My Burlesque Days
My Burlesque Days

My Burlesque Days
Am I developing clairvoyant powers? Or was it just coincidence?
Here’s what happened: Yesterday I went out to my back deck in the forest, surrounded by waterfalls and flowers, and laid out my yoga mat. I lit candles and …
My Mom could never understand why I felt compelled to jump into adventures in faraway lands, and she would say, “Oh Marci, how do you do that? How do you dare to go to these places by yourself? Aren’t you scared?” This perplexed me, because when I travel, I feel the opposite of scared. When I embark on an adventure into the unknown, I feel more at home than I do at home
Walking through the front door was like entering another world. Red velvet drapes trimmed with golden tassels, brick walls covered with images of Josephine Baker at the height of her dancing, the kind of warm lighting that makes even the most weary of us look beautiful… Josephine peers out from every wall, bananas on her hips, feathers arching above her, body joyfully moving, her pet cheetah with a diamond collar walking beside her, a smile promising mischief… Chez Josephine is everything I love about the 1920’s, divine decadence, giddy and glamorous, an invitation to leave your cares outside and surrender to this one gorgeous moment.
Experts speculate which ancient battle Winged Victory was created for, but does it matter? We are all fighting our own battles in our own way every single day. The fact that we are here, out in the world, celebrating the majesty of the human spirit through art, creating our own art, walking through these treasured creations, letting their astonishing beauty wash over us, is a winged victory in itself. I wiped my tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand and walked on, with my shoulders rolled back and my dress rippling across my hips.
Now I can’t stop thinking of the wild pianos of Salzburg, and in my dreams, they gallop around the mountains, breathless and wild and glorious. If you catch one, you can sit down and make music like Mozart.
When I first saw him, I thought I was hallucinating. I looked up and saw a twinkling bear dancing through the audience at the top of the Superdome. I blinked my eyes a few times, and decided, real or not, this bear was my kindred spirit. Turns out the dancing bear was real. I was at a Grateful Dead show in San Francisco with several friends, when I first saw the Bear, and after hours of dancing, I walked outside…
Reaching out your hand full of sand and building a magnificent glittering castle, with room for everyone you have ever loved. You know it will soon be washed into the sea. Build it anyway. Revel in the gorgeous momentary beauty, and remember, one of the things that makes it all so beautiful is that fact that it won’t last. Nothing will. I have seen the darkness, been on my knees with grief, and I still choose love.
One warm summer night in Monte Carlo while backpacking in 1990, Zar, Tanya, and I decided to splurge on a banana split, while eating on a cliff overlooking the sea. As backpackers, we never ordered dessert, because we had to save every penny. But tonight, we were in Monte Carlo, and this was our way of being “high rollers.” The moon was hovering over the sea, turning the sky around it electric blue, and making the ice cream taste like…