"Being A Black Queer Femme In America..." - with Lottie Ellington

I'm still thinking a lot about this week's conversation. And, in particular, it's made me think about the things I do in my life just to live up to other people's expectations of who I should be. And I'm trying to unpick that and understand it better...

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's get in to the episode.... This week I'm chatting to the burlesque artiste, the-prodigal-titty-of-the-Motor-City, Lottie Ellington. She's originally from Detroit, but found herself living in Richmond, Virginia for a while.

At this time, the queer scene was not always so welcoming - very white, cis-male heavy, and anyone who doesn't fit in the box was made to feel very unwelcome - and, so, Lottie didn't really bother to explore the scene...

But then she signed up for burlesque classes at Dogtown Dance Studios, and she found - first of all, that she loves performing burlesque, and second of all, a whole group of queer, like minded people at the studio... and that is why it's her lost space...

We talk all about Lottie's infatuation with Wonder Woman (the OG Lynda Carter version!), how some people find it difficult to separate the performer from the person, and the pressure that we feel to live up to other people's expectations...

Do you have any memories of Dogtown Dance Studio, or maybe a queer coffee shop from your own scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos!

You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod)

Find out more about Lottie by visiting her website, https://www.lottieellington.com/, or following her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lottie.ellington), Twitter (https://twitter.com/lottieellington), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lottieellington/) or TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@lottieellington)