Thread: Advice for Burlesque Troupe/Group

Hola Burly q wonders!

A bit of a general question and apologies if it's something discussed before - I had a quick search but couldn't see anything recent.

Just wondering if any of you have had experience performing as part of a burlesque group (duo, trio or larger) or had some general advice to impart as to how we can best keep running along?

We're relative newcomers to burlesque. Two of the three girls have performed since 2007 and we formed our group in 2008 after we had kind of fine tuned our performance style. We have had one change in line up since this time (just due to one performer moving interstate for work - she still performs from time to time)

I'm just after any advice or words of wisdom as to how we can best keep working as a group from anyone with 2 cents worth to chip in, or anyone who has experienced ups or downs from working in a duo, trio or group dynamic.

Also I guess the other question is, for those of who don't perform as solo acts, have you found any difficulties in terms of getting performance gigs etc? Many advantages for us performing as a trio but one slight downside we have is obviously the cost involved for any of us to travel for any gigs outside of our immediate area. I think sometimes this can be a negative for bookers because for the cost of getting us as a group to perform 1 -2 acts you could easily book 2 solo artists for less money and get 2 acts out of them at an event....

Any advice muchly appreciated!

Miss Kitty's Meow
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Oh, boy. Kitty, you are a girl after my own heart. I've recently started a Melbourne-based troupe (4 girls), and whilst it's great to have the love and support of your ladies, troupework comes with it's own set of challenges.

Group Dynamics: It's obvious, but communication and a common goal is key. Our troupe is facing a number of challenges, one of our members has a very ill sibling and another is away on holiday - and we're trying to put on our debut show in six weeks! I've been having anxiety attacks... BUT, to get through this we talk/text/Facebook regularly and we're committed to performing.

Another thing is, people have to be comfortable with their role within the group. To get perspective, I've found that it helps to think of your troupe as your band. Each musical band has people falling into different roles - there's the songwriting person, the person who liases with promoters, the person who just shows up and does what they're told. This happens almost subconsiously, and I've found it also happens in a burlesque troupe. What's your 'role', and are you comfortable with it?

As for being booked as a troupe, I've found no difficulty as there aren't that many troupes in Melbourne. There are a lot of people working solo (which is, frankly, easier), therefore troupes are a bit of a novelty.
But yes, getting a promoter to pay for a ferry trip for three girls can be a bit daunting, I'm not sure how you can overcome that. Maybe you can put on a 'get us to the mainland' fundraising show? I think Sugar Blue in Perth did that, and so did Rosy Rabbit to get her to London.

Sorry for the long post, I could ramble on for ages but I'll leave it at that for now.