ACTS CURRENTLY IN ROTATION
"Microaggressions"
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WINNER: Judge’s Choice “Glitoris” Award at Alterna-TEASE 2016, SELECTED TO COMPETE IN: 2017 Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend, "Best Debut"
This act fuses a classic costume with a neo sensibility in order to speak out against the microaggressions that people with disabilities face on a daily basis. On a projector screen behind her, Jacqueline displays ableist statements that have been said either directly to her or her disabled friends. While these larger-than-life words attempt to steal focus, she battles against them with an aggressive and sexual striptease that defiantly takes power back. The conflict between screen and performer replicates the dissonance felt by many people with disabilities as they fight to remain self-assured within an ableist world.
Note: Jacqueline can supply projector and screen if necessary.
This act fuses a classic costume with a neo sensibility in order to speak out against the microaggressions that people with disabilities face on a daily basis. On a projector screen behind her, Jacqueline displays ableist statements that have been said either directly to her or her disabled friends. While these larger-than-life words attempt to steal focus, she battles against them with an aggressive and sexual striptease that defiantly takes power back. The conflict between screen and performer replicates the dissonance felt by many people with disabilities as they fight to remain self-assured within an ableist world.
Note: Jacqueline can supply projector and screen if necessary.
"Confident"
WINNER: 2nd Runner Up at The 2017 Golden Legend Champion Challenge, SELECTED TO PERFORM AT: 2018 Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend, "Movers, Shakers & Innovators Showcase"
This neo-burlesque act set to Demi Lovato's "Confident" is energetic, acrobatic, and powerful. Jacqueline inverts, snaps, pops, and pulls three kinds of splits in black fishnet and emerald green feathers and lace. This act was developed under the mentorship of burlesque legend Gabriella Maze for the 2017 Golden Legend Champion Challenge.
This neo-burlesque act set to Demi Lovato's "Confident" is energetic, acrobatic, and powerful. Jacqueline inverts, snaps, pops, and pulls three kinds of splits in black fishnet and emerald green feathers and lace. This act was developed under the mentorship of burlesque legend Gabriella Maze for the 2017 Golden Legend Champion Challenge.
"This is My Throne"
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WINNER: Gabriella Maze’s “Personal Pick” Award at The Great Burlesque Exposition 2016
Beginning from blue rags on the floor, Jacqueline discovers an object covered with a large gold sheet, which is revealed to be a wheelchair outfitted like a throne. She transitions from tentative while on the floor to powerful, sensual and confident while in it. She strips down to a black and red outfit with rhinestones and spikes, and then triumphantly places a crown on her head before wheeling off stage during applause. Mood begins emotional with colors in blue, then becomes joyous and celebratory and teasing with colors in gold, silver, red and black.
Beginning from blue rags on the floor, Jacqueline discovers an object covered with a large gold sheet, which is revealed to be a wheelchair outfitted like a throne. She transitions from tentative while on the floor to powerful, sensual and confident while in it. She strips down to a black and red outfit with rhinestones and spikes, and then triumphantly places a crown on her head before wheeling off stage during applause. Mood begins emotional with colors in blue, then becomes joyous and celebratory and teasing with colors in gold, silver, red and black.
"Vintage Chair"
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Jacqueline is reading her 1960 Playboy in her boudoir when she gets a bit heated and decides to strip down as well. This act features a 1940’s vintage wheelchair that Jacqueline has restored, as well as other vintage costume pieces in soft pink and white. The final product is sweet, inviting, sultry, and classic.
"Nerdtastic"
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In this comedic act featuring classic burlesque music and her modern wheelchair, Jacqueline the nerd gets caught crossing the stage and decides to give this whole bump and grind thing a try while she has the opportunity! Her suspenders, bowtie, and plaid skirt are tossed away to reveal the purple fringe cage set she’s been in all along. She finishes with a wheelie while tassel twirling, if you can believe it!
"Professor X"
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This nerdlesque act was originally done as a duet in the Seattle burlesque play Burl-X-Men: Days of Future Ass. However, as a solo act, Jacqueline directs her movements towards the audience instead of Jean Gray and assures them that she knows exactly “what’s on [their] mind.”
*Artist’s Statement on this Act: Choosing to play Professor X as a disabled woman was both an important step in my overall hope to increase the visibility of disability on burlesque stages and a difficult choice. The Professor’s history as a disabled character is problematic, since he is frequently “cured” in the comic books and doesn’t need to use his wheelchair, only to become paralyzed or wounded once again. His disability is therefore somewhat of an “on or off” switch that can be played with in order to suit the story being told. My own, and many others’, relationship to disability is somewhere in the middle instead; I am not “paralyzed,” but I need and use mobility tools in order to function. My primary goals in playing Professor X are, 1) to bring my own disability story to the stage through one of the few characters that pop culture offers as a representation of disabled life, 2) to use the Professor’s story as an example of disability fused with power and poise, and 3) to finally get to portray a character who, as a lifelong nerd, I have always deeply envied for his fancy, high-tech mobility aids. We all have to admit that the Professor’s wheelchairs, whether they hover or shine with gold or chrome, are always dope as heck.
*Artist’s Statement on this Act: Choosing to play Professor X as a disabled woman was both an important step in my overall hope to increase the visibility of disability on burlesque stages and a difficult choice. The Professor’s history as a disabled character is problematic, since he is frequently “cured” in the comic books and doesn’t need to use his wheelchair, only to become paralyzed or wounded once again. His disability is therefore somewhat of an “on or off” switch that can be played with in order to suit the story being told. My own, and many others’, relationship to disability is somewhere in the middle instead; I am not “paralyzed,” but I need and use mobility tools in order to function. My primary goals in playing Professor X are, 1) to bring my own disability story to the stage through one of the few characters that pop culture offers as a representation of disabled life, 2) to use the Professor’s story as an example of disability fused with power and poise, and 3) to finally get to portray a character who, as a lifelong nerd, I have always deeply envied for his fancy, high-tech mobility aids. We all have to admit that the Professor’s wheelchairs, whether they hover or shine with gold or chrome, are always dope as heck.
"Evil Queen of the World"
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As a modern version of Snow White’s Evil Queen Grimhilde, Jacqueline appears first in her throne-outfitted wheelchair. She dominates the audience with aggressive musicality and sensual floor-work, reminding them why she is the “f**king king of the world.” Towards the end of the act, she discovers her mirror and becomes entranced with her own image, making the final moments a self-appreciation and a spectacle simultaneously.
"Satan is my Motor"
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This act uses a classic burlesque movement vocabulary to tell a truly adorable story about a girl who just loves the devil! Jacqueline begins as outwardly innocent in a pure white cloak, but then reveals who it is that really spins her wheels. The lyrics of the titular song playfully pun on her mobility aid to add to the burlesquing of innocence and devilry.
"Locutus"
A dark, moody and threatening act. As Locutus of Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Jacqueline revels in her own power and might. She gradually strips out of a costume fusing her body, her wheelchair and various cords and wires, alternately drawing the audience in and menacing them. This act incorporates LEDs in her face piece and pasties!
"In The Arms of the Ocean"
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Jacqueline appears as a girl dressed in white with long purple hair wearing stylized silver sequin leg braces on her legs. She laments the pain in her legs while reaching longingly out to the ocean. However, her disability transforms into her ability as the water rises up and she transforms into a purple-finned mermaid. Her legs still won’t function as legs, but that’s because they were never meant to. The act begins melancholy and becomes joyous and bubbly after the transformation.
"The Ballerina's Boots"
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What does a ballerina get up to backstage? In this act, Jacqueline portrays a ballet dancer rebelliously enthralled with her own sensuality, and her own feet. Despite a traditionally white and fluffy exterior, she reveals black vinyl fetish boots and leather undergarments and finishes with a reveal of her bare feet. She reaches up towards them as the light fades away, focused inward instead of on the audience. NOTE: This act has been transformed into a Christmas act by the addition of the Nutcracker Suite onto the beginning of the track! See that intro here.
"The Christmas Gift"
This act utilizes many classic burlesque movements, combining them with a modern Christmas song and Jacqueline’s characteristic touch of disability activism! After waking up on Christmas morning and remembering the leg braces that seem to confine her to the couch, Jacqueline notices a gift from Santa. She opens it to discover fully rhinestoned crutches that return her Christmas joy.
