On Saturday, August 6, St. Lawrence Arts and Community Center held the aptly named Steamy Nights, a benefit burlesque and dance show featuring a plethora of performers, including many from Westbrook's own Vivid Motion, Inc. Artistic Director MJ Emerson took some time to talk about the company.
What exactly is your job at Vivid Motion and what are you responsible for doing?
As Artistic Director, I set the season and am the primary liaison between the Board of Directors and the Company. I decide what shows we are going to do, choose directors for shows and have general oversight of the company. At this time I am the only 'employee' of Vivid Motion, which is a 501(c)3 non-profit, all-volunteer company.
How did you end up getting into this line of work?
Basically I have always danced in and directed shows. I started dancing when I was 5, and began teaching at my childhood studio when I was a junior or senior in high school. I have a Certificate of Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and studied theatre at USM. University friend Brigitte Paulus and Ellen (Joyce) Rathbone decided to put on a show in December of 2003. I was part of that original line-up; Nutcracker Burlesque was born, and Vivid Motion, Inc. soon after. I became Artistic Director in 2008, when Brigitte Paulus stepped down.
What does the process of creating, from scratch, a burlesque show look like?
Well, it's important to say here that Vivid Motion is a dance company that happens to do a burlesque show at Christmas, not a burlesque company. I think that anyone can be sexy – we teach people how to dance, and focus on choreography and the other aspects of burlesque, such as making fun of an established thing (here, ballet) that people take seriously.
How did the idea for the Nutcracker Burlesque come about?
Nutcracker Burlesque came about as a conversation about poking fun at the beloved holiday classic. So we began by making fun of the opening party scene as an ubiquitous office party where everyone drinks a little too much, dressing the snowflakes in crisp snowy white lingerie instead of tutus, and making waltz of the flowers as a row of ditsy, scantily clad showgirls... finding the funny or sexy in what can be a pretty mundane show if it doesn't have 'that sparkle'. We change up the story line and the dances a little every year, just to keep it interesting. We take dancers of all skill levels – our audience is not generally here to assess our ability to bang out 30 fouette turns (that's a fancy dance step), but rather to enjoy the story and enjoy the show with fun and interesting choreography.
We turn other established things on it's ear as well: For example, we just presented The Sleeping Beauty set in the 20th century (40's & 50's), with Aurora waking up in present day. We made our own music choices based on the time-frame and found ways to inject the story with both humor and poignancy. While we at Vivid Motion call it our 'innovative and quirky' style, ballet purists might have a case for it being a burlesque of the 19th century classical ballet with music by Tchaikovsky. We danced the 'Sleeping Beauty Waltz' with hula hoops instead of garlands, too, and it was an all ages show. Again, burlesque means many things to many people.
Did you ever think it [Nutcracker Burlesque] would be so incredibly popular?
Yes and no. Satire and burlesque always have an audience, especially in a forward thinking and culturally progressive town like Portland, Maine. Our audience is built primarily by word of mouth – everyone in the audience is a friend or family member, or a friend of a friend. NB may have a wider following by now simply because we do it (nearly) every December. We also have an awesome live band, and not even all the classical ballet versions of the Nutcracker can say perform to live music. Also, fully a third of our NB cast is men – I don't know that any other Portland production can boast that in their holiday dance show. NB is fun and funny and sexy, and people are always looking for the off-beat, irreverent take on the holidays. So maybe the answer is only yes.
How do you recruit people to dance for Vivid Motion? Is it only people who have studied dance?
Absolutely not. We advertise that we are having open auditions in the papers, and now on the internet and social networking sites. We really try to offer a dance performance experience to anyone who wants to try it. A good attitude and a willingness to try count for a lot with us. Of course, when 40 people audition for 25 places we cannot cast everyone. Availability rates higher than ability for us. And everyone who choreographs for Vivid Motion knows that they have to tailor their choreography to the dancers they have – which may mean clever choreography that everyone looks good doing, or saving the more difficult steps for the stronger dancers. Some of our best performers came to us with very little or no dance training. Of course we do have dancers with very good training, too; former company dancers and those with college dance degrees. Vivid Motion offers a free weekly dance class that anyone can attend on Wednesday evenings, so we also offer the opportunity to learn to dance or hone skills to be a better dancer, as well as company camaraderie for those maintaining their skills.
How many people who dance for Vivid Motion have other lives that you wouldn't at all guess they'd have (such as a schoolteacher, etc.)?
We have a lot of that. Again, because we are a dance company first, that happens to do a burlesque show, we attract a wide cross-section of the population. We have college and graduate students, engineers, lawyers, stay at home moms, social workers... and lots in between. There are not a lot of pictures of Nutcracker Burlesque about because ultimately this is our hobby, not our career, and we like to say that 'what happens at NB stays at the theater' – watch with your eyes only. Also, if it were splashed all over the internet, why bother come see the live show? It adds to the mystique.
Any additional thoughts?
Steamy Nights was produced as a fund-raiser for the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center. Many of the burlesque performers in the other participating companies danced in a Vivid Motion show or two before deciding they wanted more burlesque and creating their own entities. In it's own small way Vivid Motion has grand-mothered the current burlesque boom that Portland is now enjoying. It was great to come together as a dance community and be able to be part of such a diverse and creative group of performers.