THE SOUNDS OF IT, THE SHAPE OF IT (Patreon)

Unfortunately, there are no video recordings of Barbette performing to be found. 

The best I can do is try to find whatever details of her act I can scrounge up from written accounts. On the matter of music, there is at least record of Barbette’s act being performed to Rimsky-Korsakoff (Scheherezade) and Wagner.

Let's start with the latter. Wagner is some big-feelings, big-room listening. Barbette’s act included multiple aerial apparatuses as well as wire work. There’s a different sense of timing, risk, and space in aerial work than contortion. I'm not so sure Wagner is right for a contortion-heavy act. Imagine the busty opera singer wearing the helmet with horns stereotype: she might be overwhelming in the context of contortion, but I could see it working for an act that had you hovering high above the audience’s heads, risking your literal neck in a more visceral way than any contortion trick I might throw out there. No, Wagner simply wouldn’t do.

The Scheherezade violin solo is beautiful and sweet – perfect for setting the stage for the illusion of high femme showgirl that both Barbette and myself had on offer. As a whole, though, the piece itself left me feeling wanting. There wasn’t enough energy. It was too romantic. The tempo and dynamic changes didn’t have enough amplitude. I wasn’t falling in love with it, from a first listen.

What about something unexpected? I thought, tapping my pen against my teeth in a Montréal coffee shop one morning in July. I started scrolling through years of saved Spotify playlists. What about something cheeky? What might’ve been considered a scandalous striptease and costuming choices in 1920 aren’t exactly going to raise eyebrows in 2021; maybe I needed some musical accompaniment that was equally bold?

Sitting in a café one humid Montréal morning, I started cycling through 70s hits. My shuffle landed on Redbone’s Come and Get Your Love and a slow grin spread across my face, which turned into giggles, which turned into muffled full body laughter.

Jen raised her eyebrow at me across the table, disturbed from her own productivity. What on earth are you listening to? her face said. I handed over one of my earbuds and restarted the song. Jen started laughing, too.

“Well, that’s the first time I’ve seen you look actually excited about this act,” she said, handing me back the headphone. I was still chuckling. “I think this is the direction you go in.”

I sat with that for a few days, seeing how the idea settled.

Meanwhile, I got to work twisting myself in tight little mental circles as I went through draft after draft of what the costume layers for this version of Barbette’s act might be:

How do I make a latex catsuit work underneath a showgirl outfit?

Maybe there’s no showgirl outfit.

Maybe it’s just different ‘looks’ of latex.

Maybe there’s just bizarre inflatable latex pieces that obscure my figure -- a really loose interpretation of Barbette’s stripping down layer to layer.

Argh – no – that’s too complicated for the time I have. That would need more research and development time than I’ve got.

Okay, what if there’s no latex? What if I just go really true to what I can see Barbette wearing in the May Ray portrait series of her?

No, that won’t work either. This producer wanted latex. Damn him.

So I guess I’m back to, How do I make a latex catsuit work underneath a showgirl outfit?

I needed help, on both fronts– the musical choices, and the costuming – to move forward.

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[to be continued]