Fluffy Friday: Kitten de Confidence
I am not with it when it comes to popular culture. For instance, I still make Paris Hilton references. I know.
So it’s no surprise that I was clueless when I signed up to take a burlesque dance class/workshop. I love all things vintage and in my mind I was going to a retro inspired Jazzercise class. I knew Dita Von Teese was a burlesque dancer. I had seen pictures of Dita in Us Magazine wearing vintage outfits I only dream of wearing but I didn’t really know what “burlesque” entailed. Had I spent a few more minutes with my pal, google, I might not have wanted to cry been so surprised when I flipped through class syllabus and saw a page with two circles labeled “Pastie Pattern”
You see, I’m the girl who ran out of the dressing room in tears at my first figure competition or nearly passed out when I was asked to pee in a cup in front of someone at my second competition. I’ll make a long story short. I have issues.
Bunnie, one of the teachers, wasn’t in the room for 2 minutes before she was changing into a pair sparkly pink panties and a matching bra that puts Barbie’s clothing to shame despite…well…looking nothing like Barbie. When the topic of “body image” came up, she said she knew she had “rolls” (Her words not mine.) but she didn’t care. It was true. She did have “rolls”. Her tummy very visibly hung down over her panties and to be honest there were bumps and lumps coming out from every strap and seam. She definitely wasn’t what came to mind when I thought of burlesque dancer but I also didn’t think of pasties either.
After going over how to choose the perfect burlesque name (Do NOT use words like kitty, kitten, or cherry….darn it.), making your own burlesque accessories and costumes, the type of glue to use to bling out a perfect pair of burlesque shoes and passing around pasties, it was our turn to stand up and find our “inner burlesque starlet”. I started to wish I had a magic cookie to make me shrink like Alice in Wonderland so I could hide inside my glove instead of “seduce” with it. After learning how to pull our gloves off with our teeth and about 2o0 different ways to use our boas, (Who knew a feather boa was could be so versatile.) they said it was our turn to dance. “You first!” we protested.
Bunnie turned on her music and began to strut her stuff and strut she did. If she was self-conscious about her body you certainly couldn’t tell it. She shimmied, shook, and seduced as if she invented the word “confidence”. She clearly didn’t give a damn that she wasn’t in on Victoria’s Secret (excuse the cheesy play on words). Bunnie was having a blast and I thought about all the times I let my lack of self-confidence steal my joy at the beach or at the pool. I may not have rolls but I’m still a long way off and will always be from “the ideal” and you know what, Bunnie made me feel like Victoria and her Secret can kiss…my glove. Burlesque may not be for me but confidence is no matter the circumference of my waist, the size of my bra, or the number on the scale and I’m not going to let anyone tell me otherwise.
Confidence is mine when I embrace me as me.
Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn
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This is my (almost) sane quest for insane health. Let's 
“Confidence is mine when I embrace me as me.” : words of wisdom Jenn!
It’s like the voluptuous belly dancers who always look so confident and beautiful – it truly is what you feel and project, huh? (take it from someone who practiced posing last night and couldn’t even bring myself to wear a very conservative sports bra in the classroom of my empty gym. All I could think is, I can’t take off my tank and I am supposed to be in a bikini in front of 300+ people in three weeks????!!!
PS – Goes without saying, pics of your are gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!! Hope Brent got at least a little boa tease 😉
As a very new reader to your blog, I have to say that I absolutely love love love reading your posts :O) You are so positive and easy to relate to, it’s a highlight of my day getting to read these posts.
Fun! (and scary). Dita still performs – we saw her here in Seattle last year. Not only is she unbelievably graceful, but she has this heartbreaking facial expression she does that I can’t really describe. It’s like watching a tiny fragile bird fly. I did get a big kick out of another dancer who did a much more upbeat boom boom 50’s leopard print dance. It was a fun night, and the hubby did not complain about me dragging him out for some dance performance!
Good for you for trying something new!
>>I’m not going to let anyone tell me otherwise.
Confidence is mine when I embrace me as me.<<
Wow, how true is this….inspirational Jenn. I think you should be a lil' parrot that sits on your friends shoulders to remind us of such truths every time we doubt ourselves
Derek
Ha! And I thought this post was about Meow Cow~! bahah!
I love your take on confidence, and I love your confidence. And the photos are great. Although I think that your glove might be tastier than some of the hugh jass salads I make for myself to strive for that ‘ideal’ figure that will always elude me. But I’m ok with that. Sorta
I do love seeing girls who are less than perfect exuding the kind of confidence that your teacher did.
Allie needs to read this post- she nearly ran screaming from a pole dancing class
(and she was left with bruises for her efforts!)
Love the post. I so wish I could’ve seen you there. Is there a part two to the class?
Love this! (Thanks Deb) I hated my pole dancing experience. I glanced nervously in the mirror the whole time like I was in Junior High PE. The instructors didn’t have “perfect” bodies (no one does without an airbrush) either but exuded sexiness, grace and confidence. I on the other hand, exuded clumsiness and distress. Oh well.
Lovely sentiments, Jenn! Confidence..that’s what my recent post was about (in addition to the pics) and you clearly! are radiating it, esp in the 1st of the 3 pics…oooh, love that shot! And I love that youve scored some nice photo sessions over the years that you told me about…great!
xo
So I have this really weird phobia: fabric in my teeth. You know how other people shudder just thinking about nails on a blackboard? That doesn’t bother me a bit. But that feeling – that whole body shudder – is what happens when I think of biting fabric. I don’t know why. But apparently this spells death for any burlesque aspirations I might have harbored.
Your account of your class cracked me up! Glad that you got some good confidence tips out of it! I’d have been curled in the corner rocking back and forth, begging everyone to please please take their gloves out of their mouths.
kudos to u for trying something! and even better walking away with something!!!! love the photos
You totally rock the burlesque look! The classically beautiful look, and you’ve got the come hither look DOWN! You always seem to ooze confidence. I truly can’t imagine trying to be seductive in front of people. I would giggle.
Hey, Ya know for a long time I didn’t even realize you are a homeschooler as well. I have two little boys myself that I teach who are 7 and 10. I realized in the blog you wrote on the B Bug (Slug like metblsm) about reading on the couch, how much I could relate. I thought I would tell you about a site that I found just yest by a lady named Angie, her site is called FitHomeschoolMommy.com She is also RKC, homeschools, etc… I don’t want to give you another reason to be on the computer too late aka “D” grade:) but I thought you would like her site. I wanted to email this to you, I used to have your address, but lost it. Hopefully you get this, I am also on SPARK on the KB team. Many blessings as you continue on your journey.
Thank you so much. I had fun checking out her site. Sounds like have lots in common!