By Ron Evans
This September is looking to be a hot one. The Siren Project burlesque troupe is bringing together a group of performers who know a thing or two about teasing a crowd, owning a stage and having a goddamn good time doing it. I sat down with the director Miss D. Plexippuss and fellow Sirens; Onyx, Valkyrie Nox, and Medusa to talk burlesque, confidence, chemistry and what happens when you put this much trouble in one room.
You are a pretty new group, but this is not your first show.
Miss D. Plexippuss: No. This is our third.
What were the first two?
Miss D. Plexippuss: The first was called The Awakening, and the second was called The Twisted Circus. Most of the performers for Roadhouse— not all of them, but most of them — have performed with the Siren Project. We have maybe two new performers that are going to be with us. That may be a secret.
[Shhhhhs around the table]
So talk about where the Siren Project came from.
Miss D. Plexippuss: I do a lot of Burning Man and wood parties with different burlesque dancers and artists. And when I was out there, they did this really great show that had a crazy story with it. And then I came back into town and was like, I want to do this.
So I asked some of these girls, I said, “Hey, I have an idea. Would you want to be in it?” And that was The Awakening for the Siren Project. Basically, it was this story of these sirens up in the mountains and these two innocent people who wander up into the mountains and basically go join a cult.
Medusa: We honestly called it a cult.
Valkyrie Nox: It was very fae inspired.
Miss D. Plexippuss: Our image for that is inspired by the Enchantments, our local mountains around here because they’re really beautiful. But the joke is, sometimes this town is not quite ready for scandalous behavior. Either you go and enjoy your scandal, or you just never quite know what’s going to happen...
So after we did that, basically those two innocent people never came back. No one knows what happened to them. But then the sirens decided that they wanted to come down into town and do a twisted circus, where then you see the two innocent people who are not so innocent anymore. They have basically fully joined the sirens, and they all became different circus performers for one night only here in Wenatchee. We had fire spinning and all sorts of fun stuff.
A lot of these things start with one of the girls sending me a song and they’re like, “I swear we could dance to this.” And then I was like, “Well, we could create a story off of this.”
One of the sirens was supposed to be in the Twisted Circus but she couldn’t make it. So the news story is that while coming to the circus, she got lost, and in the best possible way, ended up in this Roadhouse. So we need to go get our siren back.
So this is an ongoing saga. I love that so much. How do you come up with the concepts?
Onyx: Usually there’s just some sort of little seed of inspiration. One of my acts in this show was sort of my inspiration. I heard this song that was really woozy and smoky, and I had a different way of thinking about it that we don’t normally do. So I brought it up to Miss D. Plexippuss, and I was like, “I’ve got this idea. Come sit down with me, and let’s go roll around on the floor and see what happens.” As we do.
As we do. [Around the table]
Onyx: And so we just talked about it, and it caught on, and then just grew from there.
So what can you tell us about Roadhouse without any spoilers?
Miss D. Plexippuss: We’re gonna meet some roadhouse patrons. They are very saucy, very easily antagonized, have a real joy for bar fights. But it’s approved. It’s okay. No one’s actually going to get hurt. But they are very enthusiastic. Let’s see...How would you describe it?
Valkyrie Nox: Imagine if you walked into a roadhouse, like a dive bar just on the side of the road in the middle of Texas, that was dirty and smarmy, and it was filled with beautiful women in fishnets and cut-off shorts, and those women decided to fight each other from time to time while taking off their clothes.
I’m in. Is it based on the movie at all, or just the concept?
Miss D. Plexippuss: It’s the vibe more than the movie.
Valkyrie Nox: We do encourage you to watch the movie Roadhouse before because you will appreciate cues from the movie in our show.
And you’re actually doing this one in a bar.
Miss D. Plexippuss: Yes, Temptress in Cashmere. It’s been really fabulous because they’re letting me reorganize the room with all their furniture to create our little stage area. We are providing the sound system, and they are going to help themselves and us by having a limited menu. Keep things simpler. Limited tickets, I think we are doing around 60. Plenty of parking but we do encourage you to carpool.
How many people are in the group? Does it change from show to show?
Miss D. Plexippuss: It does change from show to show. Roughly, I’d say we’ve had 13 different participants in ways. Probably eight core dancers, and then a few different people.
They do a great job, and they’re very enthusiastic, and they’ve definitely showed up for practices.
Valkyrie Nox: It’s exciting to see burlesque growing in this town. There are a number of different groups that are doing it, and there’s a lot of people who are wanting to get involved.
And it really doesn’t seem competitive.
Miss D. Plexippuss: No. We get to hoot and holler for each other and just be super excited when anything jiggles.
That’s the spirit of burlesque. When we first started the Radar Dames, we got some blowback about sexualizing or exploiting women. But when I talk to people actually involved in burlesque, the word that always comes up is “empowering.”
Miss D. Plexippuss: We get to own our body, and we get to celebrate it, and no one gets to take that — unless you have a bad audience member, and that’s when you have your bouncers. We do have rules. Rules are super important in this game.
Medusa: None of us would be doing this if we were being exploited. I think the only one being exploited is the floor.
[Laughs]
The floor didn’t give its consent. Or the pole, I guess.
I think the pole’s doing just fine. So what inspired you individually to try dance, especially burlesque?
Onyx: When I turned 30, I noticed everybody around me being like, “Oh, I don’t do that. I don’t do that.” As you get older, people won’t try things anymore. So I set a 30s resolution to be brave enough to be bad at things.
That turned into going to weird fitness classes, and then it turned into trying out pole dancing. And I was pretty bad at first, because you have to be. So I just keep showing up and being bad.
But in doing that, it was hugely empowering, and I learned to trust myself in a much different way. I’ve gotten so strong, and just being allowed to be sexy. This is a space where, oh, I can take my clothes off. Oh, we can all shake our titties at each other, and it’s fine and happy. It’s been huge in my life.
In normal life, I’m like, oh, I feel like I’m such a weirdo, but then I get with the Sirens, and I’m like, oh, these are my weirdos. So definitely finding a sexy, feisty group of not just women but people has been — yeah, because we’re really awesome.
Medusa: I went pole dancing, and I was like, I want to do that. It took years before I was able to do that. Pole was also my gateway drug to burlesque.
Valkyrie Nox: Pole was also my gateway drug. Because I wanted to find an exercise that I didn’t hate. So I started pole dancing, and I found this community of amazing people who are all supportive of each other. Even though when you start you’re terrible at it, everyone’s incredibly supportive. When you do something correctly for the first time, or when you get a little bit better, everyone around you is encouraging and clapping and excited for you as well.
Onyx: Yeah. You’re all doing a really hard thing. You keep being bad at it because you keep raising the bar along with you. You do get so much better, and everybody’s cheering for each other.
Medusa: I think about the first time I ever tried pole, and there were three of us, and we were all nervously giggling. We all showed up in sweatpants and whatnot. Because you don’t know.
Onyx: That’s the thing for me, just being allowed to be sexy. You show up in leggings, you’re not sure, and then you —
Miss D. Plexippuss: Take off your pants.
[Laughs]
Miss D. Plexippuss: The athleticism is a thing most people don’t talk about.
Medusa: Oh yeah. A minute straight of choreography and you’re dripping sweat.
And people don’t talk enough about the money and thought that goes into the outfits.
Miss D. Plexippuss: Oh, this is the most expensive hobby project ever. We all have real-world jobs.
Valkyrie Nox: I’ve brought people to burlesque shows who see the tipping aspect and equate it with, “Oh, this feels wrong. This feels like a strip club. This feels dirty or disrespectful.”
Miss D. Plexippuss: No, it’s not. There’s an assumption that because I threw money at you, that you own me. You do not own me. That’s not why you threw money at me. You throw money at me because you like what I’m doing. You want to support me. You want to celebrate me, and also you want to give me a little extra because I put so much time and energy into this.
One of my favorite parts of the Dame shows is going backstage afterwards and seeing everybody shoving their face with pizza, sitting on the floor and counting their tip money.
Miss D. Plexippuss: That after-show bliss of everything’s done and you’ve got your bag of money.
Medusa: Yeah, we can be a little gremlin again.
Valkyrie Nox: I realized that burlesque is so empowering sexually, to be able to express your sexuality outside of a sexual context. You’re able to embrace who you are in a different way.
Medusa: And it’s the only exercise regimen I’ve been able to consistently stay with. Everything else, it’s like bad diets where it’s maybe six months and then you’re off the rails. But it’s been three-plus years for me at this point. You don’t dump $1,300 on a pole if you’re not committed.
Miss D. Plexippuss: They’re expensive. Again, most expensive hobby project.
So there will be pole dancing in Roadhouse?
Miss D. Plexippuss: Yes. There’s quite a few pole numbers in this one. And so many surprises!
It sounds like you’re already building a following. People are showing up.
Miss D. Plexippuss: People are showing up, and it’s really nice to see.
Medusa: It’s been a lot of people we’ve just recruited through doing random things. We were out taking pictures — Just people seeing what we’re doing and we’re like...hey come to our show.
Onyx: Yeah, we’ll be goofing off at a bar, and if somebody’s watching, we’ll be like, “Hey, why don’t you come see some more of this?” We surrounded some guys the other night.
Medusa: One of them’s already bought his ticket.
[Laughs]
Good job.
Onyx: And we can’t help but dance. I don’t get cut off at bars from drinks. I get cut off of the jukebox.
What song was it?
“Possum Kingdom” by Toadies.
The goddamn Toadies. You’re out of here.
Onyx: Yep. That was it. I got cut off.
Well no one can cut you off at your own show.
Onyx: That’s right!
[Brief silence]
Miss D. Plexipuss: Well. Hopefully not.
[Laughs]
The Siren Project: Roadhouse
Saturday, September 26 - 7 pm
Temptress - 207 Mission Ave Ste. L
Cashmere