Miss Burlesque Mood Board and Inspirations!

Evening Dazzlers and Dazzler-ettes,

While being struck down with sickness and in between my rhinestoning I've managed to put together a mood board of my routines and gown, while there's still a lot of the element of surprise still don't worry, I still want to share my choices and give an education to those going to their first Miss Burlesque!


First off:

So the first time everyone sees you on stage is in "The Gown" I think this shows off your personality as who you are as a performer for the first time on stage for those who haven't seen Burlesque before, and re-establishing how you want to be remembered as for your fans. Part of me wanted to go 1950's, but when that dress didn't quite work out as planned, I went for something a little closer to my idea of who I am as a performer.

From late Edwardian (1900's) to the 1930's the designs of dress really started to change into a more column-like form, and the beading designs and occasional pleating at the front reflected that look, while the dresses above are more your 1920's to 1930's, the Edwardians also had some very non-bustled looked coming through which helped along the column look we associate now with the 20's. I would have enjoyed going for the Victoriana kit-out, however for me I very much enjoy shaping dresses to my contours! The 5th picture of the form fitting 1940's dress, is definitely a testament to that "curvaceous" look I like and will be embracing in my gown style. The hint/inspiration for my gown?:

 

1900's dress from the met museum

Next, the first routine we perform, the "Classic":

 

The classic routine is based on the "Golden Era" of Burlesque, something I haven't yet touched on this blog as I'm still looking at Dance Styles of pre-1920's, but the Golden Era was considered 1920-1960 when the acts got raunchier and yet also more stylized than those put on by their Victorian Sisters!

In terms of this Era, I've definitely gone 1950's with my performance, and going with a "Hitchiker" theme thanks to the song from the "Las Vegas Grind" music Volumes "Exit 6" by the Jaguars. This was a song in the end of the 1950's (1959 in fact) that girls actually did strip to, so it makes perfect sense to do the right thing by this song and keep on stripping to it! The hitchiker theme came from the second photo, which is a favourite of mine by Laura Bynes of Mosh for Pinupgirlclothing.com. She looks so glamourous in the middle of the desert, this juxtaposition of remaining glam in a bad situation for me it works as an idea to build on! Of course the look for costuming is all vintage, making my costume using patterns from a vintage wiggle dress slightly modified for body type and lingerie.

Next is the "Neo" Routine:

I think this very much explains itself. This part of the competition is everything post 1960 onwards, especially geared towards the 1990's onward revivalist movement or "Neo-Burlesque" as the term was coined. If it wasn't for those wonderful ladies we wouldn't have Miss Burlesque at this time as it is, quite possibly not at all yet. A lot of the Neo Movement is also in the Parody and the story which adds to what the performer is trying to say, the art is there for a lot of Neo performers and I can say I'm more in the Neo camp than the Classic camp, despite using very classic dancing in a lot of my performances.

Carmen Sandiego is almost a parody in a computer game, especially of spies/jewel thieves and other than Commander Keen and Pinball, this was the computer game of my childhood, we even had "Where in SPACE is Carmen Sandiego?". I love facts and information collecting, and I loved spies thanks to watching dad's James Bond movies even as a child. While I'm not going into the routine, I can tell you now, I have the red trench and the red hat, you wont BELIEVE whats under it though!

Never seen it before? Well click on the youtube video to obtain an education!

 

And now, the Final Act, The "Unique":

  

The "Unique" act is a very important act and also one that if you make it to the finals, you have a 50/50 shot of performing, it shows probably the most of who you are as a performer and what makes you unique in a sea of beautiful women wearing even more beautiful pasties! 

"The Steampunk showgirl" is a routine that is very close to my heart, it's my biggest and most sparkliest, you all have seen some pictures of the outer costume but there's been some enhancements since my photo shoot in November! Steampunk is a genre that gets a lot of love like Burlesque, and is also one that is very free and open to interpretation within a certain boundry as well, similar to how Burlesque is sometimes too. Either way, the inspirations of the Victorian Burlesque beginnings are there in the routine, which I am passionate about, and that's the biggest thing really having that passion when you're out there dancing and it's the biggest thing for me as a performer. Of course, it also has a special homage to Millie De Leon, the first woman who raunched up the Burlesque stage!

I hope you all enjoy yourselves when you come along!
You can buy tickets to the March 9th heat (which I start in) and the March 16th final Here!
You can also find out more information about the competition and the competitors at:
http://missburlesqueinternational.com/
**Please note as of publishing the website is down until Monday 4th Feb**
And also the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/missburlesqueaus

Keep on Dazzling!

DD xxx