Risqué business

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/04/2018 (2195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘Five, six, seven, eight… “

It’s Sunday evening at Ted Motyka Dance Studio, 460 Main St.

Know that superstition about how it’s supposedly bad luck to open an umbrella indoors? Well, if that’s truly the case, the dozen women participating in tonight’s burlesque fusion class are in for it, but good.

Meagan Funk is the students’ instructor. She is also the founder of Prairie Diva, a dance company that will host a showcase at the Park Theatre, April 27 and 28. Dubbed Spring Fever Burlesque Fusion Cabaret, the titillating affair will feature more than 20 acts each night, including pole dancers, contortionists and singers, as well as the troupe currently tempting fate with their exposed parasols, teasingly strutting around in raincoats and heels to a mash-up of Gene Kelly’s Singing in the Rain and Rihanna’s Umbrella.

“Listen up, ladies,” yells Funk, dressed in knee-high, leather boots, black tights and a sleeveless, white T-shirt bearing the caption “Babe, you got this.” “We only have a couple more practices before we do this for real so we have to make sure everybody knows where they’re supposed to be in the formation, at all times.”

After a woman named Amber raises her hand to ask if she and her fellow dancers should appear to be “cheerleader-happy or happy-happy” at that point in their performance when they doff their outer garment, revealing a mix of lingerie, tights and short-shorts, Funk replies, “Happy-happy, for sure. But at the same time, sexy-happy.”

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“That’s definitely the question I get the most,” Funk says later when, over coffee, she is asked what burlesque fusion is, precisely. “Burlesque fusion combines jazz and hip-hop dance with the elements of classic burlesque, minus the striptease. The easiest way to put it is, it’s dance, but with added sex appeal.”

OK, now that she’s cleared that up, here’s a second query: what’s a nice, Mennonite girl like Funk doing, teaching women age 18 and up how to seductively thrust their hips and shake, shake, shake their booty?

“My dad grew up in a religious household, but my own upbringing wasn’t particularly religious,” she says with a chuckle, mentioning when she used to dance professionally in Ontario — more about that in a second — her colleagues often assumed Funk was her pseudonym, until she set them straight, pointing out it’s a Mennonite name that’s fairly common in Manitoba. “I was four years old when I told my mom I wanted to take rap dancing, after making up my own routines to this Christmas rap CD we had in our house. There weren’t any hip-hop classes in Winnipeg at the time, though, so she put me in jazz (dancing) instead, which was the closest thing she could find.”

Funk continued studying dance until Grade 12, by which point she was entering — and winning — various competitions held around the city. At age 19, she packed her bags and moved to Toronto to take a one-year commercial dance course offered at George Brown College. After earning her diploma, she auditioned for “anything and everything,” eventually catching on with Carnival Cruise Lines as part of an ensemble that entertained the fleet’s guests, on a nightly basis.

“Our ship was based in Galveston (Texas) and for nine months, we went back and forth from there to Cozumel, Mexico,” Funk says. “We put on these big, elaborate shows with pyrotechnics and fabulous costumes and when we weren’t onstage, we were able to hang out at the bar or by the pool. It was tons of fun.”

Funk returned to Toronto at the conclusion of her contract. She spent the next two years splitting her time between teaching kids’ dance classes and performing with Koba Entertainment, a theatrical firm that presents live versions of animated children’s shows such as Franklin, Caillou and Strawberry Shortcake. In 2011, she auditioned for an open position in Niagara Falls, working alongside internationally acclaimed magician and illusionist Greg Frewin.

“What was funny was lots of times I’d try out for something like the Argos’ cheerleading squad, only be too told I was too short,” says Funk, pegging her height as “five feet tall, on the dot.”

“But because the Frewin job involved getting cut in half, they were looking for somebody under 5’2”, who could fit inside his trunk.” (One of the questions Funk fielded during her interview was, “Are you claustrophobic?” A better one might have been, “Are you felinophobic?” considering some of her “co-workers” turned out to be lions, tigers and jaguars.)

Funk remained with the Greg Frewin Wild Magic Show for three years. Her body took a “beating” from the physically demanding regimen, however, so in 2014 she and her boyfriend, whom she originally met in high school but didn’t start dating until they reconnected in Toronto a couple years later, agreed to move back to Winnipeg.

While she was living in Toronto, Funk took what she refers to as neo-burlesque classes. Hoping to hone her skills in that area, she looked for something similar in Winnipeg. After coming up empty, she started her own business, teaching burlesque fusion to individuals in this neck of the woods.

Get this: what began as a lone, weekly session with a mere three participants has since blossomed into a full-time, year-round venture that offers beginner, intermediate and advanced lessons in a pair of disciplines — burlesque fusion and lyrical jazz. (Funk also has a side gig, M. Funk Dance Productions, that provides professionally choreographed dance routines for events such as weddings, high school reunions and corporate fundraisers. Funk, along with her M. Funk Dance Productions team, will perform five numbers each night at the Park Theatre, next weekend.)

“You have to be 18 to sign up but that’s it, as far as rules go,” she says of her burlesque fusion classes. “It’s a very inclusive environment and what I enjoy most is seeing the progress people make, along the way. Often, they’re super-shy when they’re starting out but because everybody else is so supportive, they tend to get past that fairly quickly. Plus, besides the physical benefit of taking the class, there’s a personal side to things, as well.

“Probably my all-time favourite comment was when a lady in her 50s took me aside to say my course not only made her feel more confident in her relationship with her husband, but that it also made her feel sexier in her day-to-day life, as well.”

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Stefanie Palmer is a 35-year-old married mother of two. Last summer, she felt like she needed some “me-time” after giving birth to her second child. First she Googled burlesque dancing, which she’d studied years ago, then Winnipeg. The first thing that popped up was Prairie Diva’s website.

“My first session was last fall, which was a build-up to a Halloween-themed cabaret night at the Park (Theatre),” Palmer says, speaking loud enough to be heard over the strains of Tinashe’s Watch Me Work. “I was a full participant in class but I had already decided not to be involved in the show portion-of-things, only because I wanted to get more experience under my belt, before getting up on stage.”

On April 27, Palmer will be front and centre on the first cabaret night, when she and a fluffle of sexy bunnies perform a dance number to the big band standard, The Bunny Hop, while sporting rabbit ears, white-tufted tails and black tights.

“A bit of both,” she says, when asked if she’s nervous or brimming with anticipation. “Nervous because the show’s only a few days away, and excited for precisely the same reason.”

Nikki, who because of the sensitive nature of her job prefers not to divulge her last name, was one of the people in the crowd, hooting and hollering, during Prairie Diva’s October 2017 production. Although she had never danced on stage before, she was emboldened enough by what she witnessed that night to sign up for a class. On Friday, she’ll be part of Funk’s “umbrella gang.”

“My game plan is to practise a ton at home, so I’ve got all the moves down pat,” says Nikki, who is still debating just how much or little she intends to wear under her raincoat. “I’m a 27-year-old female who, like so many others, has some body issues, so it’s really nice to be with women of all shapes and sizes, none of whom give a crap what the other looks like.”

As for future showcases, Nikki says she’ll make a decision in that regard next weekend, when all is said and done. And danced.

“I’ve really been enjoying it and hope to do it again, next year, but the plan is to wait and see how the showcase goes. I was pretty boxy at first — it took me a while to loosen up — but hey, Meagan has me in the front a few times, so I can’t be that terrible, right?”

For more information about Prairie Diva, and to purchase tickets to the show, go to http://mfunkdance.com/prairie-diva.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca