Myspace

[Rachel]

I met a bunch of you at TW and thought I'd give out my myspace address so we could stay in better contact after the show :-)

www.myspace.com/exoticdanceinstructor

Always looking to add haunting friends so feel free to post your myspace address too....

[Kevin Dells]

reply

Racheal,
Just asked for an add request. You"ll find it.

My address is

http://www.myspace.com/63237562

A lot of the pictures are a mix between our haunt and last year on the 1000 miles to Hell Tour!

Turn up the volume on your PC really loud and Hold on for dear life, your entering MY world!

Anyone feel free to add if you can take the insanity!
Enjoy!

[Haunted Illinois]

Here's mine:

http://www.myspace.com/hauntedillinois

[brad]

"exoticdanceinstructor"


WOW!! I haven't even looked at it yet, and I'm getting really excited. Where are you from?


I was thinking of becoming a male stripper!! :lol:

[Rachel]

I'm from VA.

And I have three rules for my classes:

1.) 18 and up
2.) no spectators allowed
3.) I teach women only - no men - sorry - there is a video out there for men if you're interested - haha.

There is talk about my offering a seminar on exotic dance at one of the regional haunter tradeshows. Exotic Dance has more to do with haunting than you might think - I teach women to command their presence - how to confront their audience - how to stay in control of the dance - let go of inhibitions - eye contact - know their style, etc. All of those traits can be applied to haunted house acting.

[brad]

Well I wouldn't do it anyways. I've always been the Austin Powers type. I get up on stage, shake my stuff, and I overload the senses of all the girls watching. It's sad to says that that's usually what happens.

[MDKing]

I'm sorry, but I just had to ask about the comment that exotic dancing is related to haunting. To be a better actor in this case a female haunt actor, wouldn't it be better to practice, practice, practice, and take seminars and classes on this method of acting? I would think that's the way to better your skills. Drawing comparisons with haunt acting to stripping makes as much sense as me saying that my ability to play basketball and other sports helps make me better as a haunter and actor. The truth is, the two are mutually exclusive.
Obviously you are very proud of being an exotic dancer, or let's face it, a stripper. Good for you. But remember, what you put out there about yourself will stick around long after you quit, for you family and kids and their friends to see.

Now of course this is my opinion on this subject and realize that this commentary isn't completely about the desired content of this board, but it was indeed posted on this board, again.

Allan

[Rachel]

Lets get one thing straight right off the bat, Allan. I'm not a stripper - never have been - never want to be. I discovered pole dancing/exotic dancing about a year ago when I was not feeling so great about myself. While I was very fit/thin when I was in my early twenties - marriage - sedentary career - getting older - etc made me a less-than-ideal body weight. I started pole dancing as a form of exercise and while I may have started the dancing as a way to make my husband happy I quickly learned that it had much more to do with myself. I do this for me. I felt good about myself - it taught me let go of some of my inhibitions - that it's ok to feel and be "sexy" - I don't have to be 21 and a size 2 to feel that way. It drives me crazy that people act like exotic dancing/pole dancing is just some lewd form of dance for sex-crazed wanna-be strippers. Not so. And if you had ever taken the time to research the new pole dancing/exotic dance fitness trend or talked to everyday women who have taken these classes you might have a different take on this subject. You are not there when my students say "I couldn't look at myself in the mirror before I took this class." Or "I felt like I was just a mom and not a woman anymore before I took this class." These classes make women feel empowered - it helps their self-esteem. I have never met such wonderful people in all my life - they are so genuine and fun and so supportive (and lets face it - you don't find these qualities in many people anymore).

I am a haunted house actress who went into the field thinking I could never do it. I was under the assumption, like I think many people are, that women just can't be scary as our male counterparts. Again, not true. Female actresses can be just as powereful and scary as the male coutnerparts. Do I think my experience with exotic dance has helped me push myself further as a haunt actress - d*mn straight. I understand the importance of how I confront my audience - I understand the power of my eye contact - my body language - frankly, I understand myself better. Knowledge is power - it has made me feel more confident about myself - feeling more confident in life equals a more confident - commanding actress. Exotic dancing is a performance - so is haunted house acting. If I can get up in front of 50 exotic dance students and a male camera crew to tape a performance could I then get up and act in a haunt? Uh Yeah, piece of cake.

I don't do anything I'm ashamed of. My family knows about the classes I teach. My husband supports me. I don't have kids, but I know many instructors who do have them.

There are many people out there who would call what we (haunters) do "devil worshiping" or "evil" or compare us to murdering animal-sacrficing heathens. We know better. I think many of us find many other haunters to be genuine, supportive people. I think we'd tell people who felt the need to judge us to try it or get to know us better before stereotyping us. To be frank, I'd go down in flames defending both haunters and those who chose to explore the art of exotic dance through classes. Autonomy at it's highest - to people in both industries - rock on.

[MDKing]

Rachel,

I can appreciate your thoughts and am glad that you feel better about yourself. But without sounding like the paragon of virtue, I personally don't think that pole dancing is a respectable way of gaining self interest and an outlet for gaining real empowerment. Empowerment is gained through moral channels, working hard and studying while advancing one's self in education and in business, and with smart decisions. I would also find it very difficult to feel not an extreme level of discomfort when telling certain people I was a pole dancer, the least of which my priest or other religious or community leader.

I'm all for feeling good about yourself. I'm not necessarily judging you but the whole pole dancing thing. You are scantily clad even in the classes, so it's just a few articles more of clothing than a stripper. Pole dancing is a fancy term for stripping. Dancing is dancing, like the kinds you see on the show " So you think you can dance". But having to stand up in front of usually desperate onlookers sizing you up like a piece of meat is not empowering in any way, because having power over them is no real accomplishment. Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, Katie Couric, are just a few samples of very powerful women who are truly empowered and not by taking their clothes off and relying on their sexuality and appearances. It's easy for women to seduce most men, there's no real challenge in that. The women I mentioned were intelligent, ambitious women and worked hard to be successful!

Anyway, this is my opinions and is not really haunt related. To bring it back to haunt acting, I've seen some exellent female actors. DreamReapers has many good ones while at thier show this past weekend. If you want to be good at acting or anything you have to work at it and want to be good at it. It doesn't matter if you are a male or female just go out there and make it happen and take pride in your work.

[Rachel]

MDKing - I personally don't respect anyone's opinions on pole dancing or exotic dancing unless they've tried it or at the very least taken some time to talk to women who have experienced it. I'm assuming you aren't a woman as well - so you really wouldn't know what it would take to empower us or how age, weight, kids, marriage can effect us. You may think that women seducing men is "easy" - but again, you truly don't understand the nature of the dance because it isn't about seducing men. You don't seem to understand that we don't do this for men - we do it for ourselves. There are no men in class - who would we be seducing?

I'm sorry you don't think I'm successful or "moral" for that matter. I own my own business - I'm in my twenties. The classes I teach sell out - fill up - every time. I drive a BMW - live in a nice house - I'm married. I do animal rescue. I have worked/volunteered with pregnant teens. My husband is a social worker - works with foster kids. We're both college graduates - with honors. And unike your example of a successful woman, Martha Stewart, I've never been to prison or been arrested.

I don't believe in throwing stones at glass houses. Do you feel extreme discomfort in telling your religious leaders that you run a haunt? I hope not. We all do what we believe in. Would I dare say to you that running a haunt doesn't make you successful? Hell no. You realize some people judge haunters - the same way you are judging me - with out the knowledge to do so. These people don't know their heads from their A$$ but they drone on about how evil we are nonetheless. They think you don't have morals simply because you celebrate Halloween. How shallow.

In conclusion, I'll call the International Pole Dancing Federation and tell them that pole dancing isn't dancing like it is on "So you think you can dance" (great analogy by the way) according to this guy on a haunt forum. They'll probably agree with you - pole dancing is harder.

So anyway, I just finished teaching so I better remove my "scantily clad" clothes (tank top and yoga pants), go remove my diploma from the wall since I'm not successful, check out that show "So you think you can dance" and strive to be more like Oprah Winfrey. Now where did I put my bible....

[maverick005]

ok ok ok....i have to put in a few things here....
first off, sex sells...and when we think of sex what do we think of...woman...woman are the powerhouses of sex...and i will stop at that so i dont get to far off topic....
point number two...pole dancing and exotic dancing is one hell of a work out...men typically dont do get a chance to try it because of some stupid masculine BS and the fact that it is considered fem...let em tell you something...i have tried it and i would challenge any man who thinks he is in shape to get on a pole for 2 songs and dance and do what rachel and others who dance do...it will smoke you...it takes a lot of flexability and strength to do what they do, and look graceful and feminine while doing it is extremely difficult (more so than those pigskin toting retards need to run up and down a gridiron)
point three...i have traveled around a lot of haunts these past few years...and there is a definate imbalance of female lead characters in the queue lines...why that is i dont know...but if it is self confidence then why stop someone from trying to use a tool like dancing to help build self confidence...
as far as morality is concerned...i know rachel personally...and she is has a very good moral compass...why is it we would look at someone that pole dances for either fun, excercise, or profit as a moraly depraved person..when in fact the there are others out there that do far worse and are for some reason granted immunity..hmm...like politicians (presidents, congressmen, and senators), sports superstars, and rockstars...i am gonna go out on a limb for a second and say that they take advantage of the sexual double standard...men can do sexual things all day long and not be prosecuted for it...however women become sluts, whores and homewreckers as soon as they show off what they got...
well i am done with my little rant...i hope we can all just sit back for a few digest these words...i am sure there are those out there on my side and those that are not...but lets be honest here, arent we all judged and considered outsiders by the general mainstream public...lets not judge those inside our clutch...we are all on the island of misfit toys, lets not start playing "survivor" and kick people off because they dont fit in...

todd
ps...granny kicks butt on the pole

[Nightmaretony]

My own 2 cents:

Dancing requires being able to project charisma. That is a common denominator with acting, comedy, haunt monsters, or anything requiring a person to use their talents to entertain.

There is an entire world of difference from a dancer who can use charisma and skills to give a pleasing show, compared to a movie star looking bombshell who merely strips down without an ounce of talent.

It is the same thing we teach our actors, a simple boo or yell is a low common denominator and will fail to entertain, tis a cheap shot, as it were. A GOOD monster will use their talents and charisma to draw in the customers and entertain them.

Your best actors who are able to use charisma can very well do their job with no masks or makeup whatsoever and still be entertaining and frightning by the use of their charisma and projecting their character to the customers.

Rachel, what do you think about making a dance video stressing the points above I mentioned?

[Jim Warfield]

I do a pole dance for almost every tour that I put through my house. None of the customers get to see it though since it happens in a very small , dark space, I slide around the pole and I'm suddenly on the first floor!?
I began on the second floor.
Then I am ahead of the tour, waiting to scare them again.

[maverick005]

and for the record....i realy hate sensorship...especially when i am sensored for typing a word that isnt bad at all and is totally taken out of context...i mean if it werent for s3x none of us would be here...lol

todd

[Jim Warfield]

That "3" in the middle opens up some new possibilitys doesn't it?
Not really though I hate buying new furniture. Our bed is big enough for the two of us.