The dress was black. The neckline was plunging. The message was clear.
I got a list of names and yours is in red. Underlined.
Greyce Skinner and WILD Productions LTD present the summer show
REVENGE DRESS
June 3, 2023 at 7 & 9pm at Tease Studio RiNo.
In the summer of 1994, on the same evening that her soon to be ex-husband was preparing for a tell-all interview, Diana, Princess of Wales, stepped out of the back of her vehicle at Vanity Fair's party for the Serpentine Garden. Her fashion statement was the shot heard round the world and catapulted the term "REVENGE DRESS" into the common vocabulary.
REVENGE DRESS is a show about feeling rage, dressing up, and getting even.
The summer show is an opportunity for performers to workshop choreography, run new pieces, and polish their skills. All proceeds from ticket sales go to fund the winter show, noc-turne.
No refunds offered.
All attendees are asked to bring their own chairs.
Red carpet revenge attire is encouraged.
Doors will open 15 minutes before the start of each show. If you arrive early, we invite you to explore one of the many restaurant and bar offerings in the neighborhood.
Parking in RiNo is in VERY high demand on Saturday evenings, so please allow plenty of time. Street parking is available in addition to two paid lots across the street from the studio (one directly across the street, the other on the west corner of 35th and Walnut.)
Show
RUN OF SHOW
“Pray You Catch Me” & “Hold Up”, Beyoncé —––————— Greyce Skinner
“No Man”, Nina Storey ——–--Heather Cabrera, Jessica Jolly, Sarah Nicole, Savannah Kleyla, Summer Ort
“Look What You Made Me Do”, Taylor Swift ——————— Tiffany Marshall
“Kill of the Night”, Gin Wigmore ———————–———–—-– Octavia Betz
“6 Inch Heels”, Beyoncé —————————————–—–- Heather Cabrera
“My Tears Ricochet”, Taylor Swift ————————–——— Christina Hobbs
“Happier Than Ever”, Kelly Clarkson —–————————– Savannah Kleyla
“Salvation”, Christabelle Marbun —————————————— Merit Willey
“Plot Line”, Emyln ————————–—–————————— Summer Ort
“High Heels”, JoJo ————————–—–————————— Sarah Nicole
“Do It Like A Girl”, Morgan St. Jean —–————————– Savannah Kleyla
“Liar”, Britney Spears ———————–—–—————-— Georgia May Wake, Mary Mitchell, Olivia Pare
“Vigilante Shit”, Taylor Swift ——————–-——— Sarah Nicole, Summer Ort
Stage Panthers
Wren Glick
Hannah Drake
Olivia Montgomery
PRODUCTION
Director, Producer, Choreographer: “Bejeweled” ——————- Greyce Skinner
Choreographer: “No Man” —————–————--———- Savannah Kleyla
Choreographer: “Liar” ————–——————————- Georgia May Wake
Stage Manager, Copy Writer/Editor —–——————–——— Kyra Scrimgeour
All solo & duet pieces were choreographed by the performers.
SPECIAL THANKS
Ashlee Renee & Tease Studio Denver
Christina Hobbs | Original Sticker Design
Stefanie Chow | Ticketing
Mackenzie Showalter-Castorena | Merchandise
Rachel Graham—RDGPhotography | Photography
CAST
(in order of Appearance)
GREYCE SKINNER
Producer | Director | Group Choreographer for “Bejeweled” | Performer
“Pray You Catch Me” & “Hold Up” — Beyoncé
Greyce is a mover, deviser, and storyteller who grew up in the theatre. She started practicing aerial arts over a decade ago and is excited to live in the place where aerial and theatre meet.
“Pray You Catch Me” and “Hold Up” are the first two songs from Beyonce's revelatory and iconic album “Lemonade”. These two songs capture the evisceration, the powerlessness, the loneliness when you learn you've been lied to- and the choice to get up, get angry, and get even.
Thoughts on feminine rage & a vicious version of self: Feminine rage and sensuality are uniquely dangerous because they point to a crack in the veneer of the cultural narrative–they point to the lie. For some time now, the cultural narrative has said: "Women are dependent. Women are not sensual. Women do not get angry". So, if a woman exhibits independence, sensuality, and anger–well, the behavior points to a reality that's different from the cultural narrative. My most vicious self is a cunt and a venomous bitch. She lurks. She lies. She sharpens her nails and wants to use them. She fantasizes about pulling hair and kicking shins. She thinks about the best way to take someone out at the knees. And she smiles thinking about it.
SAVANNAH KLEYLA
Group Choreographer for “No Man” | Performer
“No Man” — Nina Storey // “Happier Than Ever” — Kelly Clarkson //
“Do It Like a Girl”— Morgan St. Jean
Savannah has been dancing her whole life. Her stage name, Miss Ida Heaux, is a nod to her roots. She has performed throughout the Western U.S., including on Carnival Cruise Lines and in The Beatles Love. After a career-ending injury in her late 20s, Savannah feels exceptionally humbled to perform for her audiences and is excited to focus on what her body can do and not what it once was.
The character she plays in each REVENGE DRESS routine is intended to be the same woman in different stages of owning her power. "No Man” is a slut stage about growth and independence whereas "Happier Than Ever" is about falling in love for the first time and understanding the pain that can come with letting a bad thing go. "Like a Girl" showcases true ownership of power and speaks truth to hardships everyday women live and overcoming obstacles in a bad bitch way. It's the final installment and ends the trilogy unapologetically.
Thoughts on feminine independence & a vicious version of self: Feminine independence regarding sexuality and emotions disregard a carefully crafted agenda and leave some folks utterly perplexed and others completely enraged. I encourage this. The most vicious version of me is completely unapologetic. She walks slowly, hips forward, thinking about how every decision she's made has brought her to this moment. She is most aware of her eyes and the looks she receives from the world but the best part is she doesn't care. The world is aware of her presence, in awe of it.
HEATHER CABRERA
Performer
“No Man” — Nina Storey // “6 Inch Heels” — Beyoncé
JESSICA JOLLY
Performer
“No Man” — Nina Storey
Jessica started her dance career when she was 9 years old, dancing and competing in hip hop, tap, jazz, and lyrical. In high school, she created a dance team and was made captain until her graduation. She was promoted to the coach of that dance team while in college. After a hiatus, she now trains in contemporary, sling, and hip hop, and performs as part of a burlesque troupe.
She performs as part of the group piece “No Man”, in which she plays one of a group of women who are reclaiming their own power and independence.
Thoughts on rage as a physical experience: Initially, my rage comes on suddenly and hot, I can feel myself burning up and my heart palpitating. And then ever so slowly, I recover my breathing and start getting tunnel vision. What was once a burning hot fire, ever so slowly turns into an icy bath all over my body and my mind begins to come up with the most insidious ways to seek my revenge for my wrongdoing.
SARAH NICOLE
Performer
“No Man” — Nina Storey // “High Heels” — JoJo // “Vigilante Shit” — Taylor Swift
A lifelong dancer, Sarah took an 8-year break from the craft prior to starting at Tease Studio last April. Growing up, ballet was her primary genre but since returning to dance, burlesque has thoroughly captured her heart and soul.
Sarah is in three pieces in REVENGE DRESS. In “No Man,” she is part of a group of women who resoundingly reject the need for men in finding pleasure. In “Vigilante Shit,” she is one half of a pair of women taking any opportunity for revenge against those who have tried to take their power. In “High Heels,” she is one woman finally walking away from that which does not serve her and looking damn good while doing it. All of these pieces, in their different styles and moods, are all about flaunting one’s own sexuality and enjoying being desired without reciprocity.
Thoughts on feminine independence: Female independence is uniquely dangerous because in this day and age, women no longer need men to survive and thrive. We may want them if they add significant good to our lives, but we do not need them. We have discovered our own power and our ability to provide for ourselves, sexually, financially, emotionally. We can embrace our own sensuality without requiring a man to approve of it or appreciate it, allowing us to step into the strong, ethereal, powerful beings that we are. And feminine anger is a weapon that can be wielded very effectively – we can easily destroy, manipulate, dismiss, diminish. As more women come to realize how dangerous they can be and decide to leave situations and people that do not serve them, the established expectations and norms of our society can start to shift. A good Revenge Dress can literally change the world.
SUMMER ORT
Performer
“No Man” — Nina Storey // “Plot Line” — Emyln // “Vigilante Shit” — Taylor Swift
Summer has been dancing since she was old enough to know what it was, but is relatively new to burlesque and aerial. She started after moving to Denver last year from Michigan and she is excited to learn more about these beautiful art forms.
We are all the main characters in our own lives, and the piece “Plotline” tells the all too familiar story of thinking a partner is something in the beginning, only to later discover the opposite. This piece, however, reminds us that this experience is simply a plot point in our fairytale; one that likely has made us an even stronger character, and made room for better adventures. Moving to Denver and dancing again for Summer are experiences I wouldn’t have had without a certain “plot point” and she is endlessly grateful to be here as a result.
Thoughts on feminine rage and independence: For me, feminine rage and independence go hand in hand. Like many women, I have unfortunately fallen prey to the “nice guy” long enough to have seen his true colors and his rage and mine manifested very differently. I was the slow simmer to his violent boiling. While his strength was demonstrated by how much he could break down my walls, mine was proven by how well I could build my own castle in the background. I cannot speak for all women, nor do I think femininity and masculinity are purely binary. I can, however, say with absolute certainty that my independent happiness has had a far greater impact on him than his simulated control ever did on me; and my story is simply a copy of one that continues to be told globally and throughout the history of womanhood.
TIFFANY MARSHALL
Performer
“Look What You Made Me Do” — Taylor Swift
Tiffany has been dancing for most of her life. Although she got her start in the classical ballet, tap, and jazz worlds, she is excited to have branched out to many other forms and has been loving heels and burlesque lately. Her stage name is Ana Pedestal.
Tiffany’s piece in REVENGE DRESS is about the feminine urge to get hotter every time someone fucks you over and is personal for her.
Thoughts on a vicious version of self: The most vicious version of myself knows that I'm not now and never have been a “lady”...but I'm a hell of a woman. The most vicious version of me commands the room and your attention but can't be bothered with it. She's the one who looks at herself in the mirror with a room full of her haters and says "I love it. I'm gonna decorate it."
OCTAVIA BETZ
Performer
“Kill of the Night” — Gin Wigmore
Octavia has been an artist and a maker since before she could walk. However, it is within the past seven years through aerial that she has realized her body could be the instrument and the expression of her art. In the past year, she has realized that the floor is just another apparatus and another venue to explore movement.
Her piece in REVENGE DRESS is a solo to Gin Wigmore's “Kill of the Night”. When Octavia thinks of revenge, she thinks of the shadow and the more lethal parts of herself that seek to hunt, inflict, and consume without hesitation or pause. The parts of her that are neither a servant of compassion nor kept silent. She values the chance to set aside the burden of empathy and explore the power of bathing in the blood of her prey.
Thoughts on rage and deception as physical experiences: Deception feels like a wildfire that has been set off in my heart, burning through my veins and leaving behind ash and barren lands. It leads me to shake quietly while my teeth wish to gnash and my throat wishes to growl. Rage has not always been at home in my body, but when she comes home she is my firey doppelganger. She waits inside the corners of my mind, in the darker corners patient and ready sitting on thrown of indignation. When needed she will step into her power, lifting the burden of revenge from my mortal frame. She is like a burning phoenix she is both fire and ash igniting everything that dares stand against her without compassion but rather righteous justice. She melts bone in her hands and is irreverent to false pleas for mercy, and deaf to hollow apologies.
CHRISTINA HOBBS
Performer
“My Tears Ricochet” — Taylor Swift
The summer of 2020 was broadly a time of quiet isolation, but through dance, Christina was able to reconnect with her body and find a community of diverse people who shared that joy. The three subsequent years have been filled with pole, sling, and grounded dance.
The song she chose for REVENGE DRESS is Taylor Swift’s “My Tears Ricochet”. This song embodies the hurt of a blind-sided end to a relationship due to betrayal. It’s revenge born from shattered dreams. There is little that is more devastating than giving someone all of your love and trust that they then throw away. Christina interprets this song to be a sorrowful wail of “I won’t let them get away with what they did, even if it means dragging them to the grave with me”.
Thoughts on betrayal as a physical experience: The feeling of being betrayed is a deep hurt. It starts in the pit of the stomach, queasy and rocking, like a ship on a stormy sea, dropping off the edge of the world. It moves into the chest. It feels like the lungs are suddenly 3 sizes too small. Every breath is a dizzying gasp. Then, it moves to the heart, which beats harder and harder, pounding down the walls of the house you built. Pounding everything to dust. Echoing and thundering in the ears, a reminder of the emptiness left behind. Lastly, it moves to the mind. A thick, impenetrable dark fog that scrambles and spins so that instead of flowing freely through consciousness every thought gets trapped, bouncing and ricocheting, twisting and mutating, until eventually there are so many thoughts caught up in the mind that the body shuts down, deflated like a punctured balloon, left empty to be arduously rebuilt.
MERIT WILLEY
Performer
“Salvation” — Christabelle Marbun
Merit is a 24-year-old painter and technical theatre professional who danced for most of her childhood. She reacquainted herself with dance as an adult at Tease Studio, where she fell in love with burlesque and sling, using it to reaffirm her identity as an individual.
“Salvation” describes a scenario Merit knows all too well. Using intimacy and sensuality as a weapon against people who might or already have hurt you. The story Merit imagines is someone who has fallen victim to the temptation of a free and unencumbered woman. Horrified at his own actions he tries to convince her that she is a witch. So, she takes away his soap box. Using her body and mind to force him into a corner where there is no opportunity for redemption. She is his ruin.
Thoughts on a vicious version of self & rage and betrayal as a physical experience:The most vicious version of myself is the offspring of a fairy and a siren. A confident and dominating spirit, who finds joy in unraveling the minds of all those who fall into her trap. She is a spider with a web made of promises. Betrayal to her feels like being punched in the stomach and then laughing because they thought you wouldn’t hit them back. Harder, where you know it will hurt. Rage lives in my body the spaces between my ribs, like tar that needs to be picked out. It sticks and stinks, and feels evil, and exhilarating at the same time.
GEORGIA MAY WAKE
Group Choreographer for “Liar” | Performer
“Liar” — Britney Spears
Georgia May Wake is the pseudonym for the human name Holly Herrin. She has been a dance performer and teacher for many years and is the co-owner and co-director of a Denver-based Dance Troupe, The Rhinettes. Her passion for storytelling, teaching, and breeding confidence in students has her very excited to choreograph and perform this original performance piece with The Rhinettes.
For “Liar”, the first idea Georgia gravitated towards was a woman scorned. This led her to create a piece around the concept of the Gorgon Sisters (Medusa being the most infamous). This piece is an introduction to the sisters who gained empowerment through their independence from male attraction and their daily life as the reptilian "villains" of ancient lore.
Thoughts on betrayal as a physical experience: Betrayal feels as if a black hole has manifested in the pit of your chest, sucking in all that you thought once was and could be, leaving a deepness of ache for the loss of a joy you never actually had. And in that pit is a cold fire that burns like ice until the butterflies of spring come to fill the belly and bring warmth and light in the new.
MARY MITCHELL
Performer
“Liar” — Britney Spears
Mary’s love for performing started at a young age as a competitive gymnast and later as a theatre performer. At a national thespian conference, she was spotted and offered a full-ride scholarship for Dance performance. Mary is now a proud member of the burlesque troupe The Rhinettes and is loving her new place on the stage as La Pomme De Terre, Denver's sexiest little Potato.
“Liar” was been so much fun to put together. From the song choice, the concept, the costumes and Georgia's awesome choreography, Mary felt honored to be chosen to be a part of the Gorgon sisters. Most people know of Medusa but not everyone knows about her two sisters. The are three women, hardened by the world, not taking shit from anyone. Georgia did a beautiful job incorporating snake like movement as well as some bad ass costumes to really bring this concept together.
Thoughts on betrayal as a physical experience: Betrayal for me starts in the gut. That gut feeling really never goes away. It migrates and spreads to other portions of the body. A tingle in my fingers builds to a swollen feeling. Pressure in the head that leads to a migraine. A pounding in the chest from the shock that my heart feels. I want to puke. I want to cry. I want to scream. But usually, I just sit still. Silent. Allowing myself to feel all of it before I decide what to do with it.
OLIVIA PARE
Performer
“Liar” — Britney Spears
Olivia Pare (stage name LuLu Bell) has been dancing since the age of 3. Her most advanced trained styles are Jazz and lyrical/contemporary. She was a competitive dancer through the age of 18. SheI went to Baylor for her Nursing degree with minor in dance. Now she is full time ICU nurse and recently started training in Burlesque and dance with Denver's The Rhinettes.
In REVENGE DRESS, Olivia is performing in the snake-themed “Liar”, choreographed by Georgia May Wake. In the piece, she is capturing the vengeful energy of Medusa.The piece is fun and challenging in concept and technique. She is so excited to be performing the piece with two talented and inspirational people with fierce energy.
Thoughts on rage and negative emotion as motivators: It is intriguing to think about how rage lives in my body. While I don’t see myself as a person filled with rage, I believe that how we channel our negative emotions shows the person that we are. I experience rage deep within. It is like a quiet fire kindled deep within. I often use that energy to push myself into action to grow as a person. I think rage can be channeled as motivational energy whether it be to prove people wrong about something that was said about you or prove to yourself the kind of person you can be. It does take time for me to do this, though. When I am fueled with rage or negative emotions such as hurt or betrayal my instinctive response is to seclude myself and take some alone time. I require time to name, recognize, accept, and process the emotions within me, good or bad.
HANNAH DRAKE
Stage Panther
OLIVIA MONTGOMERY
Stage Panther
WREN GLICK
Stage Panther
KYRA SCRIMGEOUR
Stage Manager
Kyra has been a storyteller her whole life. She is a full-time administrative professional, a part-time writer and editor, and a casual aerialist. It has been a decade since she’s managed a stage, but she is excited to step back into this crucial role in the art of performance.
While not performing a piece in the show, Kyra feels that the role of any woman supporting someone in their “revenge era” is to guide gently, cheer loudly, and always be available to practice seducing strangers and walking away.
Thoughts on rage as a physical experience & a vicious version of self: When I experience rage, it is only pressure. It builds against my extremities and my lips and eviscerates my self-control entirely. No other feeling or thought exists except the rage and how it must seep into the world around me, must make everything and everyone around me suffer. I would like to imagine that the most vicious version of me would have taken the molten rage and honed it into something much sharper–something she can aim with deadly precision. The most vicious version of me controls her rage and uses it to bend the knees of the world.