Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

Last Saturday I was honored to be invited to a new burlesque show, Shhh… It’s Burlesque, presented by Miss Candy Crush. It was held at CM Creative Studio, a new dance studio in South Boston, which is a lovely intimate space.

I’ve been sick for the past week, and this was my first time getting dolled up and going out for a while, so I’m glad Betty Blaize went with me for moral and maybe even physical support.

All the performers, while experienced in other forms of performing arts, were relatively new to burlesque. I know at least one was doing her first striptease that night. It was really lovely to see the enthusiasm and joy of new performers. After doing this for as long as I have, it’s easy to forget what that was like.

Miss Candy Crush opened the show by explaining the rules, one of which was silence. When you go to a burlesque show, you usually expect yelling, cheering, applause. Not so here — we were to keep quiet and snap for appreciation. Also, to tip the performers, we should ball up our bills and toss them at the stage. Reminded me of New Orleans. Also, a good plan as the audience was packed pretty close together (see, intimate space above).

The show went like this:

Part 1
Thalia: a lovely cabaret bellydancer, used a cane for part of her act. When she balanced it on her head, both Betty and I simultaneously crumpled up dollars and flung them at the stage. We know how hard it is to successfully do cane balances.

Jenne alla Vodka: I was really looking forward to this. Jenne is a very talented pole dancer who came to me for private fan lessons. She highlighted her Italian roots with a striptease to “Mambo Italiano”, which included a dazzling split. Like I said, pole dancer — with the strength and grace that art needs.

Capri: in leather jacket and break-away pants, did a swaggering striptease which involved some lipsynching and bringing an audience member on stage to get up-close and very personal.

Before the intermission, Miss Candy Crush embarrassed me by giving me a shout out. Then we had a little break for some refreshments.

Part 2
Espada & Aria Fae: There was a bit of everything in this act — fans, partner dance, hooping, acrochair — highlighting Aria’s circus skills.

Miss Candy Crush: Candy toyed with the audience for a while, bringing people up on stage, talking to them, teasing. At last she had two men remove her boots (seen on the cover of the program) and set aside her bullwhip, thus unencumbered, she began her powerful, passionate dance.

I’ve worked with Candy many times now and only gotten to peek at her acts from backstage. It was a delight to be in the audience and see her full performance. And also to see her dance in such a deeply personal way. This was not one of the acts she brings to the shows we usually do. It’s not for those audiences at all, so it was all the more specially to be allowed to see this part of her.

When the cast came out for the curtain call, we were finally allowed to applaud, and applaud we did!

I don’t have any performance photos, as photography was rightly banned during the show. But here is Jenne and me after the show. I’ve never been the tall one before! 

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