This week the long-awaited video from our April performance at the Russian Hall finally dropped, along with a new trove of professional photos. I started doing these shows in 2022, and it’s always torture waiting for all the media to be released, which can be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
The photos I shared a few weeks ago were taken backstage and by Fubarfoto, which sets up automatic cameras at the front (and sometimes back) of the stage to capture dozens of pictures throughout the performance.
The professional photos (taken by David Jacklin) and video (courtesy of one of my fellow butterflies, Jess Roh) always come later, sometimes long after the glow of performing has faded away.
Glitter Crash
That “fading away” has a name in the burlesque community, the “glitter crash.” It’s defined as that empty, post-performance feeling of malaise and melancholy that you inevitably feel after the weeks of practice, rehearsals, putting your costume together, and finally getting to perform to a room full of strangers, friends, and family, are over.
The immediate feeling is a combination of relief and elation, as the last of the pre-show adrenaline floods your system with endorphins. You can finally relax for the first time, after weeks of memorizing choreography and hours of last-minute practice and watching the rehearsal videos backstage.
You’ve drilled that one turn you kept messing up so many times, added more sequins and jewelry, eyeliner and hairspray, played on your phone to distract yourself, tried to avoid drinking too much water because the more anxious you are, the more you think you have to pee anyway…
Then you’re filing up the stairs to wait in the wings (in your literal wings, in this case), listening to the music of the performance before yours, checking to make sure all your crew is together, making nervous small talk until you hear the applause that means you’re up next…
And then you’re onstage. You remember to smile, you nail all the moves, or sometimes you don’t, and that’s okay (but this time I did!). The audience roars and cheers with approval, and that’s it—it’s over so quickly.
If your brief moment on stage came at the beginning of the show like mine did, you can change into civilian clothes and stand at the back of the hall, have a drink, and watch the rest of the show, cheering and whooping along with the audience as the other performers take their turns.
Aftermath
But the next day, there it is, as you’re putting away your costume pieces and cleaning stray glitter off the bathroom counter—that feeling of “now what?”
I was really tempted this time to jump right into another show. I almost joined a 5-week class with Melody Mangler, but in the end, I decided to wait. She has another class coming up later this summer, which sounds amazing… something about mermaids, so more on that later!
I did take a one-off class at Passion and Performance with the exceptionally talented Kyra Taylor. You can see a video of that here:
Almost Summer
For now it’s almost summer and I’m spending every sunny afternoon skating or sitting on patios with friends, attending daytime raves, biking, and laying in the sun. This is the season I live for!
