WOW what a big show this was! Performing on the Zhaza Zerbino stage at the Dance Queens sim were two choreographers who shared earning their stars in the Dance Queens Walk of Fame! Sagia and Sherry Souza-Lighthouse combined their Walks to present a full show of their dance creations to an audience of friends, family and fans. Also earning his Walk of Fame was DJ Ethan Lighthouse. Yes, DJs can also earn their place in the Dance Queens Walk of Fame, as virtual dance shows would not be possible without DJs to provide music. And what about videographers who preserve memories of our shows and share them with countless other people on the internet? Enter videographer Amelie who also earned her star this day. These four people who are deeply dedicated to virtual performance in Second Life all dance and work together to bring memorable shows to grateful audiences. Below, please find photos from their show followed by interviews with Sagia, Sherry and Ethan. And finally please enjoy photos from the ceremony. Amelie was unable to attend the show this day, but she has videoed hundreds of dances, thereby earing her star as well.
THE SHOW
SAGIA: PARADISE with ELANA, SHERRY, ETHAN
SHERRY: ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST with SPOOKY, SPRITE, CIO, DC, TRAV, ETHAN
SAGIA: I’M YOUR PUPPET with ETHAN
SHERRY: STARGATE MIX with VENUS, ELANA, MADISON,
SPRITE, TRAV, CIO, DC
SAGIA: DADDY COOL
SHERRY: FAIRY DREAMS with SPOOKY, SPRITE,
MADISON, VENUS, ELANA, SAGIA
SAGIA: I FEEL LIKE DANCING with SHERRY
SHERRY: GREAT BALLS OF FIRE with ETHAN, VENUS,
MADISON, SPOOKY, TRAV, CIO
THE INTERVIEWS
SAGIA
1. How and when did you find Second Life?
Thirteen years ago, back in 2011, my son and I were living
in different parts of the country so we found Second Life to be a way to
communicate and have fun together.
2. How and when did you discover virtual dance?
My first experience in Second Life was as a model but when
the more efficient dance devices became known I so wanted to partake in that
experience. I joined a dance group with Samual Wetherby who was the head of the
group and a known entertainer. He had a friend named Babypea who he invited to
do shows for us and allow us to be dancers for her. She was considered the
Queen of Dance. Babypea's shows were the glamorous show girls with large
carnival type costumes. It was a thrill to discover this world and be a part of
it. But as many things in Second Life, they end up going away.
3. I know picking is hard, but name a few of your
favorite dances that you have ever created:
1. Monkee
2. Sweet Thing
3. Fantasy
4. Disco
5. Hot Dog
4. Did you have
any mentors when you were learning to dance that you'd like to wave to?
Babypea
Delaney
Klark
5. What is your
favorite thing about virtual dance creation?
It’s when the music hits me emotionally.
6. What is your least favorite thing about virtual
dance creation?
I am just a basic builder and need so much more to learn.
7. What advice would you give to someone who is new to
virtual dance?
Frustration can set in but just do the best you can and
practice, practice, practice.
8. If you have your own dance troupe, please tell a
little bit about it, and its history.
ShowStyle Theater just had its One Year Anniversary
affiliated with fifth Avenue Guys and Dolls. We have monthly shows with
choreographers in the dance community. Previously for the 5 years prior
ShowStyle theater was a part of the Audace Modeling Community where Sagia
branched out to add dance to the Modeling Agency. It was time to move on a year
ago to join Ethan Lighthouse and Sherry Lovemodel to put more emphasis on dance
entertainment and fun for all.
9. What is your favorite food, favorite drink, and
please tell us about any pets that you have.
My favorite food is Shrimp and drink is Green Tea.
I have no pets at the present time.
10. What activities other than dance do you enjoy?
I love to DJ at Runaround Sue's here in Second Life.
It is the oldest "oldies" club where only 50s, 60s
and 70s music is allowed to be played.
11. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
We are very fortunate to have Babypea to guide us.
Thank you Pea.
SHERRY
1. How and when did you find Second Life?
I was a caretaker for my Grandma and Grandpa in their late
years. I needed something to occupy my
mind and fill my creative needs so I joined another social game called RLC
which I found by accident. After a
couple years one of my best friends from that game found SL and invited me to
join her so I did. I was hooked the
minute I arrived and have never turned back since.
2. How and when did you discover virtual dance?
After a few months on SL I had become very close friends
with a man. He took me to a Monarch's
performance I was just mesmerize and totally infatuated with the performances.
I told my friend at the end of the show this is what I wanted to do in SL. So I
started out on a path of learning how to dance and how to choreograph.
3. I know picking is hard, but name a few of your favorite
dances that you have ever created:
I have created many dances, but a few do stand out and still
bring a smile to my face. Actually my
very first dance creation "Over The Rainbow" still brings tears to my
eyes when I perform it. Winter
Wonderland has very deep emotional meaning to me. "Great Balls of Fire" is one of my favorite fun sock hop sets based
on a live performance by Jerry Lee Lewis. A performance he did that most people
are not aware he actually pulled off live!
4. Did you have
any mentors when you were learning to dance that you'd like to wave to?
When I first started choreography I joined an old troupe
called Guerilla Burlesque.; Cherry was
owner and took me under her wing and taught me so much the basics of
choreography. I will be forever grateful
to her for giving me my start.
5. What is your favorite thing about virtual dance
creation?
Being able to fix errors easy!! lol Really though the unlimited boundless
horizons that are in a virtual world lets you create routines that would be
prohibitive in the real world. The addition of particles to enhance the dance
gives you another dimension to work with.
Though I use particles sparingly they certainly can add a wow effect to
the total routine.
6. What is your least favorite thing about virtual
dance creation?
Costumes lol I am
very weak in choosing costumes and need to focus more on the perfect costume
for dancers in my sets. Such a time
consuming aspect to each creation.
7. What advice would you give to someone who is new to
virtual dance?
Be prepared for long lonely hours and frustration. Creating a dance is not easy. You can hear a song and think i want to do
that one. Then the hard part comes putting the build and choreography to the
music. Learn a system like MST or spot
on thoroughly before you tackle you first dance. Taking lessons or having a mentor gives you a
tremendous start.
8. If you have your own dance troupe, please tell a
little bit about it, and its history.
After a while of shuffling around between theaters and being
in multiple troupes, I began to realize that I was not totally satisfied with
just the choreography/dance side. So I started a group. Fifth Avenue Productions and then established
a theater for Fifth Avenue Guys & Dolls
our first show was about 2 years ago and we have been growing our fan
base ever since. Last year we branched
out and started Paris After Dark Burlesque theatre and added Showstyle Fifth
theatre which came over from another sim. We currently have one show a week at
each theatre with special event shows and guest troupes performing. We have plan on adding another group to our
team which will round out our month shows, but that is in secret stage at this
time!
9. What is your favorite food, favorite drink, and
please tell us about any pets that you have.
Finger food is my favorite!!
just about any kind as long as its spicy! ( I am of Cajun blood ) I drink water water water constantly but if
you are referring to a Drink Drink then everyone knows I am a Tequila girl!! I am famous for my Tequila body shots!!
lol I have had normal pets mostly in my
life. Cats, dogs, fish, birds, but the
only real pet I consider having the privilege of sharing life with was my
Iguana. I rescued her from certain
obliteration from a flea market with she was no older than a few weeks. She taught me quickly what i must do to keep
her alive and healthy. We were inseparable for 23 years when she finally passed
on. Once you have experienced a bond
like that, no other can ever replace it.
10. What activities other than dance do you enjoy?
My real life has been full of fashion modelling, snow skiing
and sailing. I have enjoyed doing the
same activities on SL albeit not the same as real;. Dance world pretty takes all my time anymore
and running the theatres is a full time job in itself.
11. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
I always welcome new people who want to get involved in
dance on SL. I have trained many dancers
and teach choreography using the MST system and basic choreo using Spot
On. Is very satisfying to see your
students progress and start performing, and the joy it brings them.
ETHAN
1. How and when did you find Second Life?
I was introduced
to Second LIfe in 2009. I was program
director and instructor for an Opticianry program at a technical college. During the thanksgiving break, a colleague
offered an in-house CE seminar on the topic of "Second LIfe as an
alternative platform for online courses" and I signed up for her
course. She provided a temporary avatar
for each of us who signed up for her seminar.
Our state had been provided with an in-world sim by Linden Labs to
support our state-wide online virtual university.
2. How and when did you discover virtual dance?
At the end of the
"Second LIfe as an alternative platform for online courses" seminar
described above, the leader took all of us to a club and showed us how to get
dance poseballs and start dancing to the music in our headphones. It was at that instant we started dancing
that all of us educators were completely taken and won over by Second
Life! There was no going back. I went home that night at chose a wood elf as
the basis for my first avatar the day before Thanksgiving in 2009.
3. How did you get into DJing?
I was offered
the opportunity and became a co-owner of the 5th Avenue Guys and Dolls
sim. As I became more involved in the
business and management of the sim to produce dance and fashion shows, Sherry
inspired and encouraged me to enroll in a program to become a second life
fashion model and to obtain SAM broacasting software. I did both and eventually graduated as
co-valedictorian from the Audace Advanced Course of Fashion Modeling.
However, it was
not until I was personally at a very low point in second life that Sagia
reached out to me and asked me to be the Dj, emcee, and voice of her ShowStyle
Theater despite the fact that I had never been a Dj before. It was even more
remarkable given that we had previously held a very adversarial relationship as
rivals from competing venues. She
auditioned me and proceeded to teach me the basic skills of being a dance show
Dj. She totally believed in me and expressed her confidence when she said to me
"Ethan you will become an excellent Dj and you will be in demand and asked
to Dj by other venues. All I ask is that
you promise to always be my ShowStyle Dj." I will never forget Sagia's
gesture and her confidence in me. She helped restore my feelings of self-worth
and self-esteem in second life. Out of the deepest feelings of love and
respect, I will always be faithful to the oath I made to her.
4. Did you have
any mentors when you were learning about DJing and dance that you'd like to
wave to?
Sagia. Delaney Jensen. Gunner von Phoenix. Kingston
Martian. Allan Regent. Lysana McMillan. Alobar Valeska. Ame Thomas.
I can honestly
attest that I have openly and freely borrowed (stolen) skills, techniques, and
mannerisms from each one of them!
5. What is your favorite thing about virtual dance?
I am not a
choreographer. I am a dancer. The question to me is like asking, "What
is your favorite thing about breathing?"
I love dancing. Dancing is an
integral part of the human condition.
Our earliest ancestors had no sooner discovered fire than they celebrated
by dancing around the fire. I was amazed
to discover I have appeared in more than 1,200 individual dance acts over the
past two and a half years.
I would have to
say my favorite thing about virtual dance is that it allows all people
regardless of their real life condition to experience the thrill, the
spirituality, and the magic of dancing on the stage. Whether they are bedridden or simply a clumsy
oaf in real life like me, or whether they have severe osteo-arthritis or they
are confined to a wheelchair in real life, there are no obstacles in the
virtual world and their avatar can dance with the skill and the grace of Ginger
Rogers or Fred Astaire. It is simply
breathtaking!
True story: One of
my good friends in SL had a heart attack and went to the ER. 24 hours later she checked herself out of the
hospital against doctor's order so she wouldn't miss getting on a mover for a
show.
6. What is your least favorite thing about virtual
dance?
My least favorite
thing about virtual dance is that there are no movers or pose balls in real
life.
7. What advice would you give to someone who is new to
DJing virtual dance shows?
SAM is not the only broadcasting software but it is the most
prevalent. It is not easy to learn and
to make matters worse, it has the worst customer service that could best be
described as no customer service. My
advice to a novice is to lease your video stream from a provider that can give
you expert advice and mentorship on streaming and navigating the SAM
software. I recommend DJ ScotsPaul and
Vside streaming service. They have
produced several videos to show you how to use SAM and they have a huge song
library available to all their subscribers.
Somehow ScotsPaul is always available to in minutes to provide support
when you unexpectedly lose your stream of if SAM malfunctions.
8. If you have your own dance troupe, please tell a
little bit about it, and its history.
I participate in
dance troupes such as Crystal Edge, Moulin Rouge, and Mad About Dance but I do
not have my own dance troupe. I do have a fashion modeling group called 5th
Avenue Fashion Dreamworks that is the only modeling troupe that uses the new
Runway Modeling System which uses movers for fashion shows.
9. What is your favorite food, favorite drink, and
please tell us about any pets that you have.
I have a cat named
Kat. My favorite foods include Marzetto
olives stuffed with garlic, Dansk blue cheese crumbles, and smoked
oysters. I am addicted to diet coke and
I love German white Riesling wine.
10. What activities other than dance do you enjoy?
Bleep! (censored)
THE CEREMONY
A big congratulations to Sagia, Sherry, Ethan and Amelie on earing your stars in the Dance Queens Walk of Fame! It is our hope that this Walk will remain for a long time to come, preserving some of the history of the Second Life dance community. The names on these stars are some of the people who dedciate themselves to sharing their creative visions and their love of music. Through dance, we reach out to others with the hope of touching them, affecting them, bonding with them. It is an offering that comes from the marrow of the human soul, a gift that asks for nothing in return other than to be acknowledged. We thank Sagia, Sherry, Ethan and Amelie for their countless contributions to virtual dance in Second Life. We look forward to what you will share with is in the future. Thank you for supporting Dance Queens and for participating in this project. We wish you many more virtual dance adventures and joy and fulfillment in all you do.
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