2012-07-05 Burlesque and Cabaret Club New Format

On Thursday, July 5, the Atlanta Burlesque and Cabaret Society moved to it's new home to settle into it's new format!  Still from 8-10pm and the first week each month, the only changes are that the club has moved from Mondays at Manny's to Thursdays at Elliot St Deli and Pub.  The meeting has gone from an informal gathering of minds to a more structured format.  The time from 8-8:30pm allows everyone to settle in, order food and say hello.  The sandwiches at Elliot St are amazing and they have a decent alcohol selection if you'd like to kick back with a drink.  From 8:30-9pm is announcements by the club leader Talloolah Love and then the floor is opened to anyone else who may have announcements for upcoming shows, classes, etc....  At 9pm the time is allotted for anyone who would like to do a teaser for any up coming events, or rehearse a piece for feed back or to get video at no cost to the performer.  I think this is a good idea, unfortunately no one signed up to perform for this event so mostly we ended up having free time where we could chat, I took Lola LeSoleil's measurements for an up coming costume and there was some general silliness.


This is not the first time that Talloolah has tried to liven up the event with a bit of structure.  A couple of years ago she tried to have presentations about burlesque done by members of the group.  I can remember two that actually took place (there may have been others I missed) and at least twice that many that ended up being cancelled due to no shows.  I commend her for her efforts, but many of the members are not only performers, but have day jobs as well, they are very pressed for time.  I think her ideas are wonderful and would definitely help kick the events up a notch, but perhaps she should have performed at the first event to give a taste to those she was trying to convince as an act of faith rather then leave the slot empty.  I am sure it was due to a need to moderate the group, but perhaps one of the other leaders could have taken over so she could lead by example.  


As the group does not charge for admission those who choose to perform will not be paid and that may be a deterrent as well with the current push for performers wishing to be paid what they are worth instead of performing for free or close to it.  I don't think it's out of line for her to offer a free place to receive critiques or videos as that's actually extremely helpful for performers and it costs them nothing to get a video which is payment in it's own right, but the timing of this may work against her goals for the club.  I do think that the Burlesque and Cabaret Society is a very important part of the Atlanta Burlesque scene and I do hope that the new direction takes off and does well for everyone.