Performance and Interactions > Building a Body

bodybuilding, art, performance, figure competition, sculpture
Pose 8
Documentation of performance
variable
2012

So here I am, in the thick of it. I am in the lion's den, as it were, observing, listening, and focusing my mind. Ive got my tan, my fake eyelashes, my nail bling. There are a plethora of bronzed bodies all around me. I think i am one of the lightest tanned ones here! That might cost me a few points actually. Let's hope my hard work still shines through the pastiness.

The last few days I've been carb cutting and then the dehydration started yesterday afternoon. That's fun. Let me tell you. Sucking on ice cubes so you don't get too loopy to function is a blast. It's a process though and I feel that I've attempted to do this the healthiest I could possibly do it without killing myself. I feel pretty good considering.

Let me set the scene.

We've all just registered per our class and are all hanging around in a holding room. The smell of airbrush spray tan hangs heavy in the air from the competitors getting touched up just outside the door. People are chilled out, chatting jovially, prepping mentally for their few moments on stage. Everyone is munching on various things from chicken and rice to snickers bars. I chose to bring rare steak, chocolate, almond butter, rice cakes, corn flakes and a bit of wine for electrolytes (since i'm still dehydrating myself). Stayin' classy as always. I am in C class in figure, in other words, girls between 5'4" and 5'6". It's a tough group from the few seconds I stood with them in line. I'm definitely the smallest, being only 5'4 3/4" and body wise the smallest too. It'll be interesting to see what they all actually look like in their posing suits in comparison to me. But as my trainer Joe said, Figure is not about size. It's about balance, and as I interpret it, a Best in Show kind of situation where it's the best for what the breed is wins. I'm cute and I have great hindquarters. Fitness Barbie can give 'em a run for their money.

Then here I wait. By the time I post this, I will have already been on stage. I've worked since January for this and these last few hours of waiting seem to be so much longer than all of that. After my brief time on stage there will be more waiting until the evening event where I will find out if I've made in into the top 5 and then what the ultimate results will be.

So for now, while I wait, I am focusing on my visual mantra. I have been calling upon my animal helpers, the creatures that I've been eating in abundance these last few months, to help me reach my goal on a cellular level. The bison stomps and packs the muscle denser. The chicken pecks and scratches away the fat. The fish inhales the water and washes it out of my system. The cow is the overseer, the sky deity, if you will, who has been the hands off giver this whole process. I call on them in thanks for their gifts and ask for their assistant in creating my body sculpture. Bodybuilding shamanism. Boo-ya.