The naughty Naughties...Burlesk Winter Warmer

Run through before Burlesk! Winter Warmer. Note that it was too cold to take my jeans off!

December was also the month for a very special Burlesk, and quite possibly my last one before my trip to Australia this year.

The snow had fallen and Brighton looked like a winter wonderland. Not so wondrous trying to drag my bag down to the station but nevertheless, magical to look at. I was surprised to find Hastings fairly untouched.

This time it was my pleasure to find there was a new addition to the Burlesk crew. A backstage manager. Sarah was an angel, nothing was too much trouble, even when I had her running up and down finding hair pins and glitter!

Miss Glory Pearl was back as well, doing her amazing pole tricks. As I find more and more, it becomes very frustrating when you can hear the audience whooping and cheering what you know to be an amazing act, but can't watch!

I was doing my Living Doll act with my giant gift box, and my La belle Femme en Rouge act the red angel fan dance. Some drunken idiot had tried to get into the box which was proudly on display at the entrance (there was no-where else to keep it!) so it felt a little unsteady going in, despite my checking the joins to make sure it was secure.

The best part though is that the start of this act is supposed to be humorous and so the box could fall apart completely and it wouldn't matter, it would all be part of the show.

Red angel was very well received, however the carpeted stage gave me the impetus to work on changing that act. Originally I did a Charleston step throughout some of this act and this was the second time I'd had trouble with a stage with too much grip.

I changed the music, to the very sexy tune The Mooch by Duke Ellington which immediately changed the feel of the act. And added a pile of large red feathers I've had in my costume bag for ages. Now I feel like a goddess every time I perform this.

So where was I? Burlesk! Yes, well Domino had a brilliant multi media act. If anyone has the capacity to have DVD displaying in conjunction with performance then oh my lord, book the girl!

Who else did we have? The newbie performer Raspberry Ripples with the fabulous sense of humour despite pre-show wardrobe malfunctions did a great debut act to a song I absolutely love - The bigger the figure by Louis Prima. Vivica Devine, who I'm still yet to see perform a full act even though we've been at the same nights so many times! I hear the audience cheering Vivica, one day I'll get to see you myself!

So my other big news for the night is the mean taxi driver who wouldn't take me to the station. We called a cab, one turned up, but he said he wasn't for me but proceeded to sit outside the venue for 20 minutes waiting for someone who never turned up and refusing to take me although a cab from his company should have been there for me. So I missed the last train home.

Hastings cabs, sort yourselves out! If it weren't for the loveliness of Barney our stage manager letting me sleep on the sofa I would have been all alone on a bitterly cold night, very far from home. Even more encouragement to get my licence and buy a camper van to drive around the country in.

So that was the excitement of Burlesk, it wasn't until this month that I realised I may not get to perform there again until I'm back from Australia due to bookings I've already made.

My heartfelt love and thanks to the wonderful performing arts community that the Burlesk show is becoming for a wonderful 2009.

xx

The naughty Naughties - Frock me!

I adore vintage clothes. I will probably go bankrupt before I give up on buying these little treasures from our history.

Of course I love antiques and art as well but I do not have an enormous, old mansion (yet) to put them in, so I like to think that vintage clothes, bags, gloves, hats and jewellery are far more practical. Well I think so anyway.

Of course I love vintage reproduction as well. I couldn't possibly afford an entirely vintage wardrobe just yet but I have to say I do feel such excitement when I find something so completely unique.

This has happened quite a lot recently. Ever since Beyond Retro opened it's doors in Brighton I have been circling back again and again like they have some kind of gravitational pull. They have one of the largest ranges of pre-1960s gear I've been able to find in Brighton and Bea deVile keeps laughing at me every time she pops around for tea and spots another yellow tag poking out of my clothing rail.

In December they had a Frock night, where they bring out hundreds of dresses from their stock in time for the Christmas parties, serve mulled wine and have a hairdresser and makeup artist doing vintage styles for the ladies who come to visit.

I had previously found an absolute gem there, spotted on the rail amongst the sequined dresses, which I used for the photo shoot with Nick Von Fiction in November. A teal sequined, full length gown with an open back and beaded sleeves and it fitted like a glove. I may have already mentioned it as I love it so very much. In any case it's the dress in the photo above.



The girls at the counter are always so sweet and often recognise me prowling the rails, sometimes asking if I have another show to go to and asking after Bea.

Well I was starting to feel the effects of the mulled wine and decided it was time to make an exit before I did some shameful impulse buying so I was on my way out when I spotted the most beautiful gown I've laid eyes on. A long champagne coloured, beaded gown, fitted down to the knee where it becomes a cloud of champagne tulle.

I paused...and looked. I knew it would fit me. But I was determined not to impulse buy so I left empty handed. Oh but how that put the fear of god into me! What if someone else took it?

I went back a few days later as soon as I got the chance, tried it on and bought it. It is now absolute pride of place in my wardrobe and I'm now imagining an act around it.

Now I just need to find the shoes and jewellery to match!

Which brings me aptly to a bit of news for February. I will just tease you with the details but it looks like I'll be a very romantic window display in London around a certain holiday...check back for details!

x Bella

The naughty naughties...Pt.1

Oh don't get excited. I'm not much of a kiss and tell kind of girl and I'm far too nice to share any really dirty gossip.

December. Well, by the very fact that I haven't written a word since November's Freche Muse you can probably tell it's been rather busy.

Asides from the usual Christmas and New Year preparations there was an awful lot of fun to be had and this year I was in the Christmas spirit more so than ever.

If you've read any of my blog entries you'll know I tend to waffle. I like to think of it as creating the right kind of imagery through descriptive language but I suppose that's up for debate! So I've broken December down into newsworthy events.

There was also a trip to Berlin with BW early in December which renewed my love of the city. Yet another place I must live one day along with Paris. The benefit of living in Germany however is that I would be able to speak the language at least. My german is getting ever rustier and it was pleasing to be able to have an opportunity to practise.

My only real resolution for the New Year is to organise a Stammtisch, where people with varying levels of German speaking ability gather to have a few drinks and attempt conversation. Naturally this becomes much easier for the less fluent as more alcohol is imbibed.

We were mostly focused on enjoying the Christmas markets. Nobody does them like the Germans (yes I know I'm biased) and BW wanted to experience them too, particularly as this was his first time in Germany. We stayed in a lovely place in the center, Pension Elegia. Don't bother with the breakfast though just pick up a pastry and a coffee from the bakery on the corner.

On our first night I managed to put my clock back an hour instead of forward an hour. Which resulted in some serious confusion on our first morning. Staring at the clock which I believed should have read 9:30 and seeing 11:30 instead. Nevertheless I dragged BW off to Checkpoint Charlie. Last time I went there 9 years ago I was just a lass on my first outing to Germany. It moved me then and I appreciated it just as much the second time around.

Once we left the Checkpoint it was starting to get dark, and if we thought it was cold earlier the temperature plummeted once dark fell. But onwards to the Weihnachtsmarkt on Gendarmenmarkt. It was pure magic.

We did go to other markets. There was one outside Charlottenburg castle which had a giant wooden nativity which revolved like the traditional german Christmas decorations. But the one at Gendarmenmarkt was our favourite and we went back again the night before we left.

Brightly lit stars on every stall, Gluhwein (mulled wine), hot chocolate, Bratwurst in breadrolls, Christmas biscuits, waffles with hot cherries and cream, poffertjes and crepes with icing sugar, hot amaretto, this trip was all about the food and drink. There was also entertainment on the main stage. My favourite was the music. A jazz band playing 1920s and 30s tunes one night and a Sinatra style one the next. Rugged up in enough layers to resemble a throng of Eskimos and warmed by a few strong mulled wines, we all danced in the icy square.

Never entirely being able to escape thoughts of burlesque and performance, two things happened in Berlin. BW found a flyer for a burlesque show which had already been and gone which happened to have a number of english dancers I recognised. Secondly, BW had a brilliant idea for an act and as I wandered through a stall selling traditional decorations I stumbled upon something which crystallised that idea. It will be a long time in the making though so don't hold your breath folks.

Tacheles Kunsthaus was one of my favourites parts of the visit. Another performer Therese la Tease had suggested it when we were chatting at Bob's birthday party. Her description of it fascinated me, that it looked like a squat from the outside (and indeed it is) but once you walk inside it is a gallery like no other.

BW and I hopped off the U-Bahn and wandered down Oranienburgerstrasse pausing at the entrance of Tacheles not entirely sure if it was the entrance or not. On wandering in there is a sculpture garden, strange animals and shapes. We got talking to one of the artists, his name escapes me now but he was a New Yorker and told us his story and a bit about the other artists.

They are creating something wonderful there, a free artistic space and a famous tourist destination. All the while they manage the freezing cold with no heating, no running water and constant pressure to leave from the developers who want to build apartment blocks on the space and the police.

Further down on Oranienburger Str is a shop for United Loneliness, which stocks the work of Andras Bartos. I loved the oddness of the characters in his prints, the cute rage and sly humour. These are two of my favourites, kick-ass rooster and Smoking Cucumber in Swimsuit II.

I would recommend a trip down this street if you're ever in Berlin.

There is much more to tell but it's snowing outside, I have a fire going and a glass of wine to hand so I'm planning on enjoying a cosy winter night and that doesn't involve spending the whole night on the laptop!

Wishing you Winter magic. x Bella

Bacchus by any other name Pt. 2

Oops!

Forgot to write part two didn't I!

Well, considering the aforementioned London traffic hell I was lucky to arrive at Nick Von Fiction's place with enough time to down a half glass of red wine before we jumped in a cab to the venue.

We had been planning on trying out some vintage style photographs in Die Freche Muse venue for a while. Unfortunately my issues with the traffic left us limited time but with the time we had Nick worked wonders. He'll try to tell you otherwise but he really is a bit of a clever clogs with his lighting.

I managed one costume change before the doors opened for Die Freche Muse and some of the results of our shoot should be up on the website before long.

Throughout the shoot one of the other burlesque performers for the evening, Laurie Hagen was waiting downstairs. Laurie has one of those incredibly expressive 1920s faces and as I saw later in the night her act was just gorgeous. I think in the picture of me I've included at the start of this post I've got the giggles over whatever is happening in the corner where the girls were sitting.

Once the doors had opened I took my things upstairs to the dressing room where the house cat was on hand to inspect all our things. At one point as Laurie and I were getting ready he had us in stitches as he crawled under a sheet and was just swiping with one paw at Laurie's feet. Once he realised we were no longer playing he decided to throw himself at the 30 cm space between us which resulted in us both squealing like little girls and him nearly clearing the bed.

Often at these events a lot of the night is spent upstairs or backstage if you will, chatting with other performers and friends of the promoters. I had the opportunity to chat with Millicent Binks who looks almost exactly like a china doll, so delicate! And briefly met Sumi Sumatra although I unfortunately didn't get to see her act.

I did discover that we had the same pants on however and I wonder if the audience thought there had been a bit of costume sharing going on backstage.

As ever with Die Freche Muse, I didn't get back home until after sun up. The Baron von Sanderson was late to this party though as he'd been filming for Come Dine With Me. I'm dying to know when his episode airs!

You might have noticed the title of this blog, Bacchus by any other name. A tribute really to a man who reminds me ever so much of a cross between Bacchus, or Dionysus in other mythology, and a very naughty little boy. Although I suppose Bacchus was just a very naughty little boy really.

Whether he's taking everyone over to the bar for another champagne or swooping a lovely lass up for a dance, he is ever the otherworldly host. So Baron, well done for another wonderful Freche Muse!

Well that's enough writing for tonight. BW is tugging at the sleeve of my dressing gown to come watch a film before bed. Sometimes he reminds me quite a lot of a cat. If you've ever owned one you'll know how much they like to get in between you and the computer screen with a 'What is this strange thing you're giving far too much attention to? Here, let me remedy that' kind of look as they plonk themselves on the keyboard.

Night all...x Bella

Bacchus by any other name.

It is currently nearing on 2am as I appear to have out-slept myself. So I thought I'd tell a little tale about this month so far.

Well the first bit of big news is that I've started working on another act. I'm quite focused on environmental awareness and so this new act will be a balloon pop tribute to our Honey Bees. What else could I call it but The Honeypot (Plight of the Honeybee). If there's one thing burlesque allows me, if not demands of me, it is certainly the freedom to come up with the cheesiest names I can.

A balloon pop is one of the traditional burlesque acts and as of yet I've not had one because....well, because I HATE popping balloons! Well actually, I don't hate popping balloons I just hate when they pop unexpectedly.

I was the kid that wouldn't join in the balloon popping game at my school friends parties. You know the one where everyone has to hold a balloon between their knees and try to pop everyone elses balloon while keeping yours safe?

Creating this should be an interesting process and may possibly see my blood pressure skyrocket.

Next thing for this month was Hula Hooping. I'm currently attempting to collect circus skills like some people collect stamps. Speaking of which does anyone actually collect stamps anymore?

Anyway, as I often say 'I'm proud of my curves' when I really mean to say 'I hate sit-ups and I don't give a damn what you think', I've discovered the perfect antidote to my anti-exercise mentality will definitely be Hula Hooping. If one of those babies isn't in my Christmas stocking this year then I am throwing my toys out of the pram.

I have to say though, that I've been wanting to do a Hula Hooping act ever since I saw a duo at the London Burlesque Festival Newcomers earlier this year. H-O-T. I can't even remember the name of their act but it was a travesty that they didn't win anything.

Finally we have this Friday. I've been planning a trip to Vivienne of Holloway ever since my brothers sent me a gift voucher for my birthday to try on the cutest dress I'd ever seen. I roped Bea Devile into coming along with me (I didn't need to try to hard) as it's always more fun with two. I came away with a dress, and a pair of fabulous high waist denims AND one of their halter tops. If Bea hadn't rushed me out of there to get to the Nikita Sablier sale I may have maxed my credit card out.

Bea had discovered a wonderful covered arcade near Carnaby St which has no less than 6 vintage stores and Something Hells, the vintage hairdressers of Miss Betty & Mr Ducktail. The inside of the arcade has a courtyard which feel like it's outdoors but is fully covered and currently bedecked in pretty fairy lights. Much nicer than some of the nasty (there's no other word for it) Christmas displays already up all over the place.

Oh but we had run out of time to look at all of the shops so we had already planned our next visit for December as we had tea and cake at Candy Cakes to get our energy back before our respective journeys. Candy Cakes have the most incredible looking muffins. Brightly coloured icing and topped enormous marshmallow and jelly shapes, they really do look the part in their little turquoise giftboxes.

Unfortunately they were a bit sickly sweet for my tastes but very cute looking nonetheless and kept me going for the next few hours of London traffic hell.

And here I'll leave you in suspense for the second installment of Friday night's frolics and festivities as it is most certainly time for bed.

Calendar on sale!

That's right it's up and ready to be ordered in time for Christmas! See the home page of my website for details on choosing the right calendar for you and you'll have a very Merry Christmas indeed!

The Bunny is back.

Club Smooch Backstage

Ok, I realise I have been a little quiet as of late but that's only because I've been hard at work creating my first true comedy act.

I always have a couple of pages of act ideas at all times and picking ones I want to work on is so hard because I want to do them all! But I must stick by my own mantra of less acts, better quality.

Last time I was in town before a Club Smooch after my sound check and run through I popped out to pick up some false eyelashes. It just so happened that the local costume shop was having a sale of it's ex rental costumes. I wasn't expecting to find anything but I had a bit of a snoop amongst the rails and found a scraggy looking bunny costume.

I've always wanted to go to Halloween dressed in a big fluffy bear outfit, if only so I could run up to people and cuddle them like an overgrown teddy bear. So I was drawn to the bedraggled looking bunny. I managed to talk them down from the overambitious pricing and left the store with a new act in the bag. Well not quite, but you get the picture.

Music was the next stumbling block. I knew I wanted to use Run Rabbit Run, simply for the fact that the cheeriness of it would juxtapose so nicely against what I was going to do to this poor little bunny. But how to finish it.

A chance evening in with nothing to watch but 'Top 100 sexiest music videos' was to be my saviour. Never mind thatthe woman co-hosting sounded like she should have been on one of those ads that crop up at about 1:30am. You know the ones I'm talking about, 'Sexy girls in your neighbourhood are just waiting for YOUR call.' Nonetheless, I found myself tapping my toes to a completely over the top pop/hip hop song and voila! I had my music.

The process was a lot of fun for me. More acting than dancing, it was just a bit of silly fun. I could never have predicted just how much the audience at Club Smooch was going to love it. The reaction was overwhelming. I often have people come up to me after a show to say they liked the act, etc. This time I had people copying the bunny moves!

Speaking of Club Smooch, all puns aside, the Halloween event was a hell of a night! I also performed my La Belle Femme en Rouge act which was the complete opposite of Rabbit Pie. It's a 30s jazz era fan dance with an exquisite costume from Curve Couture. You can see it here where Vanessa, our Club Smooch maid has snapped me backstage waiting to go on.


Chrissie (boss lady at Curve Couture) also had a fashion show during Club Smooch. Her fashion shows are never ordinary and although I saw them rehearsing and had a little peek from behind the curtain backstage I didn't get to see the full show until I was going through the footage from the show with Bob on Saturday. Wow! It was very, very sexy.

In fact, on the Halloween night I was onstage no less than 4 times! We all got out on stage for a boogie to one of Trixy Vixens songs Moloko, and I was also part of the Club Smooch Troupe. It reminded me of all the things I miss about theatre. In particular a nice Sunday roast before rehearsals!