Jennterview: Eartha Delights, Burlesque Artist/Instructor/Costumer/Choreographer and Art Model

My Semantic Acrobat/Website Janitor/Muse for Hire, Stacey, wanted to get to know some of the amazing artists I work with a little better and, since she likes to share the love, we decided to run a series of interviews with photographers, models, designers, and performers... And call them "Jennterviews," because we are dorks. Then I demanded that, since she also happens to be a performer and model that I work with, she submit to the interview herself so you can get to know her, too. So, in this installment, Stacey interviews her own alter-ego, Eartha Delights, Burlesque Artist/Instructor/Costumer/Choreographer and Art Model from Kansas City, MO. (In fact, she is typing this now... and frankly, this whole third person thing is getting a little confusing. I mean, if I’m writing as Jenn, is she the third person, or is fourth person a thing? The limits of my [uh… her?] grammatical prowess [and possibly sanity] are being tested. But, for the sake of continuity, the lot of us will forge on.) You can check out her website, purchase her featherless boas and other vegan showgirl accoutrements from her Etsy shop, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

How did you get into your field?

I was born for it. I’ve been dancing literally since before I could walk, because my mom owned a dance studio when I was a wee babe. My first recital was when I was two - Mom made me a little sequined leotard and let me improv to my favorite song.... Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff.” (Seriously, I couldn’t make that up. Mom said it was because I thought I was, in fact, hot stuff.) When the song was over I refused to leave the spotlight and actually had to be carried off kicking and screaming. When I was five, I dressed up in my grandma’s old lingerie and performed to “Like A Virgin” in the fashion show my cousins and I produced at Christmas dinner. It wasn’t until twenty-five years later that I connected with the medium of burlesque, when my girlfriend’s band opened for the Suicide Girls’ touring show. I remember turning to her after a couple acts and saying “I can do this better than that. I have to do this.” The rest is history. The modeling started after burlesque - I worked with a couple photographer friends on promo shots that won me some paid photo work, then I posed for Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School (an informal life drawing event that features burlesque and variety artists as models), which opened the door to a lot of figure drawing groups and classes.

What inspires you creatively?

Everything, it seems like. I have so much more inspiration than time, energy, and funding. My acts are sometimes inspired by current events or thematic productions, but most often by other works of art: music, paintings, sculptures, films, television (especially sci-fi and cartoons - I’m a dork that way), books… I’ve recently been finding a lot of inspiration in poetry, and I’m now working on a spoken word striptease. Most of my costume/prop creativity is really just inspired by problems that need solving. I started making boas and plumes from fabric because I was tired of my boas shedding all over, bleeding dye onto my skin, and making me sneeze, as well as the general fragility of feathers - when you’re traveling with costumes, then tearing them off and throwing them across a stage, the more durable you can make them, the better. The whole cruelty and sustainability aspect is just the icing on the cake. :)

What is your favorite thing about your work?

Complete creative control. I choose the story I tell and how I tell it. Each act is like a whole little mini-musical that I write, produce, direct, costume, choreograph, and perform.

What is your least favorite thing about your work?

It’s almost impossible to make a living at it. Thus all my other hats: in addition to writing and web admin, I also do accounting/office admin work, pet-and-babysit, and scrub toilets in a dive bar to make ends meet. Among other things.

What do you wish people understood about your work?

That the fact that I’m sex positive and spend a lot of time naked in public doesn’t mean that I welcome come-ons, innuendo, groping, or any other creeper behavior. Don’t be gross.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

Ooh, that’s tough. With regards to burlesque, it’s hard to choose among all the amazing performance moments, so I have to go with helping my oldest student yet (77) create an act for her boyfriend’s 80th birthday... He proposed, and they’re getting married this spring. As far as modeling goes, that was definitely learning that a commissioned portrait by the incredible realist painter Lacey Lewis that I both posed and helped design the set for is part of a collection that will one day go to a museum. It makes me feel immortal.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in your career?

Trying to do way too much way before I knew what I was doing. I was producing burlesque shows that I also emceed and performed (mostly brand new/one-off acts) in every month just a couple months after I started performing. It was partially because there were so few opportunities to perform at the time - there were only two troupes in the Kansas City area, and neither of them regularly booked guest performers (whereas now there are several troupes that do book guests in every show, as well as several regular productions that cast independently), but still. I put on some terrible shows in that first couple years.

What advice do you have for someone entering your field?

Never stop learning. Take as many classes from as many instructors as you can. Not just burlesque or modeling classes, either: all sorts of theater and dance classes will improve your performance in both. Sewing and other crafty maker classes are very useful to DIY performers, and art and photography classes give a great edge to models. Just remember that you will never, ever be so good and know so much that you have nothing left to learn. And don’t assume that because someone isn’t as experienced or skilled as you that they don’t have something to teach you. As performers, we’re encouraged not to be humble, but do not mistake holding on to a sense of humility for selling yourself short. You can promote and market yourself well without being a diva with a superiority complex.

What do you look for in a makeup artist?

Reliability, calm demeanor (I don’t want an angry or anxious person all up in my face - I have my own nerves to deal with), steady hands, and a willingness to take charge because I frankly just have no idea what to even ask for when it comes to makeup.

What one personal care item would you be most lost without?

Coconut oil. I take off my makeup with it, shave with it, moisturize with it, and eat it every day.

In your opinion, what is the worst trend in recent memory?

Harem pants. They were stupid in the 90s and they’re more stupid now. It is impossible to wear them without looking like you crapped your pants.

White chocolate: Sweet treat or a lie and an abomination?

LIE AND ABOMINATION! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ALBINO COCOA BEANS.

Anything else you’d like readers to know?

Where they can see me! I’ll be performing at the Tulsa Little Theatre for TwoLips Burlesk’s “The Big V Show” March 7, at Abode Venue in Wichita for Betty Wannabang’s “Nerdlesque Variety Show” March 14, at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Independence for Annie-Mae Allure’s “Rude Revue & BurlyQ” March 28, and hosting my live improv burlesque game show “Peel of Fortune” at the Buffalo Room in Kansas City on April 25.