On Friday night (June 15th), I was lucky enough to attend the Hobart leg of the Australian Burlesque Festival (touted the Southern Hemisphere's biggest celebration of tease).
There were acts of many genres including both classic and neo, styles varied with an eclectic mix of the outlandish, raunchy and comic through to the cheesecake and seductive.
Asher Treleaven was the MC for the evening and provided a mixture of hilarious and inappropriate jokes laced with a generous smattering of swearing and comical perversions and the audience loved every minute of it!
I was very impressed with the way in which he warmed up the crowd and kept the fire alight for the rest of the night, kindling the good old fashioned rapport between stage and audience.
Poppy Cherry (VIC) was the first performer which for any performer (even the most seasoned) would know is never an easy task, (as the audience is virgin) fortunately Treleaven remedied this with a quick crash course on burlesque clapping and cheering etiquette, prior to her arrival.
The audience adored her classic routine, which was a delicate balance of tease, playfulness, cheekiness and seduction. Lots of shimmy's and shakes! Poppy Cherry was not only performing that evening, she was also the stage manager, a multi-talented lady.
Next was some of our home grown talent Miss Grace Cherry (TAS) one third of Tasmania's beloved troupe Miss Kitty's Meow. Grace wowed the audience with a fan dance, a complex mixture of raw vulnerability, sophistication and grace ( just like her namesake). She always manages to create indescribable intimacy, with each of her movements, executed subtly yet beautifully.
Ginger Leah Rye (VIC) did a sensuous and dark number titled the "Soul collector" and signed her soul away on a velvet scroll, with a big red feather quill included all whilst bumping and grinding stylishly to a rockabilly tune.
With a nod to Josephine Baker, Scarlett Jezebel (TAS) did her notorious "Axel in the Mist." The audience was welcomed to the jungle, by sexy leopard skin clad babes (Peta Hills and Danni Jack), a gorilla and suggestively held bananas. This act just keeps getting better and better each time I see it! I love it! Tasmania's blessed with such creativity!
One of Finland's finest Lou Lou D'vil prowled onto the stage in salute to Bettie page. Tantalizingly smoldering and brazen in her stance, she clawed and growled at the audience with such defiance and charisma, a true testament to Bump N' Grind. (See video below for her routine performed at London Burlesque week 2011.)
LiIllian Starr (NSW) was udderly fantastic in her bovine laden, butter churning, milk maid fantasy, Neo burlesque at it's creamiest! (Yeah I love puns!). An eccentric striptease with cow and dairy related tunes starting with a bit of yodelling, a demonstration on the difficulties of milking cows and a rather saucy milk bath finale. This was a really fun, and slightly dirty number which had the audience in laughter and awe all at the same time! A Brilliant way to end the first half of the gig.
I had made dash for Merch stand WO-Manned by the lovely Miss Oopsy Daisy. I then waited in line for the dreaded, yet inevitable, queue for the female toilets which went to Timbuktu. Seriously though, Playhouse Theatre, I think two toilet cubicles really isn't enough and it incites much frustration and unsolicited use of male toilets (I would just like to say I didn't engage in such behavior, merely witnessed it.) On a more positive note it was really nice to see all the beautiful attire people had chosen to wear out for the evening including gorgeous fascinators. I shared some caramel chocolate with the boy and awaited the next half.
We boarded flight 669 with Peachey Dream Airlines with flight attendant, Peachey Dream (VIC). Unfortunately poor Peachey fell victim to a plane hi-jacking, This particular show she did I felt was a lot more refined and polished than to the one shown in below video, I loved the story she told, the theatrical element and the modern music (I love Gold Frapp)
Lucy Sky Diamond (TAS) did a beguiling piece that used Debussy's gorgeous "Sirenes," it was as if a water nymph had stepped out from Greek mythology Lucy arose from waves of blue silk, skillfully fluttered by Velvet Sway (Who was the stage kitten for the evening) and Miss Poppy Cherry. She moved sensuously with beautiful hand flourishes. The sea of silk framed Lucy perfectly and her movements were executed so delicately and timed beautifully with the music. Her jewellery was exquisite, too!
Rosy Rabbit (VIC), co-organiser of ABF , (with Dolores Daquiri) seduced the audience with April Stevens' "Teach Me Tiger." The smoldering seductress showed her wild side and wasn't afraid to prowl through the audience seeking prey. Her costume was stunning and cleverly crafted and the routine ended so cheekily.
Vesper White (VIC), embodied wrath, in "Lucifer's Wrath", and with her piercing gaze held the audience captive and made it her plaything, slinkily writhing and twisting sardonically with utter bawdiness, to Barry Adamson's classic "Man With a Golden arm." (one of my favourites) Due to technical difficulties Vesper didn't quite get the climax she hoped for and graciously gave the audience, albeit rather fittingly for her character, the one fingered salute. She did fix her problem and cheekily made a re-appearance before the festival's curtain close to show she had over-come difficulties.
Lou Lou Devil (Finland), stepped out a second time, with her award winning and luxuriously lavish & decadent old Hollywood styled routine. (As shown below in the video she placed 1st Runner-Up in the Queen of Burlesque competition at The Third Annual New Orleans Burlesque Festival).
With wings attached, and in the resemblance of Isis, Coco Framboise (Canada) walked (well strutted) like an Egyptian to a more funkier rendition of the Bangles classic. Effortlessly she fluttered silks and wraped and unfolded them about her figure. She danced removing each section of her ornate costume, slowly with deliberate hesitation and true titillation in classic strip tease style, all whilst building up crowd suspense.
Then with much applause, the newly crowned, "Queen of Burlesque" Imogen Kelly (NSW), was unveiled from behind the curtains with her winning Flamingo act. Shrouded by ostrich feathers and puppetry, Kelly had the audience tickled pink!
After a flamingo love scene, a gorgeous fan danced ensued. Slowly layer after layer, revealed the blonde dancer topped with a towering head dress of feathers. Gloves were peeled with a little audience assistance, and the glittering rhinestones beneath her corset were unwrapped. Imogen slyly flicked, caressed and danced with her feather boa rather provocatively ending with her pasties bared in true showgirl stance.
And with that the show concluded.
I briefly spoke to Imogen at the end of the show and she signed a photo for me, which she did with much enthusiasm when she learned my name was Imogen too! I congratulated her on her win which she was rather humble about. She seemed like a really lovely down to earth lady too! She's been a real inspiration for Australian performers who are seeking international acclaim.
Overall it was a great show and I hope the festival continues to run on strong in the coming years, I think it's great for our state's newly flourishing burlesque scene. Please check here for more nationwide festival events.
Click here for some photos from the night, taken by CezB Photography.
I'm curious who would you like to see perform at the next festival?
I will be adding more blogs soon so please check back regularly for all things gourmet and burlesque. My next blog will be about The MLA Black Box Culinary challenge, which I was lucky enough to assist in this year.
Imogen- cookery student A.K.A Valerie Noir amateur burlesque 'artiste' and enthusiast
(apologies if the post is full of spelling and grammatical error, I just sat up till 5am to write it)
Yay Immy! What a night, great article!
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