Twirlies: The Chorus Woman Pod Cast

01/03/2024

Happy Last Day of Black History Month/First Day of Women's History Month. Congratulations to the Chorus Dancers of the Apollo who lead the historic first strike by African American Musical artists and created the American Guild of Variety Artists.
Chorus Girls Strike:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2162828/14606078

07/02/2024

We were finally able to upload another episode. Thanks for the patience.

29/09/2023

The last of a four ark episode about Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues. We took our kids on a field trip to see her Gravesite, morbid I know, and then talked about a children's book, and the time her son sued CBS!
Enjoy this one!

This past September 26th was the Anniversary of Bessie's death.  We had hoped to get this final episode up by then.  The episode was a touch chaotic for us since we had kids and fireworks in tow.  However the show must go on! W...

10/09/2023

We had so much fun working on this episode because we got to watch movies.

Bessie Smith created a 160 record discography, and a short film before her untimely death,  Her life is depicted in a Biography, a movie, and countless documentaries.  She's in a children's book that we cover in a separate episode.  ...

26/08/2023

Happy Women's Equality Day. Enjoy this second episode about LGBTQ+ trail blazer Bessie Smith who opened doors for others despite the fact that doors did not open easily for her. We do have a content warning at the top of this episode. We invite you to listen only if you are comfortable. If this is not the episode for you we promise we have easier on the heart episodes in the cue.

Please understand that our compressed format means we don't speak about trigger warnings in the middle of the episode.  We did record one at the top of the episode and caution you that this one is not for children and not for you if you are s...

20/08/2023

We swear the goal of this podcast is not to recomend books to people who love dance. Couldn’t help ourselves when we saw this number on the shelves.

10/08/2023

Episode 2 is available today. During this episode we talk about Bessie Smith. The Empress of the Blues worked her way from street performer to Chorus Girl to Front Liner. Her lifetime spans the first wave of chorus women. Her continued recognition and popularity are a testament to her talent. Please excuse some of the audio issues our goal is to continue improving.

In this Episode we talk about Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, mentioning her humble beginnings and her journey from Chorus Dancer to Front Liner who hired the chorus dancers. Thanks for listening despite some of our Audio issues. 

29/07/2023

Recently while recording more episodes we pulled information from Local Memory. Local Memory is a blog about the music scene in Austin Texas. We never would have thought to look in a yearbook for a picture of Bessie Smith and her Chorus Girls. A UAT yearbook documents collegiate attendance of a Midnight Show. Enjoy this read and the images of Bessie and her Chorus Line in 1931.

Link to post:https://local-memory.org/notes/bessie-smith-and-the-dunbar-theatre/

27/07/2023

Thanks for listening to our first episode.

What better way to introduce ourselves than when we are sleep deprived and giggly.We spent a half hour talking about our goals and dreams.  Bear with us as we get better at this.  

27/07/2023

No first episode is ever going to be perfect, we put ours on the internet. Stay tuned for our next episode when we start our first of several Episodes about Bessie Smith "The Empress of The Blues". She started as a chorus girl, hired chorus girls, and toured with chorus girls.

21/07/2023

We are so happy to present a panel at Key City Steampunk this year. Join us at the event as we gab about our favorite topic live.

19/06/2023

We're getting ready to record our first Pod Cast. Looking forward to bringing history to life and sharing our experiences.