Infamous Ladypants Salons!
By 2000, while pursuing doctoral study at UC Davis, I opened the doors of my apartment to fellow graduate students to engage in deep experimental performance practices. These Apartment Salons at UC Davis became an informal performance laboratory for testing and sharing work across live art, installation, theatre, dance, performance poetry, and physical theatre.
The intimacy of the apartment created a different relationship between performer, spectator, and environment, and marked the beginning of my curatorial practice—an early model for what would later become the House of Ladypants.
The results were nothing short of an art-making renaissance for all. Within the salons, I created three site-specific performance installations using burlesque as a frame, exploring female sexuality and visceral spectator/performer relationships. The salons were also the birthplace of Putoh, co-created with artist Xavier Lopez Jr.
The Strip Salon
Preparation and Presentation: Welcome to the Red Light District of My Bathroom: The bathroom is transformed into peep show. Performed to a recorded comedy routine about the rituals of daily beauty, the stripper parodies this illusion of beauty, as she shaves and twirls her pasties for an intimate audience.
The Closet Salon
Sgt. Anna Conda and Combat Confessions: Using the eroticization of masculinity as a motif, the bedroom closet is transformed into the Altar of Ultimate Phallacy. Sergeant & Sage, Anna Conda, asks audience members to come inside confess their closeted secrets.
Chow Ciao Salon
La Guapa Gorging Geisha: Combining Butoh and Tango motifs, the piece explores stereotypes, servitude, and the iconic roles of the Geisha and “exotic” Latina, where the refrigerator becomes a site of Woman’s passion. Performed to mixed musical pastiche.
