We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Caito Aase. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Caito below.

Caito, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I studied theatre and performance from a very young age and pursued my bachelor’s in Theatre Arts and French. After graduating, I auditioned a lot for Chicago storefront theatre and had quite a few shows on my resume. While I was doing that, I was taking on-camera classes, as I had never done any film or TV work. I really enjoy taking classes. It keeps you sharp.

One of the most crucial elements I learned from my time working as a professional actor is that you really must lean in to being yourself. I think there’s a misconception that actors are completely blank canvases and need to remain so. I worked so hard for so many years at being commercial or mass-market ready – which there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! – it just isn’t who I am as a person. Allowing myself the freedom to lean in to my edginess opened up a world of performance opportunities for me that I never would have dreamt of. I think if I had hit the ground running just being myself, I may have sped up my learning process more. But hey, that’s just part of it!

Communication skills are the most essential. What happens behind the scenes or off-camera; are you an easy person to work with? Are you communicative? Do you bring a good energy to set? Do people want to keep hiring you? All really vital things.

Caito, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a professional actor and burlesque dancer. I’ve been working professionally for about 13 years now, both onstage and on-camera. I bring both an edgy, genderfluid energy to my performances and a positive, quick-witted attitude to my work.

I’m very proud of having broken into the horror genre as a film actor. I absolutely adore horror and love to see this massive surge in independent horror. There are some incredible stories being made now and it feels great to be a part of this world.

In my burlesque life, I am know as Helena Handbasket – the Jumpscare of Burlesque. I love to bring creepy, dark themes to my acts, but I absolutely love getting weird and goofy too. My signature burlesque act is a Beetlejuice chair-balancing act, for which I have won awards at festivals. Additionally, I love to emcee burlesque and variety shows.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

It boils down to the fact that arts funding always gets cut first. Financially supporting the arts is vital to keeping them alive. I have absolutely loved seeing the impact that raising our per-act rate in the burlesque world has had on the well-being of all of us as artists. We get a chance to thrive! The financial support allows us to really bring those big ideas to life, which in turn generates revenue, which can feed back into the arts. Once the cycle begins, it keeps growing.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

People want genuine connection. In a world of bots and spam, it can feel super discouraging – like you’re screaming into the void. But if you’re genuinely engaging with your audience through comment responses, retweets/reposts, etc. folks continue to engage with you.

Make your socials pop! Book a photoshoot with your friend with a camera and come up with that high concept shoot you’ve always wanted to do. Once you have that set of photos, tease them out over time. Tag your friends in it and generate traffic to their pages as well. Create fun reels, talk to your audience!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.caitoaase.com
• Instagram: thehelenahandbasket (burlesque page)
• Twitter: OnlyHandbasket
• Other: https://twitch.tv/folkandmyth

Image Credits

Collin Quinn Rice (personal), Cassie Ballschmidt (cosplay), Pez Photo (burlesque image), Revealer Film (Revealer shots only)