ruby fuerza: me first and the shimmy shimmies: Tease-O-Rama Reportback

Monday, October 6, 2008

Tease-O-Rama Reportback

Phewph!

My Teaseorama show went really well - and really quickly once it happened - last Thursday night. I was the third to last act so didn't go on until after midnight. I spent the first three hours of the show anxiously pacing, not really drinking, and not really hanging out with my dear friends who came for the show (thanks Erin+Dave! thanks Raf+Sarah! thanks Laura+Dante! thanks Philly+Katie!). When it was finally my turn to go on stage I didn't feel a thing. The crowd was extra rambunctious by that point so I felt encouraged to ham it up. The only bump in the road came when I had to improvise on account of leaving part of my costume at home like an eeeeediot! When the show finished I got so much positive feedback from everyone, especially other performers - such true compliments. I was happy to be back in the game again and get a chance to catch up with many of the familiar faces of the SF burlesque scene after a seemingly forever hiatus.

More from the weekend to come!

1 comment:

Shrimp said...: hands down the act that got the crowd at their loudest. yelps, hollers and cheers! well done love.; October 14, 2008 at 10:00 PM

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PERFORMER BIO

The combustible Ruby Fuerza exploded out of the Bay Area burlesque scene in January of 2008 and has been regaling a diverse audience of punks, prisoners, and perverts with her sizzling – and silly - performances. Part Gilda Radner, part Emma Goldman, this brunette bombshell thrives on sexy satire and lustful hilarity with a politically conscious twist. As a dancer and choreographer, Miss Fuerza stokes her creative fires with fabulously original numbers that include colorful costumes, bizarre props, and irreverent comedy.

Miss Fuerza, AKA Lucille Brawl, was bred and raised in Morningside Heights in the heart of the exotic Isle of Manhattan. Born into the New York City mayhem of 1984, Ruby already had a flair for rebellion and glitter. She skipped school, shoplifted sunglasses and silk kimonos, read Das Kapital, and danced Violeta Parra protest songs in Spanish Harlem. She once got arrested for sneaking into a Lou Reed concert as an old man in a wheelchair. Throughout high school, she was a true fire-starter, protesting wars, sweatshops, and corporate greed. She organized youth brigades for anti-globalization demonstrations, coining guerilla chic in dark glasses and a face bandana.

At 18, she left the Big Apple to lead a dull, unsatisfying life at an Ivy League university she doesn’t like to talk about. She finished her degree in three years, and got the hell out of academia forever by 2006. She packed up her vintage sundresses, curling irons, and work boots, and headed south. With style and grace she worked alongside cafeteleros in Zapatistaland, Mexico. She marched with picketing telephone workers in Buenos Aires. She harvested yucca in solidarity with Cubanos in Havana. She waited around at a lot of airports (but never without lipstick).

After these travels, she landed a job as a union organizer in San Francisco and finally took her passion for theatrics and stage make-up to the big Bay stages, enrolling in Bombshell Betty’s School of Burlesque the day after she moved to San Francisco. In 2008, she began performing with the Burlesqueteer Troup and has been moving crowds to ribald ecstasy ever since. She has performed at Stage Werx Theater, Benders, Annie’s Social Club, and the Uptown Club in Oakland. She is world-renowned for her parodies of Carmen Miranda. Her Frida Kahlo act subtly engages in the politics of immigration. Her Bearded Lady act asks the audience to question its notion of gender. In her most recent performance, “Caketease,” she devised a homemade 4-foot cake for a steamy homage to cake strippers, diabetics, and anyone with a sweet tooth for Jerry Lee Lewis.

ruby fuerza: me first and the shimmy shimmies

Monday, October 6, 2008

Tease-O-Rama Reportback

1 comment:

INTRODUCTION

LOVE LETTERS//HATE MAIL

DON'T DREAM IT//BE IT

LOS ARCHIVOS

LOVERS

STRANGERS

PERFORMER BIO

WORLD'S SMALLEST BURLESQUE CALENDAR