I love learning about a performer's
process for putting an act together. For some, it's music first. For
some, it's a costume, and others, an idea they want to explore or a
story they want to tell. All these are valid; whatever works for the
artist and generates new material. One of my favorite performers to
speak with about this dynamic is Sydni Devereaux, The Golden Glamazon."
If you don't know what synesthesia is, it's a difference in the way the brain processes information for some people, and it varies from person to person. Some people taste words, for instance. Sydni has a light form of it that equates colors to music, and that's the bedrock on which she forms her acts. A purple song can't have a yellow costume! I'm wildly simplifying, of course, but Sydni has such lovely, colorful costumes, it just makes me all the more curious to think about what she's seeing and feeling as she owns every stage on which she sets foot.
Syd is, as some might say, a tall drink of water, hence the Glamazon tagline. I'll use the term statuesque. It's thrilling to see her glide across a stage, though she can murder with stillness and a knowing look on her face. The first time I saw her perform, she popped a pastie near the end of her act. When the music stopped, she stood there, plucked off the other pastie, and gave the audience serious face for about ten seconds, but to everyone watching, it seemed like an eternity of staring at an illuminating painting. It remains one of the most badass things I've seen on a burlesque stage.
On a personal note, when I went through a difficult time a few years back, several people and groups of people I've written about thus far checked in on me, and among the most consistent and understanding in that was Sydni. Perhaps the healthiest thing we can do as human beings is to stay well hydrated, and if that figurative drink is coming from a tall glass of water, then so much the better.
If you don't know what synesthesia is, it's a difference in the way the brain processes information for some people, and it varies from person to person. Some people taste words, for instance. Sydni has a light form of it that equates colors to music, and that's the bedrock on which she forms her acts. A purple song can't have a yellow costume! I'm wildly simplifying, of course, but Sydni has such lovely, colorful costumes, it just makes me all the more curious to think about what she's seeing and feeling as she owns every stage on which she sets foot.
Syd is, as some might say, a tall drink of water, hence the Glamazon tagline. I'll use the term statuesque. It's thrilling to see her glide across a stage, though she can murder with stillness and a knowing look on her face. The first time I saw her perform, she popped a pastie near the end of her act. When the music stopped, she stood there, plucked off the other pastie, and gave the audience serious face for about ten seconds, but to everyone watching, it seemed like an eternity of staring at an illuminating painting. It remains one of the most badass things I've seen on a burlesque stage.
On a personal note, when I went through a difficult time a few years back, several people and groups of people I've written about thus far checked in on me, and among the most consistent and understanding in that was Sydni. Perhaps the healthiest thing we can do as human beings is to stay well hydrated, and if that figurative drink is coming from a tall glass of water, then so much the better.
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