Backstage at the Church of the Sparkling Unicorn, Katie Halloran helped Alyssa Kies into a pair of thigh-high, glittery gold boots with a heel.
“I think personally, I think they're pretty hot actually, but you'd have to come to the show to find out,” Kies said with a laugh.
Kies is playing a lion in a ‘lions and tamers’ act of the burlesque Shakedown Circus.
Halloran, scantily-clad in black and with a whip at her hip, put an arm over Kies shoulder and added, “Oh yeah, I’m actually her tamer. So, spoilers, there are whips involved.”
The other performers for Shakedown Circus wear fishnets, heels, bowties, leotards, nearly see-through mesh shirts, corsets or bejeweled bras – all with plenty of skin on display. And they come in all shapes and sizes.
That’s important to Kies, who is a self-described “curvaceous lady.”
“I've been to a lot of shows in Vegas and other places, and sometimes it feels like everybody is the same shape and size, and we are super all-inclusive,” Kies said. “It's amazing.”
"Audience members are like, oh, someone, not me, but something like me, perhaps, is represented there."Sommer Renaldo, creative director of Shakedown Circus
Shakedown Circus creator and creative director Sommer Renaldo said her goal is for people to enjoy their bodies, or, as she puts it, “shake it if you got it and celebrate what your mama gave you.”
“It’s fun, it’s liberating, it’s sexy and we do good by being bad,” Renaldo said.
Renaldo started Shakedown over a decade ago. As she tells it, she had dream to create a sexy circus act.
“I was a Midwest, middle-aged mom, and there was no reason in the world that this should happen,” Renaldo said.
She made it happen, though. That first Shakedown in 2014 featured about 40 dancers expressing themselves through movement.
Now in its seventh iteration, Shakedown Circus: Revamp features a mix of fan-favorite circus acts from previous shows and new performances. Acts sometimes put a different spin on an established idea. The show, for example, has an old circus seal act, as well as reimagined seal performance, and brings back the Shakedown Circus ponies along with some new “stallions.”
Of course, Renaldo never expected to put on a Shakedown Circus: Revamp. When she staged that first show, she thought it was going to be one and done.
“It was never gonna have multiples and what happened is that audience members came up to me afterward and said, ‘I want to be in the next one,’” Renaldo said.
That’s how Leah Seaman got involved. She’s performing for the first time this year after seeing the last Shakedown show.
“Not to be dramatic, but it really deeply impacted me seeing average, everyday people bringing their sensuality to life in such an open and unashamed way,” Seaman said.
Seaman, a pastor’s daughter who grew up in rural Appalachian West Virginia, said she was raised in an environment “that encouraged women to cover up, encouraged women to hide, encouraged women to dim themselves.”
“And so doing this act, doing Shakedown, it's helping me unlearn those patterns and accept that maybe being visible and being seen is a good thing,” Seaman said.
"This show is permission for the average everyday person to explore parts of themselves they didn't know they could."Leah Seaman, Shakedown Circus performer
Now a professional artist and content creator, Seaman said she’s terrified to perform – at one point in the show she’s “barely wearing anything,” – but she wants to do something that she can be proud of when she’s older.
“When I'm 80 and infirm and talking to all the young people I can be like, I was on a burlesque stage shaking my t——-s like the bad b---- I am,” she said.
Seaman isn’t a professional performer. She’s an artist and content creator.
Renaldo said most of Shakedown’s performers are regular people who become burlesque dancers for the show.
Renaldo doesn’t know what draws each person to the show, but she said in general it’s about empowerment and liberation.
“We have so many built up internal and external reasons why you would never do that. And because of that, there's a real transformational opportunity,” Renaldo said.
Shakedown Circus director Stephen Thomas said he sees that change happen on stage.
“You can see the moment where something transforms in them, where they claim something for themselves. And so, people that come to this show, they catch a hit of that. And it's addictive,” Thomas said.
Here’s how Thomas describes burlesque as “naughty, but not dirty.”
“It’s people exploring their sensuality, their sexuality, loving their bodies, appreciating who they are,” Thomas said.
Thomas said that’s what Shakedown Circus is all about – creating that feeling for as many people as possible. He said it’s especially important right now, because disempowerment is everywhere.
“You know, people, I don't know, my experience of many people out in the world is that they're walking around with their tails tucked between their legs, and they're looking for a way to own something for themselves and gain their power back,” Thomas said. “So, everyone deserves to be owning their voice. Everyone deserves to own their body and be proud of their body and having confidence in who they are.”
Shakedown Circus: Revamp is at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Church of the Sparkling Unicorn, located at 2350 Indianola Ave. in Columbus. A portion of the ticket sales goes to the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which was chosen by the performers.
