Skirt Full of Fire | Tucson-based Tribal Fusion Belly Dance Instruction & Performance

So, let’s just be honest here…nine times out of ten when you read “Jolie is –insert whatever ‘she’s awesome you should hire her also make her president’ verbiage–” on my site, I wrote it.  Yes, I wrote it in third-person because it’s awkward to say directly, “I’m the shit and you know this, also I want your money so I don’t starve on the street or start selling meth.”  Very few professional entertainers have the money to hire someone to write bios for them, so we cheat.  It looks better, helps us not feel like total arrogant shitheads, and gives us complete control in how we market ourselves.  That being said, lately I’ve come across more and more bios from entertainers and entertainment businesses that are flat-out misleading, and it makes me very uncomfortable.

Here’s where shit gets interesting.  When self-marketing, you definitely have to tread a line.  You can say “performs nationally” if you have performed in more than one state without lying; besides, it would be kind of lame to say “I’ve performed in my home-state of New York and this one time I performed in New Jersey and it was super rad.”  The goal of your marketing material is to make you look sought-after, popular, like a potential client would be a fool to not hire you.  I start to take issue with tarting up the truth when, despite the fact that you may have only taken a gig in New Jersey that one time, you say that you regularly tour nationwide at the biggest venues.

Another word-choice I find distasteful if used incorrectly is “premiere”.  You cannot use the word “premiere” unless you were absolutely the first to be doing whatever the hell it is that you are doing.  I will not budge on this point.  If you know, for a fact, that someone else started the game in your town, don’t do them the disservice of pretending they don’t exist.  It doesn’t serve the community and it makes you look like you don’t know what you’re talking about to fellow members of said community.  I take the same issue with saying you are your town’s “favorite”, “most popular”, “best”, or “most sought-after” if you know that there are other members of the community working in the same capacity.  You may be one of the best squid fishermen in the tri-state area, but when you say you are “the best”, you sound like an arrogant ass.  Don’t do that to yourself.  Be better than that.

I think, to a large degree, the people who market themselves with a modicum of humility tend to have the most to offer.  I find people who overstate their position in their field to be overcompensating for a lack of knowledge or talent.  We, as entertainers, should never feel like we’ve learned everything there is to learn.  There are new levels to hit at every turn and that’s a beautiful thing.  As much as we can call ourselves professional or experts in our fields, we should always seek to be better than we were last year.  Art is ever evolving and new techniques as well as fresh points of view from even the newest students are invaluable to developing yourself as an artist.

That being said, my friend Max once told me “a successful rapper is basically a sorcerer,” meaning he or she will rap about the rich lifestyle before they have it, so it’s like they will it into existence.   Part of me wonders if it’s actually beneficial to create and believe your own hype.  I’m not proud of this, but I have watched and read “The Secret”.  I think, to a large degree, it’s a lot of bullshit, but I do find solace in actively imagining myself living the life I’d like and I do see the benefit of creating vision boards.  Those kinds of things keep you focused and alert to possibilities around you.  If I’m going to play devil’s advocate in this paragraph, maybe these entertainers are willing their own success into existence, but at what cost?  Anyone who is in their community looks at the bio and rolls their eyes, possibly even speaking out against them to potential clients.   It’s better to nurture the community as a whole rather than lifting yourself above people who might be in a position to support you or offer you opportunities later on.

What are your thoughts on this?

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of talk from performers about how unfair it is that they are not judged solely on their talent by booking agents, producers, and club owners, but also on their appearance.  There have been many cries of “UNFAIR” “UNJUST” “MYSOGINISTIC” and, while I find that to be true in some cases, I’ve gotta say…it’s a person’s right to choose who he/she wants representing their business down to the minutia of hair color.  I’ve lost many a gig because of the way I look and I don’t think it’s unfair at all.  While talent plays a big role in booking and keeping a gig, at the end of the day, we, as dancers, are actively participating in a visual art form so to suggest that you shouldn’t be judged by your looks is naïve to a degree that is just silly. 

A rockette is not only judged on the quality of her kicks, but on her height, weight, and general look.  A ballerina is judged on her size and weight, not just the quality of her jetes.  Quite simply, if a ballerina cannot be lifted into the air by a partner, she cannot perform the tasks for which she is hired. Mind you, I don’t mean to imply that some dancers aren’t encouraged to take weight restriction to an unhealthy place, just that weight is a deciding factor in booking jobs.  Is it fair?  Maybe not…but them’s the breaks, kid.  At some point, belly dancers and burlesque entertainers alike will have to accept that, to be professionals in our respective fields, we must accept critique of our look and style as par for the course. 

Working in such a deeply personal art form as burlesque and belly dance, it is incredibly challenging to accept and give critique.  You would never walk up to someone and tell them their baby is ugly, but maybe she’ll get cute when she’s older…so, how can you tell a dancer that something she’s poured her heart and soul into is crap?  I find that, to a large degree, the people that cry “foul!” when it comes to being judged on looks have not done the homework with really critiquing their talent, either.  It’s a package deal.  You should consistently seek constructive criticism on not only your talent, but how you could improve the packaging on that talent.  There are always ways to polish your act, whether it’s with better costuming, more drilling of moves, or a different haircut that’s more flattering to your face.  We, as dancers, must accept that, although we are unique and delicate snowflakes, we are getting into an art form that is gaining legitimacy in American culture and, to a large degree, opens us up to criticism that will help the the whole scene grow and develop.  While I applaud burlesque specifically for rejecting the cookie-cutter ideal of female beauty, I think it’s still possible to “rage against the (male-dominated) machine” while respecting a club owner or producer’s right to choose based on aesthetics.

Thus far, burlesque and belly dance haven’t been accepted into the “Dance with a capital ‘d’” world as legitimate forms of expression.  It is our job to change that if we would like to be treated and compensated more appropriately.  We must behave in a manner that is consistent with other, more legitimized, artists.  When someone says “you aren’t the right look for my club” go with grace to another club.  I’ve been rejected as much as the next person because I have tattoos, piercings, and black hair and it truly is an ego-buster every time, but I understand and accept that as part of the career of a dancer.  Not everyone will appreciate my look, and, you know what?  I get that, totally.  Just as, if I were a club owner, I’d probably not immediately look to hire Tara Reid look-alikes, I suspect some club owners don’t want to hire a rock-n-roll chick with metal in her face.  I can rest easy with the knowledge that I’m representing my brand the best way I know how and consistently trying to up my game.  If they don’t like me now, they might like me later…if they don’t like me later, I’m cool with that, too.  I’ll just take my toys to another sandbox and keep doing what I do with a smile on  my face. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The BP oil spill fiasco makes me want to put my head through a desk. Time for a revolution. Let’s stop big business from literally getting away with murder. Let’s make our government work for us instead of favoring major corporations. Let’s have a planet to live on in 20 years. This is getting out of control, and our apathy is aiding and abetting a grim situation.

I am not prone to a feeling of hopelessness very often, but my cynicism regarding the innate goodness of humanity is on overdrive.  There is an acquiescence, an utter disregard for anything but gazing at one’s own navel, a willing and enthusiastic ignorance running rampant like a disease in our society.  You really want to be a self-centered fuck-wad?  Take care of the earth so you can continue having a privileged existence.  As much as I love “Mad Max”, that’s not the type of world in which I care to live.  I like the internet, ice cream, and knowing, like, totally for sure that I won’t be stabbed in the neck while I sleep way too much to want to live in a post-apocalyptic world.  You think I’m being melodramatic?  We aren’t that far-gone yet?  Well, maybe not yet, but…

Oil-soaked shore.

Dead Bird Floating in Oil

Let's go swimming!

Welcome to the Thunderdome, bitch.

It’s getting pretty fucking bad, and a lot of it is our fault.  Yes, the earth moves in cycles.  Yes, we would have experienced an ice-age or epic draught sooner or later as a way of the earth cleansing itself.  These things are sure to happen, but we’re prepping a step-ladder to our own demise.

Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe, no matter what we do, we’re screwed because the sun is going to die and take all of us with it.  Black holes do seem about as inevitable as an ice age…or those sores coming back…but do you really want to live in a shit-hole until it’s time for us all to go?  I mean, just because we’re moving out in a few centuries doesn’t mean we should trash the place.

This is why we can’t have nice things.