The Womack and Bowman BurnFree Onesie is two weeks old today!! Yay!! Of course today also happens to be Black Friday, tomorrow is Small Business Saturday and then skip ahead a day and it's Cyber Monday. Phew! There is so much to celebrate that we decided to hold a special weekend sale! From midnight tonight (Friday) until midnight on Monday get $10 off your Womack and Bowman BurnFree Onesie! Thats right, this weekend only get your Womack and Bowman BurnFree Sleeveless Onesie as well as the BunfFree Unisex Onesie for only $69.95!! Swing buy our website to purchase yours! www.womackandbowman.com/store
The gorgeous Katrina Amerine rocking her BurnFree Onesie with sleeves at Womack and Bowman - The fashion Show
Believe Fitness studios Ashley Lawlor working out in a Womack and Bowman BurnFree unisex Onesie
Las Vegas Aerialist Sarah Romanowsky giving a fierce over spit in a Womack and Bowman BurnFree Woman's Onesie with sleeves!
Thank you everyone who came out to support our first Fashion Show last weekend! We were so honored to have you with us in celebration of the launch of the Womack and Bowman BurnFree Aerial work out Onesie collection! For those of you unable to attend, it was a magical evening filled with Art, Dance, Aerial, Circus, Music and Fashion. As well as celebrating Art in all it's many forms we also managed to raise almost $800 for My Friends Place, a Hollywood homeless youth community center, through our silent auction! Thank you so much for your support!
Womack and Bowman on the red carpet
Here are some pictures of the event captured by photographers Charles Ferarri, Mike Brand and Jarrod Simonetto
Cirque Du Soleil's Sita Acedevo
The audience arrives
Meredith Ostrowsky surveying the crowd
Katrina Amerine in the BurnFree Onesie with sleeves
Womack and Bowman
Sita in the BurnFree Onesie sleeveless
For more images from Womack and Bowman - The Fashion Show, check out this fun montage!
Thank you for stopping by!
Dont forget to pick up your BurnFree Onesie from our website www.womackandbowman.com/store Woman's and Unisex versions now available!
It's been a crazy few weeks since the end of our Indiegogo campaign but we are pleased to announce that production has begun on both the female BurnFree Onesie (with and without sleeves) and the male/unisex version! We found a pattern maker that we liked who as well as doing the marking and grading (basically a digital sizing chart) is also going to produce the first 150 Onesies. Phew...
In other news, we had a brilliant time at our recent photo shoot! Because the (first addition) Onesie is almost completely black (the detailing is in ox blood) we decided to get a little creative with our hair and make up :) Enter Stephen Bowman the awesomest, funnest, most talented make up artist EVER (in our opinion at least)! with wigs, spray paint, glitter eye lashes and oh so much more. We may have been wearing all black but the shoot was anything but boring.... check it out!
We bought back our favorite photographer Thomas Rihs for the photo shoot, his experience shooting Circus performers bodes well with our desire to NOT come across as 'traditional' circus performers eg he 'gets' us ;). For the setting we wanted to create a kind of Cafe vibe, to show the versatility of the Onesie. We turned our generous friend Alfred Kendrick's gym Fit Arts on Sunset Boulevard into a quant little cafe complete with chairs, table, chalk board, coffee cups and reading material. Then we hung an Aerial Silk and did our thing...
oh...um... well, we did that too..but then we did this...
Which turned out to be the 'Money shot' for our flyer advertising the release of the BurnFree Onesie as well as the Fashion show on November 16th
Womack and Bowman - The Fashion Show flyer designed by Nicole Reineman
With a great team on your side it's hard to go wrong, so grateful for the talented and generous folk who made this shoot possible. Alfred Kendrick, Nicole Reineman, Stephen Bowman and Thomas Rihs
With photographer Thomas Rihs and make up artist Stephen Bowman (no relation ;))
Now it's onto the launch party! It's going to be an awesome night with confirmed performances by Timber Brown from America's Got Talent, a World Premiere Ballet from Josie Walsh's Ballet Red, DJ's, Performance Art, live music, wine tasting, Circus, Industry vendors and tones of swag!! Come and see the BurnFree Onesie in action and be one of the first people in the world to purchase one! Tickets are extremely limited and can be purchased Here $30 VIP (premium reserved seating) $10 standing room
Thank you so much for your support, we look forward to connecting with you soon!
We are five and a half weeks away from the launch of the Womack and Bowman #BurnFree Aerial workout Onesie. AHHH! November 16th felt so far away in September, but suddenly... not so much.
This week we have been focusing on our upcoming photo shoot with the awesomely talented Thomas Rihs! Thomas shot all of the pics for our website and did all of the post production (hide those flaws!). We couldn't imagine using any one else as we absolutely LOVE his work!
We are particularly excited about this shoot as it will be focusing on the #BurnFree Onesie and show casing the versatility and functionality of the design as well as giving it a little street cred! We will be fusing a few different genre's together as you can tell from our Idea Board, Pop Art, meets the Gym meets the Cafe... (What?) Cause who doesn't want to wear designer heels with their work out wear, like, after they've worked out and stuff? hmmm?
Meanwhile, back on the manufacturing front, we are on to our fourth sample of the woman's #BurnFree Onesie (we wont stop until its perfect!!) and the second sample of the mens/unisex. We decided to go with Ox Blood detailing on some of the seams to give a little 'pop' of color without being too distracting. Fingers crossed all will be perfection by Sundays shoot (ahhh!) and then we can focus on the marking and grading before going into production ready for the launch. Did we mention the launch party/fashion show was November 16th? Five and a half weeks away! Ahhhh!! (sorry, had to do that one more time) Yep, we are planning an Aerial, Acrobatic, Fashion extravaganza (We have INSANELY talented friends you guys!) Live music, Circus Artists, DJ's, Industry Vendors, Performance Artists (the sexy kind), Wine tasting, Art installations, Juice sampling, tones of freebies and swag galore!! Save the date friends, cause with or without a product (kidding, i'm kidding, kind of...) we gonna paaaaarty!!
Thats it for now, we'll be back with some sneak peeks of Sunday's shoot. Keep flying everyone!
Back in May we spent a crazy fun day on the set of SYFY's Face Off performing Aerial and duo acrobatics with the fabulous Cirque Berzerk! The contestants challenge was to turn us into sexy alien circus performers using prosthetics, make up and costumes that we could move freely in. We rehearsed our moves with the inspiring and super talented choreographer Sebastian Stella and were then handed over to our make up artists who were given four hours to work on us before the challenge began.
The cast of Cirque Berzerk rehearsing on the Face Off stage
The process was intense. Although the facial prosthetics were not heavy, they were restrictive in the sense that both our heads became bigger (literally!) and our vision and breathing was slightly impaired (though not as much as you might think). To be honest, the most frightening part was looking in the mirror and freaking ourselves out! The make up was so incredibly detailed that we looked like real alien circus freaks!
Then it was time to rehearse in the make up. Brett put down his whip/sword thingy and took off his boots, Rachel got rid of the clown/moon shoes and hoops and we tried a few skills. Although our bodies hadn't been augmented much (Rachel was given some subtle 'shoulder bones' and Brett did have an obscure 'bug' growing out of his belly) our faces were significantly bigger and provided some serious challenges. Some of the acro moves had to be altered so we didn't butt heads ;) Rachel had to change position on her Split Lever backward roll so as not to roll off Brett's massive alien face. We managed to make it through the routine though and settle in somewhat to our alter ego's. After a few run through's we were ready for the cameras.
Aliens taking flight!
The episode aired last night, season 5 episode 8 for those playing at home. Check out some of our moves on the episode Teaser.
For a more detailed look at the performance check out season 2 winner Royce Bird critique the casts make up here on winner tells all
About eighteen months ago Brett and I decided that it might be fun to expand our acrobatic vocabulary on the ground. For the first twelve months we were just experimenting, asking our friends to show us some neat tricks, goofing around, feeling uncoordinated and weak ("We are so much better in the air!"). Our progress was slow, we had Aerial Acts to focus on and we struggled to find time to consistently train our ground work. We put together a few phrases that we felt comfortable with. A lean out here, a star lift there.... we soon began to open our existing Aerial Acts with a few ground moves to build our confidence. The audience response was positive and motivated us to continue training, all be it still somewhat inconsistently
Goofing around with our friend David Matz in Kensington Gardens, London
Then in July this year I got a call from an event planner who had seen our videos (Thanks Gregg Curtis of Airealistic for the referral!) and wanted to hire us to perform in two weeks time for the wedding of the Vice President of Cirque Du Soleil! Wow! Seriously? I was so excited "How high is the ceiling?" I asked "Free-standing rig or motor"? I was giddy with excitement, what an amazing opportunity to showcase our duo Fabric Act that we had spent the past two years performing with different circus companies around the world, we were ready for Cirque! "Actually, I don't want you to perform on the Silks" said the event planner "Everyone from Cirque will be there, if they see another Silks act the wedding might turn into a mass suicide.." (I may have added the suicide part but you get the point :)) "I want you to do what you do in the video" he added. Although i was totally confused i tried to act like i understood "You mean argue and throw each other around on a Hollywood rooftop?" "Pretty much" he said, "except i want you to act like you are a maid and a server at the wedding, have a big fight so the crowd gets all uncomfortable, then break into your acrobatic/dance act and finish with the champagne toast.""Oh" was all i could manage to say as i swallowed with difficulty. "Can you do that?" He asked and i was silent for a moment, thinking about what he was asking. Was i willing to be a complete and utter fool in front of the entire Cirque Du Soleil community, including their prolific founder and CEO Guy Laliberte "Yes" I responded, knowing I probably should have checked with Brett before I said this but i didn't want the event planner to sense my fear. "Yes, we can do that."And do it we did. We spent the next two weeks rehearsing our butts off. We focused on the moves we could do well and then performed the sh!t out of them! We trained with an acting coach to make our pre-dance argument believable (yes we had to use our voices OMG!) We studied the French Apache style, knowing that our strength lay in our ability to throw each other around and not in high level partnering skills, we developed back stories, we played improv games to get into character, we found costumes that were not costumes but what a maid and server would actually wear at the Hotel we were performing at.
Then we prepared, cried a bit (well maybe just i did) and Brett went out to start serving the most influential people in our professional lives. I followed a few minutes later, screaming my lungs out and accusing him of 'cheating on me!!'. I drank from peoples wine glasses, cried on the shoulders of men, and threw my shoes at a casting agent. Brett tried to carry me out of the ballroom while apologizing profusely to the shocked guests. "I just wanna dance!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and the DJ hit the music. So began our act. We flipped, we spun, we tripped, we fell in what was some of the most physically intense minutes of our lives. We concluded the act at the champagne fountain when Brett popped the cork on a $300 bottle of Moet and took a massive swig ("Your supposed to pour it Brett!") The audience cheered and whooped and i let myself smile. We had survived!
While enjoying a quiet drink at the bar in civilian clothes as the wedding was winding down (the event planner said we had 'earned' it) we were approached by Guy's gorgeous wife Claudia Barilla, (Mrs Cirque Du Soleil). "I just wanted to tell you both how much i enjoyed your.... " she struggled to find the word "Act" she smiled beautifully. "Thank you" I stammered. She went on, lowering her voice conspiratorially, "Usually i don't love the acts they do at these events, I've seen all the shows obviously and there amazing, but, all those people playing animals and so on, i just...don't relate to that" I nodded, dumbfounded. "But," She looked at me directly with dewy brown eyes. "I related to you. Thank you." She smiled again and walked away and Brett and I looked at each other. "I think we should get a coach" Said Brett quietly. "Now that we have performed for Cirque Du Soleil I mean." We laughed hysterically and ordered another drink.
Since that fateful evening we have started training our ground work everyday. Working with coach Simon Chaban for handstands and the incredible Arthur Davis for partnering. Check out Arthur's work here with the stunning Shenea Booth
We love the sophistication and elegance of Realis as well as their incredible skill, they also happen to be two of the kindest most generous people we know!
Here are some more amazing duo acts we stumbled along while researching.
Duo Wind are a Romanian couple. We love their aggression, fierce sensuality and commercial appeal!
Nelson and Goulia Pivaral have an incredible act! Here they are with Cirque Berzerk
Duo Osmose take our breath away! Made up of French Olympic gymnast Ludivine Furnon and her partner Martin Chavrat
Our good friend Christine Van Loo is a incredible inspiration! Not only is Christine a gorgeous Aerialist, she is also a champion sports acrobat! Such control and precision.
Let us know if you have any favorite duo ground acts or performers by posting their links and video in the comment section below! We look forward to gaining more inspiration and knowledge that we can share with you as we explore this glorious and oh-so challenging art form!
Today at training we had a visit from our friend Johnny the rigger from LA Stage Call, he bought with him a curious device known as a Dynamometer , basically an oversized stop watch used for measuring force. He was interested to see just how much force we were generating with our particularly dynamic drops. Predictably Brett generated the most force, from 500 pounds when he was 'rolling out' of a drop (marking) to 1200 pounds when he hurled himself off the fabric! Rachel generated 500 pounds at the most, which is still a lot more then her 115-117 pound frame. The lesson here? Know the structure/motor/winch you are rigging from and how much dynamic force it can take. When plummeting fearlessly from the top of your apparatus to the bottom you are generating a force that is more then TRIPLE that of your own body weight. Be fierce, but be informed...
Hey guys! So we are in the final week of our Indiegogo campaign to raise money for the first stage of our Womack and Bowman clothing line! The development, production and distribution of the BurnFree Aerial workout Onesie! Check out the campaign here This campaign has been an incredible experience for us and we are so grateful for the generous contributions of our friends, family, peers and circus community at large not to mention the sharing and positive feedback our campaign has received. As important as the contributions are we have also realized the importance of developing an expanded network for our brand and Indiegogo has really helped us do that! Some highlights include: 1. A call from Nicole at Blue Lapis Light in Texas with an offer to donate 15 of her used Aerial Fabrics to our cause! We were so very moved by this gesture especially as Nicole mentioned that she had not been able to release the fabrics before because of their sentimental value but she felt that with us they would find a good home. 2. An email from D'AIIR project Aerial School in Atlanta Georgia saying they could see how our product would benefit Aerial students and they were interested in selling our Onesies! 3. A facebook comment from Yan Doyev in Israel: " This is ridiculous! It's only really an all in one (cat suit) with some velcro at the bottom to hold the loops (I much prefer the loops dangling then a little skirt anyway). I guess it's just an L.A thing..." Ha! Awesome. We then offered to send him a Onesie, free of charge, for him to try out for himself, if he didn't like like it, he could continue to hate on us, if he liked it, well then perhaps he would just continue on his way... There has since been no response. Anyway, as we said earlier, a HUGE learning experience. Thank you to everyone who has supported us! Keep flying, check in with you soon! xoxo Love, Rachel and Brett
So this is our first blog. We thought we would begin by exploring the topic of work. Working as a freelance Aerial Artist in Los Angeles can be tough, and the scene can be difficult to navigate for a newcomer.
As the duo Womack and Bowman we are lucky enough to have a residency at the beautiful lounge, The Edison Downtown. We perform four acts here every Friday night. We chose our own music, choreography and costuming, mixing and matching our performances to keep things fresh and interesting. We also perform regularly at The King King nightclub and The Supperclub (dinner show) as well as numerous special events and private parties around town.
We have discovered that a really important factor in working consistently as Aerialists in Los Angeles is (no surprise here) you have to look good. Yep. Sorry kids. You may be the best static trapeze artist to ever come out of the San Francisco Circus Center but if you look like Melissa Mcarthy on a bad hair day you just aint gonna make the cut. We are not saying you have to be model material, or even the best looking person in the room, its all about PRESENTATION. As an Aerialist you are most likely in excellent shape (if not..are you even training? Well train harder!) So now its time to invest in some costumes that show off that great shape! A little cleavage here, a little midriff there... Get comfortable showing some skin, believe us - it will help get you the job before WHAM! your talent explodes all up in the audiences faces and they cant even remember what you were wearing, only how insanely awesome you were!
Which leads us to - On the job performance. Once you've booked the gig off your gorgeous headshot/costuming/reference/friend of the guy you used to date...(what?) Its time to ensure job stability by being the most professional Aerialist you can be.
. Be on TIME (traffic is not an excuse)
. Be nice to your rigger ( he/she is responsible for your life and if thats not enough, the client usually trusts their opinion so be the one he recommends!
. Know your music (even if you were just given it the night before)
. Know your act (seems obvious but your rigger may need to see it in 'stages' so know it back to front and inside out)
. Look amazing :) (did we say that already?)
Lastly, dont work for less then you are worth. Remember, the people that hire you in this town are business men and woman. They are going to try to get you for cheap. Don't let them. Not only are you doing yourself a disservice, you are bringing the entire industry down with you. We have all done it at some stage in our careers, worked for less then we know we are worth - just remember the hours you have put into perfecting your art and know that you are worthy of making a good living at this, even if is your passion.
