Cannot Find My Draft!

This blog won't be posted in my usual style. This is the first time using my iPad to post. Having quite a day: I can't find my draft, I stressed through Dodgers traffic to make it to a dance class just to find out it was canceled and I still haven't purchased a keyboard for my new iPad yet. I wanted to continue my story about leaving the Pink Poodle because of how the dance styles had changed so drastically.


 The next club I went to was called The Brass Rail in Sunnyvale, Ca. This is where Steve Jobs started. Not the Brass Rail, but the city of Sunnyvale.  The Brass Rail was topless...sort of.  This was a club with a full bar and a reputable smorgasbord style lunch. The dancers were also cocktail servers. We were paid a minimum wage and kept all of our tips. The object was to be in the top five each night for selling cocktails. There was some sort of light penalty for being a lazy server, but I can't recall what that was.


 (About my shit day? I also forgot my reading glasses:-( I am blindly writing this post!!)


 Back to the subject .Yes, topless sort of. Once you were hired, you were taken to a small room in back of the DJ booth. You shot on video doing a topless dance. No floor work. No pole. Just standing there, bouncing boobies and smiling. They would play this while you danced on stage in a bikini. Hence, they advertised having topless dancers. They are still open and to me knowledge, still practice this form of "topless dancing".


 They did have poles. They were no more than 6ft.   The stage was a long, narrow sort of catwalk. You stepped on to the stage from the back. About five feet in front of you were two poles on the very edge of the stage, one on each side. There was a horizontal pole on top that connected the top brass poles. Every so often a dancer might do a tiny spin on one of the side poles. But mostly it was all about the pull ups on the horizontal bar. There was a crazy dancer called The Animal, an older, thin, mean, Harley riding, drunken bitch. She would swing on the horizontal bar and in mid swing let go in mid air and land with a thump in a hard Chinese split. No knee pads, no boots. Crazy bitch!


 I also got the worst reception from the dancers there. More so than any new club in which I was the new girl.  I remember being shown to the main dressing room. It was crowded. Every time I put my bag somewhere, I was told to move my "shit" somewhere else. Especially by The Animal. I was already nervous. I started to cry silently and tried to sneak out of the club. The big black DJ caught me and asked me to go into the small video room. He convinced me to stay and said I could use this smaller private dressing room. I started undressing when an attractive, light toned black dancer called Summer came in and politely said that this room was reserved for her and her three dancing sisters: Spring, Winter and Fall.  (Yes, for reals).  I was so getting tired of this. I told the DJ I had been kicked out again. He knew what was going on, so he introduced me to Roxy and said she would be my guardian angel.


Roxy was a short, muscular dancer, with short blond, curly hair and a New York Bronx style accent.  She was someone you wouldn't want to fight with.  She was very supportive of me and hung out with me off and on through out the night.  Nobody really messed with me when they found out we were buddies.


Dancing styles there were bouncy and cute.  Sort of like early Madonna music videos.  Customers were not allowed to touch.  There were no lap dances.  There was floor work.  Mostly just leaning back and spreading or walking like a spider and spreading. Nobody had heard of booty popping at that time.  The big move was to bend over with your booty to the audience and move it from side to side.  Tall, thin, white dancers with boobs seemed to be the money makers there.  Back then, I had shaved both sides of my head and had wild curly hair on top.  Sort of like a combo of early Prince and Madonna combined.  There was another dancer there with shorter hair than mine!  We both did fairly well.  Another funny thing about this place is that a lot of the girls wore pantyhose!!  Yes, pantyhose.  My short haired girl wore full covered body suits over pantyhose and still made more $$ than me  some nights.  Summer, the diva that kicked me out of her dressing room, wore pantyhose.  She was actually a good dancer.  Even back then, I felt like pantyhose was cheating!  I also thought it looked dorky.  This would never fly now!  Guys are so dorky.  In my entire career I have never wore pantyhose to cover flaws!


(I was able to fix the format of my post after all:-)

Nothing to do with Stripping

I am working today.  Forcing myself to go in.  Having a hard time. My sister in-law and her young family live in Colorado Springs.  They were evacuated from their home this morning.  The homes across the street are burning.  Small chance their home will make it.  My 11 year old niece is losing it!  Being a trained actress, it's difficult not to access an 11 year old's emotions.  Especially a happy, over achiever who cares for her community.


I'm trying not to lose it.  Leaving for work in an hour.  Keeping tears back.  Trying to generate positvity to my poor family.  I feel so helpless, living so far away from them.  Had plans to see them in two weekends.  I only see them twice a year at most.  Not sure if I can see them.  I have parents I have to see next week.  They are in another state.  My dad is sick (although getting better) but it's been a month since I've seen him and although we don't get along, I am the closest "kid" geographically to them.  I have to go.


Think of those close to you today and be thankful they are OK.


Sorry to be such a downer.

Dance Styles from 1982 to the Present: Vol. 2

After I had been dancing at the Pink Poodle for almost a year, I was hired by a stripping telegram company called Strip-o-Gram.  (That will be covered in another post:-)  I had moved to San Francisco to work for them, since most of my gigs were up that way.  


But when SOG and I parted ways a year later, I went back to the good ol' Pink Poodle.  Boy, had dance styles changed!  I actually missed Diana and her old fashioned elegance.


New girls had been hired, as they always are.  The two that totally set my mouth agape and made me quite nervous were Sally and Yvette.  Ah, yes.  18 year old Yvette.  The one who would semi-shower, sit on our vanity counter, legs completely spread, with one dirty foot on the counter..shaving her vagina.  Umm, yeah.  I thought that stuff was supposed to be done at home.  She and I never really did agree on much of anything.  She thought I was old and prudish (I was not quite 25!).


Yvette's style was basically to slink across the stage and at some point spread her legs and stretch her vaginal lips as far as they could be stretched.  It made me wince just to watch!  I mean, it looked like it hurt.  I hated dancing after her.  If her fans were there, I just couldn't give them what they wanted.  This, of course, affected my ability to make a good income.


Then there was Sally.  She was another long legged Latina.  She could have been Yvette's older sister.  She was a strange one.  She would speak in non-sequiturs to anyone who would listen.  She didn't necessarily want a response.  Her thing was objects.  Objects such as: bananas, cigars (sometimes lit), carrots, zucchinis..I think you get where I'm going with this.  At least she used a blanket.  Sally wasn't just about insertion; ever heard of a song by Prince called "Pussy Control"?  This describes Sally.  She would make these things twirl, push and vibrate.  "Look Mom!  No hands!!"


I forgot to mention that Diana, the old elegant dancer was no longer there.  Neither was little Jasmine (of the diaphanous robes and ballet training), TJ (the flash dancer) or Precious (turned to religion).  I don't think they were fired.  I think the "new guard" scared them off.  They certainly scared me off.  There were other new dancers that were sort of raunchy, but not like Sally or Yvette.  The new girls were not shy about talking about who was paying them for sex outside of the club.  I don't care what a person does outside of my workplace as long as it's not hurting anyone.  They just don't have to tell me.


Wow!  Dancing had changed from early '83 to mid '84.  I knew it was time for my exit.  One day I quit.  I was in tears in the middle of a shift.  I told Sid (yup, that old butt head was still there), that I couldn't handle it any more.  He told me that it was change and other clubs were just like that.  He told me to get used to it if I wanted to stay in the business.


I refused to believe him.  So I set off to find a different path and way of dancing.


(PS.  This is the present.  I hurt my lower back just reaching for shaving cream in the shower today.  I need to work the next two days.  I'm going in, but taking it easy.  Am I doing the right thing?)

The Recent Past: Last Weekend

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The Burlesque Hall of Fame: The Titans of Tease

This takes place in Las Vegas now at the Orleans casino in a theater that seats 800.   It was sold out last night.   I went last year.  I bought a pass and went to every show and took master classes from legendary dancers April March and Tiffany Carter.  

Most of these ladies were dancing in the 50's, 60's or 70's.  Some of them beyond.  But I think the youngest legend retired from dancing in 1994.

I learned a lot in the classes and just from watching the shows.  I had never danced with panels before ( long strips that detach from a long negligee), or with huge feathery fans.  I had never considered the art of taking nearly an entire song just to take an opera glove off.  This was different for me, but I respect different forms of dance.  However, I attended this 4 day event alone.  I knew this was going to be a very splashy, formal event, but I don't dress like a 50's pin-up girl.  I have very long, curly hair and I don't like the feel of lots of pins and things in it.  I didn't sport sequins like almost every other woman (and some men in attendance).  When I showed up to my master classes with my booty shorts, royal blue 5 in. heel go-go boots and wet hair, I was sort of "mean girled" out of any circles.  So much for making friends.  The legends were very nice to me.  That made me feel better.  So, I was solo and that's ok.

This sort of goes back to when I started dancing.  I wrote about the blankets and raunchy floor work in my last post.  I did wear dusters , played with feathered boas, and hats.  Dusters were fun.  I would love to spin around and hold the sides like they were stage curtains for my body.  However, I had no idea what a panel was.  Until last year, I had never seen any dancer use them.  There was also a diaphanous ballet spin in which the dancers arms are held high while she is holding on to her duster or cape.  I vaguely remember a tiny dancer with very long hair, Jasmine, incorporating this move into her routine.  I remember with her long blond hair and pastel colors,that this was a very beautiful effect.  Yet she was the only one I knew who did this.  I never quite got that move down.

I think by 1982, this style of dancing was fading out and morphing into something different.  Perhaps I should have been born earlier?

Last night I saw the Titans of Tease show.  Last year I was so enthusiastic about all of it.  This year: my feelings were a bit mixed.  There was a dancer Judith Stein, who I saw last year.  She was amazingly talented, original and energetic.  She stripped out of a striped pantsuit and did a sort of soft-shoe type dance.  It was adorable.  She was suppose to appear this year, but recently had two strokes. The MC read the personal note on why she couldn't attend. I had to stop myself from crying.  I didn't even know this woman.  It just reminded me to stop procrastinating because my energy could be taken as fast as hers.

On a happier note, the fucking fantastic Shannon Doah from San Francisco.  This woman danced in the 60's.  I did the math and if she started in the mid-60's at some illegal age, the youngest she could be is 60!  This woman is balls out , talented, sexy, beautiful dancer!  Her body is full and in prime shape.  Sure, it could be lipo , surgery...whatever.  But that energy, grace, power, control and creativity is all REAL!

I'm sure her act will be up on youtube soon.  But just to summarize , she starts her act on a love seat, smoking a hookah to the song "Go Ask Alice" and then finishes with two Doors songs in these amazing cut away, wide bell bottoms!  Val Valentine with her ballet grace, crazy control (she was moving only her abs I could see this with her clothes on from 15 rows away).  Haji, an original  Russ Meyer girl, who could whip and twirl her duster like a 20 year old dancer.  Apparently, she surfs nude at 6AM in the mornings on a private beach in Malibu.  My favorite, Holly Carroll a dancer/singer who has a voice that purrs and the energy of the energizer bunny.

These women give me the courage to go on.

Dance Styles and Stage Shows: From 1982 to present, Vol. I

Since I have been dancing for the last 30 years off and on, I have seen a lot of change in dance styles and shows.

When I first started at the Pink Poodle, we had no pole.  None of us had worked in a club that had poles.  Pole dancing was not even a phrase back then.  What we did have on that stage was: a puffy chair, big, burgundy, velvet curtains in which we would enter directly from our dressing room.  That was it. There was a bit of a built in "shelf" or an overhanging structure that was part of the wall on the left side of the stage.  Some of the more athletic dancers (moi) would use this lift ourselves and body swing a bit.

Almost all of the dancers used a blanket for floor work.  I actually miss that.  I just havent' found the right blanket:-(  I believe the blanket act really saved my knees.  I mean, how many 53 (tomorrow) year old dancers do you know without knee problems?

The oldest dancer I knew there (although she would never admit it) was "Diana".  If her overly tanned skin didn't give her age away, her dancing did.  What she did was quite elegant.  Almost like the tableau styles of the early 20th century.  ( If you have ever seen Boardwalk Empire.  The burlesque scenes with the amazing Gretchen Mol.  This is pretty similar).  She had her blanket and did floor work.  But she never spread her legs, or blatantly touched herself.  She had these slow, lyrical movements she would do with mostly her hands and arms.  Being a baby stripper at the time, I didn't get it.  But now, I get it.  She had a style and stuck to it.  There is something to be said about finding a style that works for you.  However, there is a fine line between being an original and seeming dated because you haven't bothered to tweak your style to make it more modern.

The other girls were more energetic or nasty.  Nasty, not in the booty-poppin' way, but just nasty.  Spread eagle right in your face nasty.  Since there were no lap dances back then, the patrons would love to sit right up at the stage to get a good view.  (We used to jokingly call that 'gynocology row').

I had my own ideas about dancing.  I thought that a healthy, lean body with tons of energy was the most beautiful thing.  I still do.  I have been blessed to have a lot of energy.  Sometimes, too much, lol!.  I used to love to get a slight running start and "dive" on my blanket to make it slide across the stage.  I remember Diana constantly telling me to slow down because it wasn't 'sexy'.  I couldn't help myself!

But I loved the feeling of speed, energy, flipping my body this way and that.  I even added some break dancing stuff.  I still dance that way, but I get the need for speed fed by a spinning pole.

I'll write more about this soon.  There is so much change and evolution of exotic dancing.  I can't write this in one session:-(.

"Workmen's Comp"

Ah yes!  Workman's Comp.  Now here is a term we don't hear about too much these days.  Once upon a time, strip clubs had this item.  Basically, it's a form of insurance wage replacement and medical benefits to employees who are injured during their term of employment at the location in which they are employed.  However, if the employee accepts workman's compensation, they give up the right to sue their employer.


The Pink Poodle employed us as part-time entertainers.  I had injured my knee while working.  I took a week off and I was compensated.  So simple.  There was another club, a bikini bar called The Brass Rail.  The dancers there would make a video of themselves dancing topless.  They would play this video on a film screen while the dancer danced on stage in a bikini.  Therefore, they were considered a "topless club".  At the time, the dancers were also employed as cocktail servers.  They had a drink quota.  If a dancer worked there at least fours shifts per week, she was entitled to low cost health insurance.


I realize clubs these days consider us independent contractors.  I know quite a few club owners who have problems keeping their dancers.  I've heard rumors of certain clubs in Southern California starting to give cash incentives to dancers who show up early or work a certain amount of shifts.  


I recall that neither the Pink Poodle or the Brass Rail had too many problems with dancers not showing up or completing their shifts.


I know that offering health insurance is not going to happen.  In the 1980's and 90's it was affordable.  Now, in the USA, I think anyone who has paid attention to the news or has tried to purchase health insurance knows the answer to that.


The fact that some clubs are deciding to pay us instead of the other way around is a small, positive start.