Gal Friday - Tiffany Blue

 Photograph, Hair MUA and minxy smile by Tiffany Blue.

Today’s Gal Friday is sparkly dame with kooky kick! Producer of Naked Girls Reading - Canberra , founding member of The Sass and Tease Collective and Co-producer of DIE FRINGE BURLESK! (On tonight in Civic Square don’t miss it!)

She puts the sparkle in seduction: Tiffany Blue!

I caught up with her caught up with her for five quick questions before the show!...

What got you started in Burlesque?

I've been a dancer my whole life and I was looking for a performance outlet. My husband had been trying to convince me to do a Burlesque class for a while and eventually I caved in and then I couldn't stop!

What is your favourite Canberra venue and why?

I don't have a particular favourite because each venue has something that makes it great! Polit Bar is so intimate and lush, The Abbey has such a fun stage and atmosphere, it's always amazing to have a theatre to perform in like The Street Theatre or The Canberra Theatre... I could go on and on!

What is your most memorable performance?

The first time I nailed Burlesqueasaurus in front of an audience and hearing the whoops and laughter!

What is the sparkliest thing you own?

So much of what I own is sparkly! Costumes, shoes, jewellery, my dogs (on occasion!), my husband! (Local Boy-lesque performer Captain Spitfire)

What is your favourite thing about burlesque in Canberra?

The amazing skill and variety we have here! Our community is growing steadily and is filled with awesome!
 

Gal Friday - Deb Delicious

 

 Photograph by Dusk Devi Vision

Today’s Gal Friday is a performing dynamo, from classic to neo and back, with the twirliest tassels in Canberra the tasty but vicious DEB DELICIOUS!

I caught up with Deb for 5 quick questions...

What got you started in Burlesque?
  I think I was born to be a little bit of a striptease exhibitionist. My mother use to tell me that anytime I had the chance I would have my clothes off and run around the front yard in the nip for all the neighbours to see. These days I do it with some class.
All jokes aside, I’ve always had a love for the glamour and glitz of the vintage era.
Back before I discovered the art of tease I had no confidence in myself. I had very low self-esteem and suffered really badly from social phobia.

Then I came across a page on ‘Myspace’ (yes the social media of the time before Facebook).
It was a page for Miss Kitka’s House of Burlesque advertising classes in Canberra. I discussed with my very supportive partner about joining Miss Kitka’s classes and he said “go for it, I think it would be really good for you”. Little did he know after 5 years he’d be living with a Burlesque monster and a house full of glitter and feathers. We like to joke and call the glitter that has bombed our house ‘asbestos’ and he has ‘glitter lung’.

Burlesque has changed my life. It has given me so much confidence and the burlesque community gives me so much support. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, Cry and you never cry alone when you have so many burlesque beauties that have your back.

What is the strangest heckle you have ever heard at a burlesque gig?

All in all I’ve been very lucky that I’ve never had someone bad heckle me whilst on stage. I think they’re too afraid to mess with a mad Irish woman. Some guy once said to me when I was in full stage makeup “It’s hard to argue with a woman with makeup and lashes like that” He was trying to get into a show for free but unfortunately for him he met me at the door.

As for the worst heckle; once when I was a member of the audience, someone shouted “put it back on!” He was soon shot down with thousand death stares.

If you could perform in any city in the world, where would it be?

I would love to travel back home to Ireland and perform in the Dublin Burlesque Festival. I really don’t know anything about the Burlesque scene in my home country, but having had a good catholic Irish upbringing I really hope that Ireland isn’t as small minded and square as I remember it.
I’d really love to have my lovely Irish Ma see me on stage. She’d love it.

Today’s Gal Friday is a performing dynamo, from classic to neo and back, with the twirliest tassels in Canberra the tasty but vicious DEB DELICIOUS!

Canberra Burlesque Diary caught up with Deb for 5 quick questions...

What got you started in Burlesque?

I think I was born to be a little bit of a striptease exhibitionist. My mother use to tell me that anytime I had the chance I would have my clothes off and run around the front yard in the nip for all the neighbours to see. These days I do it with some class.
All jokes aside, I’ve always had a love for the glamour and glitz of the vintage era.
Back before I discovered the art of tease I had no confidence in myself. I had very low self-esteem and suffered really badly from social phobia.

Then I came across a page on ‘Myspace’ (yes the social media of the time before Facebook).
It was a page for Miss Kitka’s House of Burlesque advertising classes in Canberra. I discussed with my very supportive partner about joining Miss Kitka’s classes and he said “go for it, I think it would be really good for you”. Little did he know after 5 years he’d be living with a Burlesque monster and a house full of glitter and feathers. We like to joke and call the glitter that has bombed our house ‘asbestos’ and he has ‘glitter lung’.

Burlesque has changed my life. It has given me so much confidence and the burlesque community gives me so much support. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, Cry and you never cry alone when you have so many burlesque beauties that have your back.

What is the strangest heckle you have ever heard at a burlesque gig?

All in all I’ve been very lucky that I’ve never had someone bad heckle me whilst on stage. I think they’re too afraid to mess with a mad Irish woman. Some guy once said to me when I was in full stage makeup “It’s hard to argue with a woman with makeup and lashes like that” He was trying to get into a show for free but unfortunately for him he met me at the door.

As for the worst heckle; once when I was a member of the audience, someone shouted “put it back on!” He was soon shot down with thousand death stares.

If you could perform in any city in the world, where would it be?

I would love to travel back home to Ireland and perform in the Dublin Burlesque Festival. I really don’t know anything about the Burlesque scene in my home country, but having had a good catholic Irish upbringing I really hope that Ireland isn’t as small minded and square as I remember it.
I’d really love to have my lovely Irish Ma see me on stage. She’d love it.

Every showgirl has an emergency toolkit, what is in yours?

I don’t really have an emergency toolkit. I will always have my favourite pastie glue ‘Kryolan mastix’, or ‘who’d you rip a nipple off’ as I’d like to call it.
I always like to have just one glass of red before I go on stage and will always have a straw in my little burlesque tin so I don’t ruin my lippy. And somewhere hidden in my case is a wonderful postcard size photo of the amazing Jennie Lee. She is my tassel goddess. I know if I have her with me I’m less likely to pop a pastie.

What is your favourite thing about burlesque in Canberra?

Canberra’s burlesque scene is still an up and coming one. It is not as over saturated as Melbourne or Sydney. I find it quite surprising when I do a workshop or a hens party I will always ask my group of ladies and gents what they know about burlesque...If anything at all. It gives me an idea of what I’m working with and 8 out of 10 people have no knowledge about the art nor have ever been to a show before.
So as a burlesque performer in Canberra I love educating people of the true history of burlesque. I love the reaction I get when I perform as a lot of the members of the audience have never seen anything like it and 99% of the time their reaction is so positive. You will always have your haters and of course Canberra is made up of public servants that wouldn’t have a lot of exposure to the art. That said, I’m sure the Canberran burlesque community can broaden their minds and convert everyone. World domination I say! 

 

Gal Friday - Sugar Starr

Sugar Starr.
Photograph by Annebelle

This week’s Gal Friday is arguably the blondest bombshell in Canberra’s burlesque scene. Performing burlesque in Canberra since 2010, she took out Kitten of the Year 2012 with her Bearded Lady routine. As gracious off stage as she is on.  The sweet and sparkling; Sugar Starr!

What got you started in Burlesque?

 I have always loved to dance, although have never had any formal training. I danced in ...high school Rock Eisteddfods. After uni I got the urge to get back into dance. I tried a few different classes, belly dancing, tribal dance etc, although I missed the performance part of it. Someone told me about Burlesque, and having always had a fascination with vintage glamour, I signed up. The thing I loved about it most was the opportunity to perform and get creative.

Who is your Burlesque Idol?

 Dixie Evans, the 'Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque' is my number one idol, rest in peace sweet Dixie. However, I also have a really quirky reason for loving Lili St Cyr. There is this story that I like to believe is true: Lili St Cyr taught Marilyn Monroe how to bleach her hair. I read about this in the book 'Norma Jean', by Ted Jordan. Ted was Norma Jean's boyfriend at the time, and he tells the story of Norma Jean going to one of Lili St Cyr's burlesque shows. Apparently Norma Jean became so obsessed with the show and so obsessed with Lili that she made him take her to every show, matinée AND evening while it was on. Ted says this drove him crazy, but Norma Jean was determined. She was also determined to talk to Lili and made her way back stage. It was apparently here that Lili and Norma Jean became friends and Lili said she would show Marilyn how to dye her hair the same as hers. As for Ted, he went on to marry Lili St Cyr!

What is your favourite act to perform?

 'The Bearded Woman'. This act to me speaks of pure vulnerability and letting that be seen. I still find it emotional to perform.

What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you at a show?

 Someone asking Carlotta to move her case over in the backstage area. I'll never forget the look on Carlotta's face.
 
What is your favourite thing about burlesque in Canberra?

That its growing! What I love about burlesque in Canberra is that we are helping women express themselves exactly as they are. We are helping them embrace their curves or their straight lines. The more women that can experience the power in accepting themselves exactly as they are and then getting on stage and showing that!...the better this world will be.