Boutique, Beebo, Brass, and Bardot: another week of burlesque in Seattle.
There’s an incredible amount of news and provocative performance this week- a whole lotta shakin’ is indeed going on. Here are the highlights:
The Burlesque Boutique
Ruby Mimosa (Photo Ji Ji Lee)
Ruby Mimosa (aka Tanya Harris) is a very busy and much loved lady of Seattle burlesque. She’s now the fourth official member of Dance Belt (alongside Inga Ingenue, Waxie Moon, and Lou Henry Hoover), as well as a member of burlesque super-troupe The Atomic Bombshells and an instructor at Miss Indigo Blue’s Academy of Burlesque. Ruby Mimosa is also a budding entrepreneur- her much anticipated one stop shop for performers and burlesque aficionados is currently getting into gear and is set to open this year. The Burlesque Boutique will be making its presence known this spring and summer as Ruby focuses on funding, store planning, and inventory. (Some may have already seen the boutique’s elegant teaser postcards around town). You can also meet Ruby and chat with her about the shop at BurlyCon this year.
The Burlesque Boutique will be headed by Ruby- er, Tanya- who has eleven years of extensive retail experience and a Bachelors of Science in Fashion Merchandising under her belt. Her vision for The Burlesque Boutique is not only for the Capitol Hill store to offer high quality performance accessories and embellishments, but to share her space with designers who create burlesque-related garments or other merchandise. With her many talented vendors, she plans to offer an array of sparkly and daring items for everyone including books, films, and educational materials in a cozy, lounge-style shop. Community is a huge part of Seattle burlesque, and the shop aspires to bring together fans, performers, costumers, and designers in a way that will raise profiles and provide some excellent shopping. Forget “Legs Avenue”. Bring on The Burlesque Boutique.
How can you help? The Burlesque Boutique is currently seeking start-up funding and would love to hear from you. Please visit The Burlesque Boutique’s funding campaign HERE and sign up for the newsletter HERE.
You can also catch up with the enterprising Ruby herself, as she’ll be appearing this Thursday through Saturday in the incredible La Danse! Le Burlesque! L’Edition Francaise! at The Triple Door. Here’s a sneak peek at Ruby in action from last year’s inaugural show:
Ruby Mimosa in L'Edition Francaise
Sinner Saint Burlesque brings back the Tits and Brass Band (Thursday May 26)
If you haven’t seen Sinner Saint since their return from a triumphant residency in London (not to mention an appearance at the Vancouver Burlesque Festival), this Thursday is the perfect chance. Not only is it the birthday of Seattle’s “modern sexual intellectual” Jesse Belle-Jones, the globe-trotting ladies will perform to live music with their friends The Tits and Brass Band and host and songbird Adra Boo.
Here are the details:
Sinner Saint Burlesque is ecstatic to once again present burlesque at its best with LIVE MUSIC. For one night only we will be shaking our stuff to the sultry sounds of our friends in the Tits and Brass Band. Featured at Honk Fest, the Lo-Fi, and other local venues, Tits and Brass brings a variety of tunes from burlesque standards to exotic world music, all for the ladies of Sinner Saint to bump, grind and twirl to! In addition to… an evening of ecdysiastic entertainment and bawdy, brilliant brass, we are THRILLED to have our beloved host, Miss Adra Boo of Fly Moon Royalty joining in on the action as she joins the band for a steamy serenade. You wont want to miss this hot three-way collaboration!
This special night will have a cover of $15 presale and $20 at the door. We will be taking seating reservations. Please email sinnersaint@gmail.com for tickets and reservations. Advance ticket purchases will be processed through paypal. This show consistently sells out, reservations highly encouraged.
The Sinner Saint Burlesque Revue performs every Thursday at Club Noc Noc 1516 2nd Ave/ Doors 9pm, Show 9:30
Catch Sinner Saint with Adra Boo, The Tits and Brass Band this Thursday
Lily Verlaine, Kitten LaRue, and Olivier Wevers present: La Danse! Le Burlesque! L’Edition Francaise! (May 26-28)
Lily Verlaine and Kitten LaRue? Magnifique!
This show was the most sophisticated and breathtaking set of choreography I saw in 2010. The show unfolds in three segments:
Lily Verlaine hatched the idea for an evening of Francophilic entertainment after being exposed to Serge Gainsbourg’s 1972 concept album, L’Histoire De Melody Nelson. A new twist on Gainsbourg’s semi-autobiographical Lolita tale, Verlaine’s version contains guilty longing, libidinous body language, anthropomorphic sea creatures and cars, dangling aerialists and outrageous love scenes. (Watch for a breathtaking Indigo Blue in an appearance as a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost hood ornament…the spectacle must be seen to be believed).
Kitten LaRue presents a lighthearted bon-bon that takes its cues from televised music and dance shows of the go-go 1960s. Technicolor balloons, fishnetted femmes, youthful defiance and surreal vignettes set the mood for this hyper-real interpretation of France’s “ye-ye girls,” including Francoise Hardy, France Gall and Brigitte Bardot.
Olivier Wevers, currently emerging as one of the world’s most captivating and sought-after young choreographers, presents a farcical, gender bending romp expertly danced by the stunning Kylie Lewallyn and partner Ty Cheng (both of Spectrum Dance Theater and Whim W’Him). Cats howl, legs extend to impossible heights, and the brash becomes beautiful.
Get tickets HERE and see more photos and details on the show at www.leditionfrancaise.com
Beebo Brinker Pulp Cabaret #2 (Thursday May 26)
Who doesn’t love a steamy pulp novel about forbidden female desire played out in Greenwich Village and the underground gay bars of 1950’s New York? The monthly Beebo Brinker Pulp Cabarets continue this week at Rebar with a second installment to accompany the actual Beebo Brinker Chronicles (Central Heating Lab @ ACT Theatre). Adapted by Kate Moira Ryan and Linda S. Chapman and directed by Katjana Vadeboncoeur (aka burlesque performer Cherry Manhattan), the shows are based on the campy cult novels of Ann Bannon. The cabaret this week will be hosted by Cherry Manhattan and feature:
Fuchsia FoXXX
Shanghai Pearl
Lady Ta Tas
Anita Goodmann
Kitty Baby and the PinUp Angels
Cherry Manhattan
Rebecca Olson
Live music by: Gun Street Glory
Special appearances by: Lyla la Coeur & Diva le Déviant
Fuchsia FoXXX in April's Pulp Cabaret (POC Photo)
Doors open at 6:30pm – get there early to soak in the Greenwich Village scene, and score a VIP front row cocktail table for $25! (limited seating at the VIP tables – email ilovebeebobrinker@gmail.com to reserve in advance).
Burlesque Seattle Press 