We recently connected with Anastasia Arsenic and have shared our conversation below.

Anastasia , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

How I learned to do what I do as a performer was a multifaceted process. I was partially self taught and partially formally trained. My parents were both entertainers. My father was a gigging musician and my mother was a community theater actress. I was constantly surrounded by my dad repeatedly running scales or band rehearsal and my mother took the first opportunity she had to put us in community theater productions. My earliest memory of being on stage was around 7 years old. I have a large family and my parents didn’t always have an additional financial allowance outside the basic needs of the household so extra classes or lessons outside of the free community theater workshops were not an option. My first dance classes were the highly choreographed music videos on MTV. I was obsessed. I was obsessed with the artists, the dancers and the music. I continued my “at home” dance classes until I graduated high school. All through my academic studies in junior high and high school I was an athlete. It was a different sport each season and non stop practice and training. Despite being busy with practice and my studies I still found time for my MTV dance classes. It was in my senior year in high school that I was a cheerleader and I was beyond grateful for another avenue to be able to dance.

When I was accepted into university for dance and theater thats when I noticed a shift in myself not only as an artist but as a choreographer and instructor. This was when I was able to submerge myself into the technical and academic aspect of dance. It was overwhelming at first, but was worth every single moment. The fundamentals are so important to learn in any avenue this does not apply only to being an artist, they provide a strong foundation or. building blocks if you will that will better support your future learning. Im so incredibly grateful for my education and still apply majority of the things I learned in university as a choreographer, producer, instructor and most importantly as an entertaining artist.

In the past financials were the obstacle and blocker from continuing forward with even more education. I wanted to get my masters but had just put myself through college and at the time could not feasibly afford more school. Now we are in the age of information and everything is available at your fingertips. I have been fortunate enough to continue my education in that fashion. I will say I do miss being in a formal setting and just may go back and get my masters.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Anastasia Arsenic. I am an artist who has worn many hats and lived many lives. I am a dancer, actress, singer, producer, choreographer, instructor and my most current adventure as an artist, a burlesque dancer.

As an artist I have been blessed with so many incredible opportunities. To name a few of my accolades, I went to school for dance and theater and was fortunate enough to have professors that supplied me with a bountiful education and formal training. I coached dance teams and taught at performing arts schools and produced many shows. When I moved to Austin I was a showgirl and back up danced for international artists for Premios an award show that aired on Univision. I back up sang for a local artist and while under her employ we were flown out to California to open for Maroon 5 for a private event. I performed in SXSW with said artist and with the Neo-circ company Crash Alchemy that I was also a member of. It was with Crash Alchemy where I learned to eat fire and do ariels. With Crash Alchemy I was able to be a guest performer with NYC site specific immersive and experimental theater performance company Third Rail Projects when they toured through Austin for their show Momento Mori. I have choreographed and performed for 3 seasons with Dancing with the Austin (Lake Travis) Stars (and won awards). This past couple of years has been a whirlwind as I have spent it touring and performing in the burlesque festival circuit, all while still continuing to perform all over the great state of Texas. I am currently an instructor at the Austin Academy of Burlesque and a member of the local erotic theater and cabaret company The Girlie Revue. I am so grateful for all the opportunities I have been granted and I look forward to what the future holds.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This is a time in my life I tend to keep to myself because it was an incredibly rough point in my life, but when I was 21 in my last year of university I was homeless. I was in a very physically abusive domestic partnership and by the end of it I was left with 2 black eyes, a broken nose and no where to go. I toggled between sleeping in my car and crashing on my friend’s couch. I remember getting up extra early for class so I could get to the dance department early to use the showers and “get ready for the day”. It was one of the hardest moments of my life. I was contending with recovering from feeling broken and useless after my relationship ended and trying to finish out my last year in college. I knew that if I ‘took a break’ the possibility of me finishing school was slim. So I pushed through the best way I could. I got extra side jobs to make money so I could build a savings again and I finished school. I was fortunate to find a place to live before I graduated college.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Not everything in life or performance is going to go the way you planned. So always have a plan b, plan c , plan d….. Its so important to be prepared and be able to pivot and adapt. On stage I can’t count how many times something would happen that wasn’t choreographed, blocked or planned and there are no do overs in live performance. Theres not a take 2 you are at the mercy of that one moment, so right there in that moment you have to roll with it and recover. If I had a dollar for every time something went wrong during a performance in my career of performing I would be a wealthy woman. I’ve gotten on stage to perform and the music they played was not mine and I was unable to flag anyone down as I was on stage so I had to improv my entire performance. Ive gotten on stage and the props I was supposed to utilize wasn’t set by the crew. I could go on forever about all the crazy unscripted things that have happened during performance, however I will spare giving y’all a novel of the same scale of the Star Wars opening credits.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://anastasiaarsenicbu.wixsite.com
• Instagram: randie_rose
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnastasiaArsenic

Image Credits
First image: Blvckring pin up photo: Paul Taylor lamp in photo: Doc List