“THE BIG REVEAL with DIRTY MARTINI”
QUICK FIRE WARM UP
1. Glitter Lips?
Always!
2. Dance shoes or stilettos?
Dance shoes that don’t look like dance shoes!!
3. Enter with music or start on-stage?
Depends on the mood of the piece
4. Bumps, Grinds, Shakes or Shimmies?
E. All of the above
5. Dermablend or Sally Hansen?
Naked unless you fell on your ass and need to cover the bruise – then, Dermablend!
6. To wig or not to wig?
Wigs are just easier once you know what you are doing.
7. Three words that describe you:
Class, Sass and a whole lotta ass
8. Favorite Body Part?
My Neck, My back…..
9. Last thing you do before the curtain opens?
Pray to Jennie Lee
10. When we get a live audience again…
They better be ready!!!
AND NOW THAT YOU’RE WARMED UP….
1. What was your introduction to burlesque?
A videotape at Kim’s Video called Nudie Cuties from Something Weird then I saw Amy Goodheart do a Josephine Baker impersonation at a drag show. I was fascinated!
2. When did you know you had what it took?
When I recreated the scene in Flashdance where the water dumps on her when I was about 13 years old.
3. Who is your inspiration?
Jennie Lee, The Bazoom Girl, Miss 44 and a whole lot more !
4. Assuming it doesn’t say Dirty Martini on your birth certificate, where did your stage name come from?
Spell check asked me if I wanted to change my name to Martini, and then my friend ordered a Dirty at a bar and said “heyyyyy not a bad idea for a name!!”
5. What percentage of Dirty Martini would we see if we ran into you at the grocery store?
Depends on what time you shop!
6. What is your signature move?
Tassel tricking and The Car Wash… ask Murray Hill …
7. What is your favorite costume piece of all time?
Anything new my costumer David Quinn comes up with! Nothing is impossible for them! Also my corsets that fit me like a glove. I can’t imagine the math they must have to do!
8. What is your most embarrassing on-stage mishap?
Crashing through a chair that splintered into a million pieces like it exploded .
9. What was the best performance of your career so far?
When Dita VonTeese lent me her Carousel horse for a few tours. I made a costume to match that looked like Christian Dior designed it for a circus. I only had 2 hours to figure out what I was going to be able to do on the horse. So I choreographed it on the spot on the first day of the tour! It went great but I was terrified!
10. Who is your dream collaborator?
I would love to create a feature length burlesque show filmed by Pedro Almadovar or a live immersive event with David Lynch or Jordan Peele.
11. What is your favorite venue?
La Theatre Gymnase in Marseille, France .
12. How much do you ACTUALLY work out?
Three times per week unless I’m at the beach and fighting the waves in the ocean! The best work out though is trying to find the perfect fabric in the garment district!
13. Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to other performers?
No shoes for no good reason! Not pointing your toes! Do I have a foot fetish?
14. Have you ever dated a fan?
Define fan…
15. What is the strangest gift you ever got from a fan?
Dirty Martini erotic fan fiction.
16. Do you have any pre-show rituals?
On tour, warming up with the cast. In NYC, gossiping.
17. If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
How the press and people who run theaters, TV and movie producers don’t understand or see burlesque as the life-changing, amazing art form that it is.
18. If you could give one piece of advice to a newbie, what would it be?
If you get a good response from the audience and like it, stick with it. Try everything! You will get noticed if you work really hard for a long time, but it takes a long time.
19. What would you be doing if it wasn’t burlesque?
Teaching ballet or contemporary dance. Going on a ton of auditions. Now, I get called in specifically.
20. What would you like to be remembered for?
Innovating and creating the New Burlesque genre with my brilliant friends.
To keep up with Dirty, sign up for her newsletter at www.missdirtymartini.com and follow her here: Dirty Martini (@dirtymartininyc) And she recommends supporting The Burlesque Hall of Fame for their work promoting the historical importance of burlesque.
