Sally Rand Tribute
Dear Burlesque friends, many times I have been asked a question about my experience with Feather Fan Dancing. In this blog I would like to share a few tricks with you. Let’s take a look to the past where it all started.
In 1930s American Burlesque icon Sally Rand made Feather Fan Dance world famous. She inspired many Burlesque performers and this is the most popular performance style seen in burlesque today.
There are quite a few styles of this dance nowadays performed by many performers. Some perform it with high level energy like Pearl Noir, another floating gracefully on the stage with the fans like Michelle L’amour, there are performers who add comedy to the act and feather Fan Dance get different energy.
In 2008 I discovered Burlesque and after visiting local Burlesque show I decided to create my first Burlesque act. I was in love with the grace of Sally Rand’s performance and choose Ostrich Feather Fans for my first Burlesque journey. After hours of watching Sally Rand’s and Dita Von Teese’s videos on youtube and days of practicing I debuted my Pink Ostrich Fan Dance in Amsterdam during “Burlesque Freakout” party.
I desired to learn more Feather Fan techniques and in 2010 I came across a DVD with Michelle L’amour lessons. In 2015 I was lucky enough to take part in her masterclasses how to work with Feather Fans.
In many years I have experimented and developed my own Feather Fan Dancing techniques and absolutely love using them in many of my performances. The most beautiful twist of this dance is that I always imagine that the fans are my wings and that they are part of me, like we are one. I cover my body with feather fans, moving them around and just letting a small part of my body being visible from time to time to my audience, giving just a small hint, then taking a pause before a grand reveal. It’s also very important to think about horizontal and vertical lines, lower-level floor work and higher-level work with the fans about your head.
I prefer to work with high-quality Fans made from either long, plump ostrich plumes, or voluptuous, floaty ostrich boa. I recommend this two stores for quality feather fans:
Feather Fan dancing is joy and fun to perform like Burlesque it self. Try it yourself.
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With all my love,
Madame Romanova
One Response
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