Remember my first blog post expressing how I feared the nerves of doom? Well, I wasn't nervous at all. I think it's because everything was so well organised backstage and everyone was so supportive of each other. It really didn't feel like a competition. Just a performance in a show with awesome people.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to see everyone in my category so I'm really hoping that the footage taken that night will end up on Youtube. I did get to see the rest of the show and it truly was the best burlesque in the world. What I loved about this year's lineup in comparison to last year's was more comedy acts, not so much 'straight' classic burlesque and only 1 giant prop out of the 35 acts performed.
The performers just brought it and brought it GOOD. The boys did incredibly well, taking away 4 out of the 9 trophies up for grabs. They were phenomenal in their moves, concepts, stage presence, makeup and costuming. I am a little jealous of the boys though as I feel they are 'allowed' to be comedic and leftfield and they don't have a vintage mould that they're expected to follow. So whilst there was far more variety and less traditional burlesque this year, the other 5 prizes went to the traditional acts.
The stand out acts for me in the Queen category were Kristina Nekyia's contortion act, Ms Tickle's blowup doll act (which I saw her do in New York - that woman blows me away and guess what, she was born in Wellington!). Ophelia Flame's secretary act was just hilarious and she really surprised me coz I didn't know she did comedy. And Coco Lectric was just beautiful.
Of course, Anna Fur Laxis with her magic act had me screaming my head off. I have no idea how she does it and don't want to. I LOVE magic. And I knew Indigo Blue would be crowned Queen as I saw her act in New York. Infact, I was telling her after the show that her costume inspired my Big Butts costume.
Long live the Queen - me and Indigo Blue, Queen of Burlesque 2011.
Other highlights of the weekend were, of course, the legends show on Friday night. It was great that so many new legends performed for the first time since the 60s or 70s. I'll be a very happy woman if I grow up to be like them and can still rock it on stage at their age.
The other highlight was seeing "Exotic World And The Burlesque Revival". If you don't know, it's basically a documentary about the Exotic World museum and BHOF (formerly known as the Miss Exotic World pageant). They've been filming it for 8 years so there's interviews in it with legends who have since died (my favorite being the one where Tura Santana talks about teaching Elvis how to bump 'n' grind).
It also clearly evokes the struggles Dixie Evans has gone through over the years to try and get the museum open (which it still isn't, at least not with all the memorabilia in it). That woman has worked so incredibly hard for the preservation of burlesque, and without her, none of us, not Dita not Dirty, nobody would be doing burlesque today.
I learned so much from watching the film and it's amazing to see how far the competition has come in such a short space of time. When Dirty Martini won it 6 years ago, she performed on a makeshift stage infront of a swimming pool on an old goat farm in the middle of the desert. On Saturday I was on a 65ft stage in a 850 capacity theatre in a casino in Vegas. Go figure.
Unfortunately, you aren't going to get to see the film unless the producers can come up with $40,000 in the next couple of months. Everyone needs to see this film, so please, donate a couple of $ to the fundraiser. It'll be such a shame if this film is shelved. If it gets released, it could help find a financial backer for the museum and then Dixie's 21 years of hard work will have paid off.
Here's a link with details on how you can donate funds for the film via Kickstarter:
And now back to deciding what to do with the rest of my life now that I have met with destiny.
Until next time
x
