Lola van Ella Trades in Burlesque for Cabaret at Jazz at the Bistro

On March 23 and 24, burlesque performer Lola Van Ella is trading her barely-there stage show in for a more relaxed, intimate night on the town when she performs a cabaret-style show as one-third of the Van Ella Band at Jazz at the Bistro. Joined by bass player Andy Hainz and vibraphonist Dustin Scholtes, van Ella (real name Leah Schumacher) insists that she is still the same woman behind the microphone as she is when she’s donning just fishnets and a smile.

“Lola van Ella is me all the time. When I’m onstage it’s just a larger than life version of who I already am,” she says. “Burlesque is just one facet of the person that I am, and the artist that I am, it’s just one genre. It’s just one extension of numerous things I love, including music.” For over a decade, Van Ella has netted numerous accomplishment in her professional life, including producing the Show-Me Burlesque Festival and creating VanElla Productions and Studio, where the otherwise-clothed can learn how to move like the enchanting entertainer herself. Last summer, the band toured the country with their cabaret-and-dance Wanderlust tour, and last fall, they released their first EP, Wanderlust. In this interview, Van Ella talks growth, change, and development as she prepares for the next act of her creative life—clothing optional.

You are known for your burlesque act. Are you a singer by nature? Is this a departure for you?

Oh yes! I’ve been a performer my whole life, and I grew up singing and dancing and doing theater. For me, singing was always a passion of mine, and as a burlesque performer, I incorporate singing into almost all of my acts as a burlesque artist. It’s not a departure, but it’s definitely sort of an evolution. I’ve worked with bands throughout my career, but I’ve never had my own band. I’ve had a band as a part of my production, but it’s never been a band that I wrote music with, and so that is very new for me.

How did you become acquainted with your bandmates, Dustin Scholtz and Andy Hainz?

They were working with me and my company through productions that we were doing at the Casa Loma Ballroom as part of Beggar’s Carnival back in the day, and they were doing stuff for the Show-Me Burlesque festival, and so I got to know them through that.

They would always create these really great arrangements, and they would always make really great arrangements for songs that I wanted to sing. And then I went through some personal changes in my life, and some turmoil, which really kind of inspired the need to really write my own music. A couple of years ago we started writing music together…And then we put out our first EP last September.

Care to elaborate?

A couple of years ago I went through a pretty heartbreaking breakup and at the time it was so confusing and it was so shocking. My whole world kind of fell apart in that moment, and I kind of thought that I really didn’t know what to do next. I wasn’t sure how to create the shows that I was working on, I wasn’t sure how I would build anything new, and I felt really lost. Honestly, Andy and Dustin, who were already my friends [I told them] ‘I wanna write some music.’ and they encouraged me then and there.

What’s next for the music?

We just went on a writing retreat in the middle of nowhere in Illinois on a lake. We got a cabin and just the three of us went out there, and spent three days writing music and just getting really weird (laughs). And over the course of the weekend we got almost six different songs at least started, and hopefully by the time the show happens, we will have a new song. Being in a situation where you have to tune out and you have to turn off your electronic devices – we promised ourselves we wouldn’t be on our computer or our phones, we would sort of be off the grid – it was really kind of amazing what you’re able to accomplish when you force yourself to just do nothing but indulge in your passion. That’s a pretty indulgent thing as it is – it feels really great.

This is your eleventh year of working as a full-time burlesque performer. How do you plan to continue growing in that field?

Definitely something that I spend a lot of time thinking about is how will I evolve? How will I step it up to another level, because I definitely believe in raising your own bar, and elevating your art in whatever way is to you. And I feel like if I’m not growing, I’m doing nothing. For me, I’m always trying to think of doing the thing that scares me, so I’m always thinking ‘What is this thing that I haven’t done yet that kind of intimidates me or that makes me feel really freaked out?’ And that thing WAS writing music. Now that I’ve done that, I think the next step is turning that into eventually, maybe, into a one-woman show…these are all sort of things down the road, but I definitely think about them a lot.

Do you see this growth and evolution happening in St. Louis?

My life is one the road. I’m happiest when I’m traveling and performing in other places because it’s always really great to be able to do something over and over again, and you can’t do something over and over again in your city obviously because people will have seen it. I think artists get really good when they go on the road because then they’re able to do it over and over and over again for different audiences and get different feedback. I see myself always incubating and creating here in St. Louis, but I always have plans to take things on the road, always.

What will the show be like?

It’s going to be a very intimate concert. I’ll probably tell some stories…I’m always a little ridiculous. I try to make the audience my best friend by the end of the night. I like to kind of hang out with everybody but it will be strictly a concert. But of course I can’t help but be a little vampy.

Catch the Van Ella Band Wednesday, March 23 and Thursday, March 24 at the Ferring Jazz Bistro, 3536 Washington. Tickets are $15, $10 for students. For more information, visit jazzstl.org.