Tease Tips – Lessons in life, love and the art of tease

By Michelle L’amour

Doing nothing IS something.

photo cred: Tuomas Lairila from the Helsinki Burlesque Festival.

One of the hardest things to do on stage, and in life, is to be still. There is so much power and vulnerability in stillness. It allows people to see us, to take us all in.  It also allows you time to take in the audience and to be completely present in the moment. That feeling can be extremely overwhelming but also extremely addicting. While ‘just standing there’ certainly sounds like an easier task than doing back flips across the stage, stillness is a very useful tool in life and in performance.

The power of a performer who can stand still and captivate an audience is palpable. You can always tell a mature and experienced performer when they can do something like this. Back when I used to play violin, I remember the conductor saying, ‘The rests are just as important, if not more important, than the notes.’ At the time, that was very confusing to me, but now it all makes sense. In order to appreciate the notes more, you have to have silence. Rest. Stillness. But, that stillness is not nothing. It is something. It is active. It is pushing forward. There’s energy there. Intention.

The last act I created is extremely still and slow and focused. Vulnerable. Yes, I can do this trick or that trick, but I wanted to create something that was full of introspective passion and intensity and I wanted to invite the audience to watch. I was nervous for sure! I wasn’t sure if the audience was going to like it or be bored because it was so still, but I received such positive feedback. Taking a risk will often bring a reward, even if it was one you weren’t expecting.

I realized the importance of stillness pretty early on in my burlesque career and started implementing it in small ways, like the bow or final moment. I see many performers quickly scurry off the stage instead of standing center and having a proper exchange with the audience. If stillness is something you’re not already practicing, try to start here. Take a bow. Take your moment. Relish in the love from the audience and give it right back. Once you’re comfortable here, you can add in more moments later as you become more experienced.

In addition, think about how you can also incorporate this into your regular life. How often are you still? Quiet? Does being quiet make you uncomfortable? It certainly made me uncomfortable for a long time. That’s actually the reason why I didn’t do yoga for so long because in the times that I did do it, the quiet made me uneasy. Anxious. My breath would quicken and I would get hot. It was uncomfortable. Sometimes when you’re quiet, you hear the things you don’t want to hear and you hear the things you should hear.

There are so many opportunities in our life these days to resist quiet. The noise level is at an all time high. There are many things to distract us and those things ultimately pull attention away from ourselves and then we feel drained. We have to give to ourselves and being quiet and meditative is one of the ways to do that. Take a little bit of time each day to just be still. It will feel strange at first, but I promise you that you will be better for it, both on and off the stage.