Burlesque girls were alchemists. They were steel-tough performers who were willing to use kitchens as dressing rooms, haul their costume bags through the snow, and go into debt over fake diamonds, all for the five minutes onstage when they were goddesses.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the dedication and resilience of burlesque performers who endure hardships for a fleeting moment of glory on stage.
Molly Crabapple's quote emphasizes the transformative power and commitment of burlesque performers, who, despite facing significant challenges such as difficult working conditions and financial struggles, embrace their craft with fierce determination. The metaphor of alchemy illustrates their ability to turn hardship into momentary beauty and empowerment, emphasizing the contrast between their everyday struggles and the ephemeral exhilaration of performing.
In practice
In a speech about the resilience of artists in tough times.
All the writing elements are the same. You need to tell a good story... You've got good characters... People think there's some dramatic difference between writing 'Little Bear' and the 'Hunger Games,' and as a writer, for me, there isn't.
When I came to El Bulli, right away I knew I was becoming part of something incredible. It was like watching the Big Bang happening right in front of me.
The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.
In a dancer, there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength.
Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.
They both changed the way we hear the sound of the piano, both of them inventors of sonority: Chopin took bel canto singing lines and reproduced them on the keyboard above richly upholstered counterpoint; Debussy somehow preserved vibrations in the air, blending their ephemeral magic into music that reaches far back into deep memory.
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