This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - Meghan Spencer (Fringe Show)

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

LIVE at 2024 KC Fringe Festival!! Our first LIVE Fringe show is with Meghan Spencer, an aerialist, teacher, and burlesque dancer in the KC area.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 204 fringe is here, every voice we want to hear. Stage is set the lights are bright. Bring your art into the night. Casey's heart, it beats so loud, every artist in the crowd. crowd voices rise and colors blend create a world that won't end welcome to fringe the place is calling lights are flashing hearts are falling join the wave come feel the motion dive into this French devotion

All right Good evening Every state shows how we care All right Good evening everybody Five years, over 100 episodes, three virtual fringes. And tonight, I am finally able to say these words. Welcome to this podcast is on call for live at KC. Fringe.

My name is Mike Channevsky. I'll be your host for this evening. Joining me on stage tonight is my co-host, Heather Marie. Yes, sir. Heather Marie. I'm very good. I'm very good at this night. And let's bring on our guest for this evening.

Yes. Please do the honors. Please. Well, this evening we have B1 and the only Megan Spencer. Woo-hoo! It looks so amazing in red. All right. Megan, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having. me. You're welcome. Yeah. So tell the audience a little bit about yourself. All right, well my name is Megan Spencer. I am a professional aerialist dancer and aerial coach and director of education at a circus school

here in Kansas City. That's kind of my... That's amazing. That's my full-time gig. But in all ways, I'm just kind of a performer and an artist and all those things. Good deal. Good deal. We're glad to have you.

I'm excited to be here. Yeah. So this evening, I was kind of getting ready figuring out what, and I said, Megan, what are you going to wear tonight? And Megan was like, I don't know. Does it matter? I was like, God, no, it doesn't matter. But this is what I'm going to wear.

And she said, I may wear the red suit. Can we just have a round of applause for the red suit, please? You look absolutely stunning tonight. I'm so so thankful for you to come in. And so our, Megan, we've known each other really only. a short while. About a year. It's gone back fast.

Yeah, it's been about a year. It has been about a year. Last August. It was last August that we auditioned together for the American Emergent Theater for the murder mystery dinners. Yeah. And I have gotten to hear little bits about your story, but I'm so thankful and so excited to hear tonight.

So how did you get into being an aerialist? Like, how does that, what does that journey look like? Okay, I'm going to give you the long story longer. I love it. I love it. Just because this seems like the right format for that. So when I was a, when I was about four, I started dance, which is common, right? Little girls start dance around that age. I started with just tap because at the studio that I was taking at, tap was the first class you take because the teacher thought that like little kids do better with something that they can like, they can hear. Sure. Right? They can hear. It's not just about where do you put your body, but there's like sound involved. so I started with tap and at the same time I started like a basic gymnastics class and at the end of that year I told my mom I was like I want to do more dance like I want to do more dance and she's like well Megan you can't do more dance and gymnastics and I don't remember this conversation but from what I understand I basically told her screw that gymnastics business like I don't want

that take please take away for me I know where my heart is which is interesting with where my life ends up. So I took lots and lots of dance classes as a kid. And then I also got super involved in other performing arts. Started piano app for cello and trumpet in like fifth grade. I started playing the bagpipes in sixth grade. So like lots and lots of performing arts, all that, all that good stuff. Then fast forward a little bit to high school. And about that age, in dance, I was competing every weekend, you know, doing the whole competitive dancer life. And my teachers, not in so many words, made it clear to me, I would never dance professionally. And so I was like, cool, all right, that's fine. I'm going to go do other stuff. So I quit dance and went and did

theater and show choir and marching band and was in seven music ensembles at one point. And just like did everything in high school I could get my hands on that was performance-based. And I just got really lucky that my high school in Nebraska had a really wonderful theater department that's like nationally recognized and I got a really amazing education and all these little pieces of performing arts. Yeah. And then did, played trumpet all the way through college in marching band. And then I left college. And every, performance opportunity available to me just like went up and smoked because they're all tied to school yeah right and childhood and all of those things and so as an adult unless i was doing community

theater which i did a little bit of but there weren't a ton of opportunities where i was um and so i like for a hot second it was like maybe i'll teach zumba or i don't know like and i didn't really understand why I needed it so badly. And then when I moved to Kansas City, I had a coworker that knew I danced as a kid and had taken a couple of aerial classes and was like, oh my gosh, I think you would, I think you would really, really enjoy this thing. And I found it and fell in love immediately. And it went from, I always say it's one reasonable goal after another. I love that. Because it seems to other people that the fact that I became a circus artist at 32 is like completely crazy. But for me, it felt like, okay, I started, and then that's awesome. Maybe if I work

super hard, I might get to perform again someday. And for me, that was like at the student showcase at the studio, right? So I did that. And then I auditioned for our student company. And then I became an apprentice in our student company. And then I became a coach and a staff member. And then I became a professional member, and then I got the job as the director of education. So, like, and each one of those things at the time felt like reasonable next steps. So, like, yes, when you look at it, it looks crazy. But that's just how it went is, like, just one next reasonable goal after another. And it was the fall of 2019, I believe.

And I was doing a contract where I got to, like, be a fairy in the woods, basically. basically because my life is wild and I do very all sorts of odd things that's a bucket list a fairy in the woods is a bucket list item yeah getting paid to be a fairy in the woods is pretty wonderful and I remember being like this was what I was meant to do with my life this right here so I just kept pushing kept pushing kept fighting kept digging and diving and all the things until I made it happen I know so I've I've learned one serious lesson which is that we need to have better pre-interview inquiries. Okay?

I would have had a trumpet. I would have had a trumpet here tonight. Oh, Lord, I haven't played, oh, in so long. Besides, I go back once every few years for the alumni band at the University of Nebraska, and so I could probably play the fight song, and that would be the extent of what I still could play. We would, I believe that we would all love that. I should have, yeah.

Right. Yeah. Oh, that time. Oh, Lord. So, Mike, what do you think? about the aerialist journey. Oh, that's interesting stuff. I don't get to meet my aerialists, you know.

What all is entailed, if you don't mind me as soon? Sure, so in terms of what I, like my day to day, like work life, what that looks like, primarily my major part of my work life and my income comes from coaching. So I teach classes at Kansas City Aerial Arts, which is based in Leawood. And so I teach a plethora of classes everywhere from our beginning aerial classes, which is when someone comes in off the street, has never touched an apparatus before.

Some people have some sort of backgrounds like mine, dance gymnastics, things like that. But some people have literally like I, the question I always ask is what's your movement background? Because sometimes it's sports, sometimes it's whatever. Yeah. And sometimes I like that. I get nothing ever. I'm like, cool, we got you. and so I can I teach those students like how you know to understand their bodies how to start

doing the thing safely all the way up to some of our advanced classes so I do that in the evenings primarily during the week because that's when our clients are available sure and then I train myself normally in the afternoons before I teach most of the time and then depending on the season I'm performing all over the place like I have a big gig on Monday Mondays are not normal, but like, okay, whatever. A lot of Fridays and Saturdays, things like that. And my performances can be anything from immersive events, or I can do, we do a lot of corporate events as well,

especially in the holiday season. Sometimes we do what we call ambient, which is essentially I'm an ornament for an hour, which I love. I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be the

the I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm

I'm I'm I'm I'm and I'm I'm going to be. I'm going to be.

We're going to be able to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be the one of the I'm going to be the I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to

I'm going I'm I'm going to be a lot of I'm going to be. Sorry, it cut off on me. Sorry, it cut off on me. All right. Let's go back to the last question, please.

Well, so you just described that occasionally at corporate events, you are hired to be an ornament ostensibly. Yeah. I want to know, I want you to tell me what that is and how that works. So at those corporate parties, they like us to just be, normally during like a cocktail hour, you know, something like that, where people aren't necessarily going to sit down and stare at me for the amount of time that I'm in the air.

Right, like the stage. Yeah, or they need entertainment for two hours or something like that. Normally, there's myself and other aerialists that will take turns, normally about 10 minutes apiece, and we just sit and look pretty for 10 minutes. I love it. In film, we call that being an extra. I mean, but I like to be called an ornament, right? Because it's like sparkly and we're spinning.

It depends upon the event. sometimes those ambient sense I work a little harder to like pull out harder tricks. It kind of depends honestly on how much people are paying attention. Sure. If people are paying more attention, I work harder. Sure. If they're not, then I literally will just like sit there and smile and make pretty arms and like, be like, hmm, okay.

Well, that's fine. I mean, an ornament is in gorgeous. So you can look at me or not. It's fine. So an ornament is intended to kind of accentuate and to add. Yeah. So I love the idea of wanting to be an ornament. It's not for everybody and there's some aerialists that don't like that work, but I don't mind.

I don't mind looking pretty and getting paid. I wouldn't mind that either. It sounds, well, and just even just being, so it's all about like kind of like culture and space, right? And so I like the idea of having that human interaction and a big part of what I like. And again, in the way that we met, we met doing trying out or auditioning to participate in murder mystery dinners. and it's an emergent theater experience, so instead of being on a stage, we go out into the audience and we portray a character, and we get to bring the audience into this world of play. And as adults, we've kind of lost our sense of play in so many ways. And what you do is you bring people into that world of play.

And I just think that that's fantastic. I love it. Yeah, I love. Right? I love it. Right? Yes. Like, I'm proud of it was.

It's amazing. I talk to my students a lot because one of my favorite classes to teach is an act development class where my job is to help the students understand what making an ideal act looks like. Like what goes into that, choosing music, choosing the right skills, putting them in the right order, like all the things that go into making that act. I help kind of guide not only the process of doing it, but teaching them and giving them the tools to do it themselves. And something that we talk about a lot, or I like to remind them, is that your job is to be entertaining, right?

And I had an experience in a show a handful of years ago that was about a very, very heavy topic. And I am not against shows that are about heavy topics, but it was a learning experience for me because I love telling emotional stories. That is my bread and butter. I am extraordinarily good at making people cry. But I like doing it within the confines of an experience where someone gets to walk out feeling entertained. Example, I did a show this last fall about the Titanic. Most of the show was like fun and light and funny and like whatever. And then I portrayed water and death.

So I was the part of the show that made everyone sad. And then we finished it off with like fun and light and whatever, right? So like at the end of the day, I want to be a part of productions or shows. or interactive events or whatever, that people leave feeling entertained. Feeling something, right? I love that. Yeah, and I, it's not just about, like, you know, having,

like, that's a cool thing that I saw. But, like, I want them to leave feeling entertained, feeling happy, feeling something. You want to create an experience versus just a show. Yeah. You want them to leave with an experience. Yeah. Well, Mike, you can relate to having to orchestrate

a show and a production and music and we're doing it right now but yes I'm I'm a filmmaker so I know all that all that to the jazz and everything there's a lot of stuff that goes into you know pre-production making sure we have a script making sure we have the right people both acting and and on the crew and everything make sure we have the right locations, studio space, all that, all that good stuff, and then we actually get to shoot it, and then the fun starts with the post-production. Yeah, it's a, so I, as of six months ago, I think, started actually directing circus projects and being the director on some of these events that we're doing.

And, oh boy, is that a whole different bag of cats? When I got given my first project, my boss, he was telling me about this project. And for it to be the first one, it was kind of intense. It was a 12-minute halftime show for a lacrosse game in Canada on New Year's Eve. Wow. And the director that was supposed to do it couldn't do it last minute. I had three weeks to make that show. so I was sitting sitting in the office being like uh-huh uh-huh and I was like I think I can do this

yeah yeah I think I can do this and he looked at me and he said I have watched you do it on a smaller scale for years that's nice to ask people to see you that way I do it in the I do it in the I've built acts in shows I've built you know and so I said okay I And so now, that was a really big project. He also directed a project called Life Like Water at KU in the spring, which was about fully choreographed, conceptualized with the dancers from KU and our professional aerialists, which was about the way that we move through the world and are forced to move through the world and how that's mimicked and the way that water moves.

And that was a really lovely experience. and hopefully because it was a short show I was about 15 minutes and I'm hoping to actually eventually make that into a full length production that's the long-term project and then I just did a show with like 40 performers

that performed in front of 10,000 here in Kansas City like a couple of months ago so getting to take all of these things I already know and then add all of those other layers of like organizing everything and making sure everyone is where they need to be at the same time.

And watching that big show in front of 10,000 was wild because I was, I got to just, I stood in the sound booth and was just like seeing 10,000 children screaming and watching all of this happen in front of me. And it was unbelievable to like watch it come to life and like see the thing that was in my head to actually happen. Yes. Which was, like to see it come to fashion.

Yeah, it was amazing. It was mind blowing. but it's been a really fun way of taking the things I'm passionate about in performance and art and entertainment and just like take them to the next level and put them on my students and put them on my colleagues and like all that kind of stuff so yeah so that's been that's been the new project which has been super fun too good deal if somebody didn't know what an aerialist is how would you what if you were to paint a picture I say I'm a professional aerialist for a living and someone says I don't know what that means I say Cirque de Soleil, but in Kansas City, which is not, like, wrong. No, absolutely. Like, their area is a circuses-o-lay is a circus company, and actually is one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world.

And so they, but that's what people think of, right, is that they think of the aerialists and they're like, you fly around on the curtain things? And I'm like, those are called silks. Can I? I was going to ask, so what I was called? Can I? Yes. Not my primary apparatus, but I do perform on them sometimes. What's your primary apparatus?

The lira, which is essentially a steel ring. Okay. Mine is the, like about, it's a 34 inch diameter. And it's made of steel. You can have hollow, mine is hollow steel because I like the ways I can manipulate it. You can also have it sand filled or solid steel. And then it is attached in a myriad of ways to the ceiling. And then I hang on it and spin in it and do crazy things.

Nice. Yeah. So that's my primary apparatus. But I consider myself to be what we call in the industry a generalist, which means I can pretty much do something on every single apparatus that exists to some capacity. What was your first apparatus? The first one I touched was silks. but I didn't

Silks is the hardest at the beginning when you start you primarily start with the basic three which are silks, Lira and then trapeze which is exactly what you think it is it just doesn't swing most of the time and of those three silks is the hardest when you start because it requires the most knowledge and strength

to like do anything whereas with Lira because I started that almost immediately after and I was like wait I can just say on this and look pretty no I pick this one it makes sense though the well yeah because like a like a like a firm form getting to sit on it makes it extremely easier yes yes and once you get to advanced levels they're all just hard they're all just hard in their own way so there really isn't like a which one's the easiest but when you start yeah learning how to create your own leverage points on the silks

does I mean it just seems logistically like that yeah you have to be able to hold yourself up long enough for your while learning how to do things and not So is it scary being up high? Like you go up high, I imagine. Yeah, it depends on the person. Some people, it bothers more than others. We like to talk about learning low and slow. So most of the time when I'm training, my apparatus is only a couple feet off the ground.

We also use a lot of mats. Like our professionals use mats until we're ready to not have a mat anymore. I'm going to be performing next week in Union Station, probably at 30 feet, I think. Wow. um but i have done all these skills so many times like you you don't go that high until you know exactly what you're doing i could do it blindfolded and be fine um because i i perform on my own apparatus that's why i don't perform on other liras i know mine i know how much it weighs i know how big it is and so i know exactly how it's going to move around me um so we don't go super high

until we're really, really safe and ready to do that. Does that mean I don't still have some fear? No. Like for that Canada contract, that was the highest I'd ever been. And I did, I had one transition in that act that I had done hundreds of times, hands-free, and I self-spotted it every time until the actual show. Because I was just like, like a little, a little nervous than this. So yeah, there's still fear, but that's just part of the game.

And understanding, it's the same as like, you get butterflies when you walk out on stage right so there's always a little bit of fear and understanding how to not control that understand it to feel it but not let it control you and control your performance it's just part of the part of the game so this weekend you will be in union station 30 feet in the air on your lira okay and is this like an open to the public show no it's a corporate event okay yeah yeah well i know we were trying i know i know Oh, it's hard. It's really hard.

And it's hard for my friends and family, too, because, like, they, I don't actually have that many public shows. I can, I mean, it's very different. I'm like, I can relate to, but, like, with the American American theater, you know, like, my dear friends who are with us this evening have been like, when can I can see you? And I was like, well, I'm like, join the El Club. I don't know, like, it's in a movie.

Yeah. Yeah. So, well, that's, that's awesome. So you're, so you started out. with SILS briefly and then went into Lira and now you have your own Lira. Is it common for people to own their own apparatus? Most professionals do. Yeah.

Just because then you get to be really picky about what all the different pieces of that. I'm about to buy a piece of equipment that like is still kind of new in our industry, but is really going to work well for what I want and what I need and how I move. So really understanding like what you specifically want for your work, yes. It is extremely common these days for people who don't know what they're doing to buy equipment off the Internet and rig it from things they shouldn't be rigging it from. So if I can get on my soapbox for just a moment. Do I push it up? Do I wipe it off?

Yeah. So the reality is, is like, what I do for a living is extraordinarily dangerous. It sounds like it. And understanding that danger is a part of what I do every single day. When I walk into work, I am taking people's lives into my hands. And I understand that every single time I clip a carabiner, which I do literally 100 times in an evening probably with all the different things that I have to change and move.

I'm taking people's lives into my hands, right? And I don't think that people who buy the equipment off the internet, internet and rig it for their eight-year-old in their backyard, like really fully understand the kind of risk that they're taking on for often their children, which makes me very anxious. And so when I students come to me and say, like, I want to buy my own equipment, what should I buy? I first ask why? Because most of the time it's because they want to get stronger.

And I'm like, cool, I got a whole bunch of ways. I can get you stronger. That is not being on your apparatus. Because the thing about rigging something is that to rig something safely in someone's home, we estimate that it costs at least three or four grand. You should hire a structural engineer to make sure that your structures are safe. You have to hire a professional rigor to come in and do the rigging safely. so it's not just screwing into the beam and the ceiling yeah exactly exactly so and you don't

you don't know what reputable companies are selling equipment and who is just like taking some steel they found and benting it in a circle and we say if you wouldn't hang a car from it don't hang a person from it huh so most of our equipment is rated about 2,000 pounds yeah that's that so my kids have like just a swing like that we I know this is a huge this is a perpetual thing because like as I as being the like the director of the school the safety is is a huge part of my job and I am very safety conscious as just a human being like I was the kid that was like I'm not going to do that That doesn't look safe.

It's a swing that is like, it's a decorative swing. It's not meant for, like, but my point, yeah, it's not, I'm like questioning it now too. People have been, like, sitting on swings rigged from trees for, what,

a thousand, 200 years. So, like, there is some level of that that is fine, but your kid is probably not going upside down. Yeah, no. And the swing isn't made of steel. No, it is, it is like a crocheted swing, and they're not allowed to swing.

And, like, if it's, if it's a, silk and they can learn how to climb it from YouTube, then that kid can get 20 feet in the air. Yeah. And what people don't know is that some trees lose their limbs like lizards lose their tails. So if there's too much potential damage, it will just drop. Drop. So not only are you falling, but you're going to have a tree limb drop on your head. I mean, yeah. So, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't have swings. Like, I am not that crazy.

No, I don't think you're crazy. I just, I just, I just, I just, untrue. top of that, like, if you're going to be training, Ariel, you should have a coach that knows what they're doing and a mat. Have you seen some pretty significant injuries? Um, I, yeah. Like, I, I mean, people in my industry die from rigging malfunctions. Our industry, we're not afraid of us failing. I'm not afraid of letting go. I am not afraid of me spring out. I am afraid of my equipment failing. That's how people die. Um, so having under understanding like how all of that stuff works super innately is a big part of my job and a part of like like I was at an event where someone else was rigging me and someone else was taking my rigging down

and I was underneath him like that and I was like excuse me and he's like oh I can take it down and I was like he's like you don't need to be here and I was like no my life is in the hands of that piece of equipment I'm going to stand right here thank you very much um so yeah so that's just like I know, I don't, I feel like I like brought the like vibe of the home down, but that is, I mean, there's a, there's a professional rigor named Brett Copes who is pretty well respected in our industry and he said if you don't want to fall, don't get in the air. So it's not really an if it's a win. Yeah. And so it's our job as professionals to mitigate that risk for ourselves as much as we can. And then as coaches and instructors to mitigate that risk for our students as much as they can or as we can. And doing the activity without a coach. means you're not going to learn things correctly and you take your chances of getting injured from doing things incorrectly and just skyrocket. So please, please find a coach. Come take class. Right. That's what I always say. I think it's important to have the full spectrum of all conversations. So we can never be afraid of having those difficult conversations. So we didn't

change the vibe. We were just having an honest, authentic conversation about the risk associated with this phenomenal sport. Yeah. It's like they sit in the old teenage mid-nitch turtles, a cartoon. kids we're professionals don't try this at home right yeah for real though for real though the references spot on exactly yeah so in the in the realm of kansas city you are also you said you are a part of the kansas city the circus uh the yeah so i um i primarily work for kansas city aerial arts that's kind of my home base um where i i work as a professional performer and as a coach. And then I also work for like a handful of other companies here in Kansas City. So yes, I work for American Emergence Theater, which you and I work for. So that's like one little

piece of my pie. I also work for Quixotic sometimes when they have large scale events. And then I also work for the Kansas City Burlesque Downtown Underground. I'm a member of their company as well. So I work for them a client event. So Burlesque, two names I want to ask about Let's see if you know them. Bob Dorian. Mm-mm. Yeah. Unfortunately, he passed away

quite a couple, probably a couple of years ago, but he was pretty big in the burlesque community. Diamond Dan, I think his burlese name was, but really goofy individual. Mm-hmm.

So that's the first name. Jamie Lynn or Jamie Pratt. That name. sounds extraordinarily familiar, but I'm not putting a face to it. Okay, she did a film project with me, and she also happens to be a well-respected local burlesque dancer. Yeah, the burlesque scene in Kansas City is a lot bigger, I think, than people actually realize. It's fun. There's a lot of relest happening in Kansas City. It's awesome. There should be more. We should talk about it more.

Well, I agree with you. Yeah. It's fantastic. I absolutely love it. So I, about time goes by really fast, because it was probably about 12 years ago now, I met a very, very dear friend of mine, Nikki, and she had, she owned Vixen Pinup Photography. And through that venture, kind of had this, this just beautiful window opened up because the other women that went to Vixen for photo shoots were oftentimes women in this part of Kansas City scene, this part of the industry and performance art. And so I got to meet and hear a number of these women and then kind of just like I'm performing here on Saturday.

It was not a private show, so I was able to get tickets and go. And it's very neat as a woman. I think being able to self-empowered in how we're able to show up and represent ourselves and embody ourselves. And having like positive spaces around those conversations is such a neat thing. And the burlese scene here really seems to embody that. And I love it. One of my favorite quotes about burlesque that I have ever found that I really identify with

is burlesque is falling in love with yourself in front of others. And I, yeah, it like gives me chills, because that's like, it really is so much about my experience with burlesque, and I think a lot of my colleagues' experiences with it as well is that it's like it's about how much I, how good I feel in my own skin and then letting other people experience. that. And it's been really interesting being a coach and having like minors that follow my Instagram. I do have like multiple accounts and things kind of separated and my burlese stuff has pushed a lot more towards my stage name and things like that. However, I think that it is important because I spend my, a lot of my life with a bunch of teenage girls. And I love it.

I love my teenagers with my whole heart. Like I, once they turn 12, I'm like, yes, please come hang out with me. But I think that having positive role models in their lives that they trust and that they look up to and that are living life to the fullest in their true selves is really important to me. I feel like we should snaps to that or we should clap to that or we should do all of the things. I completely agree. And this came out of actually a conversation years ago. I was in a show where I was, so I'm bisexual, I have known since my early 20s, I came out in 2020.

So I have known for an extraordinarily long time, but just wasn't out. And prior to 2020, I was in a show where I was cast in a queer role. And so I interviewed a colleague of mine who was openly queer, because I wanted to talk to her about her experience coming out specifically. like what that experience was like, so I felt like I could portray it well. And as a part of that conversation, I came out to her, and she told me, Megan, I don't want you to do something you're not ready for. However, the teenagers around you would benefit from seeing you living your life truthfully. And I wasn't ready yet at that moment, but it never left my brain. And that's really the biggest push of why I came out and has been a big push on why I live my life.

the way that I do because I want those teenagers to see me making the choices that I make so that I'm making the most truthful and authentic choices that I can so that as they grow and change, I have gotten to like, I actually got a letter from one of my students who just turned 18 who is like watching, watching you has impacted my life in these ways, which like just was like, it was just like, okay, yes, yes, I'm doing the right thing, I'm on the right path, I'm doing the things I'm supposed to be doing and like it's so yes I don't hide from my students that I do burlesque because I think that it's important that they see that this is an option it's not the only option it's not even the best option it's just like a way that a woman can move through

the world and be happy and make money doing it and like all of those things and so so yeah so that's like been an interesting experience I am a mother of teenage girls and a pre-teenage girl. And this evening in our audience, we have I told you that my tribe was coming tonight, my besties. And I know, we're out of the bars for the ongoing support, but we have collectively been raising children and teenagers our oldest or like one or two years graduated all the way down to still coming out of elementary. And I also substitute teach. And I am one, so thankful that we are recording this and that we have the opportunity to continue to share that message because you are spot on.

Being able to connect one, like, we're all in the business of people. I don't really doesn't matter what business you're in. Ultimately, none of this would exist if it weren't for the other humans. They're like living in the world. It seems very elementary when you kind of think about it. But for young people to be able to see and interact with real life versions, especially as women, and I don't, I have three daughters, so my world is very women-centric.

But especially as women, being able to kind of change that narrative that women aren't safe with each other. and it's actually quite the contrary. You know, not everybody's your friend. I'm sure that's true, but there's a lot of really powerful things that can happen in safe spaces. And when grown women are able to set that example, young women around us are able to emulate it safely. You know, and it's not a matter of, you know, everybody's your best friend all the time. It's being able to have those difficult conversations without voting people off the island,

being able to address those difficult topics and being able to be open, like you said, about yourself and your struggles, because that becomes the connection piece. That's the part that's like, oh, I'm a human, you're a human. Like, these are experiences that we share. I'm not alone, and you're not going to shame me for... Yeah, and, like, I'm extraordinarily close with some of our students because I've had them for years. I've had some of these kids since they're, like, eight or nine, right?

I've literally watched them grow up. And I work pretty hard that, like, when I'm going through life stuff, that I don't totally keep it to myself. and I find healthy ways of expressing, like I had a student find me in the coat closet or the costume closet in tears once. And I'm okay with that. I am okay with them seeing me have a hard day

or go through a tough life thing or be in an experience where I get to then teach them, this is how we do that thing. This is how we move through the world. This is how we function and do the right thing. thing and all those things. And I don't plan on having my own children because I feel like I get to positively impact so many people.

And some of my students are like in their 60s. So it's not just teenage girls. It's a lot of teenage girls. But it's not just teenage girls. And I feel like I have so many students that I have seen come through our doors and leave, even if they don't, you know, not everyone's going to become a professional area list or even do it more than a year. But like getting to come in and understand their body better and understand themselves in space better and believe in themselves more.

My favorite thing about my job as a coach is teaching people their own capacity. I love that. Often their own capacity for creativity because I like early in the process getting, I have this game that I like to play called Where Can We Go from Here? and I will put students in a shape and then I will tell them to try and figure out where to go from there and early in the process they have no idea they don't know what they're doing

they don't know what the other options are and I tell them this process is frustrating plan on being frustrated for the next 20 minutes that if you're frustrated welcome to doing this professionally because some days I come to the studio and spend two hours and find nothing

so that's just how this works so I let them be frustrated and then I say have you tried everything great you haven't keep trying and then after about a half an hour of them being frustrated I will show them where they were headed

they just didn't know as a destination yet and I love it because I get to show them you don't know everything however you're smart and you're creative and you have the capacity to figure this out on your own you just don't have all the tools yet

and so I get to start teaching that so early in the process that I get to like show other people adults that get that don't get to play that don't get surprised by themselves they get surprised by themselves they get surprised that they like like I can't do it I'm like no no go back go back to where you were and then do this like move this arm here oh my god look at look at how pretty that is you know and so I get to I get to help other people find their own capacity for creativity and greatness and like that that's my favorite part about my job it's I I bring, because our shared experience, of course, is the emergent theater.

And the most fun part is you go out into the audience and varying levels of interest in the game or even awareness of the game in different settings. And you just, you start playing and you keep playing. And you start to see people like open up and they start to engage. And they're like, oh, this is fun. Another, it's, we're all doing this. Like, okay, you know. And by the end of it, you see people in this version of themselves,

that is like turned on, right? Well, I think we need, I know this podcast is not about you, but I think we need to talk a little bit about your experience and why you auditioned for American immersion to begin with. Because you were at a show. I did. And you had this experience and then turned around and audition for the thing, right? That is true.

I mean, and that's a short story, Mike, I know where I'm going to the short story is, yes, it was my dad's birthday, and there was a murder mystery dinner, and it's the right people is always key and the hosts of the story were amazing including Miss Ivy who's just an incredible persona person and persona both but we're there and they gave me a hat and they gave me a folder and they're like okay here you are and and it was a blast we had so much fun I did not even guess the murderer and I still had so much fun in the entire process that by the end of it I saw the audition and was like I do I want to go do that so you're absolutely right like it i found the i found that joy in something that is play you know

these are things that if we were to look at with our oftentimes far too critical minds of you know what is the productivity here what is the value what are you getting from this i'm getting a human experience from this and by golly i'm a human and it turns out that's what i'm supposed to do so yeah cheers to that absolutely so um yeah i love it and i love getting to share space with just fellow people that like to play yeah yeah and my I mean my play honestly is I do ceramics and I don't how much time do we have I no no no here's the thing here's my rule about ceramics is that I refuse to sell it okay I will give it away if you come in my house you're taking a piece of pottery home I have too much of it but I it is

the one the one piece of art no one pays for and if If it falls apart, I don't care. I love it. It was a gift, yeah. So that's my play now is that. So even finding, even in a job where my job is to put on fairy wings, or one time I crawled across the floor at a wedding, at a satanic wedding. Okay.

It was a whole, I am telling you my, the things, it's been a weird life. Yeah. I wear weird costumes. I wear my, I just have glitter and rindexam. stones everywhere half of i have a walk-in closet and half of it is clothes and half of it is costumes like that is my life what's your favorite costume oh oh that's really tough um i actually okay the one that i'm wearing on monday i bought and have never worn okay but i am extraordinarily excited about it because it fits me really, really well,

and it's black and red and, like, kind of wavy sequins. And I think it's going to be a favorite, for sure. Black and red is, like, one of my favorite colors. I have another red one that's, like, red and super sparkly, that I rhinestone to my hands that is another favorite. I wear that one a lot. What do you think, Mike? You got any?

So, I saw the graphic that you made to advertising. Fire spinning? Yeah, I also do fire. Yeah, fire is one of the skills. When you work in a circus, you just pick up skills. I also can still walk. I don't like it, but I can do it. And so, yeah, I work with fire.

And that's actually been a thing I've been doing a lot of recently. I like to call it dancing with fire instead of like focusing on the fire spinning. necessarily because that's just my background and my skill set and the way that i like to entertain i just like to use the fire as kind of an added element on the things i'm already doing um but yeah so fire's fire's pretty fun nice and once again do not try this at home yeah yes yeah yep yeah another thing i mean everything like all of the things even including fire i learned from another professional um so i you know this is not a thing that i picked up in my backyard either good deal well do we have any questions from the audience yeah you guys have any questions

i see a hand over there what do the different rings and fillings for your apparatuses do for your performance um so the different sizes are really having to do with how big your body is and personal preference um so a general rule of thumb is that you should sit inside your lera sit up tall put fist on your head that's where the Lira should hit. I prefer mine to be a little bit smaller, and so mine is only about an inch above my head when I set up tall. So that's mostly just personal preference, and there are certain skills if you are more flexible

that you can get away with in a smaller hoop, but if you are less flexible, you might need a bigger hoop to be able to accommodate those things. And then in terms of fillings, it's kind of two things. One, spinning. So we spin really, really fast. and if it's weighted, either because it's solid or filled with sand,

the spin will maintain longer because of physics. So if you like to spin, you like to spin fast, or because of what you do you don't like having to come down and re-spin, then that works well for you. It also makes your spin more consistent because it keeps everything more centralized. The flip side of that is that it's heavy and isn't easy to manipulate. And so a hollow hoop, which is my preference, if it's like this, and then my top fingers is where it's rigged, I can pull on one side and tip it.

And so artistically, I like being able to manipulate it in different ways, which doesn't really work with a solid hoop. So those are kind of the pluses and minuses. Good deal. Any other questions? Yeah. It doesn't sound like we can see your show. during the Fringe festival? We don't have a Fringe show this year.

Yeah, we, Ken City Aerial Arts has done shows in the past. We don't happen to have one this year. Do you recommend any of the others? You know what? I haven't sat down to look and see what. There's normally a handful. There's at least a couple that come through. And I normally try and figure out how I can at least go see all of them

because I like to support, you know, the other ones. But I haven't seen, I mean, we just started Fringe, so I haven't seen any of them yet, so I don't have any good wrecks yet. All right. Any other questions? If you have a question, speak it out loud. Speak now.

Right on. Mike, do you add any more questions? Oh, yeah. Mike, I said Mike. How are we into burlesque beyond just auditioning for something like that? Like, where are there stepping stones to get into that if you were interested in terms of like drag performances or like triumphs? Like what does getting into the burlesque world look like? So it kind of depends.

My path was there's, with Kansas City Burlesque Downtown Underground, they have a festival every spring that has an audition involved. And so I created an act that I felt was appropriate for their show and then auditioned for that show last year. After the show, the director and I sat down and had a call. conversation and then she decided to accept me into their company as a specialty performer. So that's how my path getting into the burlesque company kind of worked. As a general rule in burlesque, you spend time being a kitten before you are a burlesque performer. What being a kitten

is, if you've never seen a burlesque show, is that you are responsible for coming out on stage and picking up all of the clothes that have been removed during the acts. It also is a really good opportunity to work on stage presence, to work on improv. Like I'm kitten for some of the shows that I'm not in, because I just think it's fun, and I like hang out with the girls, and I like doing the thing. So, um, so you come and be a kitten for a couple of years, kind of, it's kind of an understudy, you know, apprentice kind of moment. And our kittens are often kind of stage managers, too. So they often are setting props and making sure everything's going well backstage and things like that as well. So that's pretty, pretty common. And I don't know other companies.

I know other companies, there's a company out of St. Louis called the Boom Boom Room that does auditions every September, August, something like that. So it kind of depends upon the company, but most companies you're going to end up being a kitten for at least a little while before you get to be a full-fledged performer. That's just kind of how the industry works. Nice. it's so I just want to point out that the cats what it was the the cat's bag the cats in the bag

I don't remember what I said and I was going to write it down and then I didn't he said that's a lot of cats in the bag and then now you get to be a kitten to start out I'm liking the tones of this yeah it's a fun and playful place yes yeah yes I like it I like it a lot

for last underground that you're involved in do they have public shows We do. We have a public show at The Bird every other month. Our next show is August 3rd, and it's actually Heroes and Villains. So I'm doing a Star Wars act and a Marvel act, actually. So those are going to be super fun. I do a hero or villain? So we each have to do two acts, and we have to have one hero, one villain for this show.

And so I'm going to do Ray for Star Wars. And then, and I actually made a costume, a replica costume, last year, and then got sick before a hero's and felon show. So our director texted me, and she's like, I'm giving you first dibs for this show since you couldn't be in it last year. And then I am going to be kind of deep cut, but Agatha. Yeah. It was Agatha all along. And I'm performing to Agatha all along. I love it.

And I'm doing a chair act for that. So, yeah. So that's my hero and my villain. And then we do the bird every other month. And then we've been trying to kind of test a couple additional venues in town to see if in the opposing months that we can kind of, we're filling that out with some other stuff. So if you're ever interested, it's I believe, Kansas City burlesque.com or Caseyberlest.com or something like that is the website. And all of our shows coming up are going to be available there. And you can check us out on Instagram and all that, all that fun stuff too.

So we have at least one-ish monthly show with Casey Burles, downtown underground. All right. Well, we only have a couple minutes left. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Thank you. And thank you very much.

And thank you very much. This has been awesome, except for one technical glitch. That's right. It's the first night, at least one to be expected. It's the first night. We'll figure it out. And, yeah, we're back at it tomorrow, 7.30. We've got different guests coming up, and we are looking forward to it. So I want to thank Megan.

Yeah, thank you, thank you very much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you guys all. Good evening. Have a good night. Have a good night. Good night. It was fun.

That was fantastic. This podcast is Unpalled for is hosted, produced and edited by Mike Cherneftsky. Opening music for our Casey Fringe program is welcome to fringe, courtesy of suno.com. Outroom music for our KC French program is Fantasia, Fantasia by Kevin McLeod at Incompetig.com, licensed under Creative Commons by attribution 4.0 license. If you are in the United States or Canada, you can call us at 816-832-5-1-60. Leave your message or question for us, and if we like it, we will play it on the podcast. Please support the podcast and purchase our exclusive uncalled for merchandise, t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, stickers, and so much more.

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