We took a quick break from posting cast interviews to tell you about our first rehearsal and share the amazing postcard that Kristilyn designed for us, but today we’re back! Porcelain Dalya, who plays a coed in TEN, was born in the sea to a bearded lady and raised by clowns. Read on to learn about how her love of Marilyn Manson led to her beginnings in burlesque, how she’s having trouble making a scared face that doesn’t look like an orgasm face, and lots more.
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| Photos by Rachel Leah Blumenthal |
What’s your acting background? When I was younger, I faked sick a lot to get out of school. [Laughs.] I’ve always had a dance background, mostly ballet, and now I do burlesque. I love it! I try really hard to do more comedy burlesque, lots of facial expressions, stuff like that.
How’d you get into burlesque? When I was younger, I was in love with Marilyn Manson, and he was married to Dita Von Teese, so I read a lot of her books and did lots of research on her, and I fell in love with burlesque really young. It was just a matter of waiting until I was 18 and able to legally do it and find the right community to adopt me.
Do you belong to a specific troupe? The Bunny Collaborative is pretty much my regular thing. I did my first ever show in July, and now I really want to do more and possibly create a troupe of my own, but I don’t belong to anyone – I am free! [Giggles.] [Makes awesome jazz hands-y type of motion.]
What has been your favorite moment on stage? Pastie reveal. After my very first burlesque, I took off my bra for the first time, and the emcee screams, “Free at last! Free at last!” [Laughs.] And I thought that was really funny.
What has been your most challenging moment performing? I have a really hard time not being happy all the time. I think part of that is just that it’s the easiest facade to do, and everybody likes it. I’ve done a lot of photoshoots where they’re like, look sad, and I just don’t know what that means. I can’t. It’s hard to do that. So this Halloween I was going to do a really emotional creepy piece, and then I decided very last minute to go and stick with comedy.
What do you do when you’re not performing? I’m a loser. I play nerd games and read comic books and stuff. I go to school – I go to UMass Boston for sociology, and I love it. I fucking love my major so much. I read sociology articles for fun.
What kind of nerd games? Are we talking Dungeons and Dragons? No, I’ve never played Dungeons and Dragons before. I’m kind of proud of that fact! I’ve played a different game – I can’t remember what it’s called – but it’s a similar role-playing game, and I just felt silly the whole time. But I was recently in a play called Speakeasy Dollhouse, which is essentially the same thing. You’re given this character and you have to interact with people as if you’re that character, and be totally immersive, and it’s impossible.
What got you interested in being a part of TEN? I really like working with Michael and Sophia. I think they’re hilarious when it comes to their projects. I’ve been in all the Darling Pet Munkee music videos so far. I was a little bit hesitant at first going into this project because I don’t like scary movies, but then I just decided to go for it, and I was not expecting them to say yes.
What do you anticipate will be the most challenging aspect of this project for you? Looking scared is really hard. I’ve been trying to practice in front of the mirror, and it just turns into orgasm faces, because that’s what I do for burlesque.
What are you most looking forward to? I’m kind of treating this as a vacation, because I think if I think of it any other way, I’ll die. It’s happening the week before finals for me, so that’ll be interesting.
How are you preparing for your role? I’ve been working on my scared faces (not orgasm faces) and I’ve been trying to prepare the lines, trying to work on my best Cher Horowitz from Clueless and be really ditzy, but sort of intelligent. I had to have gotten into college somehow!
Have you ever played a role like this one before? I was Frenchy in Grease, and I was like the only one with a New Jersey accent, because that’s what I assumed she sounded like. So I think that that has a very similar “beauty school dropout” kind of thing.
How do you feel about the nudity that your role entails? I picked this role specifically because it had nudity. I was like, I think I would be good at that. [Laughs.]
What is your favorite pig in history or literature? That’s so hard. I’ve always wanted a pet pig, so maybe…“my future pet pig.” I also really like the symbolism in Animal Farm with the pigs and being gluttonous and stuff like that.
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