Words by Ferri Maya | Photos by Mia Maraschino
Hi there, my name is Ferri Maya and this is my first of hopefully many little blogs. Like I say to my students, this is what’s worked for me and I am only here to facilitate and hopefully give you a different view. I guess that’s why I chose teaching as a career. Yes, not only am I a burlesque teacher and look after my own brand, Burlyrock, but I teach those who will soon take over our beautiful world… Hopefully some may follow in our footsteps and choose the arts, while some may become Doctors, Teachers and other unique professionals.
Whatever path you or they may choose, make sure it’s done the best you can. That’s what I’ve always been taught.
I have been a dancer for many years, over 30 years to be exact. I have danced all my life, in multiple disciplines - or should I say all. I have a Certificate 3 in Commercial Dance and Theatre, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Performance Studies. Throughout my whole dancing life, I have had a multitude of incredible teachers. Forever they would perfect us as individuals, and as a group. When I look back, I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be taught by some of the best Australian choreographers… but even being the best, they still needed help. No matter how good or seasoned they were, they always needed another opinion, a fresh pair of eyes to look at their work. It’s only now that I understand why. It was all in the process of making us the performers look the best on that stage, and to make sure our shapes, formations and movements came across clear and strong to the audience. I can assure you, this method helped us achieve many awards in both state and regional dance competitions as well as being back up dancers for many artists.
“No matter how good or seasoned they were, they always needed another opinion, a fresh pair of eyes to look at their work.”
Then about ten years ago I started to venture away from competitions and back up dancing work and, started to focus more on my solo burlesque career. After performing and winning awards in London, I came home to find myself back at square one in the burlesque industry. So, I started applying for Australian burlesque festivals and beginner competitions as well as focusing on my brand and event, Burlyrock. I found myself in the studio with a whirlwind of ideas with no way of bringing them out. With some guidance and encouragement from my pole and exotic floor mentor I created what would be the draft of my first international act, “Of Sins”.
With all these ideas I decided to take myself out with some friends to see Dita Von Teese. I needed to watch more burlesque and I needed to see how others executed their ideas into reality. There I found a performer I loved, I related to her energy, style and sass. She worked that audience and she did not have one single prop. She used her charm and knowledge of tease to wow the audience, I thought.. “I better look this gal up” so right then and there I added Ginger Valentine to my Instagram. I followed her for a long while, and I knew I needed help. So, one day I gathered all my strength and emailed her asking for help, I asked if she could be my mentor and I was absolutely over the moon when Ginger replied with a YES.
We got to work straight away. Ginger asked me what my goals were, what I wanted from her and where I felt least confident with my act. They were some hard questions at the time, but I knew why I had chosen Ginger - even though she is an amazing performer, I knew that she would be able to help me. I related to her performance style and I could tell she came from a similar dance background as me. I felt that choosing someone to be your mentor meant that you not only had to admire them as a performer, but could see that their style could help you grow your style. I am lucky enough to have found someone who has helped me come a long way and has believed in me and never made me change my rock ’n’ roll ways.
Ginger helped me set both small and big goals for myself. They could be as small as wanting to just get the timing of my steps in this section, to as big as wanting to win a title.
Our first step together was to apply and work toward getting into an American festival. With one baby step at a time, I got into the festival and worked my butt off to make sure I gave a performance that wouldn’t be forgotten. “Of Sins” was my first international act and my first act to be mentored.
As we worked together with other acts, I chose to apply for Miss Burlesque Australia. I knew this was going to be a challenge as I would have to create a classic act. Those that know me, know I am not a classic performer. When I was accepted to compete, I knew that I had to level up.
Ginger and I started using our hour-long sessions working on perfecting my unique act, Black Widow and spent the other half talking about different ideas for my classic. I chose to represent the 1960s era of Burlesque, which meant I lived and breathed the 60s. Ginger helped me find performers of the era that suited my style and we spoke about what was going on in the world at that time as well as the fashion, costuming and films. I spoke to her about all the ideas I had, played her all the music I found and slowly we culled what didn’t serve me. Having Ginger helped me focus on me and who I was as a performer. For some strange reason when you’re in a competition you seem to forget about you, and you focus on how do I please my audience? How do I please my judges? Am I following all the rules? So, having someone there, helped me push that away. We stripped the rules down to the core and started developing an act that was 100% me and in the guidelines.
We worked and developed the act for 6 months before it hit the competition stage.
I spent days and nights listening to my music, getting to know every sound, counting out every beat. I visioned certain movements that went in time with the music and I also had complete blanks. This also happened when I was in the studio, so there were many tears as well.
Ginger and I saw each other once a week while I developed my classic. We started out focusing on 30 seconds at a time and once those sections were mentored, we went to the next. Slowly but surely, I started developing more and more and perfecting more and more until we had it finished. This was a huge accomplishment for me, I had developed a classic act, something I never thought I could do. And it was good. We continued to perfect both my classic and Black Widow until the day before the competition. I had filtered thoughts, cried, tried and failed, laughed, learnt and grew as a performer and human. All with someone by my side who believed in me, allowed me to make my own decisions by asking questions, helped me set goals and knock them down, and most importantly with someone who was experienced in Burlesque and competitions, and had nothing but my own interest and mental health at heart. I went on to win Miss Burlesque Melbourne and Miss Burlesque Australia’s Most Innovative and a Golden Pastie in New York.
Throughout this time I have never stopped getting mentored, only going from seeing each other once a week to once a fortnight. I had mentoring through what they call the “Glitter Crash” which helped me get back into goal setting for the next few months. This helped me to stay active both in body and mind as well as appreciate and be proud of myself for what I had achieved.
Now we are here in 2020, restricted on gigs, festivals and travel. A year that has shaken everyone’s lives. I had visions on taking some current acts overseas and having them mentored, but those visions fell away when borders started to close. I had a moment of rest and reflection and then before I knew it venues were opening and slowly gigs were coming in. Throughout this time, I still kept up communication with Ginger, this time talking about life and world events. We would check in on each other and made sure we were both keeping sane and happy. As time went on and gigs were coming back, we got back to mentoring. This time toward an existing act that I have goals for.
I wouldn’t be the performer I am today without Ginger; she has been my mentor and friend. Someone who understands me and who really listens and gets every little drop out of me. Each time we work on something, Ginger pushes me to limits that unlock other ideas, other movements and other ways to reveal.
Just because the competition is over, just because the festival is over, it doesn’t mean that’s it. There are other festivals and other competitions to show off your act, and through mentoring you can keep developing it until you’re ready to hang it up. Then there are new ideas, new songs, new feelings to get out and structure and create, and through mentoring you can get it out and have those fresh eyes look and help you perfect your vision.
You never stop growing, so make the most of it and keep learning and absorbing, always becoming a better you.
I hope this has helped you in some way. Thank you for reading.