Hi … I’m Ms. B Larose … My friends call me “B” … I live in Chicago … round two … now going on five years … I was raised in the west side … Melrose Park … and have since … just traveled around the midwest … and I now am a full time burlesque entertainer … that likes to travel the world … I think … as a child … I am the youngest of three … and my environment was very much keeping up with my two older brothers … so … the need for artistic expression … really hadn’t  hit me quite yet … it was more the need to keep up … The mentality in our household was … do your best … We were always in athletics … so my brothers grew up playing baseball … and … I was the only girl … and I wanted to keep up with the boys … so … I think the need for artistic expression kind of … got wavered … I just had a very competitive spirit … Whatever the boys did … I wanted to do better … I played baseball competitively … since I was three … and throughout high school … I did varsity softball … played a little bit in college until I said no more … It got to a point where it just was not fun anymore … it didn’t fulfill … happiness for me … When it came down to academics … growing up in Melrose Park … you’re kind of a number and a body … I had a hard time making friends … When it came down to academics … I just used that as a crutch … to get by in school … I was competitive in terms of academics … but it was more for myself … I just wanted to tell myself that I could do well … I got by with academics pretty well … Especially growing up in Melrose Park … And then … transplanting to a north suburbs … called Mundelein … As a kid … you don’t really understand racial profiling … you don’t realize there’s a different between brown skin and white skin … per say … When you get transplanted to a place where the majority of the student body is all caucasian … you’re one of three people that are brown in your class … it becomes apparent that you’re a little bit different … So … I just kept my head in the books … and played a lot of active sports … just to try to fit in … because making friends was really hard when you’re different … I was in middle school when we moved … it was hard for my brothers … we moved during their last year of middle school … and first year of high school … Playing sports was a way to get us … ahead … My brothers became really great at playing baseball … and football … I became really great at playing softball … It helped us fit in … otherwise we really wouldn’t have … At that time … I drew a lot … and I painted a lot … I was a quiet kid … I kind of popcorn’ed around different social groups … Along with painting … I was always crafty … my focus was really excelling in softball … so I could get a scholarship for going to college … because my parents … raising three kids … there was very little money … so I thought by getting an academic … and sports scholarship … it would help pave the way … for me following the blueprint … of going to college in Chicago … And then finding the next step … of finding your signature partner … getting a full time job … checking all the boxes (laughter) … But yeah … I did that … I was raised to do that … following that social blueprint that you were taught to do as kids … After college … I got that really awesome job … A really decent partner that treated me well … We moved to Colombia Missouri … He wanted to finish his masters … And I still … did not know what direction … in terms of my degree … in marketing … where I wanted to go with it … So … I stayed in Colombia Missouri for a couple of years … I finally got a … really good job … in Kansas City Missouri … as a marketing specialist … and we stayed in Kansas City another five years … just doing what we were told to do … I had a territory of agents under my belt … where I would train them on how to do brand marketing … For a young … brown … female … telling middle age white men … how to run a business … it was really challenging … I didn’t find it fulfilling … it was always a battle … It was always a battle to be accepted … be respected … be taken seriously … I’m thinking to myself … I’m doing all the things that I’m supposed to be doing … I’m not a bad person … I have a good partner … have a good house … two dogs … two car garage … and I just wasn’t being fulfilled … Oh … Where did I go to college? … I went to college at DePaul … I got a baseball scholarship … mostly an academic scholarship … I did play a couple of rounds of ball … but it became too competitive … it became a lifestyle that I didn’t want to be a part of … When you’re with the same people … for the majority of your days … I felt like I started picking up on a lot of their habits … And I didn’t want to … staying out late … partying … getting into cliques … and being very judgmental of other people … And growing up … I was different … and I didn’t want to be a person that would outcast somebody … I think my first year … being a freshman … I quit softball … Then I just focused on getting through college … and studying … and working … I got a business degree … Between my mom … and I … and my dad … we worked very hard to get … as few loans as possible … At that time … I picked up quite a number of odd end jobs … I was … they call it … a marketing intern … but it was really a cold caller for an insurance company … I had to call a bunch of people on a list … and solicit them for whatever insurance they told me to do at the time … I was also a brand ambassador for this up and coming beauty company in Chicago … they hadn’t really been established yet … My job was to create goody bags … for fashion shows … or whatever kind of corporate events they would hold … I would have to collect all the makeup products from different vendors … I also worked at Walgreens as a clerk … I also … danced … I was a go-go dancer … One spot was called the Dragon Fly … it was in the west loop … It was just extra money … Go-go dancing was always fun for me … it was a lot of work though … a lot of late hours … I remember … I would take evening classes … from six to nine … and then pack up my duffle bag … and hit the club … and not leave until three … sleep a couple of hours … wake up … to do another odd job … the internship … take a two hour nap … and hit the books again (laughter) … In the sorority … when I was in college … I took up … the philanthropy chair … my responsibility was to produce … an annual show called Urban Expressions … and I think that’s kind of where I started becoming more interested in dance … because the responsibility fell on me … to organize the event … So … Urban Expressions … was a show … dedicated to show the student body different artistic forms … that are out there … in our greater Chicago area … and try to influence them to explore more of Chicago … I would go to salsa dancers … step dance … spoken word … musicians … And then … as a staple … an homage to the show … I organized our dance group from our sorority to put on a little dance number … Maybe that’s where it all started … I felt very gratified doing that show … I felt I had the opportunity to give something back to the student body … and back to myself … in terms of challenging myself to be more aggressive with meeting people … maybe aggressive is too strong of a word … more open … assertive … creating those relationships … were really special to me in college … Ok … back to Kansas City … I had a moment … it was New Years Eve … I was in … kind of a dads … basement … dive bar … celebrating New Years Eve with our friends … I was just kind of sitting there … looking at my cell phone … at a time where we should all be having fun and celebrating … I was just living vicariously through my friends and family back home … just seeing what they were doing for New Years Eve … The ball dropped … and everyone was having fun … and I just was not … and I looked at my partner … and I let him know … “Hey … I think we’re done” … He just sat there … kind of in awe … but also in agreement that we were done … It wasn’t a situation where we treated each other bad … or anything … It just … wasn’t enough … There was no thirst … no childlike wonder … to do more then what we were doing … We were stuck … and I didn’t want to be stuck anymore … A few months later … I arranged to move all of my things back to Chicago … where I would be able to live with my brother a couple of weeks until I got onto my feet … I had a couple of weeks with my new job … where I was making money … and I could find an apartment … that suited me … because I always wanted to live on my own in Chicago … While I was in Kansas City … I got in touch with Walgreens corporate … I made them have a FaceTime interview with me … which they had never done before … So … I started working for Walgreens corporate … got my first apartment … in Wrigleyville … which I didn’t know would be a disaster … because of the games … That was a fun time … but also … not beneficial for me … in terms of doing work … and having a social life … To manage them … was really tough … When I got back to Chicago … I connected with a couple of ladies from the sorority … and they had invited me to a bar called Shenanigans … Low and behold … we were at this random sports bar … and there was a burlesque show happening … we took a seat to watch the show … and it was the most eclectic group of humans I’ve seen on stage … having the best time of their lives  … absolutely loving what they were doing … Anghell … the pole performer here in Chicago … he was doing his number … and from the flurry of single ladies … cheering him on … there was this older woman … and she had the biggest smile  on her face … and I swear I said to myself … “That’s his mother” … That is his mother … cheering on her son … who is a pole performer … dancing in the middle of Chicago … in a sports bar … and he couldn’t be happier … and she couldn’t be happier for him … And I thought that moment … I want to do this for a living … I want to have that joy … what that mom sees in her son … I want to create moments like that … After the show … I tracked down the MC … I didn’t know that he was the producer of the show … and at the time … I had had a couple of drinks … to get some liquid courage in me … and I walked up to him … and I was so sassy … I looked him in the eye … and I said … “You don’t know me … but I’m going to be in your next show” … and he’s … “Excuse me … who are you”? … I was just such a sass … I said … “I told you … you don’t know me” … he said … “I would like to get to know you” … So … we exchanged numbers … He said … “You know what … we have an audition … this Sunday” … here’s my card … email me your resume … which I didn’t even know that resumes existed for this occupation … which a the time … I didn’t even know what to call it … He then followed up with … send me a video of yourself dancing … so I know I can take you seriously … and then I’ll let you know when the auditions are for our group … which was The Naughty Little Cabaret … So … I go back home … wake up really early Saturday … move all the furniture from the living room … On my little iPhone 4 … start recording my rendition of what I think burlesque is … and embarrassingly sent the video … he emailed me two hours later the place and time … which happened to be an open audition for the public to watch … So … even though it was an audition for us … it was a show for the public … It was at the Original Mothers … and I get there a half hour early … I was incredible nervous … I have my music on my flash drive … I’m starting to look at the clock … a half hour passes … when the audition is supposed to start … and nobody is there … another hour passes … and people start showing up … I tracked down Pup … the MC … and I said … “Hey … I’ve been here for the last hour and a half … for this audition to start” … and he was shocked … “You showed up”? … And I said … “Yes … you emailed me a time and a place … and I came … a half hour early … I have my music like you told me to … and I’m just looking for direction … what are we supposed to be doing”? … He already has the lineup … for the audition … and I’m not on it … He’s like … “How do you feel about going second” … and I’m … “That’s perfect” … and he’s …”Why is that perfect”? … and I’m … “I get to watch the first act … and see how it’s done … I go on second … and get to watch the rest of the show” … he said … “Ok … got your music? … when does your music start”? … I said … “It just starts” … because I didn’t know the terminology … At the time … I just had a black leotard … and a black blazer … I didn’t even wear shoes … I was barefoot … I was backstage … and I saw the plethora of glamour … feathers …and fabrics … buckles and glitter back there … and I’m looking … curiously … not to disrespect anybody … or to make anybody feel uncomfortable … I’m looking at these peoples breasts … and they have these beautiful … what I think are earrings for boobs … and I’m … “What are those”? … They’re like … “Pasties … to cover your nipples” … and I’m … “Are we supposed to do that”? … “Can’t I just take off my bra”? … “Do I need to cover that up”? … and they’re … “Absolutely … you have to … that’s the law” … I was … “Oh crap” … here I am … I would have been going out there … showing my ta ta’s to the world … not thinking twice about it … I talked to the AV guy … and asked if he had any extra electrical tape … He said yeah … and I asked … Can I have four snippets of it? … he’s … “Sure” … So … I put my electric tape X’s on … to keep everything legal … And when I got out there … I kind of let go … I was super nervous … but at the end of the day … it’s now or never … if I’m going to do this … I’m going to do my best … So … I go out there with my chair … I do this sassy little dance … and I took off all my things … and when I took off my bra … I didn’t think twice about it … and I was … “This is the best day ever” … I couldn’t believe I had just done this in front of a crowd full of strangers … I saw Pups face … from the corner of my eye … he had this face … That I couldn’t tell … if he was shocked that I did terrible … or shocked that I did well … it could have gone either way … So … I go up to Rob after the performance … and he was … “You’ve never done burlesque before … Right”? … and I was … “Nope … it’s the first time” … and he’s … “You don’t do burlesque … Yet” … and I’m … “Yet”? … and he’s … “Yeah … you can’t do burlesque right now” … “But you will” … “I can’t let you dance for Naughty little Cabaret … but you have it … and I want to see it” … “So why don’t you give me some time to see what I’m going to do with you … but know that I’m going to call you back … just be patient with me … and I’ll figure something out” … And he did just that … he sent me an email … a week and a half later … He told me I was the second highest score in their auditions … but you need some work … and we want to work with you … So I started with Naughty Little Cabaret as an usher … I went to the shows … sat people … took care of their instant concerns … From ushering … I started selling merchandise … to get aquatinted with more … of the behind scenes of the show … and pretty soon … I started doing group numbers … and everybody started noticing that I took really strong reigns of stage managing … So … before I started performing … I prided myself with being the best at everything … So I became the best stage manager … at least for me … So then … Ray Gunn saw me … and Ray Gunn … and Bazooka Joe approached me … and I think they knew that I was using stage managing as a crutch … to have the courage to have my own solos … They handed me feather fans … and they gave me a deadline … They were … “Hey … we want you to be in the show … called the Vertical Sex Show” … and Ray Gunn had this image of me being very statuesque … with feather fans … We developed the concept for the act … burlesque is all about the art of the tease … and how to take ones clothing off … but also the challenge was … lets remove clothing from the equation … So … how do you do the art of the tease … without any clothing … when all you have are fans … He handed them to me … and said figure it out … And I did it … and it was great … One great piece of advice was … if you’re going to do burlesque … do it because you love it … and pick songs that you love hearing … So … I took that to heart … So … at the beginning of my career … I just used songs that I liked … Now … four years later … here we are … trying to make rounds in Chicago … and everywhere else in the world … Where have I traveled for this? … Here in the midwest … Detroit Michigan … Madison Wisconsin … Nashville … recently I was in Memphis … I got to do Seattle last spring … along with New York … I’ve done Tampa … New Orleans … I’ve traveled to Amsterdam … I have also performed in Berlin … which has to be one of my favorite cities I’ve ever been to … Hopefully this next spring … I’m going to be in Montreal … Has social and cultural awareness improved? … It’s hard to say … In a macro level … the amount of burlesque that has grown in the scene … from when I started … to even what we have now in the short four years … We have created so many more opportunities for people to perform … and for me to actually sustain a full time job dancing … For me … I think that’s a positive indicator that people are more accepting of it socially … and they want to see more of it … Even in the levels of treatment and pay … since the four years that I’ve been here … have improved immensely … People are starting to realize that what we do is what we do for a living … As a professional … when I come to a back stage … that I’m treated with grace and respect … I’m not disrespected in any way … and I’m comfortable … I think … at least in the urban Chicago area … producers have done a really great job creating a culture … that even though what I do is provocative … that … it’s my body … my choice … and what I do with it on stage … doesn’t give people any sort of right … to treat me badly otherwise when I step off stage … But also … with that in mind … I think that’s more in the production level … and not in the audience level … So … when I see audience members being exposed to burlesque for the first time … a lot of the time … they don’t know how to react to it … When I first started … it was very polite … and now … people are excited to see it … they want to make a habit to see it … there’s more of a following … but also there’s still room … I think there needs to be more conversations towards having this be more culturally accepted … I’m still running into people when I step off stage … they think I’m that person … that provocative person … and it gives them a window of opportunity … in their mind … that if I can be that vulgar and aggressive … on stage … they can act … like that towards me … which is not the case … So … yes in a sense I feel … as a culture we have grown … to accepting a performance art of our bodies … and using them sexually … but there is a vast amount of room for improvement … from it being socially accepted … in other places other then just urban areas … I think it’s more important to take what we do … and travel with it … to places where people don’t get to see it … because we need to start introducing … a culture … where sexuality is ok … and what we do with our bodies … and the people we decide to spend our time with … is ok … and I think if people saw more of that … and saw that we were actually just humans … and we’re decent and loving … and we are respectful … that it would change their outlook onto who they see … And even traveling to Memphis … for me to be a brown bodied woman … and presenting myself onstage … people were very taken aback by it … but then … once they saw that they were having so much fun … it was purely great entertainment … that wasn’t looking to diminish the view … or disrespect a woman … and they knew it was entertainment … they knew what I was doing … is just to make sure that people have a great time  … and to put their inhibitions down … and that they’re so accepting of it … So … I go from walking around pre show … seeing everybody very tight … to at the end of the evening … being an open sponge for peoples emotions … them telling me their life stories … It’s so interesting … As far as social media … it’s a necessary evil in my opinion … you need to reach people to inform them what’s happening … where to go … and how to find you … When it comes to Facebook … I tread lightly with it … I don’t spent to much time … really putting my social opinions out there … because I feel when it comes to Facebook … it’s just like being in high school again … people have their certain groups … and their certain friends … that they abide by … that they listen to … and develop their own social norms … and perspectives … So … for me … to express any type of political views … on Facebook … is kind of just asking for a fight … Where your energy spent … is almost waisted … because … people are opinionated … they don’t want to be very open … So when it comes to Facebook for me … I just put out the dates and times of my shows … For people that want to go … they go … and they see it … and it’s very helpful … using that as a tool … but in terms of creating social construction … it’s a hard place to do it … I’d rather just do it in person … I want people to experience somebody that’s different … and know that they’re actually a decent human being … It’s hard to show that … via writing and typing … When it comes to Instagram … there’s a little bit more leeway … there’s only so many words that you can use … but there’s thousands in a picture … You see a picture … and it captures somebody’s essence … someones excitement … someones feelings … whether it’s happy or sad … on a picture … and … I think people are more susceptible to reading into a picture then they are reading into words sometimes … and they get more curious … they want to see what’s going on in this picture … I find Instagram to be more of a picture diary for me … in terms of my branding of Ms. B Larose … But … also with that … since it’s very brand focused … to Ms. B Larose … they’re going to get the pictures that I only want to show them … They don’t get to see the harder things behind the glamour … things that they don’t see on stage of what a performer has to be doing on the day to day grind … It paints a lovely picture … and it gets people … to come out to shows … but it doesn’t paint the whole picture … so it’s very limited … in terms of using that as a social network … People like to put what they want … to show the world that they’re doing well … rarely do people put the negative stuff … that they don’t want to … talk about and communicate with people … they’re embarrassed to …  or scared to … or they find that it’s just not the appropriate place to do it … So … the foreseeable future … When it comes to dancing and burlesque … I want to do more traveling and be involved with productions that are showcasing … that are continuing to showcase the different … what do I mean by that … “Different bodies” … I’m a strong advocate for productions that give a platform … for everybody … to be  able to express themselves in a way … that … they otherwise wouldn’t be able to … The next production I’m working on in Montreal … is an all Asian cast … I find it very interesting … in a production like that … these are all Asian bodies … it’s an opportunity to show people that … just because they might look similar … it doesn’t mean that they are … and what you might conceptualize as a race … can be completely different … and be more similar to yourself … in ways that you didn’t think were possible … So … I think that’s going to be really cool … So … just a lot more traveling … and working with those kinds of productions … that are showcasing different bodies … and to be more accepting … so we can continue to tell our stories … and share them …