Writing an Act Description for Your Burlesque Solo

When you’re developing a burlesque solo, (especially if for the first time!) you can often just focus on music, choreography and costumes. This is absolutely essential! But I would add that developing an act description or act outline is a great starting point.

Not only is this something you’ll need in the future when you are applying for shows or festivals.

But it will also clarify your concept - saving yourself some uncertainty and helping to lock in your ideas.

And it’s not something that needs to be set in stone — you can always come back and refine it time and time again. But they are super helpful in nailing down your act concept, especially when you might be feeling like you have a lot of thoughts floating around or ideas and you aren’t sure how they might come together.

Here are some tips for pulling this description together.

Start With the Core Idea:

• Is there a clear storyline or narrative for your act (e.g Grace Cherry goes to the shop, buys milk) ?

• Is there more of a theme, a mood, a fantasy or inspiration behind?

• What is the feeling your act conveys? Comedic? Dark? Glamorous?

This core idea could then influence an opening statement in your act description: like “the act explores” or “the act is inspired by”

Don’t forget about your alter ego!

Remind yourself about your persona - do you focus on a character, or is it more around yourself ? You can use this to tease out the theme or storyline further.

Make sure the act has a clear journey

Every act has a beginning, a middle and an end. This could be a change in mood, a song choice or key highlights of choreography (eg a final reveal or a big costume moment) . Name these up in your act description!

Pulling a final statement together

There is no one way to write a description! So you can’t do it wrong. But just think about if someone else was reading it - they would want a pretty brief description (100 - 150 words). It needs to get to the point! So your outline could include

• Act Title

• Concept behind the act or a theme

• Any key moments or dramatic elements to highlight

• Bonus: Any act set up or clean up

And remember, you can always just start with dot points. I admit that I use dot points for myself, and only write into a formal paragraph when I might be applying for an event and need to be a bit more focused or descriptive. It doesn’t have to be an intellectual exercise but it sets a foundation for your act that you can come back to - especially as you start to refine your costume, choreography and musicality

Hope this helps! And any master writing tips or formats you find useful -please add them in the comments!

Grace Cherry

Owner, Miss Kitty’s Meow