infinite supply of facial manipulations that all say, “you still with me?”  

Facial expressions are an essential part of one's striptease. They help a performer tell his story, sell his number, and most importantly, sell himself to his audience. Even if a performer is doing a non-linear or story-based number, facial expressions still imbue the stripping of garments with a sense of intention and emotion. So, in class, I forced the boys to take a spot at the dance mirrors and practice facial expressions that were unique and individual to each guy--think that one scene in Fried Green Tomatoes minus the vagina-gazing.

(You just know that cellophane dress is a burlesque number waiting to happen...)

However, not every situation onstage allows the performer to engage directly with his audience. For instance, you may be on a gigantic theatre stage with blinding lights or perhaps you find yourself in a crowded bar full of people tweeting about being at a burlesque show and brainstorming clever trending hash tags. And, as Jo Weldon Boobs also pointed out during a surprise visit, its physically impossible to make eye contact with every member of one's audience.

What I suggested to my students and what I follow through in my own performing is picking several spots throughout the crowd that allow me to keep my face forward and my expressions readable during a show. And I also still seize any chance for a genuine exchange with a close seated viewer, because as Ms. Boobs again noted, it further engages the rest of the crowd as they eagerly try for their own "one-on-one" moment. 

 (Putting my best bucket forward.)

Below are several videos of performers who I feel consistently always give "great face." Their expressions convey a variety of emotions to the general audience while still allowing for some improvisational work with individual voyeurs.

Enjoy! And remember, FRESHLY SLEAZED: The Intro to Boylesk Class Showcase happens APRIL 22ND!

JEZEBEL EXPRESS

PEEK-A-BOO POINTE

Freshly Sleazed Boylesk!

The Intro to Boylesk Class is officially over half way through as of yesterday! After several cups of Dunkin' Donuts coffee and some quality deli danishes (gluten free pbj for me), the students showed the first drafts of their boylesk stripteases, and let me tell you, its going to be one hell of a showcase! There's going to be a variety of sexy, queer, bizarre pieces including everything from James Bond to Madame X with plenty of leather and a few sequins as well (if I have anything to say about it.) The class and I were even so fortunate to have the headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, Miss Jo Weldon Boobs herself pop in and offer some feed back whilst the boys popped off their clothes.

(What I'm sure is certainly a candid photo, the one and only Miss Jo Boobs!)

So... its with great pleasure to fill you in on the official details of where the clothes will be coming off...

FRESHLY SLEAZED: The Intro to Boylesk Showcase!

(Still, from Pink Narcissus)

Proudly bringing you a brawny, ballzy revue that's 100% man--not from concentrate! Featuring the Intro to Boylesk Class students, these novice strip teasers have been learning the A-Z of the G-string for 7 weeks and now finally show YOU what they’ve learned—and what they’re made of!

Each boy will perform his own class-crafted Boylesk routine, PLUS, special performances by myself, Go-Go Harder, and one of the "alums" from my first class, Mr. Go-Go Gadget pictured below!

 

 (Photo by State of Emergency)

And... raffle prizes by The Pleasure Chest, free donut holes and sticky sweet nibbles and treats, and $5 Bloody Mary's and screwdrivers!

Come hungry because we're serving up a menu that’s heavy on the meat with a piece for every appetite!

Sunday, April 22nd
1pm door/2pm show
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery (btwn Bleecker/East Houston St), near the F, V subways
$8

 

To continue to inspire the students (and myself for that matter) I hope you enjoy a few videos by some incredibly fantastic burlesque and boylesk performers. It's my opinion that any number can continue to be improved and watching performers like those below continue to motivate me to do just that. Enjoy! 

 

DIRTY MARTINI

 

EVIL HATE MONKEY

MS. TICKLE

On "climaxing" during your striptease...

As you all know by now, one of my main goals with The Intro to Boylesk Class is to assist my students in developing their own Boylesk stripteases. So, over the first three weeks, we've examined the "bare bones" of a striptease, from the first few seconds a boy enters the stage, to manipulating, teasing, and whisking off his costume, and now finally, to unveiling that big, panting, sweaty exclamation point I refer to as...  

THE FINAL REVEAL 

(cue gong.)

To help my students and myself breakdown the bare parts of a striptease number, I defined the Final Reveal as such:

"The peak or highest climax of one's number. The point at which all aspects of your story line meld together and deliver the final 'payoff' to your audience."

However, I tried to impress upon my budding boylesk'ers that while of course a final reveal can imply a physical reveal of one's body, there are many different ways of "climaxing" in your number. The following are just a few examples I've observed and loosely termed from watching the amazing burlesque and boylesk artists I have the privilege of performing with.

Bare Bum: Ray Gunn

Again, semi-nude or full nudity reveals are of course always a great way to end a piece. Female performers showcase pasty covered breasts and a g-string or merkin, and male performers strip to a g-string or pouch. I personally believe that if burlesque girls are stripping off as much as possible then we male performer's too need to be willing to at least strip down to a bare bum. And one set of cheeks I never get tired of looking at belong to the fantastic Chicago based Ray Gunn.

Phallic Prop: Jett Adore

One of the many things I love about this number is not only Jett's ability to amaze and tease his audience with a seemingly small amount of costume pieces, but also that he showcases at least three different kinds of "birds" throughout the number using the same mask, saving the most impressive peacock for last.

Bizarre Twists: Julie Atlas Muz

What I really admire about this particular number of Julie's is that she is thoroughly stripped down halfway through her piece, yet there is still more story to be told. Julie's final reveal not only relates to the story she's created of a real life serial killer but also is both clever and funny in its (literal) execution.

Physical trick or stunt: Miss Ekaterina

As audience members I think we are always amazed especially but acts or feats we feel ourselves never capable of achieving. Even the (semi) simple act of jumping into the splits can cause a crowd to burst into cheers from its sheer dynamic physicality. Though Miss Ekaterina displays a variety of professionally trained contortions throughout this number, she saves a trick that not only manages to be physically impressive but also extremely hilarious. Her number is wildly successful not only for its use of impressive physical stunts, but also because she has incorporated these moves into a believable, highly entertaining story.

The (not-so) Ancient Art of the Glitter Nipple...

As burlesque and boyelsk performers, I think one could argue that we have a considerably more "amped up" or drag-esque appearance than our stripper club sisters and brothers. And this is not of course to imply that one group puts more or less effort into their look, but simply that a burlesque show requires an "uber-woman/uber-man" approach to styling oneself. After all, we are celebrating the "feminine," the "masculine" and everything else in between and even a little gender play requires a minimum of eye liner!

There are amazing examples in the burlesque community of ladies who exemplify this style of "female impersonation," including my dear friend and mentor World Famous *BOB*

("Professional Blonde Spectacle," the World Famous *BOB*)

Performers like Bob inspire me to continually improve upon my appearance onstage. As a male performer I find it both fun, yet somewhat difficult to literally make-up and present a boy onstage who is both masculine and yet offers something exotic as well without too much drag. (And note, I'm speaking only for myself and my own preferred look, not any other boylesk performer.)

One styling I try to always make a habit for the stage is... THE GLITTER NIPPLE (cue tingling of bells and chimes.)

 (At least the nipple looks classy.)

I first encountered the glitter nipple doing shows with incomparable Tigger! who is always masterfully made-up. The process is really quite simple, and after awhile of assuring fellow male performers that I'm in fact not wearing tiny, tiny pasties, I thought I'd share my process... I give you, the not-so-ancient-art of the Glitter Nipple (again, cue tingling of bells and chimes):

You'll need...

-eyelash glue

-glitter

-a baby wipe or two

-So, what I do is take my eyelash glue--I use "Duo" because it also peels off easily--and put a dab on each nipple. I then rub in around to evenly coat my nips.

-For glitter I use superfine cosmetic glitter as it coats more evenly and sticks better than the big square craft glitter. The brand I buy (Ricky's NYC) comes in a tiny almost "salt-shaker" kind of holder, so I sprinkle the glitter to coat the nipple as much as possible and then shake off the access.

-This sounds weird, but if you can, I also "pick up" my nipple with my thumb and pointer finger and kind of lift it to isolate the area more when glittering to avoid waste and mess. Multi-talented, what can I say.

-You might find that you still have glitter trails on your chest, stomach, or the area around the nipple, so I take a baby wipe and just pick up the excess.

-Let dry for five minutes or so and you're done!

(Final cue of tingling bells and chimes.)

I hope that helps boys! And remember, a little eyeliner and a glitter nip go a long way!

Ride that Tie!

So yesterday in class the boys and I looked at two essentially "masculine" garments and how to strip them off our bodies: the tie and the button down (not break-away) dress shirt. There's a myriad of ways to strip and play with these clothing items as well as some pitfalls to avoid. For instance, I know when I first started stripping I would often "floss" my body with my tie, i.e., rapidly rub it back and forth between my legs as if I was a deranged boyscout trying to light a fire in my crotch (totally different number).

Instead, I was thankfully redirected by Miss Jo Weldon Boobs of the New York School of Burlesque to hold the tie tautly in both hands, and then gyrate my pelvis forward and back again as if riding it for a much more controlled, need I say sexier bit of "stripper-ography."

A button down shirt is somewhat trickier because it requires lots of small movement of small body parts in a small concentrated area to release the garment for what is often a crowded room of drunks or an audience set far back from your stage. I find it helpful to incorporate my entire body, popping my hips as I undo each button or stretching the fabric of the shirt after I undo a button to expose as much chest as possible.

("I said ride that tie dammit!")

Once the garment is off its really up to the performer to make the most or least out of it. It's helpful to remember that you probably won't spend the same amount of time playing with each costume piece. You would just end up with a number that's  very short or very long but in either case not that dynamic or interesting. Instead, I encouraged the students on top of exploring the many options for how a garment comes off their bodies to also play with different tempos and rhythms hidden in their music to create more varied, layered choreography. Below are two videos of burlesque and boylesque stars Boo Boo Darlin' and Ray Gunn, each taking a basic strip tease and not only imbuing it with the above mentioned point, but also creating extremely specific, personal story lines with their numbers resulting in sexy, humorous, and entertaining pieces.

BOO BOO DARLIN'

 (Click above for "Slow Motion")

RAY GUNN

Assessing your assets, giving them the goods...

It's really amazing to me just how far a genuine smile (and maybe a wink) can get you in life, onstage, and especially, in New York City. You'll have to forgive me if I start waxing reminiscently about fast times and hard men and spandex and pleather in frosted tones because I just finished watching Show Girls so I'm still in the mindset of miss Nomie Malone (cue sound effect of hands doing weird cat-like choreography.)

(Thrust goddammit!)

And yet, Nomi is a perfect example for this post of a dancer who knew her assets: a wicked hyper-extension of the pelvis and some fine, fine nail art. I say this jokingly, but it seems to me that as strippers and teasers we have two kinds of assets: those that are specific to our gender and those that belong specifically to the performer. As a boylesker in a basic striptease, I'm taking off layer after layer of clothing and garments to reveal what? Essentially, my junk. Whether clad in some flashy spandex or a spiked up codpiece, the strip revolves around revealing what makes me male. What makes the number special, is my individual assets or personality I reveal during the number. Yesterday in class, I challenged the students to seriously think about what makes them each special as performers and how to reveal at least glimpses of those traits during their teases. Is it a smile? A specific body part or region? A thick mat of chest hair? Etc., etc. Whatever it may be, I know that when I'm in the audience I'm amazed most not only by a great number, but more so by a great personality, and there's just as many ways to showcase that as there are to take your pants off.

(That's right Burt, you showcase that chest hair!)

Psychedelic Stripping Monkey, well, really an ape...

KING KHAN AND HIS SHRINES

 I just wanted to share a newly found band whose music is this amazing blend of jazz, rock, and sleaze that I just know they'll fit right in with the Intro to Boylesk Class: King Khan and His Shrines. Founded by King Khan himself (alias Arish Khan) the band's psychedelic rock shows are usually home to theatrical, weird and--no shame--idiotic stage antics including but not limited to a cheer leader go-go girl known as Bamborrella.

I'm hooked. (All it really took was the name Bamboorella... and the giant headdress Khan occasionally sports.)

I couldn't find any music videos off the top of my searches, but the clip below features a photo montage showcasing what I can only imagine are hilarious, messy, but ultimately rhythmically delicious stage performances:

And speaking of deliciousness onstage, I was first clued into Khan by the beautifully inked boylesk and hula-hoop spectacle that is FERRO who does an amazing number to one of their songs:

(FERRO, Styled and photographed by State of Emergency.)

My students and I will also be working on exercises and a group number to one of Khan's songs for our showcase, APRIL 22ND! More on that soon!