Saturday 7 May 2011

London Burlesque Festival 2011 - Highlights

What a weekend I've had! What a bank holiday indeed. LBF 2011 finally came around and as promised it was a blast.

I was going to do reviews of the all the shows I had seen but really and truly Ive decided to stick to the best parts due to the fact Ive got a lot to say about some acts and not much to say about others (I'm sure you know what I mean ;) ). I saw 4 Shows in a whistlestop tour of London's venues in Madame Jojos, Bush Theatre in Shepherds Bush and The Coronette in Elephant and Castle.

British Bombshells
There were some very entertaining acts for the first of my many shows in the upcoming week and although I had every intention of avoiding the royal wedding there were the first of many wedding/royal britannia themed acts to be had. Compere Lady Beau Peep was entertaining introducing such acts as Kate Middleton,(Obviously not but quite a good likeness!) otherwise known as Agent Lynch.

Kate Middleton (Agent Lynch)

Closely followed by a Royal Guard in the form of Alli Katte with a rather impressive weapon! I must admit at this point that I did stop taking photos at a fairly early stage due to the intimate nature of the venue and low lighting the photos didn't appear to be  of a very legible quality although now I have then on my laptop they're nearly not as bad as I thought (But still not great).

Eliza DeLite was incredible. I loved the concept of a coal miner bored of working wanting the glamorous life with diamonds and pearls. The outfit was very impressive and I know she stitched a lot of it on herself. It was a nerve wracking time for us all knowing her as we did and knowing Momma DeLite was in the audience but it has to be said (If i didn't say it before) she did the Leicester Demon Belles proud! she was without doubt one of the most impressive acts and dare I say some of the other acts did leave a lot to be desired.

Eliza DeLite - On the big day

This show prompted a mass discussion between the Belles and I about facial expressions as some seemed to be lacking any reality and just doing what they felt they should do. Buuuut I'm all for a bit of cheesy cheescake.




Twisted Cabaret
Tbh I was expecting more from this show. I'm not sure if its because they were leading me up a blind path with the term twisted although at times it really wasn't watchable! The compere I thought was really quite good a rockabilly guy by the name of Benjamin Louche, quite dark and quite funny. I particularly liked the song about getting fucked up! Low points, a man with his mohawk on fire (that smell was WRONG) and a man snorting a condom through his sinus cavity (that I could and SHOULD have gone the rest of my life without seeing!) but there were also some acts that were incredible. The best of which had to include the following 2:


Vivi Valentine
Did a stunning dance in an amazing 300 Esq costume as a high priestess with Romanesque theme. General glamour and hypnotism awaited the audience and then from nowhere there was water, poured out of urns by loyal subjects and then......*spoiler* she threw a large amount of gold glitter into the air and walked through it coating herself. It was a fantastic show with equal focus on costume and talent. One of the best things all week.

Trixie Tassels
Well, I don't have much to say about this one apart from, if you thought fire eating and general fire dancing was impressive check out flaming nipple tassels. Never seen anything like that. Considering a lot of girls with tassels didn't do a lot with them, this certainly made up for it! Awesome.



NewComers Competition

La Fille
http://www.lafilledamnee.com
I have to say that this was the most delicate and emotive of all the acts in this show. It was sooo fragile and bought back childhood memories to me of the wind up jewellery boxes that used to play a song to you as a ballerina twirled around and round. This was definitely the best entrance and exit being static both times and placed and removed off stage by a helper in a fireman's lift with rigid shapes much like a mannequin. This act cant help but give you goosebumps and wasn't your average burlesque act.


Aurora Galore

Photo Taken From: http://www.auroragalore.com
This lady was breathtakingly bold. Although impressive to watch I can see why she (narrowly I'm sure) missed out on taking away an award due to the fact that the act was a fan dance involving impressive fan moves, some incredible lighting but she was however already in pasties and pants from the beginning. The act tho was really really impressive, those fans aren't light but she made it look effortless but FIERCE! The rock edge in the music and black outfit was very much my thing. And would you believe matching thong and shoes! Wowzers. As the final act to this show was a very fitting climax.

Tank

Photo taken from: http://www.tanakaro.com
If I had to pick one thing to see again every day for the rest of my life it would be this gorgeous thing. Her name is Tank, and I was slightly dubious when I heard the name however the display was so skilled, controlled and generally brilliant i forgot this almost instantly. I have seen aerial acts perform before but there is something so captivating about this lady. If aerial doesn't impress you (are you insane) but not only does she do aerial she also managed along with all the acrobatics to do a very good job at striptease down to Pasties. She's very striking in pose and look, her costume was really beautiful. I cant tell you enough how stupidly talented this woman is. If you ever get the chance to see her snap it up quick. She's an international treasure.
In general all of the newcomers did a fab job there was no hiding behind expensive costumes, pure talent. 

All in all I'm sure you can see by my gushing review that amongst the good and the (incredibly) bad the highlights really where something else. I'm really hoping to go next year and take the highs with the lows just to see anything of the same standard again would be a pleasure.

Me and some of the Demon Belles
One more thing.... Thanks to all my girls of Leicesters Demon Belles Society for a thoroughly entertaining weekend. Love u all xx

1 comment:

  1. In answer to your copyright question - the the books I use are pretty old and I think copyright runs out after 25 years of something like that? However I'm a small artist selling cards for $4.00 so I don't think the guys from Ladybird Readers will come knocking at my door - I' think you'd be good to go (making collage is not reproducing anyway) unless you want to start mass production ... :)

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