Medium is really only for suckers who don't know the concept of value.

Another summer is almost over.  We had quite a few scorching hot days, some strangely cold and stormy days, and some really bad smokey-aired, burning lung days. Gotta love fire season! We had a thoroughly cold and soggy Bite of Bozeman and the second day of the Sweet Pea Festival felt like a cruel joke as we had nothing but on and off cold rain and wind. Awful. So I didn't get to take as many dance performance photos this year as I'd had hoped. I'm still editing some of them, but here is the gallery thus far:

Dance at Sweet Pea Festival 2015

The only three groups I could capture this year were Amy Seiwert's Imagery, Main Street Dance Theatre, and The Dance Center (the TDC photos are still to come).  All were fabulous and it's always such a treat to be able to see so much awesome dance in one weekend. There were other fantastic groups on the roster, but many were cancelled on Saturday due to the stupid weather.  Here's Rob and I struggling to contain our epic pouty faces as we hide from the rain.

On Sunday, the rain cleared and I had the opportunity to perform in this year's Sweet Pea, my first time on the Cypress Stage, yay! I had the opportunity last year, but my stupid calf muscle injury had me sidelined. This year, I was able to perform twice. The first was a little ballet number I choreographed to Anyone Who Knows What Love Is by Irma Thomas. I first heard the song in an episode of Black Mirror (can't recommend that show enough!) and fell in love. I was joined on stage by the beautiful and talented dancers Lottie Rhyner and Stevie Peterson. Oh, fun fact, always check for sneaky hooks and eyes on your costumes, folks! My dress kept hooking onto the back of my hair throughout the dance. Curses!

The second dance was choreographed by Stevie Peterson, who always whips up super fun choreography. This is to Belleville Rendezvous. That's Stevie, Lottie, and I, bopping and a-smiling.

So this entire summer has been lots and lots of dance rehearsals. Thankfully, I've remained injury free so far. Yay!  Now I'm knocking on wood like a woodpecker with ADD as the annual IndepenDance performance is coming up on Saturday, September 12. I'll be performing in three pieces this year. One is a flashy jazzy number choreographed by Jennifer Waters. The second is a fast and fluid contemporary piece by Stevie. And the third is my own contemporary piece called Pristine. Because I'm a weirdo and obsessed with seven minute dances, it's another seven minute long workout set to my own techno infused music with sleek black costumes. It's inspired by this incredible film…my favorite sci-fi movie ever.

Here's my original music that accompanies the dance:

Pristine (dance performance mix) by Damsel in the Dollhouse

In other news, we had an awesomely fun time with our super fabulous friend Sarah for three days in Missoula! The original intent for our trip was to attend an event, but due to many unexpected and uncomfortable factors, we ended up haunting downtown Missoula instead!

Sarah, Rob and Nina take Missoula!!!

Brunchy awesomeness!

giant chai during brunch at Catalyst

strolling in style in our pagoda parasols

riding the ponies at the Missoula Carousel

 A Moment's Repose: viewing art and confinement at the Old Prison Museum in Deer Lodge

Here, let's look at something ridiculous!

Hahaha! We're such weirdos!

In costuming news, I finally got around to doing something with this red prom dress I bought at the local thrift store for, I think, ten bucks.

totally prom dress needs a totally new look

It basically sat in a bin for two years. I initially wanted to turn it into a Victorian gown by combining it with another sleeved gown, but it just wouldn't come together in my head. With an upcoming live performance in my midst (the aforementioned festival), I decided to take this puppy out again and see what I could do with it. I had created and worn another red and black gown for a previous live show and considered wearing it again (see below), but I I really wanted to do something new.

I still love you, my pretty! I'll wear you again, I promise!

I cut the prom dress just below the waistline so I had a separate top and a skirt. Then I cut the skirt up the middle and stitched the edges. Since I'm obsessed with the 18th century silhouette, I knew I wanted to poof out the hips with some tulle, so I started there. Then, after finagling with it on my dress form, I decided to go with a bustier style top and a skirt that could be removed to reveal a hidden black mini underskirt. After many hours of stitching on fancy trims and bows, I ended up with the final design. I also made some flouncy arm attachments (not pictured) that could be removed during my performance.

So there you have it, what a summer, huh? I guess this regular blogging thing isn't as easy as I thought. Next post I hope to have some new photos to share and some more dance updates!

Opening Quote: Ghost World (2001)

I am not steak, you can't just order me!

Ever get that feeling of "if only I had a day off to work on this or that" and then when you do have the time off you end up having no motivation? Or you have the motivation, but it all comes out less than stellar and you feel like it was wasted time? An optimist would claim that no time working on your art is wasted, even if you feel less than fulfilled. The pessimist just wants to binge on ice cream and slump on the sofa for hours saying "f*ck this, I'm done" and watch the original Mad Max trilogy.

Anywho, I'm happy to report that I recently had the opportunity to perform live on stage with the Sarge back on May 16, right here in Bozeman during his song ADSR: Music from Space. He also performed two live sets during the night and it was such a treat to see and hear his new songs from This is Tomorrowland. Here's a quick little clip of our performance:

Sharing the bill for the night was DarkMountain Cirkus, a band from Deer Lodge, who were a lot of fun and I highly recommend that you check them out if they haunt your neck of the woods. They tackle so many different genres that it's such a hoot to listen as they go from country to metal to rap to 80s pop. In spite of soaking wet floors and a leaking ceiling (seriously, I'm glad no one was electrocuted and no equipment was damaged) it was a memorable night and we made some inspiring new friends.  We look forward to seeing DarkMountain Cirkus again in July as all of us will be performing at the Montana Dark Arts Festival.

Download ADSR: Music from Space by Sergeant Sawtooth from iTunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sbx-10-extended-version/id484315902

Check out DarkMountain Cirkus online here: http://dmcmusic.us

(Sergeant Sawtooth in action)

In other music news, I released one of my newest songs from Feast of Villains via SoundCloud just last week. It's called Hannibal and it's about…well, the character Hannibal. I chose to focus on the character from the television series as the entire cast, director, and artistic team go above and beyond with the grotesque yet beautiful fantasy of it all. The song focuses specifically on the events in the season two finale as the untouchable Hannibal confronts Will and loses the friend he thought he had and the trust they had built between them. So damn good! I know my song doesn't do it justice, but it's fun to pretend to be a broken-hearted evil character standing on a blue-lit stage in a German underground club while crooning to a sea of goths within a smokey room. At least that's how I picture it being sung.

Here's my new song "Hannibal":

Hannibal by Damsel in the Dollhouse

(not entirely Hannibal-esque, but there are organs on the menu!)

The third season of Hannibal returns June 4th so get excited, fellow Fannibals! I also bought the Art and Making of Hannibal book which you can currently find on Amazon. I will admit, it's not as exceptional as the Art and Making of Penny Dreadful book (which is absolutely gorgeous and is another of my favorite shows) but it's definitely worth having if you're a fan. It shares information and lots of photos of the costumes, the props, the sets, and how they did some of those amazing special effects. The cover alone is a work of art as the heart on the plate resembles a 3D model that's shiny and icky and wonderful to look at in person. Just buy it already.

Here's the Hannibal book:

The Art and Making of Hannibal

(catch Hannibal on NBC)

Here's the Penny Dreadful book that is simply delicious and absolutely a must have if you love the show. It details each of the season one episodes and includes so many sumptuous behind the scenes photos and sketches. Every page is dripping with gothy gothiness!

The Art and Making of Penny Dreadful

(catch Penny Dreadful on Showtime)

In photography news, back in April I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph the talented aerialists, Karen and Galen, of Aerial Arts of Bozeman. Click on the link below to see the full gallery of images as they performed some truly amazing twists and turns and extensions via silks, lyra, and trapeze.

Aerial Arts of Bozeman Gallery

If you are interested in learning from these two incredible artists,

please visit them at: Aerial Arts of Bozeman Website

This weekend I'll be capturing the annual recital of Main Street Dance Theatre. Stay tuned for lots and lots of dance pics coming soon!

Opening quote: Working Girl (1988)

No time for the in and out, love. Just came to read the meter!

Busy, busy, busy…working on the album. But as usual, I always feel the need to add yet another project to my plate for kicks and giggles. And, well, this one would definitely supply some serious giggles. I'm talking about my epic plan to photograph a series of fake album covers for none other than Sergeant Sawtooth. Here's a sampling of what has been discussed thus far:

Rob in speedo playing synthesizers in space
Rob in 80s outfit with keytar
Rob in 80s workout gear
Rob with 2XL (romantic dinner, in bed post coital)
Rob is Live at the Co-Op - three versions of Rob (flute player, bongos, tambourine)
Psychedelic Rob - Crimson and Clover video
Rob as Bob Guccione
Rob in 70s cookbook motif (spiral cut ham, ambrosia salad, red velvet details, fondue pot)
Gothic Rob - black wig and costume
Flamboyant 18th century Rob - eating a huge leg of mutton or turkey leg
Rob jogging like Doctor Detroit in sweatsuit, headband, and radio headphones
Fifties housewife (me) and Gimp (Rob)

Just let the awesomeness sink in for a moment and imagine every single one of these strokes of genius. So you see, I'm on a mission to make these photos happen. Because minds need to be blown.

Oh yeah, and I just found this incredible nightmare fuel at Nu2U. And she is now mine, all mine!!! She's a talking doll, but her voice mechanism is broken. I'll need to see if there is any way to make her talk. You know, cause I'd like to hear what satan sounds like.

I have named her Hildegard. Hopefully she doesn't murder me in my sleep. For her lord and master, satan.

I hope she makes friends with my other creepy brethren.

Opening quote: A Clockwork Orange

What's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!!!

After roughly three months of working on music videos for the Sarge and one for myself, I feel like I'm really flexing my Adobe Premiere muscles once again.  Boy, Premiere certainly beefed up it's editing options since the last time I tinkered with it! I did experience some buggy issues with Premiere Pro CC 2014 so I had to try and limit my later videos to the previous version just to avoid crashing. Weird. But it felt great to record footage and then get in Premiere and play, play, play. And did you know that you can use Photoshop to edit video footage, too? Holy smokes, it completely blew my mind! You can do all of the same awesome photo editing to your video footage for a whole new level of digital wizardry! Boom. So cool. Needless to say that I hope to do some more video fun stuff soon. Here are the finished videos:

Now it's time to focus on other projects! And there are plenty! So what's next in my creative box of crazy concoctions? Here's what's cooking from May thru September:

Music:
Finish songs for fourth album "Feast of Villains". I'm trying to get this one released by early July so I can bring some CDs to the Montana Dark Arts Festival. I'm crossing my fingers since the songs still need a lot of work.

Still need a song about Alex de Large. He's one of my favorite villains. Not sure anything I write will be Clockwork Orange worthy, but I gotta do it.

Need to photograph images that correlate with as many songs on the album as possible (there will likely be 12) and photograph cover art.

Need to create press release for album.

Need to create album trap-in and CD label.

Music videos for my songs? Hmm. Not sure how to swing this one.

Need to update my website when the album is done.

Need to select songs for Dark Arts Fest and start rehearsing, it's in July. Gah!

Need to design and create costume for Dark Arts Fest. Do I echo one of my villainous songs? Hmm.


Dance:
I'll be choreographing and performing in the local IndepenDance performance this coming September so it's going to be a dance centric summer, for sure! My piece will be science fiction inspired, very replicant Blade Runner-esque.

Need to finish the song for my IndepenDance piece. It's almost done, need to record vocals and figure out if the album song will be exactly the same as the dance piece song.

Choreograph the piece. It's going to be fast with plenty of stage patterns due to the large group of dancers. Sketches will help immensely. Rehearsals start in June. I'll have three months to complete the six minute dance with 11 dancers.

Costume all of the dancers. So begins my weekly visit to thrift stores in search of science fiction inspired clothing. Think Blade Runner. Nothing apocalypse looking. Looking for black, silver, pops of color, sleek, strange, minimal texture, odd materials or details, and comfortable to wear and move around in.


Photography:
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to photograph the Yellowstone Ballet Company's production of The Little Mermaid. It was so beautifully crafted and enchanting! There are more dance performances coming up so I'm hoping to share more dance photos soon.

Here's a link to the pics:  The Little Mermaid


Just for Fun:
I really want to create a cartoon called The Adventures of Dahlia and Persephone just to capture some of the ridiculousness of our two young kitties and their puss-cat hijinks. Our two girls are so full of the friskies and always eager to learn and explore new things. Maybe animation? Just some simple sketches? Hmmm.


Opening quote: Seven