PIBF: Saturday Shenanigans! Classes Shows and my festival debut!

Happy Sunday Dazzlers and Dazzler-ettes!

I'm back to the blogging world after a busy couple of days and I'm blogging about the busiest day of the festival today for me!

The day started with two amazing classes, firstly with Banbury Cross and her fan dancing class. While a lot of this was the basics, for me it was about learning a new way to use fans and really practicing/experoimenting how I want to play with my fans, it was a real eye-opener for me and it's raised my confidence with the fans now as well. This bodes well for the fans I'm about to start making for myself as well!

Next Session was Perle Noir's dance class and it was quite fantastic! All booty shaking and thrusting (I now feel the need to hip thrust whenever I can into my routines!) and just hitting those "pow!" points that send a crowd wild, I really enjoyed that! I even got to say hi to Lucy Sky Diamond who I met last year during that class!

Then, it was off to tech at the Defector's bar, I hadn't visited the defectors bar before, but it's a gorgeous venue and larger than what I thought it would be, I got a chance to see some of the performers do their tech and it was time to get ready!

Glitters, Garters and Tease was in The Astor Theatre, and while I've seen live bands and the like there, seeing a full show like this, it really is like it was made for it!!! Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the full show as I had to go perform at my part of the festival, but I absolutely was in awe of everyone that I saw!

Favourites for me:

The Showgirls: How could you not love this group of Follies glamour? It was perfect, graceful, glamourous and stunningly beautiful to watch. It was the perfect show opener! Well done you gorgeous things!

MC Dave Callan: One of the best things about Burlesque in my opinion is the comedy, whether on stage or in your act. It's part of what it was all about in it's golden ages, even to it's early Victorian days. Dave brought some amazing quick, witty deliveries and it was awesome, it kept everyone amped for the next act and was a true act in himself as well. Amazing!

Indigo Blue: I love this woman, and I loved this act so so much, it was clever, and turned on it's head just when you thought it was over! Her tassel twirling skills were on full display and it was fantastic! I'm making it my mission to go over to Burlycon to see her next year now!

Dolores Daiquiri: One part of the producers for the Australian Burlesque Festival, Dolores really does know how to put on a classic show, I was enraptured by her grace with a big side of slow, sexy tease dolloped on for good measure! Wonderful!

Sarah Ritchie from Kinetica: I feel so bad that I forgot both names of the Kinetica performers because they really were so amazing to watch! Sarah's fan dance with (quite literally) a twist was seriously a joy to watch. Just when you thought you were going to be safe watching a nice graceful fan dance, out comes the surprise contortion which just made you go "wow! That just happened!".

Now at this point off I trotted to get ready to do my "That Magnificent girl in her Burlesque machine" Steampunk Balloon Pop Tease. I love this act, and I have updated one or two small parts to the costume which for me, made it more relaxing and comfy to perform in! Bonus! Some of my balloons had a small case of stage fright, but I still made them work for their popping! This was my first experience in the festival atmosphere and it was new, exciting, nerve-racking, and at the end of the day, the crowd still loved it as much as I love performing it!


For me, Saturday night ended there, I finally had a wave of exhaustion head on ever and say hi, so it was sleep time until the markets and peep show (amazing by the way!) on Sunday!

So there you have it! The festival was an absolute joy to be a part of again, I can't wait to come back, and I have some great memories and some great stuff to work on for next year!

A special thanks to the organisers, the amazing Mels and their team who took such great care of everyone and really made sure this city shined!

Keep on Dazzling,

DD xxx

PIBF: Dark of the Cabaret show: The theme of the night is Glitter!

Evening Dazzlers and Dazzler-ettes!

Next on my PIBF blog posts, its Friday night, the neo show called "Dark of the Cabaret" Although i think it should have been re-named "glitterbombings for everyone!!!!"

I think there managed to be 2 acts in a row with glitter finales, one including a set of glitter cannons, one with a sand circle, a tequila drenching, lemon squeezings. It was the most amazingly messy night I've ever seen and props to those stage kittens for their hard work!

I'm a fan of neo acts, so I knew I was always going to like tonight, but I was just blown away at just everything the performers put out, it was a level that made me want to be such a better performer, it was inspiring for me and made e want to challenge myself so I can be on that stage next year.

Even though everyone was amazing, I'm making a top 5 of the best performances of the night. Photos

* Clara Cupcakes: Clara took it to a whole new level with a vaudeville-esque act, which used willing men from the audience in a "yard". Clara really has taken spoken word burlesque in her stride after seeing her perform a Barriston sisters act during Perth fringe festival, and it suits her so well, I look forward to seeing her do more like this. Special mention to her cupcake shaped ukelele: it was so cute!

* Sam Williams - Kinetica: He called himself something else on the night, but he really is a showman that guy, he had the crowd going crazy with his antics on stage. Even though the acts were going fantastic, he just amped everyone up even more than what they were, it was a frenzy of excitement! Amazing to watch.

*Ginger Leah Rye: This act I had seen on youtube, but in person and on stage, it was absolutely stellar! Burlesque to a woman reciting Mills and Boons styled Victorian Era love story is completely different to anything I'd seen and the end gag is just an amazing, she came last year as well, and she is so enjoyable to watch!

* Johnny Domino: A main offender in the glitter bombing, but his act was completely perfect in every sense, his work to classic 80's songs manages to amp everyone into nostalgia, to just the amount of glitter he shared with the audience just made it a joy to watch and a bitch to clean out later. Top props to this act.

* TASIA: Holy shit this girl is gorgeous, and her Geisha Assassin is as beautiful and as deadly to watch as her performance itself. She was a favourite from last year as well for me and she is like burlesque salted caramel for me, not your usual sweet and always enjoyable to indulge on.

Coming up! My time in workshops part two and my OWN performance at the after party of glitters, garters and tease!

DD xxx

PIBF: Workshops set 1 and Opening night shennanigans!

Evening Dazzlers and Dazzler-ettes!

Wow! So this weekend has been AMAZING! I have been in awe of the talent and everything I have learnt about me and my performance style and from other people and how awesome other dancers in this industry are. This year surpassed last year on so so many levels for me!

First off: Workshops set number 1. I did Imogen Kelly's and Indigo Blue's classes. Imogen's class was great for a performer, because it just taught you some of those building blocks that make a really good routine no matter what you do, it's those little things that make a routine and help make it more. I really was so happy after that class.

And then it was time for Indigo's class. Indigo is someone who I admire and aspire to be even a little bit like and also want to tassel twirl as good as! That class was an eye opener for me, I learnt so many things and rule number one: Persistence is key when it comes to physics! I am so happy I got to do that class, before dashing off to perform.

I will say now that I actually got to do a private class with Indigo later in the weekend, but I'm keeping that to myself because it was such a special moment for me that is just part of those collection of memories for me *grin*.

 Perle Noir

Now! Opening night! Holy my god amazing! At the Brown Fox in West Perth which is a venue I hadn't been before and I was pleasantly surprised about how gorgeous it is! Perfect for an opening night! Cider also is a specialty for them, which is a love for me, so it was happy times! Those performing in the opening night got to perform with the Oz Big Band and let me tell you, performing with a big band lifts any performance in my mind :)

 Sugar Du Joure

Performers were group performances by the Sugar Blue troupe, Miss Burlesque Australia The Strawberry Siren, Sugar Du Joure, Jacqueline Furey, Simon Coronel, Perle Noir and Banbury Cross.

Performances of the night: All of them, it set the standard for the festival and it was amazing!

 Simon Coronel

 This last one is my absolute fave of Banbury Cross, I am definitely a fan of her style because she's just so much a minxy minx onstage! 

 

Photos are by John Leonard (who is amazing!) and the rest of the album is on the PIBF's facebook page.

Tomorrow, we look at the Dark of the Cabaret show, and that was my fave show out of the lot!

Keep on Dazzling!

DD xxx

Dollar Dazzler's Adventures coming soon!

Happy Sunday Dazzlers and Dazzler-ettes!

I've been checking out the ABF facebok page and I'm getting quietly excited about whats going on this month now! I can't wait to take those classes now, just saying!

So! What have I got happening for the rest of the 6 months? Well, June is probably my most exciting month and I'm entirely looking forward to it!

I already did one photoshoot with Carnies with Candy, and here's just one of the amazing shots with their photographer Candy Goldsmith! The theme was candy, and I chose some strategically placed fairyfloss! I also made me some Zombie fairyfloss, I need to think of a name for my friend though, Bob Flossy maybe? 

June 26th: Classes with Imogen Kelly and Indigo Blue, totally will be blogging about that.
June 27th: Opening night of Perth International Burlesque Festival and My Birthday! Best Birthday Ever!!!
June 28th: 2nd big show of the Festival, will be there with bells on!
June 29th: Worskshop with Perle Noir and possibly Bunbury Cross, The last show of the festival, and I'm performing at the After Party!
June 30th: I will be shopping at the Retro Markets and peeking into the "Peep Shows" they're having!
Expect a massive Blogging spree to celebrate all of this amazing-ness!

July is my quietest month by far, I have no shows, but I'll be helping out in my "civvies" at Burly Unplugged on July 31st.
I am going to try and give a couple of Burlesque history lessons, one on how European Burlesque influenced entertainment in the Wild West (this is a topic I've recently discovered and it's blowing my mind how feisty these women were!) and I really want to put my investigation pasties on and find out what I can about Burlesque in Early Australia and entertainment in the Goldfields era.

August: I have a photoshoot early on in the month which is a work in progress, so it's very hush hush at the moment, however!
August 25th: I'm shooting a pin-up shoot with Rosie Button after winning a competition to do a shoot with her! Expect much nerdiness and blog about the shoot too!
Needless to say, I'll be sewing up a storm as a result!

September, October and November: I'm going to be performing a new routine every single month at Burly Unplugged! Stay tuned! There's 2 Steampunk routines and one very sexy Nerdlesque routine coming your way!

December: Nothing as yet, but stay tuned!

So for now, get excited about this month and all future events coming up!

Keep on Dazzling!

DD xxx

Dazzling Girls never stay still!

Evening Dazzlers and Dazzler-ettes!

Can I just say I love June this year? I am not a winter person at all, but this month like a month long Christmas for all things Burlesque here is Australia this month!

After watching with eyes keen on who won BHoF this year, I was so excited to see LouLou D'Vil won this year! That girl is a stunner, all hail your queen for this year! I was particularly excited to see my big Boylesque crush Ray Gunn winner of the King of Boylesque award this year, he truly is dreamy and very much deserving of the award! Excuse me while I stop drooling for a moment....
ok.....
Done!!!

Now! Tonight starts the Australian Burlesque Festival, with the Baby Bombshells competition! I've gotta say, good luck to all those performers, the rules are you have to have been performing burlesque for less than 2 years, so these really are the future headliners of this business, and its great to give them this kind of platform!

After all the hooting and hollering of ABF, the next anagram of the month is PIBF, which is Perth Burlesque Festival! yay! I'm so excited about this, I am doing Perle Noir, Indigo Blue and Imogen Kelly's workshops which I am stupidly excited about, especially Indigo Blue because my dream is to go to Burlycon in Seattle one year which she created/runs, its one of the most amazing ideas I've ever seen and I just want to be a part of it and contribute! I'm still considering going to Banbury Cross' fan dancing class, if anyone can tell me what its like I'd love to know!

Now don't forget I'm performing at the official After Party on Saturday night after Glitters, Garters and Tease! $5 to see me shake it!!!!

Also!!! The night before PIBF starts, 26th June, if you want a lead up to some of Perth's new talent, Burly Unplugged is going to be on the night before, now I probably won't be there unless it's right at the end, but seriously, if you're visiting from out of town, go to the show, see those treading the stage for the first time and hoop and holler for them!

You can find details and (whatever remaining) tickets for the Australia Burlesque Festival here.
Check out and buy tickets for Perth Burlesque Fest here and the details for the After Party here.
Burly Unplugged's page is here, check out the event for June here.

Keep on Dazzling! I've gotta re-shine my sequins now!

DD xxx

Exciting news!

Evening Dazzlers and Dazzler-ettes!

So! Best exciting news! I'm going to be performing as part of this years Perth International Burlesque Festival! Hooray!

I'm going to be part of the After Party show of the Saturday night show on the 29th of June! $5 entry! I'm going to be bringing out my Steampunk pop tease for you all to enjoy!

I'm also currently working on my next costume, involving some pretty spectacular modifying of a green zentai suit for a Star Wars routine in May! It's at Burly Unplugged at the Brisbane!

You can find info and buy tickets for The PIBF at: http://www.perthburlesquefestival.com/
Burly Unplugged is on the last Wednesday of every month, their Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/BurlyUnplugged?fref=ts

Keep on Dazzling!

DD xxx

Steampunk Reading: Etiquette & Espionage & The Steampunk's guide to Sex!

Evening Dazzlers & Dazzler-ettes!

So I managed to sit down and engorge myself on some light reading material. Both books were not huge, but one was Fiction and the other was Non-Fiction, one was for adults, and the other is one you can obsess over with your child.

I'm going to start with the Fiction one, it's a Young Adult novel, but don't be fooled by that. Etiquette & Espionage is By Gail Carriger, who also wrote my favourite novel series "The Parasol Protectorate" which is a very adult series compared to this. The wonderful thing about this series is that it is all set in the same universe as her first series, and if you haven't read The Parasol Protectorate series, you should after this just so you can have a giggle at how those characters show up in this series.

The series is set in the 1850's and Sophronia Temminnick is a 14 year old girl with no interest in being refined, girly or anything lady-like, and her curtsy is atrocious. With her mother desperate for her to be a lady at her older sister's coming out ball, she allows a strange visitor to the home take her to "Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality". What no one realizes is that this is a different type of "Finishing" school, where they are taught to infiltrate society and become the best spies for the greater good of England.

As someone who did go to boarding school, I sorely wished this could have been my boarding school somedays! Gail has brought an amazing group of sidekick characters that compliment the main action and Sophronia's espionage into why the "Picklemen" are coming after the school. Again, the plot works in canon with Gail's first series, and I had some very big "Penny drop" moments after reading this as to some things mentioned in that. I particularly love her best friend Dimity, and her brother who is sent to the boys school, an Evil Genius Prep school.

The world is fleshed out beautifully, and I am really looking forward to the next book coming out in November this year (I have already pre-ordered!) called "Curtsies & Conspiracies". This book is like a small sweet treat, satisfying, indulgent and doesn't feel like a guilty pleasure. It is for children aged 12 and onwards, so if you have younger family members inclined towards science fiction, this is perfect. 

Now! Onto more Adult pursuits in the non-fiction variety: The Steampunk's guide to Sex!

This was produced as part of a kickstarter, and I bought into (I am a big fan of the kickstarter/crowdfunding idea) so I could download a copy of it to read. I was definitely given an amazing education on Victorian smut peddling and smuggling which was definitely eye-opening in such a good way. There was a good mix of modern Steampunk discussion about sex including a guide on how to make your own Steampunk and Steampowered sex toys and an essay by a Steampunk porn star Lady Clankington which I really liked.     

The only things I will say kinda disappointed me was that the vignettes of information could have been longer, I could have read 1000 more pages on each of the subjects readily. I will also echo what another reviewer said and that the essay on Polygamy may have been misplaced in the book and was already information I had been educated on about the topic before and was not necessarily fitting into the main line of the book, but I can see why it was put into the book at the same time.

With that, its time for me to wind down the bunsen burner, and leave you to explore these books. Both of these books are available on Amazon.

DDxxx