marymari

Preciosa makes beautiful crystals. And it all depends on the show and the theme. If it’s appropriate to make the costume sparkle I’ll mark it shine haha.

More solo numbers these days but I do still love a good ensemble number.

I actually just love any chance I’ve gotten to sing. I’m primarily a dancer but over the years now I’ve gotten the chance to do pretty much everything and singing is my absolute favorite! Funny because I used to hate ever singing.

I’ve been doing burlesque for many many years now and have definitely been honing my stage persona for all that time.

Obviously Dita Von Teese is just ivonic and amazing and I got to see her show once and it was incredible! Didn’t get to meet her though sadly.

Haha, a bit of both honestly. I’m a little older now and that has become a little bit of the appeal for me I’m told. So my numbers are less acrobatic and energetic these days than they used to be. So burning fewer calories I guess. But I still try to keep a somewhat healthy diet and semi-consistent workout schedule. Looking good is still a part of the job

Stegosaurus

I’m not in it for the money that’s for sure. It pays okay but not enough to support yourself alone, much less a family. Definitely have to be willing to work other jobs if you want to do this

Well the big thing is that there are less and less people wanting to perform and therefore less people attending. So that’s a bummer. But new dance styles are getting incorporated. I myself like things that would have been performed in the 50s 60s and 70s just as easily as today. But when there is a younger dancer now they often come equipped with dance styles far more modern. It’s cool, honestly. But definitely different.

Not just a lot. There used to be a criticism that burlesque was perpetrating male fantasies about scantily clad women, but in the past ten years that’s pretty much flipped to empowerment. So not really anything I’ve found to complain about

First show I was ever in, that was just an eye opener to what this whole style of performance is and can be.

My first time touring an act which was crazy. On the road with other young actors just focused on performing and crushing every set. Probably the most fun period of my life.

And then helping build from the ground up the show I’m a mainstay at now. Essentially gotten to help bring together wonderful people who I love working with at a place we can all come home, and I’m almost like a celebrity within the walls of our little establishment so that feeds my ego haha

“Hollywood Icons”. We all got to dress up as actors from the golden age and do impressions and it was so much fun. Got to recreate scenes from famous movies. Bu there’s so many fun themes I’ve gotten to do.

Yes! Burlesque is a risqué variety show. The strip teases are obviously like the iconic brand of the performances, but really there such a huge emphasis on comedy and having them be fun and enjoyable. The best part of doing burlesque is that you get to do everything. I get to act, dance, sing, perform comedy, occasionally I’ve even done magic. It’s a performer’s dream!

It was a summer in college and I was a theater major so any way I could get paid to perform I was dying for and a friend of mine who was also a theater major heard about this open audition for a burlesque show and we decided to try it out. Worked out an awful routine, made it into the show, and got a few laughs. Been hooked ever since.