How To Burlesque

In our monthly column How To Burlesque, Miss Frankie Tease, left, brings you tips and advice on a mishmash of burly topics. Today, she dishes on how to create your stage persona.

The most important thing about your name, and persona, is that it fits you with ease and the second is that it's catchy and easy to remember. To get started on creating your stage persona, answer a few of my questions below.

~ What is memorable about you at a glance? For example, are you long, tall, short, fat, well endowed up top or bottom? Do you have big round eyes? Do you have a tiny waist? Use what your Momma gave you to be remembered.

~ What will you do for a party trick? Do you sing or do acrobatics, balancing acts or shimmy tricks. If you can produce the same trick every time, it could be part of your long term act.

~ Write your name out. Do you like how it looks? Imagine signing it 1000 times. Imagine it as embroidery. Imagine it as a website. Is it workable? Changing names is a bit of a dreary prospect, because of the confusion and the energy to get your name out. My advice? Think long and hard and pick a winner the first time if possible.

Finally, ask friends. Often the best names are given to us whimsically as a friend tries to put who we are in a nutshell.