Five years of the Australian Burlesque Festival

Five years of applications, acceptances, travel, performance and watching Australia's gorgeous, talented, fiesty performers take it off across the country.

The 2014 ABF poster

I was accepted as a relative newcomer, into Baby Bombshells in 2010, Scarlett Jezebel, then performing as a duo was in the same show and two of my friends, Danica and Daniel traveled with me from Hobart, Daniel had answered his phone to an excited phone call from the University quad after I'd received the email a couple of months before and it was enough of an occasion to warrant an entourage.

The next year the Festival traveled to Hobart's Peacock Theatre, a small ampitheatre space. We had to be quiet backstage as our chatter could be heard from the audience

In 2012 I performed my Sirenes act in the Hobart Playhouse Theatre and then brought the act to Melbourne for Empress Erotique.

Last year Launceston, the small regional city at the top of Tasmania was treated to the Big Tease and I performed my Sirenes act again, by this point I was feeling a need to retire it from my repertoire!

Ormand Hall, photo by B B Le Buff

Now five years on, it was back to Melbourne for the Big Tease at Ormand Hall on St Kilda Rd. I stayed with Scarlett who performed a pared back version of her MBT 2014 unique act in Empress Erotique on the Friday night.

Scarlett and I shared a small box room at the Victoria Hotel on Little Collins where we wedged our bags around the beds and then spent the weekend navigating the small corridors of remaining space.
A morning gym session followed by coffee, then I boarded a train to see Zoe Felice for a costume fitting, her cat providing under the door entertainment while I changed.
A tram trip up Sydney road, to seek Melbourne's worst kept secret, De Jour jeans, a shop packed with stacks of coloured denim. I joined the queue and waited to have the jeans expertly fitted to my body although in the end I just needed the ankles hemmed which took the seamstresses ten minutes to finish!

De Jour jeans

That night Oopsy Daisy and I joined a large, enthusiastic audience for Empress Erotique in Northcote, the rest of the Miss Kitty's Girls were busy being Scarlett's slave girls.
The show was a mix of darker themes with comic acts livening the line up. Fancy Piece were a stand out- the duo danced to rock anthems and paper wigs adorned their heads.

Scarlett Jezebel performing at Empress Erotique
Photo by Ange Leggas

Show morning meant a substantial breakfast in the city with Grace Cherry and a mutual friend. I stoked up my body with an omlette and coffee before heading back to the hotel to rehearse in our cramped hotel room. Tech time was strict so I dragged my massive suitcase onto a tram, for a quick trip down st Kilda road. Danica Lee was there, head mic on, running a smooth rehearsal, figuring out the best lighting and double checking our staging. We were allowed a full run through which was fantastic!

setting up backstage at Ormand Hall

Our backstage area was tiny but well lit with two long mirrors.There were stairs leading directly to the wings with a door separating us from the stage- we were asked to keep our voices down which we tried to attend to but often forgot.

With Oopsy Daisy in our tiny dressing room!

18 performers plus 3 stage kittens crowded into the room before showtime. The show was divided into three sets with 4 acts in each. Bella de Jac looking fabulously decadent in a Zoe Felice costume shouldered her pink bushy boa and flicked off the show with energy and verve- her wig gave new meaning to the Pantene hair flick.

Backstage can be stressful so it's great when everyone works together and is willing to relax and talk, headliner Lada Redstar from Berlin didn't miss a beat when she saw that Evie Red's chin strap had broken a few acts before she was due on stage. She whipped out her sewing kit and attached a hook while Evie finished getting ready. 

Headliner Lada Redstar fixing Evie's broken chin strap

I adore Evie's concept, a nod to Folies Begere girls with their amazing light bulb headdresses!

I was in the second set so managed to steal glimpses of the show from a hallway off to the side. I wasn't the only one...

Perks of working the bar at a burly show!

When it came time to perform I felt nervous but the andrenalin was kicking in, I adopted a haughty smirk and launched into my opening movements feeling every muscle in my fingers stretching stiff and taut as I searched for faces in the audience to connect with.

Photo by Ange Leggas

Photo by Ange Leggas

Photo by Ange Leggas

My act done I retired backstage to spend some time with our international headliners, Lada Redstar and Coco L'ectric. I first met Coco back in 2011 when I was stage kitten at the New Orleans Burlesque Festival. She's the sweetest person and I can't wait to see her again in Perth!

Dolores and Coco with Evie creeping in the background!

Helping Lada attach her incredible head dress

We couldn't see much from the side hallway (though we tried!) and we were told to be backstage for the final set so we could be mustered for the curtain call.

Evie's given up on trying to see what's happening on stage!

Waiting for the curtain call, Miss Kitty's Meow hamming it up!

Show over, I collected a tipsy Scarlett from the audience and headed back to the hotel- not before stopping at Lord of the Fries for a snack. Sweet potato fries you say. Hell yes I say.
                        

It wasn't long after this that my stomach started saying Hell No.

The next morning was the start of a long day. Here's a travel hint from me to you- if you're checking out of a hotel, don't stick around with nowhere to go after show night, by mid morning I felt like a zombie!
I spent the morning with the delectable Evie Red, trading showbo stories, backstage gossip and costume inspiration, she shared her favourite Chapel st cafe where I had a sweet potato and fetta omlette, I loved the decor, bright colours and potted cacti? Yes please!

Coffee at Tyranny of Distance

I spent the afternoon wandering around the city, joyously finding a copy of Martha Gellhorn's Travels with Myself and Another in the bargain basement of Dymocks, then Oopsy joined me for a coffee, Naked Girls and Tinder gossip.
My brother collected me from Victoria, bags and all and whisked me off for dinner on Sydney Road before dropping me with brotherly love and a very reluctant hug at Tullamarine, my flight was- of course in the way that has become normal- delayed but there were screaming children to entertain our ears.

Curtain call at The Big Tease
Photo by Ange Leggas

Review of Big Tease and Empress Erotique by Kathryn Keeble from the Melbourne Observer featuring photo of by Bret Salinger and separate pic of  New Zealand's Kerry Rodda.

Thank you Dolores Daiquiri and Rosy Rabbit for all the hard work and dedication you put in each year to get this festival up and running. I can't imagine the time it takes nor the challenges you face trying to structure each show and choose your performers.
Thanks to Danica Lee who was a great stage manager, efficient and knowing exactly what needed to be done and what the performers needed to know.
Thanks to my fellow performers and to the audience without whom we would be stuck making faces to a mirror or our reluctant partners ("sure honey, that's totally sexy but can you put the feathers away?")
Here's to another 5 years!

Perth International Burlesque Festival- Energy high in the city of lights

Photo by John Leonard. Perle Noire and Coco Poppin. Conga line curtain call in the background

 I cannot get enough of Perth. There, I've said it. I am in love with this sprawling, mis- matched metropolis.
Amazing cafes, welcoming, talented denizens- it makes me sad to think that I can't spend every weekend dancing on your stages and eating all your food.
Well most of your food. You can keep the meat and gluten options. I'll have all the coffee!

All the food I couldn't eat at Miss Kitty's Saloon

The Perth International Burlesque Festival is now in its second year and I was pretty chuffed to be returning as the list of performers was impressive.
I flew in on Friday night and was promptly collected by Ben, one of my hosts and DJ at Saturday night's after party at Defectors bar.

with Perrie, Ben and Anne at Defectors

Ben swooped down and picked me up, taking me off to Maylands where I was greeted by Missy, a very old dog and Lady who I had met last year at the first PIBF. Lady showed her love by leading me to her empty bowl, looking up at me and meowing. This didn't stop all weekend long. Whoever said the way to a man's heart is through his stomach never met this cat.

With Lady

 I retired to bed- I know... I disappoint those of you who want debauched tales worthy of pages in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel but it's true, I am the laziest showgirl.

Anne's drawing, Ben's script!

A relaxed start to my Saturday; brekkie and many cups of tea at Chapels on Whatley with my former Hobart housemate Erin, who I hadn't seen in an age! We made hay while the sun shone and reveled in the chance to catch up.
 Then it was all burlesque, all the time until I made it onto my plane on Sunday. I left Maylands and was dropped on King st in time to greet Hobart's Miss Kitty's Meow who had been making envious purchases at Wheels and Dollbaby.

Miss Kitty's Meow ready to go onstage!

No time to join them on a shopping spree, I had a workshop with Perle Noire to get to!
Amongst the crowd upstairs at the King st Arts centre, I found some friends, a familiar face from PIBF 2012, Dollar Dazzler, Nahiid Stevens who distracted me with some bright floral shorts and Virtue Von Tassel who I last met at the opening night of Bohemia, a good year ago!

Working our primary colours!

Having seen Perle on stage, I knew that the workshop would get me moving- but oh, how I moved! It flummoxed my brain and made me re-think my choreography for that night's show, all those bumps, grinds and cobra, cobra, cobra!!
(If you want to know more then you'll have to book yourself in for a workshop, well worth the money, in fact I'll be getting a private when I visit NYC in September!)

Virtue bundled me into her car after the workshop to take me to the Astor theatre in Mount Lawley for tech before I settled in downstairs and rediscovered my camera.

Perle and Indigo being amazing...

What do you call a grouping of showgirls? Renee in pink, Claire, Tamara and Nahiid amongst the blue!

Backstage with my gal Agatha Frisky!

Agatha and Dolores Daiquiri in peach and apricot

Indigo Blue sampling the water...

Tamara one of the gorgeous stage kittens for the night (also one of the chorus gals)

Dolores Daiquiri and Jon Madd watch from side of stage

Indigo Blue twirlin'

Prop or refreshment... with Banbury Cross

Some ceilings are never high enough... The AMAZING samba gals!

Sugarblue Burlesque filmed the entire festival so if you didn't make it to this year's Festival you can watch it on the Sugarblue channel!

We all headed across the road to the after party at Defectors. It was so busy that we were almost turned away! But we made it in and I  was delighted to find that performers from the previous night's shows had stuck around for the weekend, people I rarely get to see because I live on the island... Cherry Lush, Ginger Leah Raye, Venus Vamp, Kerry X got their groove on and danced the night away while gogo dancers and spot performances from Ginger La Minge and Virtue Van Tassel caused a crush towards the tiny stage.

Ready to perfrom my peacock act!

 I was so happy to be accepted into Perth again this year and it was really something to be able to compare it to the first year (2012) and see the calibre of performers and the energy of the audience rise.
To anyone thinking of applying- do it, to anyone considering buying a ticket to the 2014 Festival... bookmark the page, it's worth the wait!!

Australian Burlesque Festival 2013- Bunnies, ponies, native hens oh my!

Oh my! What a tour!
The first showgirl to arrive in Launie was New Zealand performer Bonita Dangerdoll, who really is a doll!
I picked her up from the airport on Tuesday morning, promptly getting lost and driving us in a loop before pulling into the grounds of the Launceston Country club- white palings, ponies grazing on one side, golf greens on the other, ducks, swans and Launceston's abundant roadrunner- like native hens.
We indulged at Nannas, a sweet cafe located in the CBD and then walked to the Gorge where peacocks and wallabies roam freely through native Australian bush.

New Zealand's Bonita Dangerdoll at Nannas

Strawberry Siren arrived the following morning with bountiful amounts of luggage and Bella de Jac and Evie Red touched down during the Tech run.
Evie it turns out has a fear of birds... Something I discovered as she wedged herself into a corner of my car whilst I enlightened her to the native hens running about the Country Club grounds.
Dusk was falling and we were amused to note an excited, hot roller adorned Banbury Cross taking photos of the wallabys that were out in force on the Casino grounds.

Backstage was cramped- 5 showgirls to a room isn't ideal but we made the most of the situation. Adelaide's Luna Eclipse adopted a corner at stage right to watch Game of Thrones while Bonita and I stretched nearby as the audince started arrive.

Bella de Jac, Lucy, Luna Eclipse, Evie Red hamming it up backstage

The show started on time which for a performer is both a blessing and a curse.
I'm so used to shows starting late that I was still getting my hair up when the first act, Hobart's Miss Kitty's Meow, hit the stage.
Oopsy Daisy and Tiger Lilly hurried back to shed themselves of their remaining costumes and don cloaks to be my creepy (only for 4 minutes!) skirt waving minions of the sea.
I'm always so thankful to the girls who help me with my act as waving the skirt gives you a work out!

The stage was a little slippery which prevented me from doing some of the more acrobatic choreography and the audience was rowdier then usual while I was performing which led the emcee, Andrew, to challenge them (Wisteria, I have my eye on you darling!) to a duel.

The best bit about performing in the first set was retiring to the balcony to watch the next two sets.
Stand outs on the night for me were Banbury Cross, Perle Noire and from the audience, three dapper gents and their ladies, seated at a table on the left, who were loving the show, clapping along with huge smiles on their faces! I said hello after the show finished and they told me they had enjoyed every minute...

Photo by Ricky Pfieffer

Some quick happy snaps with Bonita, and Perle Noire, who forgave me for being Sassy when I first saw her at tech and I drove myself home, I had work at 4:45am so I was desperate for sleep.

Post show posing with Tiger Lilly and Bonita Danger Doll

uh... with Bonita and Luna Eclipse

with Perle Noire... I cannot wait to see this lady again in a few months time!!!

I managed a quick brekkie with the Kitty's and Le Fay before they, like the rest of the tour, hit the road for the drive to Hobart.

Huge thanks as always to Rosy Rabbit and Dolores Daiquri for putting on ABF for another year and for bringing it to Launceston, my new home town!

Pageant Queen at Miss Burlesque Tasmania 2013

About a year ago I asked a college friend if he had ever thought he would see me on stage, performing burlesque. The response was a firm "no." I was not known for wearing dresses or skirts, I didn't start wearing more than mascara until I was 22 and even then I had to get someone else to help me apply the extra pancake.

So, winning Miss Burlesque 2013 wasn't really on the cards. I think my face says it all...

I entered the competition after chatting to Grace Cherry who competed in 2012 and judged me the first time I competed in 2010. Her motivations appealed to me, the idea of polishing three acts, gaining video footage and challenging myself on the night.

Sarah Muir from Tasmania's Pole and Burlesque Academy in Moonah sponsored me, this sponsorship included free studio time, massages and even some fabric to costume the skirt wavers in my Sirenes act.
Sarah has always supported Tasmanian burlesque, she revived burlesque in Tasmania in 2007 with a group that included Miss Kitty's Meow's Grace Cherry and Tiger Lilly, The Diamond's of Burlesque Bebe Sparkle as well as myself.

The night itself started for the performers and crew at 1:30pm when we were allowed to clutter the changerooms with all manner of fantastic costumes and props. I shared a smaller dressing room with Grace Cherry, Oopsy Daisy and Velvet Sway. Above the door written in texta was 'the room of cock,' we liked it. The room was loud with laughter and chatter as well as my oft uttered "I'm so tired... I'm so hungry..." Velvet came to my rescue with some dried apricots!

Costumes ready to go



Grace Cherry, Velvet Sway and Oopsy Daisy backstage before the gown parade



Tech run went over time which led to some of us having a less than perfect run through but it was great to jump onto the Theatre Royal stage again, it really is a gorgeous space to perform in, there's something wonderful about standing in wings of heavy black velvet before you perform.

The theatre Royal from the stage!

Tiger Lilly was my hair and make up go to gal, we did a quick test prior to the competition and determined on a style that could evolve during the night. We did really well until my unique which required a lot of glue and glitter around my eyes,  after which it was hard to recover a flawless finish for the presentations at the end of the night!

Tiger Lilly

The actual competition started at 7pm, Missy de Meanour performed a classic act before making her way to the judging table. Then, the gown parade, picture ten nervous girls waiting side of stage for about 15 minutes. I attacked my walk, my gown was a little bit creased so whenever I stopped I would pick up the hem to show my foot or twist the skirt to make it less obvious.
The night was on, three hours of running from stage to room to the back up dancers room and back to the stage.
Classic was next, I already had my pasties on, so it was easy enough to change, yell a quick "chookas!!" to the other girls and then stride out onto the stage, a little nervous at first as I start with a slow walk, but then as the energy picked up I felt myself sinking into character, becoming bolder, remembering that really, it's just another show.
I finished with a fabulously deep back bend tassel twirl at the edge of the stage and flashed a brilliant grin to the audience.

Classic act

Neo was next, I enlisted my friend Jo to dress as a drag king and waltz me around the stage as we did a take off of Strictly ballroom. Tiger Lily swept my fringe up into a glitter strewn confection and painted my lips a frosty pink. For this act we were going back to the 80's!

With Jo aka Raoul de Silva before my neo act

We all had to run backstage and change for unique. Even though only five would get through you had to remain optimistic and be ready to go onstage. Bebe came backstage and drew the names in order of performance.

The five remaining finalists were: Velvet Sway, Lucy Sky Diamond, Miss BonnieVille Lulu L'Pearl and Grace Cherry.
A flurry of activity and then suddenly I was racing on to the darkened stage with my shrouded boys, Zeb and Dean. My tech run had been cut short so I was a little hesitant in my movement and looked down more than I normally would but my new head piece and Thai fingernails were something extra that I could play with and I relished the time I had on stage.

Photo by CezB photography

Photo by CezB Phtography

Finally I had to peel the glue off my face and do a 5 second dodgy make up retouch before returning to the stage for the presentation.

From L- R Grace Cherry, Oopsy Daisy, Lucy Sky Diamond, Velvet Sway and Miss Jaye backstage before presentation

I remember looking at the faces of the judges, I know I made eye contact with John X, Scarlett Jezebel and Missy de Meanour and to their credit they gave me no hint of what was to come!
I had hopes that I would make the top three but as someone who used to compete in gymnastics I was used to assuming that I had not carried off a routine to perfection and would therefore be lucky to place.
Miss Bonnie Ville standing behind me won the Miss Burlesque Tasmania Ambassador Award, Grace Cherry was then announced as the second runner up followed by Miss Bonnie Ville as first runner up.

Grace Cherry is announced as the Second Runner Up

 Bebe then announced my name and the next couple of minutes are lost to the screams of the audience and my fellow performers, I know someone was hugging me from behind and then I had to walk out to be crowned. Missy helped me when my crown would not stay on, saying she'd had the same problem last year!

Going into protection mode as Oopsy Daisy attacks me with hugs!

Missy adjusting my crown

I was crowned, sashed and handed a brown paper bag which contained a prize from one of the sponsors. My only regret was being unable to thank the audience, the judges and the other performers instead I stood there and smiled uncertainly, gestured towards the other girls and smiled some more!
Finally the curtain dropped and again I was engulfed by arms and cheers!!

With Jo backstage, Jo aka Raoul de Silva is my partner in my neo act!

After a quick pack up and drink with some of the crew I headed to Ivory Bar in Hobart for a celebratory drink, my crown was borrowed and then scarily, my foot was kissed.
With Great power comes great responsibility and apparently foot kissing. I see many manicures in my future.

I'll be updating the blog in the months leading up to the Miss Burlesque Grand Finals held in Melbourne on May 24 with photos, more of my vintage costumes and backstage gossip!
xx