TRACI MANN, GOTTA DANCE

I recently spoke with Traci Mann (http://www.mannarts.com/), who has been heavily involved with the tap dance scene in NY for two decades now, helping to organize shows, training young dancers in the art of tap, and being a producer of the annual Tap Extravaganza® (http://www.nytap.org/)

Traci started tap dancing when her mom, Kathryn, also a tap dancer, showed her some steps when she was age five. “Then, when I was 10 or 11, my sister got into a dance company, and I got into the children’s modern classes. So my first stage experience was with modern dance. I kept dancing through high school and college, and I went pro by the age of 19.”

As for tap, Traci traces her love for it back to a distant ancestor, her great great, great, great grandfather, Welcome William Chandler. He was a Pilgrim who landed in Yorktown and was an astute Fiddler and Irish jig dancer.

“So it must be in my blood. But my own interest started when I was studying with the American Folk Ballet. They had a form of tap called ‘Ragtime Tap’ which was tapping to Scott Joplin music. I thought that was neat. Then I took some classes in Miami with the Fred Astaire Workshop. Teachers there were Louis De Pron, Henry Le Tang and Jack Stanley.

“A few years later in 1987 I came to New York. I was a ballerina, and one day, shopping in Capezio for some Pointe shoes, I saw a flyer for a ‘tap jam.’ So I called the number on the flyer, and asked the person, ‘who is teaching the tap jam?’ and was told, ‘a tap jam is not taught, it’s a jam session.’ I knew I was in for a treat. It was basically a cutting contest, and I had just enough nerve to put my tap shoes on and try it, and by the end of the night, I couldn’t stop tapping. A bug had bit me, and I hung up my ballerina shoes for my tap shoes.”

Traci also produces tap shows.

“I had a dance studio in New Mexico, and I would hire a live band for my student’s recitals. I never did the ‘Dolly Dinkle’ thing. I’ve always liked live music for my kids to perform to. But I felt I was wasting away in this small town, so I came to New York and started producing the Tap Extravaganza®, and another nightclub show called ‘Tap –N- Blues®,’ which featured old time tap masters with blues musicians.

In the Tap –N- Blues® series, I had Bob Dylan’s drummer, Howie Wyeth; Ramsey McLean (Grammy winner for the score from, ‘When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless In Seattle), and Timothea, the Blues Siren from New Orleans. I had some famous musicians playing behind these old great hoofers! The original Hoofers® were ‘Sandman’ Sims, Chuck Green (the Godfather of Tap), and Lon Chaney, ‘King of the Paddle and Roll’. Also, Jimmy Slyde, Tamango, and Van ‘the Man’ Porter from ‘Black and Blue,’ and Tarik Winston, who choreographed ‘Riverdance.’ Buster Brown too.

"And Peg Leg Bates would dance in my children’s shows. I’m currently working on a documentary about Peg Leg. A few years ago I released a CD with all of his recordings from the 1930’s, and recorded him in the studio with Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington and the RoadMasters and Frank Owens on Piano. They played a tune called, ‘Peg O’My Heart’ with Peg Leg talking a narrative about his life. I want to follow this up with a DVD about him. So I’ll have the CD and the DVD…You know, if a guy is going to tap dance with one leg and a wooden peg, that’s really overcoming a handicap, he didn’t let anything stop him.

Traci also acts, and has appeared in musicals onstage and in several low budget horror films produced by Troma, Inc., including the ‘Toxic Avenger part II and III,’ ‘Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD,’ ‘Poultrygeist’ and many promotional TV ‘Wrap-Arounds’ and films for the studio.

“I saw an ad in Backstage Magazine for a casting call at Troma Inc. I sent them a photocopy of a photo, and they called me to come in for an audition. However, they said, “We didn’t get an 8x10 photo, just this cheap Xerox copy on plain white paper.” I said, ‘Well, sure, I can bring you a real picture.’ So I did and I auditioned and got a role as a background actress. They asked me to come to the movie set at New York City Hall. “Could you dress up as a witch and come to City Hall?” and I asked, “Do you want a good witch or a bad witch?” and they said, “A good witch.”

So I put on this sexy cat suit, wore huge fake eyelashes, thigh high boots, and piled my hair on my head, and they immediately put me in the ‘Toxic Avenger, part II.’ I was also screen tested that day as a double/stand in for the female lead, Claire, played by Phoebe Legere. I Toxic Avenger, Part III, I actually got to do some of her scenes on film!

I was also body painted as the ‘Snake Lady’ for a scene where the Chairman, who is the Devil, is tempting the Toxic Avenger. The Chairman tells Toxie, ‘I will give you all these kingdoms if you will bow down and worship me,’ as I was gyrating and hissing and just adding ambience to the proceedings.” The scene also featured ‘Donkey Woman’ and ‘Dog Man.’

There we were, Snake Lady, Dog Man, Donkey Woman, The Chairman and Toxie. We ended up on posters in a magazine in France. It felt good at the time."

Deity. Photo courtesy Deity.

Deity. Photo courtesy Deity.

Deity in one of her designs. Photo courtesy Deity.

Clothing by Deity. Photo courtesy of Deity.

DEITY TAKES THE STAGE

Those familiar with the burlesque scene have surely made Deity’s acquaintance. She is a frequent performer at Bad Ass Burlesque shows (http://www.myspace.com/badassnyc), and recently made an appearance in Gabrielle Penebaz’s “Sex Crimes Cabaret,” (http://www.sexcrimescabaret.com/) doing a sensuous strip wearing a gorilla costume, culminating in ejaculating with a dildo.

Deity tells me she was a stripper before becoming a burlesque dancer. “I loved to dance when I was a child. I remember telling my mom, ‘I want to be a go go dancer when I grow up,’ and she said, ‘NOOOO!!!’ But I didn’t mean stripper, I used to watch “Laugh In” and I liked Goldie Hawn and the other ladies dancing on a stage, and I thought, ‘That looks like fun!’ But my mom thought the wrong thing, but I turned out that way anyway, so… I love being in the spotlight. I danced at Flashdancers, NY Dolls, places like that, and I decided to stop being treated like cattle. About 1994, I heard about this place called the Blue Angel (now Le Scandal Cabaret), and I went there to check it out, and I was surprised to see what was going on, there was nothing else like it.”

For those who are not familiar with the Blue Angel (http://www.nyrock.com/spc/2002/blueangel.asp), it was a strip club down on Walker Street that featured wilder, crazier acts then what you would see in the normal strip club. Women would wear weird costumes (one act was a lactating Minnie Mouse), or do way out performance pieces that featured urination, ultraviolet paint, blood, plastic wrap, and knives. Anything went. When Guiliani closed the strip clubs, The Blue Angel moved to the Gene Frankel Theater and became a way out burlesque show. It ended up at the Cutting Room, and became Le Scandal Cabaret, now at the Westbeth Theater. Those interested should track down HBO’s “Real Sex” segment on the Blue Angel that is frequently rerun.

“I was mesmerized by what was going on, and came back later to audition, and they loved me. And I was thrilled to become part of it. I lasted two years, 1994-1996. I left after Walker Street closed, and went to the island of Ibiza, Spain, where I started doing parties called Manumission.

"This was one of the largest events on the island. Me and a friend got paid, got a free room, we only had to pay for our food. This lasted about five years, I came back in 2000, and went back to the Blue Angel at the Gene Frankel Theater, where I ran into all my old friends. I did the Angel for another year or two. Then I stopped and started working for a make up company, but I got bored and wanted to start performing again. I heard that Velocity Chyaldd [a Blue Angel regular, famous for her singing as well as for her crotch cutting] was doing a show called Bad Ass, and I wanted to do it. I did a few of these, and then I was pursuing my make up career, working at counters. But I didn’t get really creative until I started working with photographer Adrian Buckmaster, who is also my boyfriend. We’ve been together for about four years, which is about the same time I’ve been doing make-up work for shoots, and I keep getting better and better. So if anyone wants a make-up artist for a burlesque show, or a wedding, or what have you, you can contact me through my My Space page [www.myspace.com/foundationsbydeity].

"And I’m still performing at Bad Ass, which recently moved from the Bowery Poetry Club to Arlene’s Grocery.” Along with her other talents, Deity makes clothing, something she started doing when she was a child. “My mom taught me how to sew when I was about 7, I was too young to use a sewing machine. If I made a mistake, she made me take it apart and do it again. Later, I went to F.I.T., but I already knew how to do everything. I have another My Space page for my clothes.” [http://www.myspace.com/heathendesigns]

Deity remains one of the more vibrant creative denizens that keeps NY interesting.

Lisa and one of her many "acquired" awards. Photo by Bob Schaffer

Lisa in her study. Photo by Bob Schaffer

Lisa at home, amongst some of her early art. Photo by Schaffer

LISA LEVY, IDEA GIRL

It’s hard to put a name to what exactly Lisa Levy does (http://www.lisalevyindustries.com/). Conceptual artist, performance artist, filmmaker, comedian: none of these quite captures the spirit of her work. I became aware of Lisa through her “Psychotherapy Live” piece, where she pretended to be a therapist, and invited audience membersto come up onstage, lay on a couch, and talk, with Lisa analyzing the results. This has morphed into “Stand Up, Lie Down,” where comedians are put on the couch. I recently sat down with Lisa to try to analyze her.

“I guess you can call what I do ‘performance art,’” she tells me, “but I hate that term, it’s like ‘interpretive dance.’ I started out making visual art, I did a lot of installations. I did a piece where I was displaying things I had stolen, and I did a project interviewing art critics. I did a lot of different interactive things, and I thought it would be funny to do psychoanalysis onstage. I started at Surf Reality, I rented the theater and invited friends, then I got into a festival at HERE, and that’s how all this started. This was around 2001. My background is really visual art, I studied illustration in college, and I work as an Art Director for ad agencies. I made a lot of objects for installation, I never thought about performing.

“I was doing ‘Psychotherapy Live’ for this HERE festival, and got a good write up in Time Out and the Village Voice, and I was offered a monthly spot, then it got moved to Fez, and it did quite well. This show became ‘Stand Up, Lie Down.’ Originally, I used audience members, which I enjoyed, but it had problems. If I had a small audience, I could wind up with volunteers who were not that enthusiastic about being onstage. So I thought, comedians would be great, because they’re funny and interesting, and stereotypically, they have a lot of issues. Although I’m disappointed with how well adjusted a lot of them are. And I find that the more successful ones are often the more well adjusted ones.

“In this day and age, you have to have your act together if you want to be successful. I enjoy the variety of comedians I use, and many of them enjoy opening up to explore their issues.

"I’m also working with ‘Galley Beat,’ a video magazine by Paul H-O, which is a reincarnation of a ‘90’s public access show of the same name. There was also a documentary made with footage from it called ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman.’ I am the advice columnist for GalleryBeat and I do some correspondence. I have a home office for my therapy, and I video these sessions sometimes. I had a lot of comedians over last week, and one was crying over his problems, and another would make jokes, I like this variety. I think I like comedy because so much of it is conceptual, jokes are basically. I think comics go through a lot more stuff to do their material then a visual artist.”


I asked Lisa if she misses doing art.

“Because of my regular job, I could only commit to doing visual art or performance art, and I just wound up doing performance. Now that I have more free time, I’m going back to doing more visual art. It’s hard to categorize what I do, but it’s all very idea driven, so ‘conceptual art’ is the closest term. My art is very autobiographical, but the executions are all very different from one another. One new piece I’m working on is called ‘Women I’m afraid of Turning Into,’ which will be photographs of women I’m afraid of turning into, or other people are afraid of turning into.”

I asked Lisa if she was always an artist.

“Yes, the pieces you see on that wall are paintings I did at the Musem of Modern Art’s Children School, and I started going when I was 3 ½. I wasn’t a great student, but art was the thing I was always good at.”

Lisa’s father was an architect, and she was raised in Stuyvesant Town until she was 8, when her parents moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia, and she lived there until she went to the College of Syracuse.

“I studied illustration in college, which I liked because it’s very idea based. My problem was I used different styles to execute my drawings, and as an illustrator you’re supposed to have a recognizable style, so that’s why I became an Art Director, because you use different styles to express your ideas in that field. I love drawing and painting, but I always wanted to earn a living, so I was afraid of fine art, which might’ve appealed more to me if I wasn’t so afraid of not earning a living.”

Lisa also did a piece called "Red Carpet Live."

“That was a fun show. The idea behind this show was that. I wanted to explore my character, I didn’t just want to be a shrink. This had some of the same fun of audience participation, I was a red carpet hostess in a gown, and I’d interview people as if they were celebrities, but celebrities for who they were. I did that for a summer at the Brick Theater. I also did a red carpet for a Jagermeister event one Halloween. I also hosted the Oscars at Joe’s Pub. We showed videos before the show. I bought my gown at the Salvation Army, and I made a video of myself trying on gowns at the Salvation Army. We videoed the audience walking in, and showed clips of that during the show. The thing about this show is that it was an awful lot of work to do without a budget.”

Another show Lisa did was "You Bet Your Life Live," a revival, onstage, of the old Grouch Marx gameshow.

“That was a fun show. It was mostly my boyfriend’s idea, he thought the format allowed for a lot of ad libbing. But this too had the same problem of being a fairly large production, without a budget. But I did do a lot of research into the actual show, and Groucho’s ad libs were all scripted, and it took some pressure off me, that things could be structured, and not just have to be spontaneous. The major difference was that Groucho’s guests were all ringers, and I wanted ordinary people to be guests, people not involved with theater.

“I guess ‘Stand Up, Lie Down,’ is sort of a culmination of all my other shows, with hopefully a guaranteed entertainment factor, since I let the comics do their act before they take to the couch. When I started, I was a little intimidated, sharing the stage with comics who perform every night. I’d say it’s only been since September that I became a 100 % comfortable sharing the stage, so it’s been good for me.”

"Stand Up, Lie Down” can be viewed at Ochi’s Lounge, a downstairs space at Comix on W. 14^th Street, the Third Thursday of every month. It’s a free show.