Its been a while since I wrote something on here. I will admit that I have been a little disheartened and overly busy. I actually took the decision a while a go to post throwbacks on my social media more than sharing current to remind myself the hard work I have put in to get where I am. I am performing anywhere up to 4 times a week. Not every week but a lot more than not. Performing is working. Working is performing and that is where the burlesque community in some areas need to recognise. Burlesque can be substituted for any other job. However unlike so many jobs, burlesque seems to be a little slap/dash with its conduct and business practise. It is how you tackle it. It is not personal. It is business. The personal is your creative journey, your reasons for doing it. It is not how you go about being a burlesque performer.
Seek And You Will Find
People will screw you over. They will. Why? Because they can. They are utter idiots if they do BUT IT HAPPENS. You dont bother with contracts as its too awkward, no idea how to do them or cant be arsed? Then proportion some blame on yourself when someone does not pay. I wish the world was full of lovely people but it isnt. Some people are muppets. When someone sticks you in a urine covered toilet to change and punters are coming in, are you happy with that? A contract if drafted correctly and executed can be legally binding and work towards stopping that. Your employer fails on their part, then you can go get them. Dont know how to do a contract, Google it. Hell Bing it if you wanna play mad cap with the search results. Equity give legal contracts for performers away. You can seek it out yourself. Take control and ‘#BossBitch’ the situation. Harsh but you got to harden up, get your business in order before you let people hire you. If you want to be taken seriously, then you do it seriously. The world isnt a Facebook status demand for the info, it is about you getting it. You can get help from some truly amazing groups but rather than rely entirely (we all ask for help time to time) be strong in yourself and knowledge over what is acceptable. Ask in those groups after for additional help. It shows your passion, your professionalism more. You will get less speculative help and more direct help. Less people guessing. Less misinformation.
My inbox is filling up daily with people wanting help. Help I readily and easily provide but sometimes it is the same question and people would rather ask than seek themselves the knowledge. Some who would rather wait for me to reply sometimes days later. SOME do search and some dont. Its hard to know which is it but if someone asks me where to obtain a contract for burlesque…its right there at the top of the internet searches.
I could go on about back in my day we had to do it alone. HOWEVER thanks to amazing people doing work like Red Sarah with Equity and Diva with the Facebook group, it is so much easier to find out things in burlesque but for most of us, we did it with books, contacting authorities, reading up and learning. I readily help out, so many of us do but to truly be a professional burlesque performer I strongly suggest people go for it and seek info out, ingrain it in their own heads, so when someone abuses their rights, their terms and conditions they KNOW its wrong. Pass on that knowledge and pool it. However if you know your knowledge, your terms, your working rights no one can challenge them. Zero tolerance. You wont be sat waiting for someone to comment on your status. A reply to that message that might take two days.
It takes time, dedication and passion. Much like performing. Perform your business!
Dont take it personally. Make it business.
