A Life In Gowns: Meet Princess Windy

Ever wonder who we are when we're not all glitzed up, entertaining your little ones with our mad face paint and balloon skills, or dazzling them with our big bag of magic tricks? We're a diverse group of folk, each coming from a different performance background, and with a little bit of a different story. 

Allow me to introduce: Princess Windy!

A born performer, Windy got her start onstage at age 6, when she landed the role of Charlene "Cha Cha" DiGregorio in a production of Grease at her school. She had 4 speaking lines, which was the most of anyone in her age group, and got to dress up and wear makeup, which she thought was the best thing ever! The production was a hit, and Windy was officially hooked. 

When she was small, Windy was convinced that one day, she'd grow up to be a Princess. Not a make-believe Princess, mind you, but real life royalty. Her mother rained on that parade somewhat, though, telling Windy that being Jewish she likely couldn't be a real princess, since most royalty was Christian. But Windy wasn't about to let that stop her, and decided that if real life royalty wasn't in her future, well then she'd be an actress, so she could be whatever she wanted! She spent her childhood with this dream in mind, playing dress up and pretending to be a Queen, and all her friends were, of course, her servants. Her favorite Disney princess was always Ariel, and Windy used to spend hours swimming around in the pool like a mermaid and playing all kinds of mermaid games.

Years later, Windy's love of theater was alive and well, and she worked in theater admin doing marketing and development, helping to bring the magic of live performance to the masses. She started developing her own material, and found that the world of physical comedy was where she wanted to be more than anything. So she attended the Clown Conservatory in San Francisco to develop her skills. It was there that she met Drea, another wonderful entertainer (and Fire Pixie Princess), who clued Windy in to the magic of children's entertainment.

"Kids are the most honest audience," Drea told her. "They'll really tell you if you're funny or not."  

Windy had been on the road, touring her one-woman show through the US and Canada, and needed a job when she landed back in the Bay. Drea had been working with Fire Pixie for a while and was loving it, and thought Windy would be a fantastic addition to our team.  

Boy, was she right! Since then, Windy's performed at tons of parties with Fire Pixie, and her clients absolutely love her!

"I loved Windy's character! She wasn't a 'typical' Fairy Princess, all cutesy and saccharine. She was more like a wacky, bumbling Fairy Godmother with TONS of energy."

"Windy was awesome and the kids loved her. She was a natural and the birthday girl wants another party tomorrow with Windy :). She connected on a personal level with most kids in the party. Several other parents commented that she was the best Elsa they'd seen in a Frozen themed party. She has great energy and improvised adeptly to a variety of situations. I'd work with her again any day! Thanks again for making this a great experience!"

She's got a great repertoire of characters, but especially loves being a Balloon Pixie or Clown, since those are really open and flexible and really give her the opportunity to flex her comedic muscles. She still loves being a Princess too, though, and brings her own flavor of physical comedy to every character she plays.

 

 

"No matter what costume I'm in, I'm always a silly variation on that character, which makes it a little more accessible to the kids. They love seeing Elsa, who's usually a little hard and cold, loosen up a bit and just play with them!" 

Windy loves doing her comedy magic show for kids, especially as Elsa, doing ice and snow magic. The way she does her magic, everything is a joke on her, and she gets to be super silly and make fun of herself. She absolutely loves getting the kids all riled up and poking fun at her, too. 

"It's the most fun ever when kids are sitting there yelling 'It's right there, Elsa!' when you can't find your rainbow or what-have-you", she says. 

She also really loves doing dance parties because she gets to be super physical and run around and really play with the kids, which they absolutely love. She brings tons of fabric to parties, and literally throws them around over the kids' heads, or uses them to make tents for the dance party to happen in, or plays parachute type games. 

Kids of all ages love Windy's show, but she really loves working with the 4 - 5 age group. 

"Four and five-year-olds are the best!" she says. "They understand the magic and really get the comedy and jokes, but they're not trying to challenge it or look for holes in it. They get why it's funny that your rainbow disappeared, or changed in to ice crystals, and they love being a part of making it happen."

Windy's got so many happy memories form parties, but remembers one party in particular with especial fondness: 

"A while back, I was Elsa at a birthday party for an adorable little girl named Emma, who had just turned 5. She was absolutely blown away and just couldn't believe that Elsa had come all the way from Arendelle just to celebrate her birthday with her! She'd drawn 6 pictures for me, which she presented to me with obvious pride, along with a giant rock, which she said I was to take back to Arendelle as a souvenir. She took great care throughout the party to be a good hostess, and make sure I had everything I needed. It was a hot day, and assuming I must be parched, she made me multiple glasses of her very own hydrating birthday cocktail: a combination of lemonade, birthday cake, goldfish crackers, and blueberries." 

Wise beyond her years, Emma knew that doing all that magic and face painting musty be making Elsa hungry, too.

"I brought you a tomato, Elsa!" she said. "A what?" said Windy/Elsa, "We don't have these in Arendelle!" This prompted Emma to take her inside to show her the fridge where they keep all their food. At the end of the party, she threw her arms around Windy and gave her a big kiss. "I love you Elsa!" she said. "My heart just melted", says Windy. 

When she's not entertaining kids at parties, Windy's busy running her very own company: taking care of all the marketing, outreach, costuming, and production. "It's a full time job," she says, "but I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing!" She continues to tour her award winning one woman theatrical comedy show around the US and Canada with great success, and is working on developing a half hour kid's stage show, too.

If you'd like to invite Windy to your party to make your guests giggle with glee, you can book her here.