Back on Schedule.

Women's Spa Night is on for tomorrow night, with a new face! This Monday will be the first of what I hope is many Women's Spa Nights with Priya joining me and Cheri in welcoming you into the Little Red Day Spa.

Priya was one of the first people I met when I joined the Little Red Studio back in the summer of 2004. She did massage during the shows when they were back at the "old studio" that is now the Spa. She will be providing mini massages through the course of the evening each 2nd and 4th Monday until she gets tired of us. I am very excited because this means there will be more massage slots open and Cheri and I will be able to take turns focusing on hosting.

I have encouraged Priya to come and spend the first hour soaking and chatting with everyone before she starts giving massages. Please introduce yourself to her and get on the list for a 7-10 minute massage!

Ladies' Spa Night - 2nd and 4th Monday of the Month
Drop In: 6-9pm
Cost: $15
Little Red Day Spa
1506 Franklin Ave. E. Seattle

These nights are designed to be a casual and social evening. There will be a practitioner present to make you feel welcome and facilitate use of the spa's equipment. There will be areas set up for clay, salt scrubs and massage for you and your friends to pamper each other. For an extra fee, one can get a short massage during the evening from our massage therapist on staff.

Please call 206-963-0772 or e-mail Sophia@hengststudio.com for more information. Parking on the street is requested so that the parking spaces in the lot are reserved for those with mobility issues.

Scheduling sessions.

When calling for a session, please understand that we are a small spa that only accepts one appointment at a time. This means that is is necessary to call at least a few days in advance. For weekend appointments, calling a week in advance is encouraged. Of course, sometimes, a same day appointment is possible. Not a common occurrence, but it does happen often enough that it is worth calling to ask if you suddenly find yourself free one afternoon.

If you want a session with two practitioners, that is not possible for same day, and often not next day notice. It is best to call and make a reservation for two practitioners at least 4 days in advance. I only have one person that is scheduled for each day, and a second practitioner is found based on everyone's availability.

Now that we are in the holiday season, everyone's time is filling up with family and travel plans. Consider giving even more notice than usual.

We still want to take care of you, despite our hectic schedules. For most of us, the Spa is an oasis of calm and we greatly enjoy the chance to wallow in that serenity. Thank you for your patience and understanding. If we don't see you before, enjoy your holidays!

Practitioner changes.

David & Adele, the Tandem Bliss practitioners are no longer doing spa sessions at the Little Red Day Spa. Life has changed for them and I will miss the sweet energy they brought to the spa. I wish them well and will leave the door ajar for them to return, should they so desire. We will still offer the Tandem Bliss spa session, with a few minor adjustments, so if 2 practitioners working on you sounds like the luxury you would like to indulge in, you can give us a call at (206)963-0772 or email Sophia at HengstStudio.com

Coming into the fold is Dion, a wonderful massage therapist who has recently passed his Esthetics. He and I are working closely on designing a new spa session that will incorporate his skills in skin care. Perhaps a spa session that starts with a foot bath and foot massage, progresses to the hot tub for water contact massage, then back to land for a facial and finishing with a fully body salt scrub. More info soon!

New Faces

The staff at the Little Red Day Spa has slowly changed over time. When we started offering sessions almost 3 years ago, we started with only me, Richard and Didi. As we got busier, we added more practitioners. Whenever we would lose a practitioner to school, moving or a new job, I would invite someone else to join the Spa. Now, Richard and I are the only practitioners who remain from those first few months.

In this kind of work, due to it's part time nature, that is a little unusual that there are any of the same practitioners as when we first opened. In a way it is sad because I miss working with some people. But overall it's a good thing. Every time a new person comes on board, they bring something new to the spa, or tweak what we already do just enough to make it different or better.

On Monday, I meet with Cherie, a woman with 15 years of massage experience. She was on sabbatical for the last year and is ready to come back to massage and bodywork with new ideas of how she wants to approach body work in general. In specifics, she wants to explore Watsu and infusing her bodywork with the idea of delighting the senses. I think the Little Red Day Spa is just the place for her.

Richard is back!

For those of you who enjoy Shiatsu and Watsu, I am please to let you know that Richard Jessup is back in town and taking appointments! Richard is one of my Watsu mentors and has been doing Shiatsu for more than 20 years.

He has been traveling along the west coast, coming back to Seattle every other weekend to take care of his guests and host Men's Spa Night. He will be in Seattle through August 17th, and then he will be traveling to Palm Springs for the last half of August.

If you are interested in receiving from this incredibly talented therapist, call him directly at (206)370-0423. You can also contact him via email at jessupdances at netzero dot net.

Back from vacation.

I am back from a short trip out of town and just in time for LRS's White Show. This show is going to be a light-hearted affair and a lot of fun. I have 3 parts to play, the largest being that of a woman who sneaks away for a clandestine picnic and turns her partner into a swing in order to do aerial tricks on him.

This is based on the performance I did at this last Seattle Erotic Art Festival, which most people couldn't see because of the staging. so, if you didn't get a chance to see me perform then, I can promise you that you will be able to see this act quite easily at LRS. Remember that the Studio performances happen at the building on the corner of Dexter and Harrison. Not at the same building the spa is located in.

Here is the press release for the Little Red Studio's White Show:

The wearing of white between Memorial Day and Labor Day brings up many memories of decades past and societal mores. Summer beach vacations, sprinkled with lavish parties and secret rendezvous, entice us to remember our own days and nights of coming out and to peel off the layers of winter to see what's peeking at us underneath...

In bygone eras of our history and of our lives, we remember that moment when innocence was lost, while so much more was yet to be discovered.

The White Show features all-live music from our incredible in-house band, "Red Delicious"! Tea parties, croquet, the Charleston and many more surprises await you in this fun romp of a show.

For reservations to pay at the door please call us at 206-328-4758 or buy your tickets online.

New Performance at LRS: "Mercy Ride"

This weekend (and this weekend ONLY!) is the performance of the "Room of Our Own" project's original piece "Mercy Ride" at the Little Red Studio, Thursday - Saturday.

One of the Spa's practitioners has been working on this project for the last six months. It's a beautiful piece about selfhood and sex and freedom by 13 amazing women. Don't miss it!
~~~~~

A Room of Our Own presents...

"Mercy Ride"
Directed by Joy Brooke Fairfield
Produced by Tinka Jonakova and the Little Red Studio
Created by and featuring Amy Conant, Adra Green, Beth Hersh, Xandra Ibarra, Adele Jerista, Tinka Jonakova, Danni Keller, Mari Moore, Jess Smith, Kara Wentworth, Spark Wilson, and Gina Young.

May 22nd, 23rd, and 24th at 8:00 PM

Little Red Studio
750 Harrison Street (at Dexter), Seattle WA
Tickets $20, available now through Brown Paper Tickets.
Please purchase tickets in advance.

"Mercy Ride" follows three characters on a search for freedom, whatever the hell that means. Can you find freedom in the open road? In the eyes of your lover? In the shadowed privacy of your own small room?

"Mercy Ride" is the workshop performance of a new script created by the participants in the "Room of our Own" project. This production is the culmination of four months of collaborative and individual new work creation by a team of 13 female performing artists curious about sexuality and gender.

For more information about the show, visit www.roomproject.org
For more information about the venue, visit www.littleredstudioseattle.com
With questions, please email roomproject@gmail.com

Monday is Ladies' Night at the Spa!

Now that summer's almost here in full force, I would love to hear feedback on how the Spa Nights can still be as relaxing and comfortable. I was thinking that I would lower the ambient temperature, though I can promise you, there will be no air conditioning at the spa. Usually during the summer, we lower the hot tub's temperature to 97F so that Watsu sessions are more comfortable. Please let me know if you would like the hot tub turned down from it's soaking temperature of 100F.

As usual, I will be here from 6pm - 10pm at 1506 Franklin Ave. E. No reservations necessary, just drop in and enjoy the spa's offerings. I'll be doing a limited number of mini massages, too.

Next Monday is Memorial Day. We will be open regular hours. I will be on vacation so Courtnee* will be holding court next week in my place. She and I are cooking up special things for her to offer, so check back and see what she'll be up to next week.


*I'll introduce Courtnee properly as soon as thing slow down a little.

Art show by Spa practitioner Zan!

Invoking Drala
Sunday, May 18th, 1 to 6pm
The Little Red Studio Gallery
406 Dexter Ave N


You are joyously invited to 'Invoking Drala' at the Little Red Studio Gallery. The art of Zan Edson and Sophie Brunet.

Trees, roots, rocks, earth, water... The natural world calls me and collects me, bringing my often furiously swirling human mind back to the moment, back to the breath filling my chest, the ferns tickling my legs, the warm rock, or rough bark against my cheek.

In celebration of this intimate, priceless, abundant, endless source of connection and in gratitude to Drala(a Tibetan word for natural magic or the spirits of nature), I've created a series of paintings and sculptures.

My friend Sophie Brunet will be gracing us with her Industrial series-paintings of crumbling industrial spaces-which both compliment and contrast the rooty glory of mine and remind us that beauty is also found in the least likely places.

Please come and enjoy! The opening will be from 1 to 6pm,with performances beginning at 5pm, so stop by at your leisure to peruse the art from 1 to 5 and stay if you like, for some amazing dance, music and poetry. Refreshments will be provided by Chef Kim, so they're sure to be yummy!

Love, Zan

Her show will run from the opening on May 18th, through June 6th. Please call the Little Red Studio Gallery at (206)328-4758 for special viewing hours outside of normal hours.

Creative Movement Spa Sessions!

The practitioner who developed and performs the Creative Movement sessions, Cody, is back in town and available for appointments tomorrow, Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th. If you have ever been curious about this particular session, I highly reccommend it.


Creative Movement session incorporates dance and stretching into your spa session. You will soak in the hot tub and enjoy a hot oil treatment, as well as engaging in a unique, therapeutic touch using slow, intentional contact dance. This movement therapy is based on our practitioner's training in yoga, dance. Clients report that their time was healing, relaxing, and led to a sense of connection and true enjoyment of being in the body. This is unique experience benefiting the body, mind, and spirit.

Call me at (206) 963-0772 for scheduing and information.

Guest Watsu Practitioner

Next week is quite special. We have a Watsu and Shiatsu specialist visiting from California. Richard helped start the spa 2 years ago and is coming back for a little more than a week. Another reason we are so incredibly happy that the hot tub is back in full working order. He will be offering appointments, one of which is an amazing combination session consisting of Watsu and Shiatsu, during our regular spa hours.

Richard is an incredible therapist and someone I am deeply indebted to, as he has helped me develop my Watsu style when we first started the spa. If you are looking for a Watsu session with a more therapeutic angle than we normally offer, please give me a call and I'll get you set up with a session with Richard.

If you are interested in making an appointment for next week, I highly recommend that you call in soon, as I expect to be booked rather full while Richard is in town.

New Practitions & Session available!

I would like to introduce David and Adele, our new spa practitioners offering a special Tandem Bliss spa session at the Little Red Day Spa. Tandem Bliss, for individuals or couples, includes aromatherapy, hot oil body treatment, energy work, and time floating and stretching in the hot tub.

David and Adele are romantic partners and soulmates, which infuses their practice with love. They have a holistic approach that honors your mind-body-spirit. In addition to the already juicy Little Red Spa Classic Sampler experience, David and Adele offer Reiki (energy work), chakra balancing, and breath-work, all with an emphasis on conscious touch and communication.

A difficult and involved part of my job is that I have to interview and train people. Working with David Adele has been wonderful and quite rewarding. They are thoughtful, sweet people who are quick learners and eager to be a part of the spa. And having the 2 of them work on me was heaven!

Obligatory business note: To schedule a Tandem Bliss appointment, it is suggested that you call 3-4 days in advance, minimum, since coordinating 2 people's schedules takes a bit more doing.