Burlycon Wrap Up

Or should I say Rap-up. 

Just kidding, Liz Lemon fans. 

But in all seriousness, this was the first Burlycon I ever really attended (by which I mean a few years back I slipped in for a single class). Part of that is because I'm a poor, starving artist and part of it is that the local burlesque community flat out intimidates me. 

So while I skipped out on the social-heavy activities such as dances and meet ups, I got the most out of my experience by throwing myself into dance classes, workshops, and other panels that I thought would help me grow as a performer and producer.  As far as baby steps go, these were some pretty big leaps. 

The mix of having a day job, classes being done by 6pm, and only activities afterwards being those awkward warzones of dances and meetups meant that I only attended Saturday and Sunday, but I got there bright and early (read: at noon) to attend a panel on what I thought would be movement and storytelling but turned out to be on communication and delivering effective critique. This panel was fantastic not only because it helped me work through an issue I've been having with one of my performers, but I think it gave me some good communication skills and questions to ask myself about conflicts in all aspects of my life. 

Neither of the 'Producing Events' panels taught me anything really new, but they were incredibly inspiring and a kick in the butt to do things that I know about and should be doing but never make the time for. As I was taking notes on what they were saying, I was also taking notes on how to specifically improve the Cabaret of Evil. Much to the dismay of my stage dragon during our production meeting on Sunday, who is probably feeling overwhelmed and maybe I should bring someone else on to help with the production duties now that I think about it. 

But I digress. Know what really kicked my ass and made the whole con worthwhile? The thing that I was really looking forward to above all else? The motherfucking dance workshops. They kicked my ass, they got me moving, they taught me new tricks that I'm already going to incorporate into my performances and some that I'm going to have to practice for an hour a week for the next few months before I feel comfortable even attempting to incorporate into my numbers. My neck is still stiff from doing shoulder stands on a chair (TOTALLY WORTH IT).  

I'm glad that I went. I learned a lot both in physical movement and in behind the scenes work. It was worth the money I spent, although next year I'm going to try  to get in on membership early and maybe take the Thursday/Friday off work so I can cram in more classes. Maybe I'll even try to attend some of the *gasp* social functions. But for now, I'm happy with my baby steps. I grew a bit this weekend, and hopefully that will reflect in future performances. <3