Burlesque

Oh my darlings, I've just been going through a few of my old burlesque pictures to post on that gorgeous little page of mine, and it's making me feel so incredibly nostalgic for those times!

I feel like I was performing constantly in those few years before the pandemic. I was everywhere, dancing on the most fabulous stages and meeting the most stunningly talented, beautiful, and lovely performers as we spent time together backstage waiting to go on. It was a dream!

My first ever act was called ‘Stone Goddess’. The story (because I LOVE to incorporate a story into my burlesque acts) is that I’m a stone statue of a Goddess who has suddenly come alive! She’s so shocked and terrified to experience such a thing, until she begins to notice that there’s a real life body hiding underneath all of those pretty little items of clothing. So she removes them, piece by piece, and slowly begins to discover herself along with her budding sexuality. Oh it's just DIVINE! Truly, I'm still besotted with this act and with this story.

I created it with the help of the beautiful- the darling- the incredibly talented and terrifyingly intelligent- my burlesque mother and mentor- Tempest Rose of The House Of Burlesque. I joined her academy years and years ago, taking the classes to learn the skills that go into performing burlesque. It was on her stage that I first performed and I’ve had the pleasure of working for her and The House Of Burlesque (HOB) many, many times. Oh and it was such a dream!!

My second act is called Sailor Boy. This one came about because I saw the cute little sailor corset online and went positively RABID with desire for it. And because I was so utterly obsessed with Otis Redding’s heavenly song Sitting on the Dock of the Bay that I was determined to create an act to go alongside it. And so, Sailor Boy was born!

Now this gorgeous little act is such fun because it actually starts with me in drag! The premise begins with the idea that I’m a woman who simply loves being at sea so very much. But it takes place during a time in history where women were banned by men from sailing, so my character was simply forced to dress up as a man in order to be free to enjoy her dreams of sailing the open ocean.

It opens to me dressed up as a (very sexy) male sailor, dancing on the ship to that gorgeous Otis Redding done and enjoying doing my shiply duties before my captain strolls onto deck. It’s there, utterly bored of being ordered around by a man, then I decide to reveal to my audience the SHOCKING truth that I am in fact- a woman! And of course, I do this my removing my clothing piece by piece to let you see and admire the womanly curves beneath.

It's my way of exploring a little of what it means to be a woman living in a society that wants to control so much of me. What I do, where I go, what I wear. And how strongly and passionately I feel about having the freedom to make my choices from a place of truth around what I want- not what I feel pressured to choose.

Can you possibly imagine how much I adore performing burlesque and creating these beautiful acts?

Now I do have a third act but it was a one time thing made for the fabulous and ridiculous Happy Potter themed burlesque show put on by Tempest Rose and HOB. This act was (if I may say so myself) wildly brilliant! It was called Will The Real Ginny Weasley Please Stand Up and featured me as- shockingly- Ginny Weasley. It was an exploration of the difference in her character between the books and the films, discussing the fact that while she was such a vivid, passionate, interesting character in the Harry Potter books, she was turned into rather a flighty and flimsy character in the films.

This was simply my opinion and if you would like to discuss further, fight me! Just kidding- do comment and let me know your thoughts, my love.

I'd also like to add that while I greatly enjoyed performing this act, I'm very aware of the issues surrounding the author of the series and her hateful and damaging behaviours towards the trans community. I support trans rights- and the rights of any group of humans beings simply trying to live as their true selves- and I will not be performing this act in the future.

My third and final act is particularly darling to me. I've been obsessed with this character and her wardrobe for my entire life, taking every opportunity that I can to dress up as her. I created this incredible act and was due to debut it in one of Tempest’s shoes in May 2020. Of course I'm sure you can imagine what could have possibly prevented me from performing it. The pandemic hit, wiping away all access to the stage and to any hope of bottoms in audience seats. Nobody has ever seen this act, but don't worry. You will! Luckily, I'm a model as well as a burlesque dancer and if there's one thing I simply love, it's dressing up and causing chaos in the home of one of my favourites photographers. You can view pictures taken by the incredible Nick Merchant and get a glimpse of my stunning costumes on my burlesque page of my website here. And you can get a first look of my third burlesque act- the one and only Cruella.

This act is so divine, you will truly lose your mind! I’m not currently performing but I do have plans to be back on the stage in London at Christmas 2027.

Are you excited?