BurlyCon 2010 Highlights pt 5 - Sunday 17th October and final round-up

The final instalment! Don't worry the usual mix of posts will resume tomorrow....when my burlesque self goes for a lie down :)

Sunday morning - half of us dressed in comfy, cuddly pyjamas, half of us dressed in slinky, sexy nightwear and half of us in normal day clothes ready for our journeys home (hey, what can I tell you? I'm a dyscalculaic chartered accountant. No, really).

Btw I still can't believe I didn't bring my camera. Luckily there are tons of photos in Paul O'Connell's (POC Photo) Flickr photo set of BurlyCon 2010.

So first up for me that morning was Persona vs. Personality, a moderated discussion with EmpeROAR Fabulous. I don't think any of us expected it but this was a wonderfully cathartic unloading of tension at the end of a wonderful few days. Staying in your persona is pretty easy turning up to a venue, performing and then going home. It's also pretty easy to maintain online. But living with everyone in a hotel for 4 days of very intensive learning and networking makes it difficult to decide who you want to be - and staying in character, if your character is a huge leap from who you are day-to-day is very difficult. The burlesque me isn't a huge leap from the day-to-day me, she's just the confident, outgoing person I'd like to be all the time.

We talked about some of the difficulties we've experienced and shared coping mechanisms and advice. We shared how we'd become our personas and how close or far they were from our personalities. At the end we shared a great big burly group hug. And it was good.

Next up I went to Your Face For The World To See with World Famous *BOB* as I felt I'd missed out a bit on make-up and glamour classes. BOB is brilliant. She is one of the most natural teachers I have ever seen. She has a way about her that DEMANDS your total attention but in such a sweet, gentle and loving manner. I don't think I can give it justice in words, you need to experience one of her classes. You've got to witness her ability to stay on track and the incredibly subtle, gentle but yet taking no prisoners way of stopping interruptions and suggesting that anything outside her scheduled topics can be discussed after class. Seriously, let alone the stuff she taught us, if you ever want to be a teacher of anything, you need to attend one of BOB's and see how a master does it.

 

Anyway, the stuff she taught us was spot on too. It was exactly what newbies to the world of stage glamour needed to know - she was so generous with tips she'd been taught and learnt over the years...and without a doubt, she's taught me how to avoid the droopy dog eyes syndrome I experience with false eyelashes. I've always let the duo eyelash adhesive dry for about 30 seconds - WAY, WAY, WAY too short a time - BOB let hers dry for over 3 minutes (actually nearer 5 but the room was a bit damp) before putting them on.

I've also started getting more and more interested in hair falls and wigs for performing and BOB showed us how care for hair pieces, how to wash them and brush them, how to give yourself extra height at the crown and so many other clever little tips that again I took over 4 pages of notes...and I'm going to try it all! (Don't worry, I'll take pic this time).

Just before I had to leave for my flight home to Arizona, I snuck into What Can StripCHEEZ.com Do For You? with Tink. Tink told us about www.stripcheez.com, a website specifically designed for the burlesque community concentrating on video sharing, how it had come about and the improvements that are coming in the near future. I think it's going to be pretty exciting and will definitely keep my eye on it and keep you informed here.

Classes and workshops I didn't manage to go to because I had a full morning included: Work That Mic with Alotta Boutte, Costume Secrets & Tips with Catherine d'Lish, Help! I'm Dating a Burlesque Performer! with Franky Vivid, Postcard Design with Jonny Porkpie and Public Relations with Ol' Scratch.

And that was it for me, BurlyCon was over.

I have to say it was one of the most fulfulling things I've ever exerienced though I guess you can tell that from the amount I've rambled on about it - I'm sorry the posts have been long - trust me all of them were at least twice their current length before editing and could have been shorter BUT I wanted to have a record to help my atrocious memory remember what I achieved by getting out of the house and going to a place where I didn't know a single soul except from reading some of their tweets or seeing some of their videos on YouTube.

My main objective for the weekend was to come away with some American friends so I wouldn't feel quite so alone over here and hopefully in the future if I go to festivals, I might be able to find some friends to sit with at them. I succeeded. I've made lots and lots of friends (and loads of Canadian ones too....and they have decent bacon up there....do you sense a visit coming sometime, I do....hmmmm bacon).

But BurlyCon wasn't over for everyone - there was one last big flourishing event to happen. Some dedicated souls had been doing dance classes all weekend learning choreography that resulted in this wonderment:

 

 

Just genius!

So then, are you coming to BurlyCon 2011 with me?

I believe it's 20-23 October 2011 (though you might want to check that) and you can Register for BurlyCon 2011 NOW! for an earlybird discounted price.

Ok, th-th-that's all folks, but if you do want read and see more about BurlyCon 2010, here are some links to other blogs and websites:

Viva BurlyCon from Burlesque Seattle Press

Rosie Bitts vlogs on My Life As A Human and has at least 5 video diary entries on BurlyCon

The Fabulous Violet DeVille's Great BurlyCon Wrap Up

BurlyCon 2008-2010 a retrospective by Sydni Deveraux on her blog Living in a Glitter Wonderland

Photos from Saturday night's Hot Pink Party from SinisterBrain Photography

Seattle BurlyCon's main website (including registration for BurlyCon 2011)

BurlyCon Seattle's twitter