Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ginger Snaps. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ginger, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Choosing to pursue a career in the arts in America is a risk in and of it’s self, full stop, but doing so as a plus size performer certainly makes it more so!
As a child and young adult I had it in my head that I wanted to go into veterinary medicine and went to Colorado State University pursuing a major in Wildlife Biology. At some point in my sophomore year I realized I just couldn’t stand to learn about mitochondria one more time ( I’d already had 6 years worth of science classes in high school as I filled many of my electives with more sciences) and switched majors a couple times, but still planning to work in the hard sciences. Meanwhile I began taking dance classes for the first time in my life and exploring other art forms like sfx makeup. While completing my degree it became apparent that I was compelled to work in the arts and after college I moved to Austin and became a makeup artist and still do some makeup and wig work from time to time!
While building my makeup business I continued to pursue the performing arts; I played bass in a band for a while, did some singing (I sang all through my childhood), and eventually found my way into burlesque! I ended up diving head first into burlesque which introduced me to aerial arts and after 15 years of building my MUA career I realized I was getting a bit burned out and really wanted to focus my career on performing and producing. Now, making a decision like that is already risky; America loves to watch performers but isn’t so keen on paying them well! But the more I invested in my performance career the more I realized it was worth the risk.
I am fortunate to have developed in a very supportive community and (now) with a very supportive husband who have really held me up when I felt a bit beaten down. As a plus size performer any positive attention or media I receive is met with a wave of negativity and criticism from insecure trolls who seem to think people in plus size bodies should just hide away from public presentation until they magically shrink, This attitude and these internet-attacks only further hardened my resolve to continue to succeed and put myself out there because at the same time I was getting such positive feedback from other plus size people who also wanted to get involved in aerials and / or burlesque but thought it “wasn’t for them” and clearly someone needed to prove the opposite!
Now I am so glad I took the risk to start this career full force in my thirties and not listen to any naysayers. I am so passionate about the work I do as a performer, producer, instructor, and especially fat-activist. I teach all over the world helping to make safe spaces for other plus size people to pursue their own interests athletically and artistically and have even recently begun working with a local medical school to teach new doctors about the danger of medical weight bias. Being able to mix my art and my activism in a way that helps other people feels like the pinnacle of a my career!
Ginger, 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 am a Burlesque and Aerial performer, producer, and instructor based out of Austin, Texas. My origin story into this career was not typical; I never saw myself as any kind of professional performer and didn’t even start dancing until I was in college and even then it was kind of on a whim! But after moving to Austin almost 20 years ago I was mistaken for a local burlesque performer (I still have no idea who!) multiple times to the point people had insisted they saw me perform. I made it clear that it wasn’t me but figured I should learn more about what burlesque was; I had no idea! After I looked it up I realized I had been low-key grooming myself (years of dance classes, ran and performed in a Rocky Horror shadow cast) to be one for years so figured I would give it a shot! I eventually auditioned for a new troupe in town and that was how I began my burlesque career!
A few years after getting into burlesque I was performing with some local aerialists who encouraged me to try out a class! My boyfriend at that time was their website designer as well so I went to try it out. I was not good at it by any means, but I had so much fun I kept going back and eventually grew some muscles and was able to do things I didn’t think I ever would. Now, as a performer, I pretty much immediately was thinking of how I could incorporate these new skills into my existing performance repertoire. Since I came from a dance background I was able to take my limited aerial vocabulary and make it look good enough for an act, so I performed my first aerial act about 8 months after starting aerial classes and never looked back! Now marrying aerial work into my burlesque performances is my favorite type of performance and when I feel the most expressive. I’ve worked very hard at honing my craft and been fortunate to be given the opportunity to perform all around the country and beyond including in Germany, England, Brazil, and domestically at the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekender (which we colloquially call the “Superbowl of Burlesque) twice!
In this process of becoming a professional Burlesque and Aerial performer two things have been made abundantly clear to me. Firstly, many people are low-key terrified of fat bodies on stage and secondly, everyone needs to see more fat bodies on stage!
You’re probably saying, girl, why did you make that one paragraph? Seems awfully dramatic….YES. I am being intentionally dramatic because I really want people to marinate on the importance of that statement. I have been fortunate to have a handful of media pieces and appearances about me as a performer and boy howdy do the trolls come out to play! It seems there is always someone there to make a disparaging comment about the size of my body or an assumption about my health (both of which are great, BTW). I’m sure this surprises no one but I choose not to accept or ignore it, but rather to look deeper into WHY society feels entitled to these expectations of others and how I can help change it.
Throughout my personal training and rehearsals I regularly share videos and photos of my practice on my socials and noticed a saddening trend; plus size women of all ages were shocked to see a body like mine, doing the things I do, and also felt like I gave them “permission” to try these things themselves. People, mostly women, in larger bodies truly believed they weren’t allowed or able to participate in aerial arts. I realized that society is SO aggressively preaching anti-fatness and telling plus size people that they are weak, unhealthy, and no one wants to see them that eventually we believe it about ourselves. I’m certainly not immune to it either, but I did not realize just how strongly it was affecting others until the slough of comments and messages started to fill my socials.
At the same time I was realizing the amount of size-bias inherent in circus arts and aerial education. While I was feeling more and more support from the aerial community at large I realized that MY aerial style works because myself and some of my instructors helped me ADAPT it to fit my body. Traditionally aerial is taught as if you have to adapt your body to fit the curriculum and the curriculum that studios around the world were all following was entirely based on thin bodies with no accounting for basic anatomical differences. No was asking WHY we did it that way, we just all went with it. So I began developing my own movement style and eventually curriculum and teaching methods that encourage creative exploration and adaptation and push people to ask WHY we “just do things that way.” If all bodies are different, why would we expect them to all move the same way? This all led to me creating a series of professional development workshops that I now teach to studios around the world about teaching and fostering plus-size aerial students.
I ran off on this tangent all to say that we need to push back against weight bias not just as a culture but also individually. We need to challenge everyone from our media personalities to our medical professionals to do better. Fat bodies are just as capable, loved, deserving, and healthy (I know you want to argue about this, but that’s a whole other series of discussions I won’t delve into here!) as thin ones and constantly letting people’s ingrained biases (which, let’s be honest, is mostly from companies trying to sell you crap you don’t need) push back against those facts is deeply damaging both societally and to individuals. Furthermore, audiences WANT to see fat bodies on stages! Audiences want to see people who look like them up there being just as spectacular as thin bodies! We love to preach about diversity but then conveniently ignore body size and type as if that isn’t part of it, or just occasionally fetishize a fat body and act like that is representation. We can all do better for ourselves and our futures.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Pay Artists. PAY THEM!
America loves to ingest art but seems to really struggle to support them. Give them your money! Go to local shows, buy from local creators, who needs another piece of commercial crap from Hobby Lobby (that was likely ripped off of another artist anyway) when you can get something unique from a local artist? Additionally, support grants for artists! Does your city offer grants for local performing arts groups? How much? Go to city council and ask for more! Support running that up to a state and federal level! Attend local productions. Like circus arts? Check out shows or student showcases put on by your local aerial studio!
People seem to think that because someone’s job is “fun” that it is not work and not deserving of sustainable pay. This is deeply untrue and this is how you end up without a thriving arts scene.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Everyone acts like there is some pre-written path to success and this is deeply un-true. Create your own path and take other people’s advice with a grain of salt because what worked for them won’t always be the same thing that works for you. And if you don’t see a path build your own! Ask for what you want and keep asking until you get it. As a 41 year old fat professional performer in an industry that is deeply entrenched with obsessions over youth and thinness I and my 6 years of audience voted awards can attest to this! 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gingersnapsburlesque.com
- Instagram: @gingersnapsburlesque
- Facebook: facebook.com/gingersnapsburlesque
- Twitter: @Glittergrrrl
- Youtube: @gingersnapsburlesque
- TikTok: @gingersnapsburlesque
Image Credits
Rusk Photography, Errich Petersen Photography, Fernie Renteria, Verse Concepts