Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

This weekend was the spring B.A.B.E. student showcase. We ended up calling it “Spectacular” instead of “Student” because we had a couple of instructors on stage too. We hold these recitals twice a year so our Burlesque Your Way students can show off their new creations, but also to give our alumnae a performance opportunity.

Scratch hosted the first part of the show — distinguish alums and instructors.

First up was Sadie Hunter, bringing back her first Burlesque Your Way creation, a fierce chair dance to Beyoncé’s version of “Fever”.

Kitty Levesque brought a touch of glamour with her Marilyn-style “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”.

Elsa Riot reprised the fire-themed act she had debuted at The Teaseday Club. And despite her fears, her merkin stayed on again!

I was sorry I couldn’t see Alice Azul‘s new number since I was fussing backstage. The bit I saw in rehearsal looked super-sultry and she had a lovely feather-trimmed robe (that she made herself).

Lucie Luxe, our alumna-turned-instructor has been away from the stage earning another Master’s degree. Her return was heralded by a re-work of one of her Teaseday Club favorites, to “Toxic” from Melanie Martinez.

Devora Darling demonstrated her boundless energy and dance skills to The Puppini Sister’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing”. It was a great advertisement for her class next month where she’ll teach a complete burlesque routine of her own creation.

Mina Murray: That’s me! I presented my revamped version of The Faerie Queene. This is the third iteration, and I hope it’s finally the one! The evolution deserves a post of its very own.

The second half, which I hosted, was devoted Burlesque Your Way students.

This is Honey Bee‘s third creation with a B.A.B.E. program (she took Burlesque Your Way once before and the Mystery Box class). She stripped out of a peacock-feathered costume to Amy Winehouse’s “Love is Blind” and ended by pulling off a scarf that was draped atop her corset and wrapping it around her eyes like a blindfold in her final pose.

Lucky Penny presented her very first burlesque routine! She was a jewel thief who distracted a hapless guard by taking off her clothes. Her friend playing the guard really hammed it up and made a great foil to her naughtiness. The song was, appropriately, “Wikked Lil’ Grrrls” by Esthero.

Pearl Buttons has been working really hard! She created two numbers for her debut at The Teaseday Club plus her class assignment. This was a high-energy dance-intensive striptease to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s “The Boogie Bumper”.

Devastasia, who made her debut last fall in the Mystery Box class, went classic with Frank Sinatra singing “Mack the Knife”. She played it up as a hit-woman who removes concealed weapons as well as her clothes and packed them all neatly into a suitcase. Then she put on a totally different outfit and got out of town.

We closed the show with Jeannie Martini, also a Mystery Box veteran. She brought down the house with her fan dance to Doris Day’s “I Only Have Eyes for You.” I don’t want to give away the punchline, but it was hilarious and clever!

And here’s almost everyone! From L to R: Lucky Penny, Mina Murray, Lolita the Stage Kitten, Pearl Buttons, Devora Darling, Devastasia, Jeannie Martini, Kitty Levesque, Alice Azul, Sadie Hunter, and Elsa Riot. (missing: Honey Bee, Lucie Luxe and Scratch). Photo courtesy of Elsa Riot.

Big thanks to Allison in the tech booth and Lolita the Stage Kitten! And of course, Scratch who produced the show and handled the box office, as well as hosting.

B.A.B.E. students will be back in the Fall for the next showcase!

Dear Constant Reader,

Monday night The Boston Academy of Burlesque Education had its fall student showcase and what an amazing show it was. All the students absolutely rocked it!

First up we had the B.A.B.E alumnae*, strutting their stuff. Some of the acts I’d seen before, some were brand new, and they were all crowd-pleasers.

Sadie Hunter started things off with a smoldering classic-style strip with a boa to “Nasty Naughty Boy”.

Trixie Santiago brought in some humor with a “fan” dance in honor of Ivar Haglund, the clam king of Seattle. Yes, her fans were over-sized clam shells.

The luscious Viva Le Reve performed a sultry down-and-up strip to “Feelin’ Good”, starting in a robe and ending barely covered by a beaded evening gown.

Silki Velour presented a more traditional fan dance. If you missed it, I believe she’s bring it to The Teaseday Club in November.

Teaseday Cookie Queen Elsa Riot teased us with a glittering red cape that she used to reveal and conceal.

Scratch awarded them all cutesy, kitschy, back-to-school themed certificates, like “The Girl Most Likely To…” and “Class Clown”.

From left to right: Elsa Riot, Trixie Santiago, Via Le Reve, Sadie Hunter, and Shirley Rockafella (I’m not sure where Silki went…)

Then it was time to reveal what had been in the Mystery Boxes. I was dying to find out. This was the first advanced routine creation class that I hadn’t taught, so I had no idea what was coming!

This was day one:

Six of the eight students brought their act all the way from box to stage. Each box contained elements that the dancer had to incorporate into the act, including small props, costuming decorations, dance moves, costume items, a mood, and a piece of music.

The first three performers made their burlesque debuts!

Devastasia was a slightly gothy baker who proceeded to sensually frost a cupcake on stage (and present it to me. I’m so lucky!). I though the bejeweled spatula was an item from her box, but it was the cupcake! Her sequin-swirled bra was gorgeous. (By the way, she’s the artist who made The Lost Girl’s dollhouse so beautiful. Come to The Wrathskellar and see…)

Dimples DeVil was a slinky cat burglar with a thing for jewelry. She worked with Brigitte to up the “dirty” factor of her act and it showed. I loved her opening leg tease.

Jeanie Martini started out cute, then next thing I knew there was a shower of dozens of flowers — from her crotch! Totally unexpected and marvelous. One of her box items were jingle bells and her (very lovely) underthings were covered with them.

Honey Bee is a veteran of Burlesque Your Way and I was looking forward to seeing what she created this time. She was a bartender with a box full of props, including one of her requirements — a bottle, which she envisioned as a bottle of Jameson. My favorite moment was when she put a cocktail shaker between her thighs and pulled out a boa. One of her required items was a shimmy belt and she attached cocktail strainers to her hips!

Villa Lobos was the only student I didn’t know. I believe this was her first burlesque class, although she’s clearly a performer. She performed a dance routine with sheer wings and a hula hoop which looked unearthly under the strobe light. I know that one of her items was a turkey baster, which she transformed into a black rose.

Shirley Rockafella is the most experienced student of the batch, having performed all over the place this past year. She closed the show out with an adorable strip, starting as a cleaning lady and ending up in a corset and ruffled skirt. She rhinestoned the crotch of her panties!

I’m so proud of each and everyone of them for taking on such a challenging class and acquitting themselves so well. Scratch had “Super Star” blue ribbons for each of them and they all totally deserved it! I just wish I’d gotten a class picture…

Our next student showcase won’t be until the spring, but I’m sure some B.A.B.E. students will be gracing the stage at The Great Burlesque Exposition in February!

*It’s not that they’ve graduated from B.A.B.E., since most of them still take lessons with us, but that they’ve graduated to the professional/semi-professional stage