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Merch Girl Emails : Join Team MerchGirl!
Greetings !
I am one of 10 finalists competing in the Queensland heats of the first Miss Burlesque Australia, a major national competition for burlesque performers in Australia (and possibly worldwide in future years). It is organised & hosted by Jac Bowie International, who is pretty much the biggest commercial / mainstream burlesque events producer & agent in Australia.
For the heats, contestants are required to prepare & perform a Traditional Burlesque and a Neo-Burlesque piece, and participate in a group costume parade (originally it said "elegant eveningwear" but I'm not certain of the details just yet). The top 4 then get to perform a Unique burlesque piece. My goal is to get far enough to present the Unique piece, as that is my forte/style - anything beyond that's a bonus really.
The other Queensland performers - Alyssa Kitt, Amelie Lu Lu, Blue Velvet, Coppelia Jane, Ellashye D'mour, Paige La'Belle, Scarlet the Siren, and two others to be confirmed - are all really good and also deserve to be in the competition & possibly win. However, I have a rather unusual and interesting position within the competition. Based on my research so far:
- I am the only non-White/minority performer in Queensland, and possibly one of the very few nationally - this is notable in an industry that does tend to be rather white-washed;
- I am the only actively political/social-changing performer; most others come from stronger backgrounds of dance, theatre, circus, or stripping, and some do deal with social justice elsewhere, but so far I'm the only one who makes social change & politics a central theme of my performances;
- I am possibly one of the few openly Queer performers - while I can't speak for everyone else's sexuality, I did find that I am somewhat more active than most with regards to working & volunteering within the Queer community and openly identifying as Queer
I already have a growing reputation within Australian burlesque and elsewhere for being very outspoken, frank, and somewhat academic with my approach to burlesque and performance art, especially as it intersects with issues of cultural appropriation, representation, and diversity. This reputation isn't always positive: 2 of the 3 judges at the Queensland heats are people I have had past conflicts with over the fact that I'm very open and honest on my blog. This makes performing at this competition quite intimidating - I'm not sure how much preconceived notions will play into my evaluations.
Currently I am somewhat stressed and frantic about preparing for Miss Burlesque Australia (Queensland) - getting my acts and costumes organised while also trying to organise multiple other projects and commitments. The fact that I rather stick out like a sore thumb even without trying just adds to it! I also understand that a lot of performers closer to my style - activisty, queer, political, and so on - do not wish to associate themselves with a commercial outfit like Jac Bowie International for various reasons. So in a way I'm a straddler of multiple worlds.
I want to use Miss Burlesque Australia as a platform for encouraging diversity in performance and for showing audiences more accustomed to mainstream Dita-von-Teese-style burlesque that there are many other ways of performing entertaining, thought-provoking burlesque without needing to fit the stereotypes of corsets, feather fans, and tassel-twirls. (There are plenty of amazing talent that do deal with such tropes, but that's not everyone's cup of tea.) I also want to provide a more multi-racial view of performing arts, particularly since it can be hard for a non-White performance artist to be considered on their own without expectations of either being totally Exotic or totally assimilated.
I would greatly appreciate your support and encouragement. Here's how you can help me and join Team MerchGirl:
- Come to the Queensland heats! They will be on at the Old Museum, Bowen Hills on 10th July 2010. Tickets will be on sale soon - go to theMiss Burlesque Australia website for updates.
- Chip in with a donation! My expenses for this competition are already reaching into the hundreds, mainly on costuming. Every dollar helps towards offsetting the costs, and towards supporting my performance & creative endeavours, as well as the endeavours of others. If you like, you can order a literary seduction for your money (or a non-seduction, if you want to keep things G-rated). I do PayPal and bank transfers (Australia only); in-kind donations would also be interesting.
- Dress me! I would like to support emerging designers as much as possible, and the group parade is a really big opportunity to get your work seen on a larger scale. Check out the ThreadBared post for more information.
- Hire me! Besides performing, I also do a variety of assistive tasks for creative performers & productions - stage management, merch & ticket sales, admin, research, events management, artist liaison, and so on. I've even been a life drawing model and a demo model for breast self-examination! I'm happy to consider almost any project anywhere, so get in touch.
- Send me messages of encouragement! It would cheer me up immensely. My email address is me[at]themerchgirl[dot]net and my postal address isTiara the Merch Girl, PO Box 6216, St Lucia QLD 4067 Australia. (Phone's ok too, but ask me for the number.)
- Pass the word on! Reblog this post, link it on your site, interview me for your website, share the love. I even have a small icon that you can put on your site to show that you're a part of Team MerchGirl:
- Pipe dream: if you can get Darren Hayes to send me some messages of support, that would be AWESOME. He is one of my biggest inspirations (see this performance for reference) and it would absolutely thrill me to get a "go you!" from him. One idea is to Tweet him (@darrenhayes) this link; I'm on Twitter as @tiaramerchgirl . It's kinda like asking to win the lottery, but who knows?! Other people it would be great to hear from are Aqua (esp Lene Nystrom), Lady Gaga...and pretty much anyone really. har.
Thank you so much! All your support and love means so much to me, and goes towards diversifying Brisbane/Australian burlesque & making it more interesting. You are AWESOMESAUCE.
B*B, Tiara the Merch Girl
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