Tagsolotude

Solotude 3 – Video!

You have seen the pictures, heard the rumours, and now you can watch the video!

Solotude 3 was such an amazing event! The feedback that has been flowing in about my routine has been wonderful. Thank you to all my followers and supporters, in real life and online. It has been wonderful to have such regular dance opportunities to grow as a performer.

This routine had been in the works for about six months. I usually work with a quicker timeline, however I think the overall performance benefited from my sustained practice. The extra time also offered me more space to reflect on the movements and how they related to the story and my intentions.

I like to work with narratives and pole drama, so this routine was based on the story of the Gemini constellation. Driven by the narrative of Pollux and Castor’s tragedy, I invited the audience to engage with elements of loss, connection, reunion, and shared identities. I love working with props, and the mask was a simple way to help the audience engage with and follow the story.

Photos of the night were captured by Lioness Photography and Ash King. I love how they used close ups and unique angles to compliment my performance, not just capturing my tricks.

If you like my performance, feel free to share it online! I am also available for choreography workshops, for studios and classes, or to help you with your own solo.

Send me an email at mel@melnutter.com and let’s start dancing!

Solotude 3!

solotude 3 poster

The team at Sydney Pole are at it again! Solotude 3 will hit the Vanguard on June 19th!

This night is an opportunity for amateur and semi-pro dancers to perform in a more public space than the studio. The last two Solotude events were an absolute blast and I am so excited to have been invited to perform once again!

You can see my first Solotude performance here. And there are shots of my Solotude 2 performance in the gallery.

Come along to see a fabulous night of pole story telling and performance art in the grand venue of the Vanguard!

 

Tickets available here!

 

Solotude 2!

solotude2Here we go again! Riding the success of the first Solotude in June, the awesome girls at Sydney Pole are running the showcase event once more!

 

To celebrate having my caboose on the poster twice, I’ve got a sexy routine in the works that’s all about big heels, hair flicks, and being a woman!

(and it’s a great distraction from comp prep!)

 

Solotude Performance

IMG_20150628_203535Last weekend was a blast! Here’s a shot of me backstage after the show, on a high and in love with the magic of performing!

I’ve been getting great feedback about my routine, which is so motivating. As I mentioned in the last post, I capitalised on the showcase allowing me to pare back tricks and tell a story, and it seems the audience appreciated that too.

 

Check out my performance below. Excuse the slight slip up in the middle, it seems I truly was an old lady losing her balance!

Credits:
Music by Yu and Count Basie
Lingerie by Dita Von Teese
Night Gown and Props: local op shop find!

Enjoy!

Solotude!

Solotude PosterWhen you train at a studio with a high caliber of experienced dancers, and two of those dancers are also skilled in event management, what happens? Solotude happens!

I’ve been training hard these past few weeks, adding the finishing touches to my performances and collecting props and costumes. The vibe at the studio is amazing as everyone is nailing their tricks with extra motivation to get their choreography solid for the show.

I have already written about the benefits of entering showcases, so I’d like to use this post to talk about how I put together my performance (and to plug the show for all my Sydney readers!).

Being a showcase, there is no pressure to put in all the best strength and flex tricks into the routine as you would in a competition. There is space to tell a story, pare back the tricks and emphasise the aspects of making it a show.

Over the years, I have worked hard on my stage presence and engaging with the audience. With each new routine I try to choreograph gestures, facial expressions, and points to connect with the audience. It’s hard, and daunting, but it has helped me improve.

The routine I have started for Solotude begins with me talking to the audience. I found a clip from the end of a Yu song of an elderly woman with a thick Boston drawl reminiscing over old photographs. In my 50s lace night gown, hair in rollers, and reading glasses dangling off my ears with a gold chain, I mime the lady’s story and share the photographs with the audience.

As the music starts, Count Basie fills the stage with burlesque class and I am drawn to relive my days as a younger dancer.

The props and costume for this routine were as vital in telling the story as the pole tricks and poses. I also had to think about how the older woman would have danced, did she break free of her nightgown and reveal a sexy lingerie set highlighting body rolls and hair flicks? Or did she emerge from her gown slowly, like the unfurling of a memory, only to be completely immersed in her recollection at the end of the song?

Thinking this way made sense for me. I didn’t want to just separate the two parts of looking through the photographs and then dancing. They had to transition and be threaded together. It’s a story, it has emotion and feeling, not just a sequence of tricks.

A picture tells a 1000 words, and this will make more sense with a video. I’ll post it up after the show, but if you’re in Sydney and keen on seeing some Pole Drama next weekend, come on by to The Vanguard!

Oh! And guess who’s derriere is on the poster?!? *wink*