Professional Burlesque Dancer, Emma Vauxdevil, shares how her love on magic ultimately turned into her glamorous career. Emma shares the behind the scenes of her entertaining job.
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00:00 This is absolutely a character.
00:01 I mean, like, look at me.
00:02 Like, it's kind of like a superhero suit.
00:07 Hi, I'm Emma Vaudeville.
00:12 I'm a burlesque dancer, sword swallower,
00:15 fire eater, showgirl.
00:17 I'm known as the devil herself,
00:18 six feet of sparkling sin,
00:20 and I'm here to talk about the business of burlesque.
00:22 As a child, I always wanted to be a magician's assistant
00:26 because back in the day, they were like the showgirls
00:29 and they were glamorous and beautiful,
00:31 and I was always more of like
00:33 creatively expressive visually,
00:36 and so I went towards those avenues.
00:39 I started as a go-go dancer.
00:42 My friend was actually very supportive in that.
00:44 Like, he got me the audition,
00:45 and it created this snowball effect to where I am now,
00:48 and I was on Tumblr a lot,
00:51 and I was just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling,
00:53 and I discovered like fire performance and hoop dance
00:57 and burlesque and pinup and showgirls even more so,
01:01 and I was like, I'm doing that.
01:02 Like, that's what I'm made for.
01:04 My first burlesque gigs started more in club scenes,
01:12 and they weren't as polished as like a performance on stage.
01:16 Like, where you go to a theater and you see it open
01:18 and the girl goes on.
01:20 It was a little bit of a hybrid
01:22 of like my go-going and my burlesque,
01:25 and so that lasted about a year,
01:27 and then I found my first theater troupe that I worked with
01:30 and I joined with them, did an audition,
01:33 and it was so, so awkward
01:36 because there was like three people in the room
01:37 and one wasn't even looking at me,
01:40 and like, I don't know, I got on.
01:42 It was great.
01:43 It was really where I learned what an act was,
01:47 what an act required,
01:49 and so I really grew into Emma Vaudeville
01:53 being at that place.
01:55 I don't know what kind of personality you would need
01:58 because anyone can really get up there and fake it.
02:01 Me, out of makeup, like not Emma Vaudeville,
02:05 just normal Emma.
02:08 I'm not like the most poppy, bubbly, friendly.
02:13 Like, I'm kind of shy, kind of like reserved.
02:16 Yeah, I think most of us are introverts,
02:18 but we put on this like character
02:20 and like, this is absolutely a character.
02:22 I mean, like, look at me.
02:23 Like, it's kind of like a superhero suit.
02:28 I'm banking it off of this character,
02:30 and I'm like, she doesn't give a shit
02:32 like what people, you know, like whatever.
02:34 If you can find a character that you're playing,
02:37 I think that's a big help if you don't feel brave enough.
02:39 I've always kind of been like more adrenaline focused,
02:44 and I like doing things that excite me,
02:46 and I like intensity and stuff like that, so Scorpio.
02:51 But I think that might have something to do with it,
02:54 because like, I do my sword swallowing and fire,
02:57 and I always want to do like the next stunt,
02:59 like the next thing.
03:00 I mean, I'm not like a stunt performer per se,
03:03 but you know, at least in my own realm,
03:05 like as much stunty as I can get.
03:07 But yeah, I don't, I think that just like
03:12 having a character that you're putting it all on,
03:15 you're building this character.
03:17 I think that really is like the magic to it.
03:20 My sword swallowing, I was already performing for a bit.
03:24 I was doing the fire, I was doing burlesque,
03:26 and I was kind of bored, and I'm always like edgy with it.
03:31 I want to like, what's the next thing I can do?
03:34 Like what can I add more for like some more spice?
03:37 [crowd cheering]
03:39 I knew about it, and I found another sword swallower
03:42 to teach me, and then I learned it pretty much immediately.
03:46 It was awful.
03:48 I pulled it out, and I was like, no, no, no.
03:52 And then I didn't like take a moment to practice it really.
03:55 I just immediately put it on a stage basically.
03:58 I had like little tiny swords.
03:59 Well, they weren't, they were like that big.
04:01 But I started with that, and like when you're,
04:04 it's not the safe route to do it by any means,
04:07 because adrenaline's going, but you're, I don't know.
04:09 I feel relaxed, and my adrenaline's like pumping.
04:12 Like I'm just, everything's calm, I can do anything,
04:14 whatever, I'm composed.
04:17 Maybe that's not the normal thing that happens
04:20 when adrenaline's going, but for me,
04:22 I have a flambourge one.
04:25 It's not like a traditional flambourge like weapon.
04:27 It was made for me, but it's a wavy one.
04:31 It's really cool, 'cause it makes my throat go like this
04:33 if you look up real close, especially when I like
04:35 pull it out, like, ah.
04:36 [laughs]
04:38 To build an act, I have like a concept,
04:40 or a gimmick, or a song.
04:44 I'm very visual, like I think very much in pictures,
04:47 and it just, like I can have an act like immediately
04:50 in my head, and it's phenomenal.
04:52 It feels like, ah.
04:53 [upbeat jazz music]
04:57 From there, like I go from costume design.
05:02 I work with a designer to get like the bases
05:05 of my costumes made.
05:07 Either like I'll have the design drawn out myself,
05:11 or I'll give them like a guideline, a baseline
05:14 to work with, or I just go like the underset route,
05:18 which is like corset, bra, panty,
05:19 and then I'll find pieces that are already made.
05:22 My corsets I have custom made each time.
05:24 I have an amazing corset maker that I've been working with,
05:27 but I do that, and then I do all my own rhinestoning.
05:30 I think very few things I have are not rhinestoned by me.
05:35 Like the jewelry I did not is different,
05:36 but like this, this is, I mean this isn't that rhinestoned
05:39 compared to some of my other things, I'll tell you.
05:42 Like I like to go to town.
05:44 That's like all I do.
05:45 [laughs]
05:46 I think what makes a memorable and captivating
05:49 burlesque performance is like really having
05:52 that connection with your audience.
05:54 Like having some kind of moments of like breaking
05:57 that fourth wall, because there's no fourth wall
06:00 when there's a live performance like that.
06:01 Like you have full flexibility to like have this moment
06:06 where the whole room, their attention's on you.
06:09 That's your moment to like do whatever you want
06:12 and express whatever you want,
06:13 and I think that's super important to like remember.
06:17 Like don't take it so seriously.
06:19 You gotta remember you're entertaining people.
06:21 [audience laughs]
06:22 The people that like love what I do
06:24 and they show their appreciation,
06:25 that is so special because I love what I do.
06:28 I'm doing it because I am so in love with it.
06:31 It encapsulates like my whole life,
06:33 and for them to also feel that way at times too,
06:37 like that little moment is so special.
06:40 That's phenomenal.
06:41 And then of course like getting a standing ovation
06:43 after performing too is like really cool.
06:46 Like it's such a cool feeling.
06:48 There definitely are the challenges.
06:50 I think like, I think the most prominent one
06:54 is the rates that we get.
06:56 This job is not like you're not gonna be making money
07:00 at least from like your first couple of few years
07:03 here and there, yeah.
07:05 But it's a very expensive job to have,
07:07 especially like if you're putting so much into it
07:10 and you're not working a lot of other jobs.
07:13 The costume's super expensive.
07:17 If you wanna do traveling gigs
07:18 and they're not covering you for that,
07:20 you have to pay for your travel,
07:21 your hotel, your food on the road.
07:23 A lot of times your food on the road,
07:25 also even if they're covering your flights,
07:26 they're not covering all that.
07:28 Sometimes you get lucky and you'll have your Ubers
07:30 and your flights and your hotel covered, but very rarely.
07:34 The way that we're paid is not realistic
07:37 to assume that that could cover living a life.
07:41 So there's that.
07:42 You might, I mean I have my other sources of income
07:45 that I do on the side to like help buffer
07:48 like the costume problem that I have
07:51 but I can't stop getting them.
07:53 As much as like burlesque is inclusive
07:58 and is all body inclusive, all gender inclusive,
08:02 all race inclusive, there still are downfalls
08:05 and aspects of that in different communities of it.
08:08 And even if it's not like with the specific
08:11 burlesque community, 'cause usually if it is
08:13 a burlesque person community,
08:15 that is where it's like the most safe.
08:17 Most of us probably don't make our salary
08:21 off of just show rates flat.
08:23 Like there's no way.
08:25 They're so low for like hair, makeup,
08:29 and then costume, like none of that.
08:32 None of that equates.
08:33 And like also commuting, parking, none of that.
08:37 Rehearsal space, there's so many things
08:40 that like add up to how expensive it is
08:42 and the show rate, the measly show rates,
08:46 are, they're just not doing it.
08:48 So I think a lot of us, like myself included,
08:51 have sold like merch.
08:53 I sell stickers and prints and then I teach classes
08:57 on like dance, on choreography.
08:59 And there's also people that have like real jobs
09:01 and still do those, which is like so commendable.
09:04 I don't know, I am only burlesque.
09:06 (laughs)
09:07 That is all I am.
09:08 The advice I would give a burlesque performer
09:13 who's just starting out, build an act,
09:15 have this act, have it like polished,
09:17 get some good photos and send it to producers,
09:21 show producers, show them what you got
09:22 and like have a social media presence.
09:24 As much as I wanna say that I don't like social media,
09:27 it has definitely been like the pinnacle
09:30 of my career to get me like this far.
09:34 It's gonna be a little bit of an investment to start.
09:37 'Cause like no one's gonna give you the costume.
09:39 No one's gonna like be like, "Oh yeah, you're great."
09:42 And you don't have a social media presence
09:44 of being a burlesque performer.
09:45 It's like no one's gonna like think you can do it
09:47 unless you have examples.
09:50 I'm Emma Vaudeville and this was the business of burlesque.
09:53 (upbeat music)
09:55 (static)