Category Archives: people

My first week in Dubai

For those of you who missed my December email …

 

…I’d love to put you on the list.  Just let me know via chattrisse@gmail.com, easy peasy. ;-)  I don’t like how many features get lost or altered in the transition from MailChimp to WordPress, so chances are good that I won’t continue to rehash my monthly newsletter here on my blog every month.  Forwarned is forearmed, lol …

 

Well, well, well.

Some of you may recall the time in 2010 when I made it through several rounds of auditions to play the role of Nala for The Lion King onstage in Singapore, and ended up not getting the part. You might remember me trying out for gigs on cruise ships (multiple times), and at Universal Studios Japan (multiple times), and sending my information out to booking agencies for gigs in places like Mexico.  Maybe you knew that I felt pretty good after an audition for a Calgary booking but never heard back about that role, or that I spent lots of time and energy (and money) with a 7-piece band in 2012 which was supposed to play a nightclub in the Middle East for a few months … except that only 3 out of the 7 of us were ultimately offered the job.  And uh, yeah, I was one of the “other 4,” lol!

Actually, most of you are probably learning all of that for the first time, because I’m not one to enjoy talking about “failed” auditions (this post on my blog covers some of the many reasons why).  And now that I’m settled into my own room in a resort on the Gulf of Arabia, with the first week of shows behind me and many more months ahead, rereading encouraging letters/cards/emails and sharing pics and video with as many people as I can … I feel like I can finally exhale.

A Facebook friend of mine posted this recently and I just had to borrow it:

“It’s hard to keep waiting for something you cannot guarantee will ever happen, but it’s even harder to give it all up know it’s everything you want.”

I could say “Amen” from now until New Year’s Eve and it still wouldn’t be enough to show how much I agree with that quote.

So I want to send a very special shoutout to every one of you who is pushing for something big that *might* not happen (at least not in the way you think it will), because the fact that you’re still going for it means you are guaranteed to receive some kind of reward.

Now for those of you who weren’t really looking for a pep talk (lol, sorry!), here’s what’s new in my world!

1. Dubai.
I’m here, loving it, and settling in nicely.

2. Blogging and vlogging.
I will keep everyone updated as best as I can through www.chattrisse.com and www.youtube.com/seechattrisse and www.facebook.com/chattrisse … of course these monthly newsletters are good too but there will be something new every few days, if not every day, on at least one of those sites.  Please stay connected =)  (I actually just posted a recap here on my blog, complete with a few pics, so check it out!)

3. Staying busy (without the mic).
Singing these six shows a week and doing rehearsals is, of course, my main focus, but thanks to the magical splendour of the internet I’m also still involved with SabreUp, L I Brown Productions, and of course my online business with Arbonne International.  So if you need to hire talent/servers/support staff for one of those holiday functions coming up … or get a Digital Dossier  to highlight your strengths and start the new year out right … or shop for amazing botanically-based products now to score yourself an additional discount for later … just let me know!

4.  Writing.
Stay tuned.

 

Love and Peace,

Chattrisse

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Just in case you missed my November email update!

If you’re on my mailing list (you clever creature, you) you’ve already received all this info in your inbox, so feel free to scroll down and check out some other articles, I promise they’re all good.

If you aren’t on my mailing list yet … this is what you missed this month!

 

It’s about that time …

I’m roughly two weeks away from taking off for Dubai, and my list of things to do before I go is still pretttty long.

But the important things are getting taken care of … like learning the first 60 or 70 songs, packing, saying my goodbyes, getting a universal adapter for my appliances … buying at least one pair of shades ;-)

Anyway! Possibly my last Canadian performance for the year was a short-notice duet with my father at a ceremony for a very close friend of the family. Dad and I sang “When We Were Kings,” a song we’ve been performing together for years now, and I think we were pretty darn good! ;-)

Shoutouts are also going to my mom, who has launched her awesome signature product, the Digital Dossier. What’s that, you ask? Picture a resume, an interview, an audition, and a headshot all packaged together. Pretty much anyone can use a custom-made Digital Dossier to sell themselves and I’m honoured to be the subject of the first demo, which you can view here, and I’d love to hear your feedback, and feel free to check out www.thedigitaldossier.com to find out how to get one of your own!

Also! A big thank you to Ess for approaching me about an interview for TOinitiative  you can scroll down on my Facebook fan page to see my feature, published at the end of October, and definitely look over the rest of their site too! Lots of helpful resources for entrepreneurs and business owners in and around Toronto.

Last but not least, for those of you who haven’t had a chance to see the lyric video for Pisces yet, please view and share and like and let me have your feedback. Much love ALWAYS!!!

Love and peace,
Chattrisse

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False start? Not even!

On October 17, I posted the following on my Facebook fan page:

Wow. Wrote a screenplay last month and suddenly I find myself (with amazing teammates, thank goodness) producing and starring in a short film from it! We’re shooting next month. 

Lesson: incredible things happen when you learn what to say “yes” and “no” to ;)

Background info: with the support of my good friends Kerron Schullere, Sagine Semajuste, Jazz Testolini, and others, I wrote a screenplay in September and cast a bunch of my homies in it (including those three), with the intention of shooting the project next year when I come back from Dubai. Then some awesome things happened and even more amazing people appeared and a whole huge shower of encouragement and motivation and optimism fell out of the sky, and before I knew it we were on track to submit for a first-time filmmakers’ mentorship program this week, receive our yea/nay verdict next week, finish shooting by November 21st, and possibly/probably have our premiere in April 2014 at the ReelWorld Film Festival.

Awesome, right?!

Answers to tough questions were found, pathways were dug around and under and through obstacles, and this film was so close to becoming a reality that I was astonished. My reason for that Facebook post was the realization that saying “yes” to one possibility had bred even more possibilities, and aside from saying “no” to fear and doubt I was also saying “no” to other good things that I could be doing with the time and energy and resources already being invested into the film. After all, if I spend an hour itemizing the props needed for the shoot, that’s an hour that was not spent doing some other activity. That isn’t a noble sacrifice or a painful tradeoff; it’s the logical result of there only being 24 hours in a day.

Well, it’s a good thing I got used to this aspect of saying “no,” because just yesterday my main partner in crime Kerron and I decided to postpone the project. It isn’t dead, and really it isn’t even taking a nap — trust me, there’s still a whoooole lot of prep work to do! We decided, however, to say “no” to the upcoming deadline and how cool it would feel to say that it took only ten weeks to write, cast, rehearse, prep and shoot the whole thing. And in so doing, we’re saying “yes” to an even awesomer final product. (Yes, “awesomer” is a thing now. Trust me. You can start saying it too.)

It felt a little weird to realize that while I thought I had been posting this for other people to learn from, it ended up being advice from myself to myself. Thanks for the insight, Chattrisse-of-last-week =)

So stay tuned! And feel free to share your own stories of saying no to something you wanted, and whether or not you ended up with something even better!!

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You Are What You Are Reading

We’ve all heard the phrase “you are what you eat,” right? Lately I find what I’m reading is showing up in my life way more than anything I’m eating is showing up in my appearance. And it’s really cool…

 

Example #1: This One’s Pretty Obvious.

After reading several books on managing money (authors like David Chilton, Gail Vaz-Oxlade, David Bach, Robert Kiyosaki, Dani Johnson, and George S Clason; also, listening to mp3s by T Harv Eker) I’ve begun making some serious positive changes in the ways that I handle my finances. I was pleasantly surprised that my piece on the dollars-per-use shopping rule was so well-received, but I never thought of myself as someone who others would ask for money advice from until very recently. Now maybe it’s not surprising to most of you that after I became more educated on a subject, evidence of that education began appearing in my life (I paid off one credit card this year and I’m on track to being debt-free by age 30, yay!), but read on…

 

Example #2: Now it Gets More Interesting!

I’m finding that biographies are impacting my daily life too, like when I read Kitty Carson’s biography on Oprah Winfrey this summer. I’m well-aware of Oprah-the-lifestyle-guru-and-media-mogul, but reading this book taught me a lot about Oprah-the-broadcaster-and-interviewer, and all of a sudden – seemingly out of nowhere – I was given the opportunity to do a live webcast interview of Destra Garcia, during one of my best weeks in recent memory (which I also blogged about). I’m not under any illusion that I’m on Oprah’s level because of this one gig, but to have that experience with one of the biggest soca artists in the world sure made me feel I could do some pretty big, impressive, Oprahesque things!

A great live interview with DESTRA

A great live interview with DESTRA

 

Example: #3: From Interesting to Awesome.

Let’s talk about Dorothy Dandridge. I love her story and her image and her legacy so much that it’s on my list to do a blog piece just about her, but here’s a quick synopsis for those of you who don’t know the name and haven’t already left me to go Google her.

The beautiful, elegant Dorothy Dandridge

The beautiful, elegant Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Dandridge was an African-American singer and actress who rose above numerous personal tragedies and professional obstacles to become the first black person nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award (1954, for Carmen Jones). After the nomination, her career plateaued and then declined, and just as it seemed she was on the comeback trail again, she died of a drug overdose. She blazed a trail for hundreds of other performers, including Halle Berry who played Dandridge in the HBO movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and eventually became the first African-American to win the award for which Dorothy had made history by being nominated.

Here she is again! Just gorgeous.

Here she is again! Just gorgeous.

So what does this have to do with me? I kid you not: things in my life have started to pop up which mirror things I’ve been reading about in her life. (I read Donald Bogle’s biography of her three times before  returning it to the library this month, and did some online research too.) For one thing, the descriptions of the Dandridge Sisters (Dorothy, her sister Vivian, and their friend Etta Jones) harmonizing together and getting rave reviews definitely stuck with me because, as some of you know, deep down inside I would love to be part of a small singing group. Oooh, how exciting it must have been to sing with the big names of the time, like Nat King Cole or Jimmy Lunceford and his band. I would want to be the girl in the middle, like Dorothy was. And then what happened? Again seemingly out of nowhere, I was offered the chance to harmonize in a trio as backup for Lorne Morris, with several very talented musicians accompanying us… and guess who was in the middle?

L to R: Etta Jones, Dorothy Dandridge, Vivian Dandridge

L to R: Etta Jones, Dorothy Dandridge, Vivian Dandridge

L to R: Kelly Holiff, me, Kate Etienne, Lorne Morris

L to R: Kelly Holiff, me, Kate Etienne, Lorne Morris (Gareth Parry is on guitar in the background, and the DOP Martin is behind Lorne with the Steadicam)

Another similarity that made itself evident was the acting connection. Dorothy always had her sights set on a career as a leading lady of the screen. I felt for much of this year that my own career was at a plateau, but while reading and rereading the biography, I found myself going to multiple acting auditions per week. (My Carmen Jones hasn’t come along yet, but hey, it didn’t happen overnight for Dorothy either!)

And finally, one of the most triumphant periods in Dorothy’s career was her travelling nightclub act – she sang and gave wonderful stage shows, which the audiences loved night after night, accompanied by talented pianists like Phil Moore (another African-American groundbreaker in the arts and entertainment scene). And wouldn’t you know it, last weekend I signed a contract to perform for two months at a resort in Dubai as part of a duo – the other performer being a talented piano player who also sings – whaaat?!? Awesome!

I’ll release more details on that gig later, and will most definitely be blogging from overseas. But all this to say, even more than what you watch on a screen or hear in your earbuds, I find that what you read in a book in your hands has a way of showing up in your life in ways you weren’t expecting. (Whether this also happens when you’re reading my blog, I have no clue lol – you’ll have to let me know!)

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Three Things Non-Artists Should Never Ask their Artist Friends

I’m hoping you’ll forgive me for being a bit tongue-in-cheek here. If that’s even the right phrase. Whatever!

Have you ever tried to communicate with a person who spoke the same language as you, but your backgrounds were so different you didn’t understand each other? That’s how I feel sometimes when I’m talking to someone who knows very little about auditions, onscreen or onstage productions, or the studio recording process.

The first barrier to communication here is that the other person is probably a regular enjoyer and consumer of entertainment. So when we start discussing the creation of music or TV or live shows, they often feel like they know what they’re talking about. They usually don’t.

The second barrier is that it’s damn near impossible for a performer/artist to be emotionally detached from their professional results. So my well-meaning friend might ask me about a recent shoot or tryout just out of curiosity, with no idea that he’s grating on my nerves because I’m still allowing myself to feel upset that I didn’t do well, or wondering when they’re going to announce who got the part, or whatever.

While this divide will never completely disappear, I thought I’d contribute a few tips to the “normal” folks out there to keep in mind when you’re interacting with someone like me. Here are three things NOT to ask your artist and/or performer friends …

 

"If I had a quarter for every time I heard that ... I wouldn't be a starving artist"

“If I had a quarter for every time I heard that … I wouldn’t be a starving artist”

#1 – “How did the audition go?”

Right off the bat, let me say that artists will ask this of other artists all, the, time. This is because they understand the process firsthand, and it might even be a matter of comparing experiences auditioning for the same person or production. But if you aren’t an artist, it might be best to keep your mouth shut until your artist friend volunteers information about it.

You know how it feels when you’re job-hunting? Sometimes exciting or challenging, but more often frustrating and tiring? That’s how auditioning is, but with more of a personal buy-in and in some ways more pressure, and typically with less prep time. If I have just delivered my song and/or lines to strangers and interacted with them while continuously asking myself “Is this going well?” and you’re now asking me “Did you get it? … What do you mean, you don’t know? … Well, when will they tell you? … What do you mean, you don’t know?” … You’re not likely to get a smile from me. Not only am I (because I’m a tortured perfectionist) already knee-deep in self-admonishment about things I should have done differently; I’m also trying in vain to stop thinking about it because there’s no point rehashing anything that just happened and I’ve either got to focus on my next audition or focus on something else to distract me from the fact that I don’t have any other auditions lined up yet. Don’t worry. If the audition went well, you can trust me to tell you about it. (And even then, it’s best not to keep asking me whether I’ve heard back yet. Just try to do what I try to do and stop thinking about it.)

 

#2 – “Can I come with you next time?”

I get it. You think set life and studio life are glamorous and interesting. Sometimes that’s true! But I’d much rather you get your fix of celebrity (hahaha!) fun by doing something other than following me to work. The most obvious reason for this is that I want you to see a finished product, not the often-ugly process behind it. I don’t necessarily want you to hear the ugly process either — even I can’t stand listening to the playback from my takes in the recording booth half the time, so why would I share that dirty laundry with you?? The other reasons sound something like this …

One of my closest friends came with me to a recording session when we were in university. (Bless her heart! I think I invited her, back in the day before I knew better.) By the time we finally got home we had heard the friggin song five bazillion times and caught what sleep we could wrapped up in our coats on the dirty carpet of the studio. Sounds like fun, right? She wisely chose not to attend the video shoot for that song, which ended around 5am and was not nearly as fun as I’d hoped. Laughing at things that no one else found funny (like coffee being spilled on the equipment, and the video girls continually giving stinkeye to the camera and the singer) was all that kept me sane that night.

You know those behind-the-scenes features that let fans get a look at the creative process? Trust me; in most cases, you don’t want a closer look than that. If I feel it’s important to have you there because you’re part of the project, or the song is about you, or whatever, I will ask you to come in at a mutually convenient time. And if you choose to ignore this advice and pester me until you do end up on set or in the studio, don’t complain about how bored you are. I knew you’d be bored on set because I’ve spent hours being bored on set for you.

 

#3 – “Can you do this as a freebie?”

This is a big one. Your photographer friend, your cousin who plays in a jazz trio, your professional dancer girlfriend, and your uncle who does work on the radio probably all think very highly of you. But it puts them in an extremely uncomfortable position when you ask or expect them to do those things for you (or worse, for someone they don’t even know) without pay.

If a free or discounted service or product is offered by the artist, that’s one thing. That means they’ve already considered the financial loss, the potential gain, and the value of them offering that to you as a gift. And just like in non-artistic fields, if you don’t agree with the rate, you’re free to negotiate or look elsewhere. So know that this tip isn’t about those circumstances.

This tip is about assuming that because I love singing, I should sing at your event for free. After all, you love writing short stories, and one day you gave me one you wrote just for me and you never asked me for a penny. Here’s the thing — if your income is derived from your nine-to-five(s) and not from your short stories, your art is a hobby. Mine is a profession.

There are lots of other reasons to refuse these requests. Your uncle might belong to a union which has rules against him doing voice work for free. Your cousin has put more time and money than you are aware into their art (and so have the other musicians in that trio). Your girlfriend may be losing money just by attending your party instead of being paid to dance  somewhere else that night. And if your friend’s pictures look good enough to capture your neighbour’s wedding, doesn’t he deserve compensation? So while we’re still new and learning, by all means, let’s talk discounted rates. But when we’ve reached the professional level, please respect that the same way you respect the work and rates of professionals in other areas. (While we’re on the subject, one of my singer friends recently told me that she’s singing for free at a family member’s wedding because her mom accepted the booking on her behalf. Do you know any doctors whose mothers  arrange for them to do unpaid surgeries as a favour for someone else? Give me a break!)

 

Wow, this ended up being a long piece! But I hope this has helped some of my people … my talented, hardworking, often underappreciated, sometimes overly idealistic but nevertheless brave people … to be better understood by the normal population. =)

Me, Taylor Evans and Jazz Testolini backstage at The Opera House. I adore singing with these two!

I really would love to be part of a group …

Remember doing group work in school?

Yeah. I couldn’t stand it. I felt like I was always the student who did more than her share of work because someone had to overcompensate for the people who weren’t motivated by good grades or high achievement. (And for the record, no, good grades aren’t everything. But in school, they’re the main measuring tool. I was usually upset to receive anything lower than 90%.)

So any time the idea of singing in a group came up, I was quick to dismiss it. I grew up LOVING vocal groups like TLC and Boyz II Men, and still do, but I couldn’t picture myself as a member of a group. Chattrisse, in my mind, was a solo act. A one-woman success story. My African name at the time was Zenzele, which translates to “she will do it herself,” and I really wasn’t looking for any company onstage. Having to deal with multiple egos and personalities, running the risk of becoming a backup performer while the lead singer hogs the spotlight, and then having to split the paycheque between two or three or five people on top of all that??? No thanks.

I guess back then I still believed that you could do big, huge, world-shaking, record-breakingly awesome things on your own. And the further away I get from my school years and their haunting memories of “group” “work,” the more I realize that having a team not only makes most goals more easily attainable, it also lets you have way more fun along the way.

For example, I did a theatre tour earlier this year with two fellow cast members, and the energy we brought to the stage when all three of us were “on” was awesome. The backstage hijinks were also way more fun than if I were just noticing something funny with no one to share it with. And when one of us was feeling sick or extra tired, there were two other people there who could lend extra support. (Shoutout to Madeleine Jullian and Phil Poirier, I had a blast!)

Madeleine/Mollie, Chattrisse/Puppareena, Phil/Twitter - our last show

Madeleine/Mollie, Chattrisse/Puppareena, Phil/Twitter – our last show

Have you ever danced a solo? I’m still slightly terrified of that (working on it). But dancing that same piece with two other performers feels wicked! And honestly, as a singer, one of the best sounds in the world is your voice harmonizing with other voices.

So while I haven’t completely changed my mind about being in a group … for example, I’m not seeking group members and if I were I would try to create something where all the performers share the spotlight, taking turns singing lead on different singles … I’m not totally opposed to it anymore. It might be fun. It might be a ton of fun. And if it doesn’t work out, leaving a group has been a great launch to a solo career for lots of people.  ;-)

Oh, I almost forgot: the picture up top is of me, Taylor Evans and Jazz Testolini backstage at The Opera House. I adore singing with these two! I don’t know how long we’d last as a group though, lol! xoxo

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Grinning from Ear to Ear!

Phew!

So I’m noticing a trend here and I’m not mad at this at alllll: as the weather gets colder, my career heats up. Last fall I had a spree of auditions and bookings, and sure it’s still summer right now but that thermometer says fall is coming back real soon! Awesome things are happening. Here’s a page out of my dayplanner to prove that when it rains amazingness, it POURS…

Monday July 29: audition for an out-of-town singing gig.

Tuesday July 30: audition for a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, and I made progress in my ongoing search for the right manager.

Wednesday July 31: had an awesome time on an awesome boat ride with old and new friends, and some extremely attractive new acquaintances (hey, all work and no play would make Chattrisse a dull girl); and I got asked to interview Destra, the queen of soca, for a live worldwide audience via Caribbean Connections TV.

Thursday, August 1: I launched my blog (yep, this one – yay!!) and the wonderful Lindsay Holung, a fellow Ryerson RTA grad, recorded me and the wonderful Hollywood Jade doing one of his routines from his Urbanesque class (footage coming soon, I hope).

Friday, August 2: I got to interview Destra, the queen of soca, for a live worldwide audience via Caribbean Connections TV (I’m still so excited! Again, footage coming soon, I hope, lol!).

A great live interview with DESTRA

A great live interview with DESTRA

Saturday, August 3: Caribana! Played mas in an absolutely gorgeous costume with Carnival Nationz (for pics and a summary of the day, read this).

Sunday, August 4: Surprise – guess who was the SUNshine Girl the day after the big parade! And then a huge fete to finish off the jump-up long weekend.

Published in the Toronto Sun - August 4 2013.  "When she's not jumping up, Chattrisse dreams big..." they even quoted my love for KES the Band!

Published in the Sunday Sun – August 4 2013. “When she’s not jumping up, Chattrisse dreams big…” they even quoted my love for KES the Band!

And that was just, one, week. Love it!!!

Stay tuned for even more big announcements, coming up soon!

(Oh man, I don’t know how I can sleep at nights. Eee!)

Hope you’re all having an incredible summer too!!!

At my yearly pre-parade rooftop photoshoot.  Band: Carnival Nationz.  Section: Mandarin Fish.

Caribana 2013: Chattrisse’s Last Lap?

 

I spent a good part of this morning reflecting on what an awesome week I’m wrapping up. Lots and lots of high points, and the Caribana parade yesterday was one of them, but not #1 on the list — which was a little bit of a surprise for me.

Some background info for you: this was my 9th year playing mas here in Toronto and I, LOVE, Caribana. It’s helped me connect to my Caribbean roots, reunited me with people I rarely see, and (after my extreme shyness in my debut year) it’s provided me with a nice little boost of self-esteem.

with the homegirl Sabrina from Calgary!

But although the weather was nice, I was surrounded by soca, I felt good about how I looked, I was with friends all the way down the road and back, and I didn’t lose anything (how many masqueraders have painful memories of phones and cameras getting stolen or ruined en route?), it felt different. I felt different. I used to feel like playing mas in Toronto was the ONLY place for me to be on a Simcoe Day long weekend Saturday … and now I feel like that’s just one option.

It seemed like there were fewer spectators alongside the parade and it was weird to have none on the north side of the street for a good chunk of it; I don’t know how everyone else feels about the altered route this year, but I didn’t notice any improvements as far as wait time, organization, or the flow of vehicles and people.

Maybe the extra bodies I’m used to seeing on the other side of the fence were the people mashed up against me on the road. Listen, I know that the mingling of costumed masqueraders with everybody else is kind of a trademark of Toronto’s carnival, and full disclosure: I used to do it too! But it is really getting out of hand. If I am in a costume and you are not, and you’re asked to get out of my show area (my “stage”), leave. I’m there for you to look at, not to dance with. If I want to come hang out with you, text me to meet you at post #355 or wherever and we can make it happen. But when the music has to stop because of you, or the truck has to stop because of you, or the DJ is trying to explain nicely why you shouldn’t be here when he’d really rather cuss you out and so would I, you are messing up my experience. Gweh. Lots of pretty people in pretty costumes go outside the fences to get food or just to hang out, so no worries, it’s not like we’re completely inaccessible if that’s your issue.

There are lots of other external factors I could pick at … in fact I’m working on a Fetiquette blog post so stay tuned for that … but I realize it’s probably just me. I am (a) going through one of my moods, (b) outgrowing Caribana mas, or (c) both of the above. The mood swings, those are pretty par for the course and it has been an emotional spring/summer for me. Outgrowing things that you used to live and die for when you were young, I guess that’s normal too (even if it doesn’t always feel good). So I guess we’ll have to wait until next year to see whether Caribana 2013 was “de las lap” for me.

The two ladies on the ends, Fiorella and Jenny, are repping Saldenah (congrats for winning Band of the Year!) and Tiff and I are both with Carnival Nationz.

As of now, I’m still looking at doing something big to commemorate my tenth year (!) playing mas here at home. Maybe I’ll get a frontline costume. Maybe I’ll get body paint and a wire bra. Maybe I’ll get my own float. Or maybe I’ll get tickets for Trinidad Carnival from here on out.  ;-)

On set for a Divine Brown video shoot ... the first time I was ever paid to dance ;-)

Singer who Moves Well

Those of you in the world of musical theatre, or anywhere else where triple threats can be found, can probably guess what this post is about.

I love to dance; I have as long as I can remember; I’ve spent lots of money and lots of time taking dance classes and workshops, I’ve choreographed and taught others, and I even convinced my father that one night a week we should watch So You Think You Can Dance Canada instead of whatever sports channel he normally lives on.  (In fact, as I post this, I’m packing up my heels for a dance class later tonight – if the video footage I get is any good, I’ll share it later!)

But when people ask me what I do, I usually say “I’m a performer” or “I write and sing” or “I’m a singer and actor” … or, if I’m in a chatty mood, “I write and sing and act and dance.” I never just say “I’m a dancer.” I would kind of feel like a fraud if I did.

For one thing, Dancer Chattrisse is a baby compared to Singer Chattrisse (started singing in public around age 6) and Actor Chattrisse (first took classes at age 8) and Writer Chattrisse (who was born at age 10, an outgrowth of Poet Chattrisse who came on the scene around the same time as Actor Chattrisse but faded into obscurity much sooner). I never took a dance class in my life until I was the ripe old age of 12, and I doubt I will ever be able to do the splits; kicks and pretty turns are still challenges for me, and it was an absolute shock to discover in 2009 that my male dance partners could lift me into the air. So dance is still the area on my resume in which I have the least experience, and therefore the least confidence.

Besides that, many of my dancer friends have been dancing since they were toddlers. Baby ballerinas are not only adorable; by the time they’re in their teens and twenties, people who have been dancing for that long (with adequate passion and proper instruction) are not to be messed with! So I have this tendency to shrink away from calling myself a dancer because to me, they are dancers.

The labels “singer who moves well” and “ strong mover” are more appropriate, as dorky as they look and sound. And I’m not saying I’ll never consider myself to be a dancer dancer, because since 2010 dance has been creeping back up my list of priorities and presenting itself as an activity that really does keep me sane. It also makes me feel liberated and sexy in a way that singing and acting don’t always do … though that may be because the styles I’ve been learning and teaching lately are almost exclusively burlesque-tinged or Caribbean. Many of my professional friends and acquaintances have been nice enough to show that they really appreciate my talent as a dancer, and if the dancer dancers are calling me a dancer, hey, I must be getting closer to the point where I am one.

For now, though, let’s not ask me to do any triple pirouettes; let’s hold off on even the double turns. Isn’t that what body doubles are for??