Welcome to MSW Interviews. Today’s guest is Alita D’Bone (aka Alita Rickards), one of the stars in the burlesque dance troupe based in Taiwan, Rock in Hose. Rock in Hose Burlesque has been entertaining on stages throughout Taiwan since March 2009. This talented dance group is comprised of six members who came to Taiwan looking for adventure and found it. Don’t miss the first act of their island-wide tour which kicks off at Roxy Roots in Taipei tomorrow night.
MSW: Hi Alita. Thanks for being here today. Can we start with an introduction to the group?
Alita D’Bone: I first came to Taiwan from Canada 10 years ago. I’ve taught English here, worked as a columnist for the China Post, and work now as a freelance reporter for Taipei Times. I’ve taken over 4 years off from work (in the last decade) to travel, and to live in Prague twice, and India and Thailand for a year each. This burlesque troupe takes the cake though, for interesting things I’ve done in Taiwan. It rules my world right now.
Duke Vita, aka Tinus Stander, and Anja Whitehead aka Onyx, both hail from South Africa. Duke was involved in dinner theatre, stage productions, and TV at home; he’s been in Taiwan for 5 years now. He teaches English and is involved in the Taipei Players theater company in addition to being a Hose.
Onyx calls Taipei home after living here for 5 years. She has a great love of the arts and creative expression and likes to get dressed up and design costumes. She’s also one of the few teachers who loves working with children.
Kitty N. Heat, aka Kathleen Batchelor moved to Taiwan from America in 2006 and is also an English teacher. She has an extensive background in dance (we’ve all seen videos of her dancing from when she was 4 years old until now…won’t mom be proud!). In addition to ballet, hip-hop and jazz, she also dabbled in theater classes as a kid.
Cresencio Victoria aka Amor Galore is also from America and has been in Taiwan teaching English for a year, this is his first theatrical experience.
Trixie Treatz, aka Marika McTague moved from Canada to Taiwan 3 years ago, teaches English, and also acted in an ESL video series and has written and directed numerous plays.
I guess what this shows is that it takes all types – some of us have a lot of previous experience and some of us are doing it for the first time.
MSW: When did you first become interested in burlesque?
Alita D’Bone: A few years back I had a band in Taiwan called Creepy Susan. At that time I had been doing spoken word for over 10 years, and though I loved singing, I wanted to do something more theatrical. When I saw the Lustsluts, an early burlesque troupe from Hualien do a show, I was hooked… I knew I wanted to do something with burlesque. It’s a way to combine theatre, singing, dancing, costumes, and mad creativity.
MSW: How did Rock and Hose get its start?
Alita D’Bone: One of the members of Lustsluts moved to Taipei and we became good friends. I told them I wanted to do a show and we looked for other performers, one of whom was Onyx who is a member of Rock in Hose now. We formed a short-lived group called Rockin’ Hoes and did one show at Paris Nightclub for Halloween in 2008. It was so amazing that when the couple left, I had to have more. Onyx was on board from the beginning, so we formed a troupe. Her roommate Kitty N. Heat joined us. Then we hooked up with Duke Vita and Trixie Treatz and Rock in Hose was born. Later we added a final member, Amor Galore, who will unfortunately be leaving us after our upcoming tour and Spring Scream.
MSW: Tell me about the name…
Alita D’Bone: Well, we rock, in hose – we actually have quite an array of hose, from solid colors to fishnets, stripes, and animal prints. Really, I wanted a name that had a double meaning – one that our grandmothers could read in print without getting offended, that was funny and had another meaning when said aloud. As a writer I’m a fan of word plays – I love the name, actually. We call each other Hose all the time.
MSW: What can you say about burlesque as an art form? It’s sexy, humorous, obviously entertaining, and very powerful. What message are you trying to convey to your fans?
Alita D’Bone: I am no expert in the form, but we have all done a lot of research about the origins of burlesque – I think it is particularly appealing to us as a way to parody or satirize sexual norms. People take sexuality way too seriously. We’re coming out of the closet in a thousand outfits! We put the ho back in hose, come back into comedy, and form back in performance. It’s also great to be able to see all kinds of body types on stage, refreshingly so, I think. We have everything from petite to tall, slim to really curvaceous, youthful to more mature, delicate to strong.
MSW: How often do you get together to practice?
Alita D’Bone: Everyone is incredibly dedicated. We have the first show of our tour on March 5, and will be rehearsing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as well as Wednesday the following week. We generally rehearse at least once or twice a week in a dance studio with full mirrors. Since I recently moved to Taichung and we are based in Taipei, I end up jumping on the Ubus so often I should get frequent rider miles!
Photo by Olivia Wycech
MSW: Who does your choreography?
Alita D’Bone: To be attracted to this kind of theatre one has to be a very creative type as it is. Everyone comes up with their own solos and ideas for duets or group acts. Then we brainstorm together to create the skit or choreography. We’ll watch someone act out their idea and then give feedback but ultimately we respect each other’s choices. We are lucky to have an outside eye in our friend Neil Pretorius who has been an invaluable support. He’s involved with theatre back in his home country of South Africa and has assisted us with everything from props and lighting to being in one of our skits (as spider bait!) Check out our Rock in Hose Burlesque photos on facebook.
MSW: How do you choose your music? Do you have any favorites you’d like to share?
Alita D’Bone: The music is often where we start when coming up with an idea for a scene – Onyx, Kitty, and Trixie have all been invaluable when it comes to helping find music for group acts. Because we perform at so many live music festivals and nightclubs we need a pumping sound track. Sometimes a song will be the initial inspiration – for Duke Vita’s “Dolls” the powerful track really influences the emotive quality of the visual element. I worked with Shiuan Liu aka DJ SL (劉軒) who composed original tracks for live songs that I do vocals (and wrote the lyrics) for: POGO (Put Out or Get Out), and Rockstar. The whole troupe does back up vocals as well. There are also a couple of songs that I wrote and perform accappella including Quit Smoking and Little Girl.
MWS: How do you choose your outfits? Do you have a favorite?
Alita D’Bone: It’s funny actually, when we first hooked up we all came in with ideas for costumes – and we all had basically the same idea – brightly colored tights, bustier, fishnets, and feather boas. For POGO and a machine built of our bodies called Zorba Zebra we hand made pink tutus that we pair with black and white striped stockings – that is one of our favorites. Onyx and I are always coming up with new ideas for costumes, and everyone designs costumes for their solos or duets as well.
MSW: Do you have any upcoming shows this year?
Alita D’Bone: We are about to go on tour of Taiwan with different DJs for each show, with a mix of classic Rock in Hose act and brand new material as well. We start on Friday, March 5 in Taipei at Roxy Roots with DJ Al Burro, hit Kaohsiung the following Saturday March 13 at the Brickyard with Marcus Aurelius – which we are really excited about as it will be our first show in Kaohsiung. Then we play Taichung on March 26 at Light Lounge with DJ vDub (Shawn Kidd). We are in the middle of applying for Spring Scream and hope to have as good of a show there as we did last year, which was a blast. You can help us get in (it only takes a minute) by voting for us here.
MSW: Tell us about the process of putting a show together. How long does it take to put a show together?
Alita D’Bone: No way! That is the boring, difficult, not so glamorous part. All sweat, blood, and tears. Literally. Skinned knees and bruises in the studio, and hours online trying to promote, getting fliers designed and posters printed. The amount of work is beyond anything anyone would ever expect – but it’s all worth it when we hear the crowd screaming for more! We’ve been incredibly lucky to have enthusiastic, mad crowds at all our shows – and they are the ones that make it all worth it. We LOVE our fans, and the energy that passes between them and us. It’s like a drug.
MSW: Are you guys giving classes or workshops? Where can people get information for your classes?
Alita D’Bone: I did workshops at a resort in Thailand in the fall which were great fun and highly successful. We even managed to put on a show at the resort after only 3 days, and everyone had a really great time. Right now we are busy with the tour but you can contact us at rockinhose@gmail.com for more information. And come to the show! Live entertainment needs your support. Support Hose! Ha…
Photo by Olivia Wychech
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That looks like so much fun, I would love to watch a show! It seems that Taiwan has a very active expat arts scene!!
Aly´s last blog ..Traveling Couples: Are We Insane? The Survival Guide
Hi Aly,
Yes, definitely. The number of creatives here seems to have grown exponentially over the past two years. There’s never a dull moment.
Great post Carrie. Taiwan just gets higher and higher on my list. I had no idea there was so much to see and do. I clearly need to stop listening to friends and check it out for myself.
SpunkyGirl´s last blog ..A No Social Life Plan before RTW Trip = FAIL!!