Burlesque from the Inside Out (BIO)
5-Day Live, In-Person Immersion (w/ 6 weeks support)
Soul Retrieval Solo Performance Art Experience
* limited to 5 participants *
Create and confidently perform a soul-nourishing, passionate, conscious burlesque act ... the kind that leaves you feeling more alive and at home in your body than you might have thought possible.
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I’m delighted to share with you how you can birth a soul-sourced burlesque act, witnessed in a safe and sacred container … being truly seen – unapologetically – as YOU.
… Without abandoning yourself in service of pleasing others
… Without performing for anyone except yourself
… And free from the need to hide, shrink yourself down or over-edit your truth in order to belong
Here’s the scoop …
I’m gathering a group of 5 deeply caring, highly sensitive women – coaches, creatives, therapists, healers, leaders and visionaries – to come home to your body and life through the creation of a solo act of soul retrieval performance art in a 5-Day Burlesque from the Inside Out Immersive Retreat, couched in 6 weeks of support.
You will create and perform an act – in a fully produced theater show – through which you have full permission to express yourself, enjoy and celebrate your body, and receive adoration and applause from a circle of sisters who are there to see the true YOU into existence.
As you are.
Your whole, beautiful self.
Vibrating and alive.
But here’s the real magic …
The connection you develop with yourself through the creation and performance of your self-revelatory burlesque solo will ripple out into your whole life, clarifying and deepening your relationships, reigniting and aligning your purpose, and fueling your creative ventures – from reawakening forgotten passion projects to launching your own work into the world for the first time, or on a bigger and more visible scale than was formerly available to you.
So how does this happen?
One of my mentors once said, “We’re only ever looking for a good mirror.”
It’s a fundamental human desire to be seen. And yet – because of millenia of patriarchy, intergenerational trauma and the shame born of them – it is also risky.
So we hide and edit ourselves into the far away background, not allowing our full selves to blossom nor embody our core values and purpose.
We have so few spaces in our world where it’s safe to be seen both vulnerable and in our power at once.
In Burlesque from the Inside Out, we reclaim this birthright.
You’ll experience being seen and mirrored in ways that feel good and call you deeply into your own body and experience.
You will no longer rely so heavily on catering your expression to what you imagine others’ desire to see in you.
And you will experience comfort in – and even *relish* – your own skin.
This is the kind of magic my clients experience in Burlesque from the Inside Out (BIO):
“I felt whole. Alive. Like a GODDESS. My soul was longing for this. To be seen. On my terms.”
“I got to create me, and actually inhabit me, which is virtually unheard of in this world. And do so with complete safety and trust.”
“I remembered and reclaimed parts of me that had been repressed or forgotten – parts that are sensual, joyful, trusting and creative. I felt supported and championed to take new risks and discover sources of energy and joy that were not previously available to me.”
“My business and relationships have flourished and it is no coincidence. I am creating my life and business from the inside out, and BIO has given me the tools to make this a reality.”
“BIO is a template to truly accept myself. To not reject my intellect, not reject my vulnerability, not reject my insecurity, not reject my belly, not reject whatever I'm tripping on body-wise.”
“BIO is so much more than peeling articles of clothing off … It allowed me to peel the layers of ‘life shit’ and conditioning back to reveal what is true, what is Me.”
“This will change the way I’m able to navigate the rest of my life, because I have a new level of self-authority.”
“I have found a connection to myself – a connection to my soul – that I didn’t even know I had access to.”
Deeeelish, yes??
All the therapy and yoga and meditation and self-awareness and healing changework of all kinds you’ve done have brought you to where you are now.
Bless all that work! What a journey it’s already been.
And perhaps more years of your chosen changework will yield the embodied expression you desire.
Or perhaps it’s primed you for this work.
BIO is a unique and unusual opportunity, to come home to your body, to have the visceral felt-sense that your needs and desires matter. That not only do you have a right to exist and belong as you, but both you and the universe will miss out on your luscious, radiant embodied essence being expressed through YOU if you stay hidden and frozen in existential shame.
As you take your raw desire and intentions from concept to fully fleshed-out act, with costume, music and movements that you choose…
… you’ll create a new relationship with your own amusement, fun, joy and pleasure in being embodied.
… you’ll experience being seen as fully yourself, without feeling like you’re too much.
… you’ll feel safe to hold your own power and trust your body.
… you’ll expand and savor the full range of feeling and sensitivity of the human experience.
… you’ll be a model for the next generation of how to fearlessly take up space as your true and full self, in your glorious of-courseness.
… you’ll be free to shimmy and shake your delicious hips, and enjoy moving your body without shame, but rather with delight, glee, and sovereignty!
✨💖✨ And of course, you’ll have a newfound and deep appreciation for glitter and rhinestones. ✨💖✨
Here’s All The Deets …
Burlesque from the Inside Out (BIO) Immersive Retreat is a joyful, deep, sensual, connected 5-Day intimate group experience –couched in 6-weeks of pre- and post- preparation + integration – focused on:
Creating, performing, and being witnessed in a personally crafted soul-sourced burlesque act that calls you home to your body. In a fully produced theater show.
Becoming the fully alive and powerful person who trusts herself, feels her feelings, and takes up her rightful space in the world.
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When you register you’ll receive:
Access to videos of the foundational Showgirl Awakening movements and their medicine, so you have the option to start self-medicating with the Shimmy, Circles, Extensions and more, to prime your sweet body to become your most trusted home.
A paperback copy in the mail of my book, How To Create A Burlesque Solo … From The Inside Out, which will guide you to shift your perception of performing, as something you do for others, to something you do for YOU.
A link to take the 10-minute Showgirl Archetype Quiz – if you have yet to – and will discover if it’s Diva medicine, Bombshell medicine or Vixen medicine that would serve you best in cultivating your most Alive and Well self..
Three weeks before we meet at the theater in San Francisco, a private 1:1 message thread opens up between you and me so I can coach you to be all ready for the days we gather together live online to birth your act.
Then the heart of the magic happens in 5 consecutive days, when your circle gathers together for Act Creation in the theater in San Francisco.
The first Immersion day is extra special, as we catalyze a degree of aliveness right out the gate that you may not have believed was possible. I will not say too much here, as it is something best experienced.
Our costume designer joins us to see what we’re creating and to add that difference-that-makes-the-difference to our gathered costume elements. She accompanies us on a trip to the fabric store in the neighborhood at the end of Day 1, guides us to pick up just the perfect additions that she will add to our costumes right there in the theater while we’re creating the acts!
On Day 2 and Day 3 you’ll receive both individual and group attention to learn to trust yourself, your body, your instincts and your choices. You’ll discover access to your body’s wisdom … and encouragement to follow it! Your body already knows your act!
On Day 4, we add professional lighting to take your act to the next level. We also have a full dress rehearsal, with the loving and capable support of our stage and house manager.
One glorious culmination of the experience is the showcase itself, when we perform our acts live in-person in a black box theater to an audience that I teach how to truly SEE us.
On show night, we gather together to prepare our bodies – with make-up, glitter and costumes. And then we prepare our souls, in an opening circle, where we set our intentions for the show. Both pre-show and the show itself are shot both by a professional photographer and videographer.
The magic of the showcase itself is hard to put to words, but one woman gave it a go:
“The 4 minutes of my performance felt like nothing I’d experienced as a grown woman. The support of the audience, the sisterhood with the other performers. More than anything, the permission I felt to express myself in full view of other humans.”
A couple weeks after the showcase we gather together one last time to celebrate and watch the 2-3 camera edit of the show together. This isn’t your typical “wrap party.” In this culminating event we turn up the dial on everything you’ve experienced and take advantage of your expanded capacity to Receive our glorious reflection of you. We also spend time harvesting the deep wisdom from our individual and collective journeys.
Our private message thread – both the group and the 1:1 – remain open for another week to continue to catch gold together and integrate the new felt sense of self that is now available into your life!
Here’s our meeting schedule ::
(On Immersive Act Creation Days we meet live in-person in San Francisco all day (~10a - 5/6p PT), Technical/Dress Rehearsal Day we meet all day (exact hours TBD), Showcase Day we meet at 4p or 5p, in to the evening and Video Viewing Day we meet about 3 hours.)
Monday, July 17 :: Telegram app 1:1 thread opens for pre-retreat support.
Consecutive Days August 4, 5 + 6 :: IMMERSIVE ACT CREATION (all day)
Monday, August 7 :: TECHNICAL + DRESs REHEARSAL DAY (all day)
Tuesday, August 8 :: SHOWCASE DAY (4p/5p - 10p)
TBD :: SHOWCASE VIDEO VIEWING + CLOSING CIRCLE
Until Wednesday, August 30, I’m available on our 1:1 Telegram thread for continued integration support.
Can’t make these dates? Inquire about 3-month online BIO or VIP 1:1 online BIO
Got Questions?
I’ve Got Answers …
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Nope. You don’t need any dance or performance experience to participate. Truly, truly, true. You simply need to be alive. To be a human. And have a desire – even if it scares the living daylight outs of you! – to be SEEN … as YOU.
And if you do have dance and performance experience, you are also welcome to join us! I have noticed it can take some extra unlearning for experienced performers to begin to use their own feeling as the guide for creating their solo, rather than outer expectations, but the rewards of doing so are immense.
Whether you’ve never performed, or have decades of experience, the gift of BIO is the felt-sense of being ‘all here,’ present in your body, savoring the moment, creating and inhabiting *you.*
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Immersive BIO Immersive Retreat is limited to 5 participants to ensure each participant receives ample individual attention.
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Most of the women I work with identify as HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) and introverted (I identify as an extroverted HSP myself). BIO is a rare group setting where those who normally shy away from groups have had nourishing experiences.
You are not only free to, but encouraged to track how you really feel and what you really need, moment-to-moment. This is what BIO is founded on, and we practice it not only during our acts, but all the time we spend together, and we begin to use that same calibration in all the other minutes of our lives!
We actively practice resonating with each other, and genuinely affirming each others’ existences. Your experience is paramount.
This may be your first time of feeling held in a group setting, of being comfortable in your own skin … with others.
We practice seeing each other through a lens of relationship, a right hemisphere-leaning lens, rather than an instrumental brain, or left-hemisphere leaning lens.
Your authenticity AND your felt-sense of belonging, dovetailing *finally*!“When I say I’m not a group person, I swear it’s true. I’ve done a lot of things; I’m old. And I never felt as held and comfortable … I never felt like I fit in until now in this space.”
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Simply put, NO. You do NOT need to end your act in pasties.
And don’t worry if you don’t know what the word “pasties” even means yet! They are bejeweled nipple covers, by the way :) They are typical in burlesque as a final “reveal,” after a costume bra is removed.
The byline of my book, How To Create A Burlesque Solo From The Inside Out – which ended up on the back cover, but is nevertheless a byline – is: Never Ever Ever Show A Disembodied Boob.
What do I mean by that? If the prospect of removing your bra during your act causes you to dissociate at all, then, DO NOT remove it! We are working with deep levels of consent in BIO, and you tracking your genuine desire and moving from that place is KEY to the good magic we’re up to of cultivating your own self-trust and self-sovereignty.
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You absolutely do NOT need to wear heels. Over 50% of Burlesque from the Inside Out solos are barefoot. And if you choose to wear shoes, they can be heels, tennis shoes, combat boots … whatever both serves your aesthetic and concept. What is key is that you are comfortable and present in your body, not having your attention on not falling over!
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BIO is not a dance class, per se. It’s a group coaching program in which we use the creation of a self- and soul-sourced solo as the vehicle through which we arrive home … home in our bodies. And you do end with a real solo! That you can perform again and again. They are living acts, which give new medicine every time we perform them.
Except for the first Act Creation day, it’s unlikely you’ll sweat, as we spend much of our time witnessing each other (and being genuinely in AWE at what we see). We exercise our people-seeing muscles more than our physical muscles ;).
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I will not choreograph your solo for you ;) But I will coach you directly on how to discover your own signature movements that you may not have even known were yours. And I’ll help you craft them into a piece that both gives you the experience you’d like to have in your body AND expresses it to the loving, sacred circle who will witness you.
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BIO is not intended to be the first place that you address your trauma.
While BIO can be incredibly healing for a lot of people, it is not a space for specific trauma processing. It is therapeutic, but not therapy.
BIO is deep embodiment work. If feeling yourself in your body may cause you great distress, please begin with therapy. If you have any questions about this, let’s chat.
An ideal spot in your healing journey to do BIO is after you’ve done a fair amount of self-inquiry and healing and growth work. BIO is intended to build on that foundation and take you by hand, straight to the center of YOU.
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Women of all races and all sexual orientations are welcome in BIO. And by women I mean cisgender, transgender and non-binary.
Creating self- and soul-sourced solos as we are, we are dismantling patriarchy and systems of oppression within our very bodies, from the inside out.
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I’ve been a performing and teaching artist for over 20 years, with burlesque dance as my primary medium. I’m a 5-time finalist at the Burlesque Hall of Fame, 5-time international festival headliner (Chicago, Austin, Toronto, Munich and Osaka), and Queen of Carnaval San Francisco 2008. I’ve won whimsical awards like ‘Little Miss Aftershock’ – for my outstanding shimmy-shake.✨
I’ve always approached art making and art sharing relationally. And have cared for the whole person in each of my students, whether they were with me for an hour, a season, or years.
Over the last 14 years, I’ve supplemented my coaching and space holding with advanced certifications in EFT, Transformational NLP, Systemic and Family Constellations and Interpersonal Neurobiology, to name a few.
My main learning has been in holding space for actual humans in intimate circles, as it becomes safe for them to become more and more of who they are.
I’ve been leading BIO circles for more than a decade now. And am both surprised – and quite delighted – that the transition to online circles has only deepened the work, if anything.
BIO is the thing I needed that I couldn’t find in the world. So I created it.
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I honestly don’t know when I’ll be offering another live, in-person BIO Immersive Retreat, as our home base is closing. I am offering 3-month BIO online beginning in September 2023 (Thursdays 5-8PM PT or Mondays 10AM-1PM PT). When you reserve your spot for the fall now, you have the option of an extended payment plan and you receive complimentary spots in Being SEEN on your own terms :: Burlesque as a PsychoSpiritual Practice between now and then!
Sounding juicy?
Allow me to answer your likely, most burning question. How much does it cost?
If you’re feeling deep in your bones that you want to join this life-giving experience for it’s final expression at Stage Werx Theatre San Francisco in August 2023, let’s talk about the price.
Your investment for the unique offering of Burlesque from the Inside Out (BIO) is $3997 if you choose to pay in installments, or $3600 if you pay in full.
Installment plans for this experience range from 2-3 months, depending on when you sign on. And we can talk about what works best for you.
This work will profoundly impact you as a human being and the way you show up in your life. Participants have said the positive change they have taken away is priceless, and their lives have been changed in more ways than they can count.
As a bonus, you will receive complimentary access to all “Being SEEN on your own terms” workshops from the day of your first payment through to the end of your BIO experience (a $1050 value).
Are you feeling called and/or curious how this would be for you?
Here’s your next step:
(Not quite sure yet? Apply anyway, there’s no obligation and I am happy to have a chat and answer your questions, then you can decide how you would like to move forward.)
If you’re a BIO alumna – or alumna of another Showgirl Awakening program – I can directly send you over your payment link, agreement and then your welcome details. If not, we’ll hop on Zoom and have a short chat first.
Love + Shimmies, Beloved,
Your Very Own Showgirl Shaman,
