Frankie Tease sat down with burlesque dancer and pin-up model in Seattle and Portland: Lucky Lucy O Rebel. The talk includes the Red Sox, burelsque, how to be cheeky, and why she loves burlesque so much.
FRANKIE How long have you been performing burlesque?LUCYAlmost five years now.FRANKIEDid you get your start in Seattle, Wa?LUCYYes, I started about six years ago as pin-up girl and I graduated to being a burlesque performer.FRANKIEHow does what you do in pin-up become usable in burlesque?LUCYThat cheeky cheese cake factor, where you make light of everything, no matter how serious, you're trying to make people laugh and have a good time.FRANKIEWhat does burlesque dancing allow you to do and express that pin-up modeling does not?LUCYIt allows you to carry over. In pin-up modeling you have to get everything in one shot, you have to get that expression with every part of you with one shot. In burelsque I can take a few seconds to go through a series of shock, and then pleasure or whatever the connection may be.FRANKIEYou have been complimented many times in shows we've been in together for really selling the mood that you are trying to convey. What are you drawing from, to help us go on this journey as an audience of the story that you are trying to tell? Where are you getting those hilarious faces?LUCYAs a small person, I've always exaggerated things a lot.FRANKIEHow tall are you?LUCY4' 11" 1/2. Do not forget the half. I feel I have to over exaggerate my movements even in my daily life as a waitress.FRANKIESo you found a home for that in burlesque. How long ago did you move to Portland?LUCYAbout three years ago so 2008, almost three years.FRANKIEThere is news that you might move back to Seattle.LUCYEventually, yes.FRANKIEHow do you find performing for Seattle audiences different then Portland audiences?LUCYI think it's been around in Seattle a little bit longer, so the audiences in Seattle kind of know what to expect and what they're going for. You can't drink booze at a strip club in Seattle, so they are going for that original draw, and that original draw doesn't pull them in here in Portland.FRANKIEI think what you're referring to is the quantity of strip clubs in Portland which have no cover and do serve alcohol.That makes nudity in clubs much more accessible than it would be in Seattle, even if it's just toplessness. There are only a couple of strip clubs in Seattle right?LUCYYes. And you can't drink alcohol in Seattle strip clubs, so that's what draws them in, but what keeps them there is the entertainment at a Seattle burlesque show, like here in Portland.FRANKIESo what we have in Seattle in Portland as far as the market, is completely reversed. Nudity is a draw in Seattle and really here in Portland nudity is not the main draw for a burlesque show, the entertainment is.'CONT.So tell me, what is one of the funniest or funnest moments come to mind while you have been performing burlesque in the last five years? I know you've at least performed once a month in five years.LUCYYes and I used to perform weekly. I guess the funniest is when you rip off your bra and the pastie pops off, then you have to cleverly find a way to cover one half of you while finishing the routine, and still expose the other pastie. Any interaction with the audience that altars your performance in some way, those are definitely are funny.FRANKIEWhat or who is your inspiration for getting into burlesque?LUCYGinger Rogers, Sally Rand, Tempest Storm, Betty Grable and her cheeky pin-upy kind of very clean but very dirty style.FRANKIEYou have done car shows and pin-up events. Do you plan to do more of that?LUCYI just love looking at the hot rods. Any opportunity I can take do those events where the people and places are right, I will.FRANKIESo what are some of your goals or things you choose to express on stage as a burlesque dancer, and what are some of your goals for the future?LUCYI like to make light of everything and anything I can on stage and I like people to make light of anything they can. My goals for the future are to keep doing what I am doing, I really enjoy it, and to travel wherever I can and perform. If I can catch a Red Sox game while traveling even better!FRANKIETell us how you have mixed burlesque and your love of the Red Sox.LUCYIt was just an easy combination with me being such a red sox finatic, and all the songs that are associated with them. It's a fun and cheeky way to get amped before an upcoming season.FRANKIEThe Red Sox fan gone wild is a hilarious act, where you are a crazed Sox fan, and you peel away one uniform after another. I notice you change up that act with slightly different costumes and music. Is that a routine that will be sticking around?LUCYYes. There will definitely always be different twists to it. The Sox change-up their team every year, so I'll change up certain things that happen in the game to add to it.FRANKIETell us about your connection to Jacqueline Hyde in Seattle, the only performer to be invited to the Milan Burlesque Awards.LUCYShe is an amazing burlesque performer, she's an amazing performer period. She actually was my mentor, she choreographed my first routine, and taught me many ballroom steps over the years, and I progressed in ballroom. She helped me connect pieces of dance that I already had to give me something more in my routine than walking around and taking off my clothes.FRANKIEI've seen that because your steps are to the music, and timed with mood changes that take place in the song, and it does add more, specific choreography is a beautiful thing. And yes, Jacqueline Hyde is a very inspirational talent.LUCYShe helps you bring the charisma to the stage to give the audience the energy that you have.FRANKIEWhat advice do you have for continuing burlesque dancers that are not new, and for the new who are just getting into this.LUCYKeep a passion for what you do, and try to portray it in your act.FRANKIEAnything else you want to add?LUCY2011 World Series GO SOX!
