Diva Taunia Dolls Auditioning: YOU!

Aug. 3, 2011 - PRLog -- When most people hear the word “burlesque,” they think of a seedy nightclub with women taking their clothes off and prancing around with big feather fans.  The Diva Taunia Dolls wants to change the way people see burlesque and cabaret.   “The true definition of burlesque is to parody something and make people laugh.  It stems from the Italian word ‘burlesco,’ which means to joke or mock something.  Burlesque is lighthearted and fun, but it is truly an art form. “

The Diva Taunia Dolls combine the lighthearted approach of burlesque with cabaret and old-school song and dance productions.  “When I was a kid, I used to love watching the older movies like Singing in the Rain, Royal Wedding, and then Cabaret, Hello Dolly, and more.  I loved watching men and women tell a story through song and dance, and I always wanted to be part of a world that expressed everything through music,” says Founder and Creative Director Diva Taunia.  “To be able to create and produce something that I imagined when I was younger is nothing short of amazing for me.”  Especially true considering her background story.  

Diva Taunia has been performing professionally for over 20 years as an award-winning songwriter and vocalist.  It wasn’t until recently that she began to dance – after a lifetime of morbid obesity.  Formerly 311+ lbs, Taunia had RNY Gastric Bypass Surgery on March 25, 2008 and has since maintained a loss of over 150 lbs.  “One of my biggest goals was to dance.  I always loved it, and even when I was 311 lbs, I took ballroom dancing and was always complimented on my ‘grace.’  I think people were surprised that someone my size could be graceful on a dance floor, and I always loved it when I surprised them.   Still, I always wanted to dance other styles and as a solo dancer, and my weight kept me from that.   I wanted to create a group that gave everyone an opportunity to feel glamorous and beautiful and celebrate the beauty and sex appeal of all shapes and sizes.  Everyone is welcome with us, and our audience has really embraced that ideal as well.”    

She founded The Diva Taunia Dolls in 2010 with a mission to have an open-door policy for anyone who wanted to be part of the group.  “We pride ourselves on celebrating diversity.  We have women and men of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, ages, sexual preferences, and ideals.  No one is excluded, and everyone gets an opportunity to participate in whatever capacity is most comfortable for them.”    When she first started the group, she put the word out to a few friends who had performing backgrounds.  They told their friends, and then the word spread like wildfire.  “We had a cast and crew of almost 50 people for our first production in February of 2011, and we sold out the show.  We had veteran performers alongside women and men who had never step foot on a stage before.  It really was pretty remarkable to watch all of these people blossom into performers, and the audience was incredibly supportive.”

The group offers both solo and group performances, all fully-costumed and choreographed with professional hair and makeup makeovers for the performances.  There are solo singers, dancers, variety acts and burlesque performers as well as fully choreographed large-scale production song and dance numbers.  The group maintains and open-door audition policy and cast members can decide what works best for them as performances as well as commitment-level for rehearsals.    

The Diva Taunia Dolls will be holding open auditions on Sunday, August 14th from 7:00pm-10:00pm for their fall Halloween production.  To see more about the group or Diva Taunia, please visit http://www.divatauniadolls.com or view their videos at http://www.youtube.com/divatauniadolls.   For more details or to schedule an audition time, please contact auditions@divatauniadolls.com or call 603.686.4896.

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The mission of The Diva Taunia Dolls Burlesque is to create sexy, artful, and entertaining shows that showcase strong song and dance production numbers that celebrate the strength and beauty of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and ages.