EXTRA SHOWS
additional performances to this year’s course options
ECHO CHAMBER
PERFORMANCE / MOVEMENT
Our road to getting ECHO CHAMBER realised has been such a journey, from the initial scratch night of me standing in for her as the performer to becoming her lead. Although I don’t wish to dwell on the assault that happened to us in February, I feel it’s worth mentioning to acknowledge how that impacted the development and shape of the show.
My initial roles were performance, costume and co art-direction but within the ever changing work Susie took more on as she felt more capable to do so. On reflection of this piece, what stands out most for me is the catharsis making the work whilst processing the assault and Susie’s voice becoming clearer. Community was a theme throughout, initially it was about Working Men’s Clubs, post-assault it turned towards nostalgic feminine energy and eventually blossomed out to music and including our community of men we feel safe around.
The learning from this experience wasn’t any new epiphanies but rather a reiteration of how much value I do place on my community and the importance of trust that lives within that.
Neither of us work overly precious in terms of holding onto a narrative if the work started to guide us elsewhere, I can only feel proud and grateful to have this be my final CSM show, shared with a person who I am already working on projects with beyond graduation and gaining this person as a collaborator through uni is the kind of situation that I hoped this degree would bring into my life.
This piece was a strip tease/lap dance performance as a part of an MA show by Irini.
This was my first time doing this kind of performance within the university setting. Coming from a sex worker background, I feel that my what was asked of me and my performance were used more as a salacious side show and not really appreciated or valued in what the performance was. There were some issues on consent and value, which I felt were problematic.
The issue of not having consent of who I was dancing for was one issue, which I rectified by explaining that I would only dance with my partner, who was seeing the show. The other being that a lap dance is private and paid, but this was public and free. A lap dance requires skills that aren't the same as doing a solo burlesque, whilst performing on an unstable set piece in 5 inch stilettos, ultimately I left the stage with bloody knees because of the set
On the positive side, it was wonderful to perform with CSM alums Jay, Luca and Céline again and I enjoyed leaning back into the full showgirl regalia, covering my outfit in rhinestones, along with sharing the stage for the first time with my partner. But in hind sight I feel that I should’ve expressed my concerns with more clarity as SWer rights are something I’m passionate about and I feel I let myself down by not voicing them enough here.
HOTEL LA FEMME
PERFORMANCE / IMPROV / COMEDY
Voice isn’t a medium that I’ve used very often, so my role in Raquel’s immersive cabaret show HOTEL LA FEMME, as Sexy Priest was a deviation from my normal work and comfort zone.
Initially we were thinking about it being a reverse burlesque, where I put more clothes on as the song went on. Instead it became a completely improved piece, serving as the comedic relief halfway through the show. The piece was 5 minutes long which initially made me incredibly nervous, worrying that I would easily lose the audience over that length but the commitment given by the rest of the cast in their own performances were enough to bolster me up to bring the same energy to my role and try to drop my ego as I stepped into the room each night. How I combatted it was to give myself beats to visit
Entrance and flirt
Pretend to smell something related to the person who I would try to ‘exorcise’
Steal from the shrine’s coin offerings ‘subtly’
Check myself in the mirror
Drink someone’s wine
Perform exorcism - getting audience to do silly things like touch their bellybuttons
The most valued aspect of this collaboration was that there were two show nights which gave me a chance at character development.
THE GREAT KABARET SKIT SHOW
PERFORMANCE / STRIPTEASE / LAPDANCE