The Monya Lisa takeover!

My second in a series exploring the preparations leading up to Miss Burlesque Tasmania 2019. This time Monya Lisa shares her insights into the event. Its great getting some thoughts from a finalist that has entered Miss Burlesque Tasmania before a few times, and has also performed at different competitions like Burlesque Idol.

I’ve seen Monya really change and develop in the years I’ve known her.  This was her reflection on how she got drawn into burlesque.

My first experience of burlesque was attending one of Grace Cherry's classes at Tasmania's Pole Dance and Burlesque Academy. I had never heard of it before, and I asked mum what it was, after a brief chat to Grace while I was trying to practice pole fitness. Mum explained to me what it was, and she said that she really enjoyed a taster class that Sarah Muir hosted at the Hobart Women's Health Centre in North Hobart. She encouraged me to give it a go, and here I still am.

 I really enjoyed how Grace did not assume everyone knew what to do, and was able to nut down the moves so everyone knew what they meant. A great example of this, is to describe grinding, one is to pretend that they have a pencil in your vagina, and draw a circle. The classes were funny, and laid back, and I loved getting out of the house on a Wednesday evening. 

 While I’ve known many of the finalists for a number of years, Monya is probably one of my earliest students. She came to me when I was performing in a really small studio and had about half a dozen students! It was a time where I was also really exploring how we could create options for students and newer performers to get stage time – while not saturating the market or ‘over performing’ in a small state. Here is her reflection of that first jump on stage moment!

 Grace had Flirty Friday nights lined up at a bar called Les Girls in Hobart, back in 2010. Here, she had solo performers, as well as student group performers, and student solos. After performing one or two group performances, my first solo performance was to 'Man! I feel like a woman'. I wore my high school leavers dress, and I stripped down to a corset underneath. I remember I was really nervous because this was my first solo performance. I stayed in the same spot, and did not dare move from my one spot on the stage. But I remember the sheer joy of performing, the feeling of getting dressed up, and how much of a buzz I had afterwards. 

 Over time, I feel like I have found what genre I feel most comfortable in, and the type of style I prefer. Nothing too fast paced- I'm lazy, and I try to look effortless! I am more confident in my performances, being able to move across the stage, and look at the crowd rather than focus on a spot on the wall.

 As Monya has been performing for a few years, and has entered Miss Burlesque Tasmania before (as well as other events like Burlesque Idol), I was interested to know what prompted her to re-enter this year.

 What made me enter Miss Burlesque Tasmania again this year was mainly the fact that you were producing it.

 I wanted to support performances and competition here in Tasmania, where our previous competition has included people visiting from the mainland. As much as it is great that we get to meet other performers.

 This year I am hoping to achieve a sense of accomplishment in myself, in performing two well-rehearsed routines that I feel confident to apply for interstate shows (like the Australian Burlesque Festival). A bonus would be being recognised and booked for events would be great too.

 Tasmania often has a smaller pool of events available for burlesque performers- does this make it harder for you? How do you stay motivated if there are some big gaps between gigs?

 Sometimes I feel having such a small number of events does stop me from performing as frequent as I like. That is why I produced my own show at the start of last year, so there is another performing opportunity for Tasmanians. I do plan on producing another event this year. 

 My motivation wanes between gigs. Some days I feel like throwing it all in, then there are other days where I really enjoy it. Just yesterday I was listening to music in the car, and I thought about potential routines. This brings back the enthusiasm, where I can see how I enjoy moving to the music, the way it makes me feel, my imagination for routines (elaborate and simple). That makes me keep going.

 With that in mind I asked the dreaded question – how prepared are you feeling in the lead up to Miss Burlesque Tasmania?  

 Preparations have been slightly on the back burner because I have been preoccupied with a few other things happening in my personal life at the moment. I ordered new costume pieces yesterday, which will jazz up and work better with my costume than what I currently use.

I will also do some much needed costume adjustments in the coming weeks, which will mean that I feel more comfortable in this costume, and it will be more supported. 

Balancing burlesque with other priorities in life is always a challenge. Monya shared how she balances her work – particularly in the lead up to her role in the Autumn Valley festival.

I always find I tend to bite off more than I can chew with over committing myself (haha!) Balancing it all has taken time to practice. I mainly juggle my commitments around work- however this has involved bringing paperwork to work, and work on this during my lunch hour. I focus on one aspect at a time (for example it's volunteering at the moment), so I will have a small target as to what I want finished in an evening (e.g. printing insurance documents; finalising the programme).

 Because of the size of the Autumn Valley Festival and how involved it is, most of my time is spent working on this. Weekends are spent studying, where I listen to lecture recordings, do the readings, and planning for assessments. I did have an aim of spending one evening a week focusing on one aspect e.g. Monday focus on the festival; Tuesday, focus on one unit; followed by Wednesday etc- however that has not happened.

 I am fortunate in that I feel relatively confident in my routines for Miss Burlesque Tasmania, so I feel like I do not need to focus too much on rehearsal at this point in time. Once the festival is over, Miss Burlesque Tasmania will be my main focus!