Rockin' and a-Rollin'

Oo-eck, I forgot a blog last week!! In my defence I had a terrible cold and all the plans I had for the beginning of the week were written off and replaced with a slanket and a cup of tea, then I forgot to take any pictures at various shows, and you know I like to share lots of pictures!

 

I took myself for a day out around The British Museum: Reading about Drama History and saw The Rosetta Stone!

So - what have I been up to? Well, I made the New Years Resolution to try more new things - I wasn't more specific because I tend to fail on specifics, but one of the new things I really wanted to try was Aerial Classes. I did a short trapeze course several years ago but I severed a tendon in my hand and obviously had to stop that! I have to admit I was a bit concerned about going back to it as a) I wasn't sure how my hand would hold up under pressure (answer: quite well but it hurt the next day!) and b) my upper body strength is non-existent!!

However: I popped along to a taster trapeze class with Antonia and we had a blast! I've signed up to an Aerial Hoop course starting in a couple of weeks time and until then we're planning on going once a week for basic lessons to build up our strength and skills before the course starts! Eek - I'm so excited!

Not me... yet :P

I had a few lovely shows over the last couple of weeks as well - Saturday at Proud Cabaret was my favourite though; the line-up was fabulous, and the third act was especially epic! I opened with Shake It Doll to ACDC, Ruby Deshabille performed her Kashmir Fan Dance, Leah Debrincat was dancing to The Prodigy and Missy Fatale closed Kabarett Verboten, to Aphex Twin before Joe Morose sang Sympathy For The Devil as a finale! It was the most upbeat, ridiculous third set ever and we loved it! Backstage was great fun too with such a lovely group of people and we spent most of the night in fits of giggles (especially difficult in a corset or similarly tight fitting costume!)

Mirror Picture! With Missy Fatale, Alex (chef!) Leah Debrincat, Taz Zebrowski, Joe Morose and Ruby Deshabille!

 

 

Selfies Night! With Ruby Deshabille, Missy Fatale, Leah Debrincat, Joe Morose, Naimah and Adama!

Mini Leah!!

I think that's about it for now - I have a lovely week ahead and will try to remember to take lots of pictures this time!

Final Picture - my pointe shoe collection!

Gilding the Lili

I am absolutely covered in bruises this week! Sparkly showgirl, magic rehearsal, ice-skating bruises admittedly, but bruises nonetheless!

Sparkles!

I had a week off from 'real life' work this week, ostensibly to have a bit of a break, yet I ended up with more to do than I would have done if I'd have stayed on! But it has been fabulous fun, so I'm not complaining at all!

Skates on!

On Monday and Tuesday I took myself off to the ice-rink for Burlesque On Ice rehearsals. And, not to get ahead of myself or anything, but I think I'm *finally* starting to get the hang of this ice-skating malarkey! In the past I've had the issue that, when I look at a move, I know I can do it - my brain goes 'yep, I can totally see how that needs to be done', but my feet go 'nope!' Like my body didn't get the memo from my brain. However, in the last week or so I've started to get my head around some of the moves I was having mental blocks on (i.e. all of them) and work on some new, slightly harder things. Which is all good! Full credit for this definitely goes to Hollie Deller (who is playing the lead in the show!) who doesn't take any crap and just forces me to try things that I think I'd usually try and wiggle out of!

Burlesque On Ice - Tickets on sale NOW!

What wasn't so great was me throwing my hip out like an old lady! All the skating is exacerbating old issues I first encountered during college when I was dancing all-day, every-day, but thanks to having these things happen before I know what to do to try and make sure it doesn't happen again! Fingers Crossed!

Monday evening was an event I had been looking forward to for a while - a Cabaratiparti!! In honour of the unveiling of the Cabarevolution video, that I blogged about a few weeks ago, the organisers of the London Cabaret Festival hauled half of the performers in London to Proud Cabaret for a party! And it was wonderful!

Cabarevolution!!

On Tuesday evening I was in rehearsals for the amazing Simon Drake's House of Magic! I'm making my debut in this incredible show on the 2nd November and although my role is quite small it's insanely physical and takes split-second timing to get right. I felt like I'd been put through a Navy Seals bootcamp on Wednesday morning!
I'm so excited to be in this show - I have always been fascinated by magic and illusion and to be a part of such a renowned show is terrifying and wonderful at the same time!

So excited for this show!

Wednesday was a day of tending to my injuries and working on two new acts - one that I have the music and choreography for and just need to get the costume finished, and another that I have a complete costume for and no idea for music or movement!
My wonderful boy bought me a bunch of roses to help me recover from my bruises; roses are my favourite flower and the birth flower for June, which is nice! I also got new slippers! I know that's not really blog-worthy but I love them and it's my blog so deal with it.
I mentioned last week that I had signed up for NaNoWriMo and I got to work on the story planning and structure, ready to begin in earnest on the 1st November! I have the story and development all set out now, and a chapter plan as well so I'm excited to begin writing!

 

Roses! ** Sleepy Cat

 

NaNoWriMo ** Leopard PJ's and Slippers!

On Thursday, after a morning skating session, I headed off to the beautiful city of Canterbury for The Gilded Lili in the gorgeous Speigeltent at the Canterbury Festival. I did Lili's show at the Milton Keynes Festival last year and it's always a fabulous night. We were in a gorgeous venue and an amazing show - created, curated and hosted by the wonderful Lili La Scala the line-up was incredible, featuring The Boy With Tape On His Face, Mat Ricardo, Abi Collins, Ash Frith and Chantilly Lace. Just lovely! Apart from me having a little bit of a brain fart regarding my act and not even realising I hadn't finished it properly until I had left the stage! What is wrong with me?! Must be getting old :P

Gorgeous Speigeltent at Canterbury Festival

 

Two Mirror Pictures! With Ash Frith, Mat Ricardo, Lili La Scala, The Boy With Tape On His Face, Chantilly Lace and Abi Collins!

I don't know why it amused me that hotels *still* put bibles in the bedside tables.

I stayed over in Canterbury on Thursday night in a lovely little hotel and, after a *huge* breakfast headed back to London for an exciting interview at lunchtime. I spent the afternoon on the ice, trying to avoid kids on half-term and kamikaze hockey skaters - seriously I hate those guys.

Quote from Kristi Yamaguchi

Friday and Saturday I was back at Proud Cabaret for a lovely couple of shows with a whole lot of the usual Proud suspects (literally, as Friday night is Murder Mystery night!) It was a fabulous way to round off a stellar week!

The Silencing of Miss Scarlet

 

Friday Mirror Pictures! Mat wants to be the centre of attention! ** With Taz Zebrowski, Mat Ricardo, Beau Rocks, Teddy Boylesque and Jolie Papillon!

Saturday Mirror Picture! With Dee Riley, Helen Orford, Lili La Scala, Taz Zebrowski and Jolie Papillon!

No Rest For The Wicked

Well it has been a splendid start to the year - definitely no rest for the wicked!

Proud Cabaret - my home away from home for the weekend

The weekend began with a lovely little show on Friday evening for a small but perfectly formed audience - they were certainly enthusiastic, and with a wonderful line-up they had a lot to be enthusiastic about!

Mirror Picture! With Taz, Teddy Boylesque, Electra, Kai Hoffman and Hayley

On Saturday I was back at Proud; and don't you hate that moment when you show up in the same outfit as someone else...

For the love of Leopard Print

It was another fabulous show, with a great line-up. I even managed to get the two acts I performed that evening recorded: the leopard-print costume is for my 'Shake it Doll' act - an old routine that has recently had the costume well and truly pimped by the gorgeous Louise O'Mahony and is probably one of my favourite outfits now!

Mirror Picture! With Abi Collins, Beau Rocks, Kai Hoffman and Jolie Papillon (and Taz is in there too - hidden behind the tape on the mirror!)

I love shows at Proud as it feels like a big, albeit highly dysfunctional family. And the following day was no exception with an unprecedented number of burlesque reprobates descending on the club for an extremely random, but fun photo-shoot day!

 

Behind the Scenes

With two fantastically talented photographers and more performers than you could shake a swarovski-covered stick at, it was a long, tiring but very fun day and I can't wait to see the results of all of our shenanigans!
xx

Disney Princesses

Previous Disney Princess posts have focussed on the realism of the Princess themselves, but what about the costumes they are wearing? The Disney films are based on traditional fairy-tails, which were set in specific time periods, usually around the time they were first told. So the Princesses outfits should surely reflect the times in which they are set?

Now, artist Claire Hummel has re-imagined the Disney Princesses: creating for them beautiful gowns that fit the period the stories are based in...

Snow White

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - 1937

A traditional Bavarian folk tale, the best known version is that of the Brothers Grimm, collected in 1812. It is set in 16th Century Germany (which is the most likely time-frame for the first appearance of the folk tale) and Hummel's version is based on fashions from the early 1500's

Cinderella

1950

The origins of this story are considered to be the Ancient Greek historian Strabo in the 1st Century AD. However the most popular version comes from Charles Perrault in 1697. Ballets and Pantomimes based on the tale gained popularity in the mid-1800's and it's this period that Hummel has depicted her Cinderella wearing to the ball as it bears the most resemblance to the time-period of the Disney film.

Princess Aurora

Sleeping Beauty - 1959

Based on a classic Brothers Grimm fairy story, the first translation was by French author Charles Perrault in 1697, however it was set much earlier in Medieval Europe. Hummel's version is based on French court fashion from the late 1400's.

Ariel

The Little Mermaid - 1989

Firs published as a ballet in 1837, Hummel states that Ariel's wedding gown in the Disney film with the 'embarrassing' 1980's sleeves was also reminiscent of the slash-sleeve evening gowns of the 1890's so this creation would not look out of place in a mid-century wedding dress

Belle

Beauty and the Beast - 1991

The first published version of the traditional tale 'La Belle et la Bete' appeared in France in 1740, although the abridged version gained more popularity towards the late 1700's. Hummel has created for Belle a ballgown in true, 18th Century French court fashion.

Princess Jasmine

Aladdin - 1992

One of the most popular tales from the legendary 'The Book of One-Thousand and One Arabian Nights' - Hummel has placed Jasmine within early 18th Century Persia: the first translation from Arabic was via French scholar Antoine Galland around 1709.

Pocahontas

1995

Based on the historical figure from the early 17th Century, the movie is very liberal with the actual facts (when the 'real' Pocahontas first met John Smith, she was around the age of 10!) however Hummel's depiction (apart from age!) is true to Native American dress of the period

Megara

Hercules - 1997

Hercules is the Roman adaptation of the Greek demi-god Herecles: he first appears around 350 BC however fashions of both empires were relatively similar and simple and this version of the mythological characters first wife (according to one version of the story he killed their four children in a fit of madness - not very Disney!) is simply elegant and beautiful - like a Doric column or marble muse.

**I know she's not an official Princess but she's the only non-princess in this series and I didn't want to mess up the chronology!**

Mulan

1998

Another example of Disney playing fast and loose with historical fact: Fa Mulan (the historical character) probably lived around 386-534 AD, however the Hun invasion of China took place much earlier (around 200BC) and both the clothing the characters wear and the Emperor's 'Forbidden City' is from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Given this historical confusion, Hummel has still created a beautiful costume reminiscent of the late Ming/early Qing dynasty fashions.

Tiana

The Princess and the Frog - 2009

The Disney film is based on 'The Frog Princess' by E.D. Baker from 2002, which in turn is based on 'The Frog Prince' by... you guessed it; The Brothers Grimm! Disney based their movie in 1920's New Orleans and Hummel has re-imagined Tiana's 'Princess dress' from the movie's finale as a true 20's Flapper dress.

Rapunzel

Tangled - 2010

Now, the story first appears written down in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm and is an adaptation of an earlier tale 'Persinette' from 1698, which in itself bears striking resemblance to a 10th Century Persian epic poem. However, Hummel describes her version as 'late regency... circa 1820' reasoning that the Disney version is not tied to any particular land or time, and I suppose it bears a little passing homage to the time period of the Brothers Grimm

Christmas Showgirl

Another busy, busy week here!

On Friday I travelled to Bath - the most beautiful city, and one of my favourite places to perform as a large proportion of the audience are regulars to High Tease so there's always an amazing atmosphere!

Christmas Tree by Bath Cathedral

The show was more 'Party' themed than Christmas, which worked well as I was looking forward to performing my newly re-costumed 'Shake it Doll' act - a showgirl striptease with a rock and roll edge!

 

New costume goodness!

This month was hosted by the wonderful Tempest Rose and featured a fabulous line up of fabulous people:

Mirror Picture! With Elan, Tempest Rose, Frankie Lynn, The Great Voltini, James Malach, Kittie Klaw, Elliot Mason and Nurse Electra

 

Elliot on stage ** Tempest on stage

 

Christmas dinner pre-show ** Dancing at the disco post-show!

Saturday was a rare treat for me - I was performing as part of the Flaming Feathers Burlesque Show in Bath that evening so I had the entire afternoon to myself to wander around the beautiful city, do a little more Christmas shopping and shelter from the rain in quaint coffee shops!

Pretty coffee

The show went fabulously well - unfortunately since we had separate changing rooms I didn't get chance to take any pictures! However here are a couple stolen from others on Facebook :P

 

 

On Sunday, back in London, I indulged in one of my favourite pass-times; vintage shopping! After a lovely lunch at Goode and Wright in Portobello (it's delicious, you all must go!) I unearthed some fabulous and unusual vintage furs - Christmas present to myself, obviously! I adore vintage shops and markets for the weird and wonderful things you can find:

 

Taz with life-sized brass skeleton! ** Ken and headless Barbie...

A hectic, yet fun Christmas Eve soon arrived - dashing around, shopping for the last few bits and bobs, running out of wrapping paper and gift-bags, wrapping and packing until I was exhausted! However a steady stream of Christmas movies (Muppet Christmas Carol and Nightmare Before Christmas are firm favourites!) kept me going all along!

It has been a truly lovely Christmas season - spent with family and dear friends, eating far, far too much delicious food and drinking far, far too much delicious booze!