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!

New Years Resolutions

Well we're now a couple of days into 2013! If you're anything like me you begin the year with the best intentions and set yourself resolutions that you'll probably give up on within a couple of weeks. The one resolution I set myself last year was to keep this blog, and it's the only time I saw a resolution through for a whole year! Proud!

I'm a smug kitten

I usually find that writing things down makes me more likely to stick to them, especially if they're written in a public place, as then you feel like you're letting people down if you fail or don't follow through with your intentions! So in the spirit of New Years Resolutions, here are mine for 2013...

1) Begin Dance Classes Again!
I trained in Musical Theatre and for three years took daily classes in Jazz and Ballet, and several classes a week in Tap, Ballroom, Pointe and Street Dance alongside various other complimentary dance styles and regular partner work classes. Outside of college I also went to various Hip Hop and Contemporary dance groups and took private Pole Dance classes for over two years!
However, due to various physiological issues (I was born with a shallow acetabulum) that caused me a lot of pain during my years of intense dancing, I was warned that if I continued dancing at the level I was at, I would probably be in a wheelchair by the time I was thirty! (I am also a complete klutz and injure myself constantly so there's still a chance this prediction may come true!) Added to the fact that I moved around several times over the following years, often in areas where there were no adult dance classes offered at a professional level, I let my dancing lapse, and while I took Ballet classes here and there, it is a source of great disappointment to myself that I no longer dance regularly.
So for 2013 I intend to join Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden and re-join classes there! With the best intentions I would like to go to at least two Ballet and Jazz classes each week, and as my confidence re-grows, maybe go back to Street Dance and Tap classes and possibly even try out a new style I've never done before!

2) Take Horse-Riding Lessons

Yes, I know it's super-girly, Ballet and Ponies in one fell swoop, but one of the things I would love to do this year is take horse-riding lessons. There's a lovely stables not too far away from where I live, the prices are actually quite reasonable and they offer different levels of lessons from complete beginner to advanced and jump classes.
I have only been horse riding a handful of times in my life but it's always been something I've wanted to do better; I've been on a few guided treks through forests or countryside and there's something so wonderful about these magnificent animals.
It's also a very selfish resolution as it is something that is completely for myself; most of my resolutions have some kind of professional aspect to them and are quite career-centric, whereas horse riding lessons will be something I love that is totally removed from other aspects of my life. And it'll be good exercise and great fun to boot!

3) Learn A Language

Okay, not exactly a unique resolution, but sue me, they're mine! I can speak a little French and Spanish, and one or two words of Italian but I would love 2013 to be the year I become 'proficient' as opposed to just 'basic' as I'm hoping to travel abroad more this year and don't want to be a typical 'Brit Abroad'!

I love the French language; it's romantic and flowing and beautiful. I also adore Spanish for the same reason, and Italian is so musical and passionate.

It's probably not realistic to expect to learn three languages so I'll probably focus on French as it's the language I currently know more of anyway (so it's a bit of a cheat I suppose!) so it'll be easier to become more fluent, which will hopefully give me the confidence to also look at Italian and Spanish too!

4) Apply for International Festivals
I'm a little bit scared of competitions and things like that, for a couple of reasons; for a start, Burlesque styles are so unique to each performer that I don't really see how they can be judged and compared as one being 'better' than another. Also, I'm scared that I'll be shit and make a tit of myself on an international stage, which petrifies me!
However, New Years Resolutions are all about achieving things and conquering fears, so in the spirit of this I have decided that this is the year I apply for a couple of international competitions and festivals. I probably won't even get accepted, but even just applying will mean I have conquered a fear in a little way!

And there we go - they are the goals I have set for myself in 2013. There are many, many more things I would like to achieve and so many experiences I want to have, but many of them are not really within my control. My New Years Resolutions are achievable targets that are in my sphere of influence and things that I can work on myself.

What New Years Resolutions have you set for yourself? What did you set yourself last year, and did you achieve them/maintain them for the whole year?
Comment or Tweet Me @MiaMerode

Edinburgh Fringe Festival Fun

Edinburgh Castle in the sunshine

Day One:

I travelled up to Edinburgh with Glorian Gray and Havana Hurricane and after dumping all of our stuff in the flat we were sharing, we headed into the city centre to have a look around and get our bearings.

The Royal Mile

My first show of my Fringe run was Lili La Scala's 'Another F*cking Variety Show' in the Ace Dome at the Pleasance Dome, and it was an incredible line-up to kick off my week, including Beatrix Von Bourbon, Boy With Tape On His Face, Abi Collins, Dusty Limits and more!

Mirror Picture! With Lisa Lottie, Lili La Scala and Mat Ricardo

With Beatrix, and a tiny Amelie Soleil!

Day Two

The weather was on our side today and we made the most of it, wandering through the city in the sunshine and visiting vintage stores

 

Vintage Store ** You know you're in Scotland when...

In the evening I went with Glorian and Havana to their show: 'Gutter Lane' at Jekyll and Hyde

Glorian and Havana ready to perform

Then across town for my first show: Kabarett, at Voodoo Rooms

With Bettina Spankenhaus and the Phantom!

After Kabarett, Havana and I raced across town to the Sapphire Rooms to watch Joe Black's show 'Sex, Drugs and Vaudeville' which was amazing, then dashed back to Voodoo Rooms for 'Magic Faraway' which was my second show of the night.

With Josephine Shaker

And finally, Midnight Kabarett - also at the Voodoo Rooms, which meant that even though I had three shows in an evening, they were all in the same place, making life a LOT easier!

  

After Midnight Kabarett: With Impressive Johnson and Cherryfox

Day Three:

I managed to get hold of a couple of Fringe Guides so we planned shows that we wanted to see - we began by going to Counting House to watch Pete Saunders show 'Burlesque and Blues' which was fantastic, then Dave the Bear's show 'Hairy Pretty Things' at Fingers Piano Bar which was also brilliant! 

Edinburgh Sunshine

My first show of the evening was 'Kabarett' at Voodoo Rooms, followed by 'Another F*cking Variety Show' at Pleasance. Both shows were packed and great fun!

How to remove glitter! With Lady Rizo and her entourage!

Day Four:

During the afternoon we visited Joe Black's apartment for tea in the sunshine, then in the evening I prepared for another two shows: this time the infamous 'Bongo Club Cabaret' where I finally got to meet the gorgeous Wild Card Kitty, and, after a race across town, 'Another F*cking Variety Show'

With Patrick Monahan at 'AFVS'

Day Five:

My last day in Edinburgh and I did it in style! Beginning with another 'Kabarett' at Voodoo Rooms:

Mirror Picture! With Cat Aclysmic and Magenta Lust

After which I went across town to Assembly at George Square to watch Lady Rizo's amazing show, which is probably one of the best shows I've seen at the Fringe this year.

My final show was 'Another F*cking Variety Show': ending with a bang! And we all went for pizza afterwards!

Pizza! With Daniel Oldaker, Lisa Lottie, Matt Ricardo, Lili La Scala and Boy With Tape on His Face

Oh, and by 'all', I definitely mean ALL...

With Beatrix von Bourbon Cherryfox Cherry Loco, Amelie Soleil, Josephine Shaker, Sean Mooney, Lili La Scala, Mr Mistress, Tricity Vogue, Dee Itsy, Ria Lina and Paul Dabek

(And there was another table full around the corner as well!)

 

Amelie and Cherry Loco ** Tricity Vogue with Mr. Sniffles

I had a 5am coach to catch, but fortunately I was with cabaret folk who do not know the meaning of an early night, and they kept me awake long enough to make the hellish journey back home!

Club hopping, Cabaret Style!

The Gilded Lili

This weekend I performed in a show I've been looking forward to for a long time - the glorious Lili La Scala had assembled a fabulous cast for her show 'The Gilded Lili' at the Milton Keynes International Festival and we were performing in a gorgeous Victorian Speigeltent!

'Speigeltent' is German for 'Mirrored Tent' and it was as beautiful inside as outside!

The festival, which ran over ten days, was only small, but the weather was so beautiful - a far cry from the last festival I went to!

The show was hosted by Lili La Scala herself, and the sold-out audience were entertained by an elite cast of Cabaret superstars, including Mat Ricardo, Abi Collins, The Boy With Tape On His Face, Ruby Deshabille and Chantilly Lace.

A 'Carry On' moment backstage with Abi Collins

I had never met Chantilly Lace before, and although I didn't get to watch her act, I loved her sparkling balloon pop costume. I did, however, make an effort to watch Boy With Tape On His Face as I'd heard so much about him, and I wasn't disappointed: Hilarious and oddly moving in parts with plenty of surprises and audience participation, he can communicate complex emotions without words. Mat Ricardo and Abi Collins were as fabulous as ever (I will never get tired of the sight of Abi as 'Peggy Sued' performing the splits, half naked, while straddling two strangers shoulders!) and Ruby's 'Rhapsody in Blue' act was mesmerising.

Mirror Picture! With Abi Collins, Lili La Scala, Ruby Deshabille, Boy With Tape On His Face, Mat Ricardo and Chantilly Lace

I am so looking forward to performing with some of these lovely people when I go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in a couple of weeks. Several of them are up there already for the preparations!

We were lucky enough to have a lovely driver to take us back to London after the show, so Abi, Mat and I piled in to the car and proceeded to bemuse the poor man for the next hour and a half as we excitedly discussed, among other things: Cheese and the Olympic Opening Ceremony, hummed 'Little Spanish Flea' in three part harmony, and waxed lyrical about Pizza and how much we all love London!

Cabaret Car Trip! With Abi Collins and Mat Ricardo

Arriving back in London, I headed over to one of my favourite places, Proud Cabaret, and met my beautiful Burlesque friends Elle Amour and Kitty Devine for some post-show pink wine and a good old girly gossip! A perfect way to end a lovely day!

At Proud with Elle Amour and Kitty Devine

**Things I Love This Month**

**The Olympic Opening Ceremony! (A 40foot tall Lord Voldemort being chased away by fifty flying Mary Poppins, anyone?!)**Raclette from Nova Festival**Peacock Feathers**eBay Bargains**Pesto**

xx

Mud, Glorious Mud!

Well this weekend has been an experience!

Most of you will know (or realise) that I am a creature who likes my home comforts and the thought of even getting caught in the rain will make me feel a little bit queasy. But I know that a Music Festival is one of the Great British Pass-times so when Red Sarah asked me to be part of her 'Freaks and Sexpots' show for the new Nova Festival I decided to brave it!

Nova Festival

The weather the preceding week didn't exactly fill me with confidence, however the festival site was an idyllic cluster of fields in the beautiful countryside of Sussex, so what could go wrong?

The weather - and we hadn't even arrived!

Arriving onsite, we were told the car park was bogged in and cars were having to be towed into the festival! However when I said I was one of the performers, we were waved through and allowed to part on the road, which was a godsend as the rain didn't stop all weekend and most cars were having to be removed by tractors by the end of the festival!

Fortunately the rain stopped for about an hour in the afternoon, which gave us just enough time to pitch a tent

 

Home for the Weekend

The first show of the weekend wasn't until the evening so I took the opportunity to wander round and see what this, my first festival, had to offer!

 

Secret Post Office ** Solar Powered Cabins

 

Tea and Snuggle ** Hot Tubs in the Forest

 

OUR THEATRE TENT!

Pie-Makers ** Campfire Sessions

 

Sculpture, Artwork and Pretty Tents 

 

Swings in the Zen Garden ** Hurly Burly Theatre Restaurant

Despite never having been to a festival before, I couldn't help thinking that there didn't seem to be much to do... The food stands were lovely (good quality and excellent value for money!) and there were one or two stalls selling hats, jewellery and other knick-knacks. The Hurly-Burly restaurant tent served nice food and drinks, interspersed with occasional outbreaks of dancing and stage-shows, and the Zen garden was initially very relaxing (though as the weekend wore on, the mud got here too!) with massages on offer and open-air hot tubs. 

In a rare moment of beautiful rainlessness...

I think, if it had been a 'Day' Festival as opposed to a weekends worth, it would have been more exciting but as many people were there for the whole weekend, I would have thought there would have been more on offer.

Unfortunately, our show didn't go ahead as planned due to the car carrying half of the cast breaking down en-route! However, in true show-business style, 'the show must go on' and myself, Red Sarah and Miss Cairo spent a chaotic hour entertaining visitors outside the theatre tent!

 

Getting ready ** Costumed festival-ites

Red as Eugen Sandow ** Myself and Miss Cairo

 

Miss Cairo, Children's Entertainer Extraordinaire ** Me and Red

I *have* to say, I have the utmost bafflement and respect for Miss Cairo who insisted in performing in high heels all evening... brilliantly bonkers!

The next morning, we awoke to find it had poured down all weekend and showed no intention of stopping! The show that day was due to take place outside and had to unfortunately be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions! Fortunately for me, one of my favourite people in the world, Alexandra Hofgartner, had arrived and we hid from the rain in the Hurly Burly tent.

Myself with The Hof and her sister.

Taz and I left the site once or twice to grab provisions (wine) from Tesco and stopped off at a country pub for lunch to dry off, warm up and make the most of the toilet facilities - Festival Toilets certainly lived up to their reputations, although according to the hardened festival-goers, the Nova toilets were better than most, I still have yet to be convinced of the merits of the 'Long Drop' as they are apparently affectionately known.

We went for a little walk around and stumbled across what was definitely a haunted house, and also visited the seaside for the afternoon before heading back to the festival.

Creepy Haunted House in the Forest ** Seaside!

That evening, the Fearless Theatre was holding their 'Pick of the Pleasance' Comedy night, so we went along (with our little camping chairs) and caught some of the best comedians I've ever seen! "Abandonman" - freestyle rapper who uses objects, people and verbal cues provided by the audience to create incredible, rapid-fire raps: "Late Night Gimp Fight" - a sketch comedy group with a wicked, twisted sense of humour that appealed to me perfectly! and "Doc Brown" who used to be a mainstream rapper before joining the comedy circuit. I think this was where I got a stitch from laughing so much!

After the comedy, we braved the pouring rain to watch Red Sarah and an insane cast of performers stage a fire show in the rain, to the hypnotic sounds of "Late Night Tales with Howie B"

Red Sarah - setting fire to the rain... or something... :P

Our show the following day was scheduled for the late-night slot - over eighteens only!! We were getting changed in a little tent behind the main theatre, and the run back and forth across a dark, waterlogged field was... erm, interesting!

The show was compered by Rubyyy Jones - who opened the show with a full frontal assault on the audience - and the cast comprised one of the most eclectic and interesting assortment of performers I've ever worked with, including British Heart, Raven Six, Mister Mistress, Khandie Khisses - who completely and utterly stole the show with a magnificent mudslide! - and Red Sarah herself.

The audience loved the whole thing and, to top off the weekend, we got a ride in a dune buggy back to the car!!

Red Sarah ** Me

Alex and Sister in the audience ** Raven Six Backstage 

British Heart Backstage ** A hug for Khandie Khisses

Pre-show gossip ** The stage kit...

So, what did I make of my first festival? Well: given the typical British Summer weather, I've never understood why organisations have a contingency plan "IF" it rains - surely the plan should always be for rain, with an option in case the unthinkable happens and it's actually sunny for a while? There were not enough covered areas, places to sit, or other diversions (once you've played crazy golf once or twice, debated a massage - we didn't - or braved the open air naked hot tubs - again, we didn't: there wasn't much else left) which led to us all wandering around aimlessly in increasingly deep mud, heading back to our tents to drink wine, or leaving the site altogether to find entertainment elsewhere.

However, the aesthetic of the festival was lovingly thought out with beautiful bits of hidden artwork and sculpture, a pop-up pub in an old barn house called The Nova Arms, interesting poetry readings, talks and the odd band whose music I didn't mind. I think, had the weather been glorious, I would have been perfectly content to doze in the Sussex countryside listening to the music. Conversely, the weather being what it is, I would still have been happier had there been more to actually *do* as opposed to standing in the sideways rain listening to bands I've hardly heard of.

I do think it was a nice starting point for a new festival but if I was to go back to another one anytime soon, it would have to be undercover, or somewhere warm, or at the very least, somewhere with no mud...

xx

Mud Mud Mud Mud Mud Mud Mud....

**Memories from Nova Festival Weekend**

**Mud**Food: Raclette, Toasties, Fish&Chips, Burritos, Smoothies, Lemonade, Lassi... All good**The Hurly Burly Restaurant girls dancing to Tusk by Fleetwood Mac**Styrofoam Hitler on the Crazy Golf Course**Animatronic Polar Bear in the Greenpeace Tent**Watching people mudslide across the fields**

xx