Burlesque

Last night we went to the Asheville Fine Arts center to watch the annual Bombshell Burlesque show, put on to raise funds/awareness for the Western North Carolina AIDS Project. To find out more about WNCAP, please visit their website here.
The show was a comedy, and often hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the one liners and enjoying the music. But what I will take away from the experience is the feeling of power it gave me as a woman. There were about seven or eight female dancers in total, and not one was like the other. One was an all-out plus size woman, with boobs the size of cannonballs. One was a tall, thin, transvestite with the most gorgeous, shiny, REAL long hair I have ever seen. They were all shapes and sizes, and not one had what I would consider a perfect body. But as I watched the obviously oldest bombshell burlesque dancer swing her hips back and forth as she belly danced across the stage, I realized that though she was soft in places that fashion magazines would tell you need to be hard, she looked beautiful. I have seen beauty campaigns lately reach out to 'real women' by including plus-size models in their ads, but this was different. These women had the confidence to dance on-stage in sparkly bras and barely-there underwear, and it was inspiring. It didn't just give you the feeling 'oh that's great, they look like real women', it gave you the feeling, 'these women are beautiful...they are sexy'. So ladies...please love and respect your bodies. It's okay if you aren't perfect. Confidence in yourself as a woman can be hard to develop, ( I am still working on it myself) but it truly is the most beautiful and alluring quality you can possess. A woman can be her harshest critic, but just think of it like this: Don't let yourself say or think anything about your appearance that you wouldn't say to a friend. Would you tell your best friend, "you look so fat in this shirt"? No. Would you ever have a friend say to you, "You are not near as pretty as the other women at this party"? No. So why say these nasty things to yourself? It doesn't help, and you need to be your own biggest ally. It's okay to know when you need to make healthy changes in your weight, skin, hair, etc.........but don't be nasty about it. Don't criticize yourself. Celebrate your strengths and accept that we all have weaknesses.
Have a beautiful Sunday.