Hey Hon, Come on In:
A South Philly lady’s guide to hosting a faaaaabulous show!
3 Week Series
with Maria TopCatt
POSTPONED UNTIL THE FALL!
CHECK BACK FOR THE NEW DATES!
In-studio
Registration and pricing:
This series has been postponed until the fall!
Maria TopCatt is the ultimate dancing queen and burlesque vixen of South Philly. Born and Raised in South Jersey, Maria’s love of performance started in the theatre, where she earned her BA in theatre and dance performance from Stockton University. She has been twirling and jump splitting as Maria TopCatt for over a decade. She is Miss Fancy Brigade 2016, Best Dance Artist of Philly 2016, and Best of Philly’s 2018 reciptient for her Drag Queen Storytime. She currently is the resident host of Topcatt Cabaret, and La Masion Rose, and can be seen as the Fabrika Showgirl every Friday and Saturday Night. When Maria hangs up her heels at 5am she takes a quick power nap and wakes up refreshed and ready for her day as Anthony, a ballroom and latin dance instructor at Society Hill Dance Academy, where he has been teaching for twelve years, bringing the joy of dance to the Philadelphia Community. Anthony’s hobbies include raising awareness and funding for HIV/AIDS as one of the hosts for Philly’s largest fundraiser, Code Red, caring for his two fur babies Gracie Lou and Momo, and spending all of his money of his floozy alter ego, Maria! If you’d like to stay abreast on all things TopCatt, follow her @MariaTopCatt on the instagrams…which also happens to be her Venmo and Ca$happ.
So you want to be the burlesque host with the most?
This comprehensive 3 week series will give you the skills and tools to be just that! Check out the weekly breakdown below:
Week One: Oh Hey Hon, Come on In:
This session will focus on finding our voices as hosts. We will talk about establishing our persona as well as focusing on establishing our token rules of engagement. All participants will have a chance to intro themselves to the class and get feedback. We will then take time to talk about proper housekeeping rules; ways to establish our power as hosts and masters of the house, while still making sure our guests are comfortable and ready to have "guided" fun. And no party is finished without a proper toast/blessing, lets find YOUR perfect toast/blessing!
Week Two: Oh No Hon, Not in My House:
This session will focus on dealing with unruly house guests as well, as keeping them comfortable and happy. We will open the floor for everyone to talk about hecklers. Their experiences, how to handle them, when is it okay to have them removed. We will play out some heckler/host interaction games, while I coach you through some fun ways to handle the situations without making the audience feel uncomfortable and also keep your power as host. Again, this is your house and we will not tolerate unruly guests.
Week Three: Awww Hon, Thats So Sweet:
This session will focus on getting our guests to bring gifts, and by gifts we mean money. How do we get our audiences to tip our performers and continue to come to our shows? We will also spend time talking about introducing performers. How can we make them feel special? No one wants to walk on stage after a bad intro. We want to sell the performer to the audience before they set foot on stage. Again, we must continue to be gracious hosts, making all our guests and performers feel special.