Thread: Help....How do you decide which character to go with first... hmmm

Hello loveley people I am seeking advice as to ermmm well how do you decide which character to go with first e.g basically I can only afford to buy one costume first and I don't know which character to start with. If anyone can give me any tips as to how they went about it, or what help them decide I would be most grateful

Coco Pops x

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Hey hunni!

I have just the one character, Ditzy, who does all my acts which makes me quite identifiable on stage to an audience. However it does mean that it's me, playing Ditzy who in turn is playing a lion tamer or a squirrel or something else and can get complicated.

For your first act it might be best to think about how you awnt people to see you as a performer - kooky? clumsy? funny? sultry? sexy? bizarre?- and pick a character/act that best suits that image.

Hope that's helpful!

Ditzy xxx

Hi chick, i think a lot of it depends on how far along you are in the creative process. I am in a similar position where i have two acts in progress and recently had to pick one to focus on more for the time being. If you are in the early idea stages and have not begun characterisation, music selection, choreography etc (the stuff that costs nothing) i would say work on them both... That way you can see how they both develop and then once you figure out which is the stronger act maybe costume that one. The advantage of this is that you can move from one to the other, if you hit a wall with one you can focus on the other and so on. And, as a bonus, once the first act is completely finished you won't have to start the other from scratch so you can keep the momentum going.
Hope this helps
X
Emerald

Hey Coco Pops

I just have Lola but she is a performer and will do anything she deems sexy, flirty, cheeky or comedic enough to flatter her! For instance I am working on some comedic British Burlesque in the Victorian period and that suits her fine, after all she looks damn sexy as a tightlaced prudish Victorian Lady!

My personal opinion is stick to one persona but let them do the different acts, that way people know your name and remember it! As for what costume to go for first what act do you feel the most confident doing? Confidence is whats going to take you and your alter ego where you want to go so always pick the one that you are most comfortable with.

Out of interest what are the types of costumes you are considering for the two acts?

I know it might keep you from a stage for slightly longer, but having two acts ready before you debut is very useful. Lots of promoters like you to have two acts, one for each half of a show, and having two ready means that you don't have to have a big gap between your first performance and your second whilst you develop the next act.

PLUS holding back at the start to put together two means you get to pick the two characters you love the most to do. The ones you can't stop humming the music you've chosen to perform to, the ones that when you're walking around shops or checking out ebay you can't stop seeing things that would go wonderfully with the act/costume. I went with the two acts that I absolutely loved and made me laugh out loud, but then I major in surreal silly burlesque .

I'm slightly different to Ditzy in that Tempest is me, and it's Tempest who plays different characters, I don't stick with an opening look and have started experimenting with wigs etc to play around with this - but this is something you can work out along your journey.

Tell us how you get on....and we will demand photos

I think that's an interesting point. It is worth considering whether you want to have one consistent onstage character in different guises like Ditzy, or if you want to play discrete and seperate characters like Tempest (and me!). Which route you go down will probably make a difference to how you pick between the two.

Oh my thank you for all the amazing advice and insights, its a lot to take in. I like the idea of playing discrete and separate characters like Lola, Tempest and Emerald Ice .. My main persona is Mother Nature who has 3 main faces Virgin, Whore, Crone or Winter, Summer, Spring, or Birth, Death, Rebirth ermmm does that make sense. lol. Those 3 forms also have different characters.. Femme Fatale, Mistress, Lil Crow, the Raven, The Butterfly, The Slave girl, Vodoo womanl.... oh my god, I am so over bloody complicating things lol.. soz

I definately will focus on just 2, the two I have most fun with, feel most comfortable with and can afford to make costumes for .

I like the idea of developing 2 characters to start ( as I am in very very early stages, no costumes, no structured routine etc). I actually really enjoy playing Death, The Dark Angel and The Serpent Sexual Fire... ( I love mythology i.e Persephone, Psyche and Eros, Isis, Shakti Shiva etc)

I feel though like I need to better define these concepts into more defined identifiable characters ??? Is it ok to be more abstract??

How do you go about forming a routine???

So many questions, thank you so much for your time Ladies

xxx

My oppinion is... Imagine that you are an anime sketcher, and you do a design of one where all of your characters could find a one and final shape... For example, the little crow could be like a black butterfly, the consecuense of the final liberation of the slave girl...
The slave girl turning on like a little crow until could fly away like a black butterfly.
This black butterfly have the soul of a black angel and the fire of a sexual serpent...so... If you mix up all that faces you could have a final form that admit a lot of possible custume with a one base...(My oppinion).Think about that base...How is the naked soul of all this characters...

Regards

Madame "anacronic" Toleave

Oh my what a complicated read, your content is way over my head so I can only advise you in relation to how I did things.

First you need to decide whether you are yourself playing a character or playing yourself playing a character (the first is the way tempest works the second the way ditzy and myself work)

then find the aspect you want to portray, do you want to be sexy, funny, cute, feisty etc? Is this an aspect of your own real personality? If so it makes character creation alot easier.

Essentially on stage I am an exagerated version of myself, my first two characters were 'the jazz singer' and 'the pink leopard' both of which are simply facets of my own personality. As such these acts have become my signiature acts as they are so clearly representative of who I am in person.

I think for a new performer this is possibly the way to go, dont try to be what you think a burlesque performer should be, be yourself performing burlesque and your acts will be so much more comfortable to perform. S'no good trying to be a showgirl if your naturally a tom boy (not unless the tom boy showgirl is the character I suppose!)

Hope this makes sense, think I'm rambling a bit here!

Originally Posted by Cherryfox

dont try to be what you think a burlesque performer should be, be yourself performing burlesque and your acts will be so much more comfortable to perform.

I totally agree! One of the big pitfalls for a lot of new performers (and some more seasoned ones) is to pick something stereotypically 'burlesquey' because otherwise it's not burlesque ... Sometimes these well worn ideas can be worked into something really special but more often (especially when produced by someone with less experience and knowledge of the genre/performing arts in general) they can seem cliched and boring.
Instead create an act based around something you love and are passionate about. Plushy squirrels (Ditzy), octopuses (me), Russian nesting dolls dolls (Tempest) and Jack Skellington (Cherryfox) are none of them very burlesquey starting points but they are things we wanted to do that we thought would be fun. I think acts that start from a more personal inspiration point are more fun than trying to worry too much about fitting into a mainstream view of what burlesque is/should be.