Five Reasons to Love the Tango (and therefore the opening act)!

I've wanted to write a post for a while on early 20th century tango, but unfortunately there just aren't a lot of videos available, so the ones I'm including are all modern, although some are movies set in the period.

I learned tango as 'one-step with attitude.'  One-step, another dance from the period,  is essentially walking, so really tango is just 'walking with attitude.'  There's a little more to it than that, but attitude is by far the thing I find most important for our circus opening!

Since I wasn't able to find much to illustrate tango in the period, I'm just going to share the things I love most about the tango.  There's a reason I keep returning to it...

1.  One of my favorite examples of tango attitude (and also great storytelling through dance!) is the Tango de Roxanne from Moulin Rouge!.  If you remember from the very first Look Book post, the gritty sparkle of Moulin Rouge! was an early inspiration.  If you haven't seen the movie (or just want to watch some awesome dancing), here's the clip I'm talking about:

Attitude.


2.  Of all the couple dances I do, tango is by far the most passionate.  Obviously, if you're not dancing with somebody you're attracted to it's not going to be the same, but I find tango to have to most potential for spark.  Here's a clip from another favorite dance movie, Strictly Ballroom, where the whole scene is about the connection between the characters, and they're working it out during the dance (ignore the plot bits):

3.  I will be the first to admit I have a flair for the melodramatic.  The tango is an extremely dramatic dance-just listen to a 1920s or 30s tango song!  So here is a great example of the drama of tango, from Take the Lead, and a great classic dramatic tango song:

4.  While there are songs written specifically for tango (like Tango Bolero, above), the cool thing from a performance perspective about the dance is that since it is mostly walking with attitude, as long as the song is the correct time signature there is a lot of flexibility.  Which isn't to say you can tango to anything--it would be pretty silly to do such a dramatic and passionate dance to, for example, Katy Perry.  But there are a LOT of options.  This is actually from Step Up 3-D (which I hate to admit I've seen!), but the song is a really neat choice:

5.  Anyone can tango!  I wouldn't say it's easy to tango well, but it can definitely be an approachable dance, especially if it's choreographed and you don't have to worry about leading or following.  Follow the circus long enough, and you may just pick up a few steps...

Even Mr. Darcy can do it--although technically this is from Easy Virtue, Firth will always be Darcy to me.

Exciting Things

We're moving full force towards auditions this coming Thursday, and our first fundraiser performance of the year in November!  In the meantime, we had a photo shoot today with the project's fantastic photographer (and SLC burlesque performer) Frankie London AND the fantastic campus publication SLC Speaks wrote a profile of the project!

You can read it here! And don't forget to stop by auditions this THURSDAY!  We'll post some pictures and 'behind the scenes' fun as soon as the edits are done.

Event Announcement: Auditions!

We are so excited to finally be ready to announce that AUDITIONS for the circus project will be occurring next Thursday, September 22 from 9.30pm - 11.30pm!

That time block will be split into two sections.

Section 1, 9.30-10.30:  Performers who want to contribute an act of their own, such as a circus skill, musical talent, clowning/mime, magic act, burlesque piece, etc.  These acts should plan to bring 1-2 minutes of something to show us, but we're not expecting a completed act-or even a fully conceptualized one!

Section 2, 10.30-11.30: Performers who want to participate in group dance acts choreographed by Lilli and Mimi.  These will use some basic bumps and grinds, tango, and potentially a little can-can!  During this hour there will be a few exercises and a short taught dance piece.  Performers in this category are not expected to arrive with something prepared.

Even if we've already discussed your number, in order to be fair and come up with the best possible show these auditions are mandatory for every performer.  If there is a serious scheduling conflict, email us.

Can't wait! It's going to be an exciting and fun night!

Making Something From Nothing (As You Do)

Hello everyone!

I'm Vivian Slim, the show's assistant director. So far you've been hearing all about the show from our wonderful Lilli Vyne (and you still will!) but Lilli has asked those of us working on the show with her to work on the blog as well.

It's still so early in the process of developing this show but Lilli, Mimi (our wonderful costumer/producer) and myself have been working on ideas for this show since at least last April (or for the past three years if you're Lilli!).

The work the three of us have done together for the past few years has been very unique and special - mostly because when we all started doing burlesque we had really no idea what we were doing and we all learned together. There's a lot of watching youtube and reading books and, if you can afford it, going to see shows and attending workshops.

I think that's why we feel it's so important that we're develop the show the way we are. We want it to be an organic experience, so to speak. So everything from the name to the flow of the show is developed by the group.

Sure, if you're going to juggle, you should probably have some prior experience. But for the most part, if you want to learn something for the show, we're more than willing to help - either we can teach you or we can find someplace you can learn (I'm doing a number with belly dance in it - Do I know how to belly dance? No. Have I found easy, within my budget ways in which to learn? Yes!).

We want to foster inspiration and community. Sorry if that sounds a little cheesy but it's true!!

Also, we don't want anyone to be afraid to talk to us or ask for help! We might not have the answers but we can get them, and we're pretty experienced at making something out of nothing.

So, welcome to the circus! We're so glad you came!

Elegant Scandal: Female Big Cat Trainers

For the circus, setting the tone for the show will be important from the first moment the audience arrives.  I'm not giving away all of our tricks, but I do want to talk about the opening number, which is based on real early twentieth century circus acts.  It was specifically inspired by this poster, but there's a lot more to these awesome women.

In the inset circle on the left, you can see 'Adgie's Lions' performing a tango.  Adgie's Lions were a famous act, featuring ten lions including the 'Man-Eating Teddy,' who performed tricks and (apparently) dance-like sequences.  According to Janet Davis, author of The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top, poses such as 'the tango' were a way of sexualizing female trainers.  This is especially interesting in the context of the 19-teens, when tango was called 'the best ballroom dance' by the New York Times and fell into a new, more sensual category of dance that also included the maxixe and blues.  If sex sells, lions and trainers tangoing was a sure way to bring in the crowds.

Adgie in a cage with two of her lions, 1897 (from the Library of Congress)

So, naturally, a little bit of elegant scandal seemed like the perfect way for us to open the show.  I have experience with both modern ballroom tango and vintage tango, so I'll be choreographing a dance for our own lion trainer and her beasts to perform.

However, Adgie wasn't the only woman known for making big cats dance to her tune.  Another was Dolores Vallecetia, who had a leopard act.

Mlle Vallecetia in charge-love the fur trim!

Here's another act, but I can't find her name:

In the 1920s and 30s, a little after Adgie's time, there was Mabel Stark.  A performer with many circuses throughout a long career (including Ringling), Mabel worked with as many as 18 tigers in the ring.  Her famous wrestling act is shown in this poster:

She suffered numerous maulings by her tigers during her career, but she never quit.  In her autobiography, Stark writes "The chute door opens as I crack my whip and shout, 'Let them come,' Out slink the striped cats, snarling and roaring, leaping at each other or at me. It's a matchless thrill, and life without it is not worth while to me."

Something especially neat about Stark in particular is that she was Mae West's double in the 1933 hit I'm No Angel, in which West plays Tira the Lion .  That means that if you watch the circus scenes from the movie, you are actually seeing Mabel Stark at work!  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a video clip online, but here's a still from the movie:

Rhinestones, feathers, and girls taming beasts? The perfect start to the circus.

Meeting Announcement: Information Session!

Are you an SLC student/friend and interested in performing in the circus project?  Come hear more about it and meet us!  Our first meeting of the year will be this Thursday, September 8th in MacCracken Meeting Room.  Even if you're not interested in participating, come say hello!

Hope to see you there!