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21st Century Burlesque's Top 50 of 2011 List

It's that time of year again, the voting is open on the 21st Century Burlesque Magazine's Burlesque Top 50 of 2011. Time to try and whittle down our long lists of burlesque performers, academics, legends, writers, stage managers, volunteers, comperes/emcees, maids/stage kittens, teachers, promoters, producers, film makers, convention organisers, festival creators etc (did I leave anyone out?) in fact anyone we think has had an influence on making our beloved art form that little bit more special in 2011.

If you need some inspiration there's always the Top 50 of 2009 and Top 50 of 2010......though those won't necessarily remind you who the movers and shakers of 2011 might have been.

I've hit send on my 10 choices.....shall I tease you with some facts about my faves for 2011?

My 10 choices include:

• 3 blokes
• 14 people in total
• 1 troupe
• Amazingly only 1 redhead
• 1 duo
• 1 living legend
• 1 posthumous vote for a legend
• At least 3 who are/were over 48 years old
• 6 who've won titles at Burlesque Hall of Fame weekends
• 2 who run the best burlesque convention in the world ;)
• 1 vote for a routine that blew me away at BurlyCon 2011 and made me realise I had to seriously up my game
• 2 that blew my mind with routines at the Burlesque Hall of Fame this summer and made me realise I had to seriously up my game...
• 3 non-Americans (this I feel bad about, but having only 10 votes and living in USA now I've only seen UK burlesque on youtube and burlesque on youtube never blows you away like seeing live performances)  
• However, 14 people from countries that have been part of the British Empire (giggles naughtily)
• 13 who do neo-burlesque
• At least 5 who do classic burlesque
• 5 with 3-part names
• 2 regular emcees/comperes
• 8 who teach classes to burlesquers
• 1 who has stars in her name (yeah I know.....I'm a rubbish tease)
• 1 who uses an exclamation mark in his name (as I said, rubbish)
• At least 3 who've appeared in movies about burlesque
• At least 2 who do performance art as well as burlesque
• At least 2 who use circus skills within their performances

and....

• 8 who I've talked about on this blog or it's sister blog Absobloominglutely

Is that enough clues? ;)

As I say, I'm sad that I have to narrow down all the amazing people I've seen, read, met this year from our wonderfully creative and diverse art, but it twas the law :( I'm also sad that because I've been in USA and been so inspired by some fabulous Americans I might be seen as letting the British side down with not enough Brits in my list. I definitely feel sad I haven't included enough off-stage movers and shakers....ah well.

However, I'm really happy that 21st Century Burlesque Magazine despite the huge amount of work it is to compile the Top 50 from thousands of votes, have decided to run the List for the 3rd year running as it is an incredible resource to see and find out about the best of the best in burlesque.

OK, off you go now, go vote for your top 10:

www.21stcenturyburlesque.com/the-burlesque-top-50-2011/

One last post before BURLYCON 2011!!

 

I shouldn't be typing this......I'm last-minute-making a 'thing' for the Tiki Goes Seattle Northwest Tiki Social (the 'do' at BurlyCon on Friday night). And last-minute-glueing stuff on other stuff too. Not that I always things last minute, no, not at all, how could you insinuate such a thing! I'm hurt.

And I shouldn't even be last-minute-making anything, I should be packing for BurlyCon 2011!

 

My plane to Seattle leaves at 7.30am tomorrow morning.......and the logistics of getting to the airport and then Mr Devyne getting the kids back to school (for Goth Child's stupidly early 1st class) mean we'll be leaving the house just after 5am. How I'm going to beautify myself before this and then stay awake all day through the wonderful classes, posh Vintage get-together and first lot of Peer Reviews I haven't a clue.

I cannot wait! There are tons of performers I'm looking forward to seeing who I met there last year and at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend this summer. And there are loads of others who I've met and made friends with over the internet in the past few years who I've never met in 'real life'........let's see how out of date all our profile pics actually are ;)

I haven't a clue how blogging is going to work over the next few days, I have Typepad (this blog's platform) and Tumblr (the sister blog Absobloominglutely) both on my 'phone as apps but I know from experience both can be temperamental, especially Typepad so it's possible, nay probable that I might just be putting stuff up on Absobloominglutely for the next few days and definitely follow my Twitter if you're interested, as only the cutting off of my arms, legs and nose would stop me tweeting!

Highlights of the next few days for me include:

• definitely watching the Peer Reviews each night (for more about when I did a slot in the Peer Reviews last year click here) seeing newbies to seasoned performers, half formed to fully formed routines wanting advice on how to move to the next level - they're possibly the best thing about the whole weekend
• so many fabulous classes and astounding teachers that I can't make my mind up by flipping a coin for most as there are tons of delicious clashes - ones I'm especially looking forward to are: History of Burlesque Hall of Fame with Jo Weldon, panels on Ageing and Burlesque (something that's been preying on my mind for a bit now) and Performing from your heart and joy instead of fear and ego, the Wonderful World of Self Creation with World Famous *BOB*, Photo Basics for Performers with the Dale Rio, Costuming on the Cheap with costume engineer extraordinaire Penny Starr Jr., Hyper Feminity as a form of Drag: Female impersonation in Burlesque with Dr Lucky, oh and so many others, too many to list!
• meeting Dizzy Swank ;) one of the 1st burlesque friends I made on Twitter but I've never actually met him - he's going to get the biggest British hug (that's code for a polite handshake, nah not really, I've instructions from burlesquers all the round the world to pass on their love to him, it could get messy).
• the evening socials/parties - Vintage on Thursday, Tiki Goes Seattle on Friday (I did threaten to wear a bra made out of Starbucks cups, long johns, leis and a grass skirt......but then I found some 'material' in my favourite Goodwill (charity) store/shop), Neon Dance Party on Saturday
• trying not to spend too much money on sparkly things in the Vending Room where tons of fabulous sellers will be touting their wares.

ANYWAY, I really should be getting on.....

.....this isn't going to make itself:

 

And I promise I'll try to blog/tweet/post as much I can over the next 4 days, and definitely will show and tell you all next week.

Squee! (as my daughters would say)

Inspirational performers: Joan Arline, the Sexquire Girl RIP

Heard the sad news today of Joan Arline's death at the weekend. I was lucky enough to attend a class with Joan at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend. Being a trained dancer, Joan was passionate about grace, elegance and poise as a burlesque performer. Here she is showing us how to present and angle a leg to show it off to its best:

 

Though I only spent an hour close-up with her (and later saw her performance below) she had quite an affect on the way I think now about performing, especially the way I walk and present myself on stage. She was an incredibly feisty lady and I don't think anyone in the class would have dared cross her but she was also an incredibly giving person - at the end of the class she told us she was passionate about passing on skills to the younger generations. She offered us the chance and told us to spread the word that she was running her own personal burlesque 'boot camp'. We could go and stay at her house and work on certain steps or whole routines and benefit from her tutoring....and she'd cook!

 

She'd not only been a dancer all her life (including ballet) but had choreographed and taught dance for decades including I believe working with a young group of deaf students where she'd sign the movements to them off stage because of their inability to hear the music. She stayed with us way after the class had officially finished answering individual questions and giving advice, as well as poising for photos. As you can see she was very much in demand:

 

Anyway, I can't imagine what an affect she had on people she met with for longer than an hour, who knew her for all her life, because I can't say I'll ever forget her. I can imagine her shouting down from heaven "poise! stand up straight! be ladylike!" at all of us performing from now on.

I think I'm going to have to get the Behind the Burly Q dvd, check out how gorgeous Joan was up close (rather than my tatty iphone photos) at 25 secs and 1 min 29 secs in this trailer:

 

 

And because I don't want to infringe any photographer's copyright I haven't cut and pasted any photos of Joan, but there are some absolutely gorgeous photos here on Flickr.

You can also read about Joan's life and see some fantastic photos of her as a performer in the 50s and more recently in a tribute on the Burlesque Seattle Press here.

There's also Femme Vivre LaRouge's recap in Pin Curl of the Burlesque Legends lunch and Q&A which includes Joan and the other Legends we should cherish.

 

RIP Joan Arline - you truly are a Legend.

 

 

Inspirational Performers: Anna Fur Laxis

There's one person consistently in my top 5 burlesque performers - Anna Fur Laxis.

When I was first getting into burlesque and attempting to devour every morsel of burly information possible, I listened devotedly to Lili Von Schtupp and Chris Beyond's Burlesque Podcasts. One podcast they had a British performer on from Yorkshire who's passion for and commitment to burlesque shone through, along with her charm and wit....this was Anna (here's her first appearance on the Burlesque Podcast, and here's a later one she did).

So I had to go off and find out more about this woman!

Anna was one of the few British performers (and to be honest worldwide performers) at the time with a decent website. It had her modelling photos, details about her and her acts....I don't think at the time it had any videos, but I might be wrong. But even though it was decent to start with, she's updated her website several times and it's now this wonderful thing to behold:

www.annafurlaxis.com

 

I've just checked out the acts Anna has on her current site.....none of the ones she was doing at the time are part of her current list, she's updated and outgrown even those. From memory Anna was doing Castaway, Domestic Bliss, Everything Stops For Tea and I think a French inspired act, and a Pony Girl one.

Anyway, I started getting into burlesque and going to shows. A milestone for me was going to my first show on my own (my backstory is I have severe social anxiety). I was incredibly excited about it. It was the Candy Box Burlesque in Birmingham, their Hi-De-Hi Show....and not only was Anna on the bill, other huge burlesque stars including World Famous *BOB* were too.

This is the act Anna did that night:

 

 

Later that year I started maiding (setting up stage for performers and then picking up their clothes and props afterwards) for burlesque shows........and I got all fan-girl when Anna was booked to appear at one of them. I was going to actually meet her!

And I have to say Anna and the other essential part of her life and acts, Mr Fur Laxis are two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. They are totally charming, funny and interested in other people. By this point Anna had introduced Cheesecake Cheesequake into her repertoire and that night she debuted a fan dance Next. I can't find any video of the actual act with the soundtrack she uses (but here's clips of it with a different accompaniment) - it's a remarkable song, Scott Walker's Next....possibly the last song you'd ever imagine doing a fan dance to IF you listen to the lyrics. But the funniest thing was that her movements with the fans and her facial expressions totally detract from your ability to listen to the lyrics. The Next fans are truely amazing - they are a work of genius by Mr Fur Laxis (as I say, a totally essential mad-genius part of everything Anna presents on stage). He specially designed unique grips for Anna's hands so that she can work the weight of the fans (which anyone who's done fan dancing knows can be incredibly heavy and difficult to wield around) and do amazing flicks open and shut in time to the music.

There are various things that have me in awe of Anna, other than her being a total lovely. Here are just a few of them that I have try to remember and implement to hopefully make me a better performer:

1. She never stands still. She is always innovating and trying things that others wouldn't even dream of. She takes time to learn skills outside the 'usual' burlesque catalogue. She learnt to throw knives and axes, travelling around the world to perfect her skills - and then adapted these skills for her Laxis of Evil act. I don't think there's any video of the act because Anna doesn't like having it filmed....but here's the lengths she went to learn new skills. The same goes with the act that won her First Runner Up at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend 2011 - The Prestige. I know it took her and Mr Fur Laxis years to learn and perfect the tricks within this act....as well as build the amazing 'cubicle' not only so it works amazingly but can be transported around the world....even if it is in 7+ suitcases. All this had to be done from scratch, them working out how things were done. They tried but no magicians revealed any secrets to them. Here is the wonderful result:

 

 

2. Her costuming is just as creative, intricate and ingenious as her acts. If you want to be treated like a star or top performer then you have to dress like one. When you walk on that stage you need jaws to drop and your costume to announce you mean business. Anna's costumes do this and what's more they are great publicity for her acts. Whenever Anna introduces a new act she'll tease us first with stunning professional photos of some of the costume you could see if you make an effort to turn up. Just check out some of the breath-taking creations on her Acts page and in her Gallery. She thinks about each layer, what purpose it can have, nothing is wasted. (I did hear a very wise thing from Mr Fur Laxis at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend though when talking about levels of sparkle.....he rightly said, and it has stuck with me, that there has to be a stopping point with the number of crystals you put on your costumes, because if your shoes are too sparkly the audience won't be looking at your face ;)).
3. Anna knows that her 'performance' doesn't end when she walks off stage. There's nothing false about Anna but I'm regularly in awe of is how polished she looks 'day to day' ie. if you follow her Facebook, or Twitter, or website blog etc you'll regularly see photos of her travels and she looks blooming stunning and in gorgeous outfits (even the casual ones are ones most retro and vintage fans would kill for). I know when I go to burlesque events/conventions I pay a little more thought about what I'm going to wear in the daytime to 'keep up appearances' but Anna has this down to a T.....I told her once how amazing she was to look so polished all the time and being Anna, she graciously thanked me but added "it takes a lot of work" - and that is the secret to it. Anna thinks about herself as a brand, she spends time thinking about her whole package. She utilises social media and networking like a pro. Her website is amazing. She was one of the first performers in the UK to have her own line of merchandise and t-shirts for fans. She totally knows how to work the press. If ever there was a great example of a burlesque performer being a serious brand and credible business person, it's Anna. She aims high, thinks big....

OK, OK I'm going to stop gushing before she gets worried and puts a restraining order on me ;) Anyway, there you go, one of my biggest burlesque inspirers - Anna Fur Laxis - long may she reign. And as a parting gift, here's her wonderful Bettie Page tribute:

 

10 Things I've Learnt Backstage at Burlesque Shows (part 2)

Ok here's part 2 of my 10 things (you can find part 1 here). These are things I learnt behind stage as a performer, as a show maid (or stage kitten or pick-up artist) and as a stage manager for burlesque shows:

1. To get red glitter lips that sparkly beautifully under the lights: use your usual red lipstick, blot with tissue and then reapply (ideally quite a creamy one to counter-act the next stage which dries lips out). Cover this with a thin layer of lip-cote (Benefit Shelaq or Sealed With A Kiss) on the bottom lip. Don't put this on too thickly because a) it dries your lips out b) a thick layer is inclined to peel off. Before it dries quickly use a lip brush to apply ultra-fine cosmetic red glitter the moist lip (I tend to get mine on ebay but you can sometimes get ultra-fine at craft shops). Try to keep your mouth open until the lipcote dries or it won't seal the lipstick properly. Then do the top lip.
2. Stage left and stage right - this is essential to know to stop complications with the setting up of your props/chair/table on the stage by the show's maid or stage manager. Stage left and right mean the performer's left and right facing the audience. Make sure you're being asked stage left or right though and not house left or right (which are the opposite way around, the audience's left or right facing the stage) as I was once asked at a show....not sure why but when I got on stage everything I needed was in mirror image.
3. Provided your false lashes aren't too large, a great way of keeping them in good condition is by keeping them in pill boxes, you know, the ones that separate your tablets into days of the week. To make lashes last longer, always remove all glue VERY CAREFULLY after use holding them in shape whilst doing so. If you rip the glue off from one end to the other like a plaster/band-aid you'll ruin the lash forever by pulling it out of shape. My favourite lash glue is Duo EyeLash Adhesive in dark tone (I think it's in black in the UK). AND always be patient with lashes, let the glue get tacky and almost dry before you even pick it up to place it on your eyelid or it won't hold in place all night. There you got about 4 tips there for the price of one.
4. This one might the most important (other than knowing everyone gets nervous): learn to drop or place your clothes in a small area at the back of the stage. There are several things there. Hopefully you have invested time and energy into your costume/outfit - your audience didn't pay to see someone up on stage in clothes that they could buy in a shop.....even if you're using 'street clothes' to tell your story, you have hopefully blinged or modified them in someway to make them more interesting ....therefore your clothes should be treated with respect (especially if you want the costume to last, but also to signify to the audience that you're someone with a bit of class) and kicking or throwing it randomly somewhere on the stage isn't the way to go. Plus if you throw clothes randomly anywhere you make it harder for your maid to actually retrive all the items (remember she doesn't know your costume intimately, she's having to watch where everything lands and might miss something). You also make it harder for yourself - if you don't drop/place them at the back of the stage then you're in danger of tripping over them when dancing. Get into the habit whilst practising of having a consistent place to place/drop and the reason I was told the back of the stage (originally told this by Goodtime Mama JoJo) is that at different venues you'll walk on and off stage from different sides according to the room set-up, and you don't want to trip over your clothes when walking off stage. Also if you drop them on the opposite side of the stage to the steps, it will make the maid's job of retrieving them harder and the gap between acts longer - and trust me, the more you can stay friends with the show maid the better.
5. Remember that generally the audience want you to succeed. They've paid money for their tickets, they've possibly had to hire a baby sitter, they've spent time dressing up and getting ready - they haven't come out with the purpose to be grumpy and disappointed. They've invested in this evening and so will want you to do well and to make them laugh, smile, be entertained. Know that they are inclined to like you, but don't blow it by boring them. ENTERTAIN THEM!