KATE LAW, BO LAW, CATHRYN ANDERSON, & LIZZY ANDERSON- members of Pussyfoot Burlesque

Left to right: Kate, Bo, Lizzy and Cathryn

Since Saturday, I’ve had a song called “Bounce Your Boobies” stuck in my head. It’s a song about freedom. Kate Law sang it on stage during her “American Booty” burlesque show. She sang it with showgirl panache and rebel gusto, which is how she does most things. Behind her, her sister and two other women (also sisters) bounced, limbs straight and bosoms. Buoyant. Kate is an artist and entrepreneur, Bo is a student, Lizzy waits tables, and Cathryn is a farm educator.

            The two sets of sisters make up the core of Pussyfoot Burlesque.  Last weekend, they got (almost) naked to celebrate the 4^th of July. Celebrating sexy satire is a fitting way to be patriotic in a nation where sexuality is the final frontier of freedom.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

Kate: To be happy! To enjoy what I do, to have fun, to surround myself with people I enjoy, like these fine sluts around me. And, just to have fun and make other people have fun.

Bo: First of all, my family because they are all I have. I don’t have a lot of friends, mostly my sisters because they are like my friends. And, my dog, I guess, who is always there for me.

Cathryn: Food is really important to me. It’s really important to learn where your food comes from and connect to dots. Especially for children who aren’t exposed to that at a young age to connect them to how their food starts so they can have healthier lives.

Lizzy: Family is important to me. Having fun, laughing, being silly. Playing is so important to me. I’m like a giant kid.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Kate: I want to make people smile. I want to make people at the end of the day, talk about the things that were awesome about their day. Whatever I can do to make an impression.

Bo: I want a million dollars, or more. More would be good. A million dollars, then I could get whatever else I want. Money would be cool because then I could open up my own kennel. I wouldn’t have to worry about having an actual career I just literally play with dogs all day.

Cathryn: I want to give back the community and the world in a way that hopefully goes outside myself. That stays longer than I do.

Lizzy: (Kate interjects: “A six pack and a good man.) In my daily life, I want contentment. But, obviously, I want those things that are important, but adventure, too.

TELL ME ABOUT A LESSON YOU’VE LEARNED OR ARE LEARNING.

Kate: Patience. Not necessarily my biggest virtue, for sure. Patience and goin’ with the flow. It’s so much easier when you do. There is nothing to stress out about.

Bo: I have learned that you shouldn’t give guys second chances. Because a motto I live by is that if they don’t want you the first time, they aren’t going to fuckin’ want you the second time, that’s for sure. I guess it’s one of biggest things I live by, in terms of relationships and dating. I don’t do second chances.

Cathryn: Recently I’ve learned that you need to take things at face value- your life and everyone in your life and your decisions you make. Live life in the moment and not try to over-think things and plan too far ahead. A decision can change everything.

Lizzy: I think I’m learning the importance of communication. I’m re-learning that. Owning up to things and facing things when they come up. Communicating and being honest. Taking life as it comes as opposed to running from it and hiding from it.  It’s in every part of my life right now: from work to play to intimate relationships.

TELL ME ABOUT A DECISIVE MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE.

Kate: Well, the big one is when I decided not to get married. I was engaged, and all of a sudden it occurred to me that it wasn’t what I wanted to do. He and I talked about it, and we’re still friends. It was one of those really difficult decisions to make, but I’ve never once regretted it.

Cathryn: When I took my current job at the farm I work at, that changes things dramatically. I was living in Bridgeton, an hour from Portland and I decided to take this job. And, in a way, I walked away from a three and half year relationship, but everything changed.

Lizzy: The first thing that came to my head is traveling in Central America. Talking about the things that I want and are important- traveling really solidified what was important and how much I had. To see people who live in dramatically different situations- a family of six in a one room house and yet they are willing to let total strangers into their home and give them everything that they have. Traveling is a micro-world. You have these mini relationships that are so real and intense.

WHAT DOES BURLESQUE MEAN TO YOU?

Kate: I love performing. I love being part of performances, I love making performances happen. Burlesque performances are this wonderful amalgamation of sexy, funny, satire. And I like that you do have to be a smart person to get it sometimes. There’s a lot to get. I just want to do something that makes people think and makes people have a good time at the same time.

Bo: Burlesque is just really fun for me. It’s like a hobby I started because Kate (Bo’s sister) was in it and it looked like a lot of fun.  It gives me the chance to be somebody I would never be out in the public, to let a whole other side of me come out.

Cathryn: Oh, burlesque is fun! It’s sexy it’s fun. It’s different. Elizabeth my older sister got my into it. It’s being involved with my family, my sister. Something that’s  really feminine.

Lizzy: Burlesque, I love so much. It is fun and sexy and so playful and so liberating to me. It is was everybody should be doing. In my brand of feminism, I get really worked up about people being anti-sex. People are so closed and so cold to all that stuff. It comes from where I was raised. My mom was raised Irish-Catholic, my dad was raised Midwestern Baptist. People don’t talk about it, people don’t share. People try to hide it. I say, bring it all to the surface. That’s where you are going to find the good stuff. The fun stuff! The safe, happy stuff. I think burlesque is a really awesome way to bring sex into the public eye and make it fun and okay.

See a familiar face in this post? It's Vanila Honeybush!