Girl on Fire!

Well this has been a wonderfully busy week!

On Sunday, on a whim, I got my hair cut! A combination of regular bleaching, constant heat styling, industrial strength hairspray and a kitten who apparently likes to groom (eat) my hair while I sleep had left my crowning glory in a rather miserable state. So in a fit of pique I marched into the hairdressers and demanded they sort it out!

New Hair! *Very* short!

That evening I was attending the premier of the film 'Burlesque Assassins' starring a host of Burlesque beauties, including the gorgeous Kiki Kaboom.

With the lady of the evening before she was mobbed by adoring fans!

I'm not going to spoil the film for you; if you get chance to see it though, you really ought to! Very funny, silly, tongue-in-cheek in a classic B-Movie style: I laughed all the way through and Miss Kaboom was awesome! The cheer that went up; both in the opening credits when her name flashed up, and on her first appearance in the movie (hi-jacking an aeroplane if you were wondering) was brilliant!

The evening, at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, was hosted by Ophelia Bitz and opened with a showing of several short films that had been made by members of the Burlesque and Cabaret scene, including East End Cabaret, Meow Meow, Frisky and Mannish and, of course, Kiki Kaboom. They also showed the 'Cabariot' video which got a huge cheer!

It was lovely to see so many of the London Cabaret scene come out in support of Kiki: there was a great atmosphere and everyone had a fabulous night.

 

Kiki in front of the closing credits ** Playing out after the film

On Monday I had made plans to conquer one of my fears: I am terrified of fire - even striking a match freaks me out a little! So naturally I decided to take a fire class with Red Sarah at The Fire School! 

I joined five others in a freezing warehouse in Hackney for a beginners lesson in body burning and fire eating. It was a real mix of people, from those who had obviously come straight from the office, to stay-at-home mums looking for something exciting to do, to those who wanted to progress to performance level.

Red Sarah showed us the basics of what we were going to learn, then worked individually with each of us on each step, going from holding the wick on our hands, then arms, then tongue then finally eating the fire! 

 

Red Sarah demonstrating basic and advanced fire tricks

At the start of the class, my biggest worry was actually a mental one; would my brain allow me to physically put fire on my skin or in my mouth?! However, with Red Sarah taking us through baby steps at a really relaxed pace, and with constant reassurance at every point, I actually did it! 

I didn't burn myself to a crisp, though I did smell like a barbecue and my tongue felt like I'd been eating really spicy vindaloo! I bought some fire sticks that Red Sarah makes herself; I just hope I'll be brave enough to practise without her supervising me all the way!

On Wednesday I was back with Red Sarah! This time we were both taking part at a very exciting film shoot - 'Burlesque 3D' !! I took my 'Peacock Dance' routine and Red Sarah had her 'Cherry Balloon' act, both of which should look great in 3D.

 

Waiting around on film sets

Very expensive, specialist 3D camera equipment - I wasn't allowed anywhere near it!

It was a very long, cold day, but a very exciting experience: I think I pulled muscles in my arms from performing my fan/isis wing act about ten times in a row, and all I could think was 'thank heaven they didn't ask for one of my pointe acts!' However it was great fun and I can't wait to see our acts on screen!

 

Red Sarah on stage and screen ** Mirror Picture!

After the film shoot, I dashed off to Proud Cabaret for a packed out Christmas show with a typically fabulous and festive line-up including Mat Ricardo, Electra and the gorgeous Sophia St. Villier!

Mirror Picture! With Jolie Papillon, Dan Serra and Lili La Scala

 

Messing around backstage

On Thursday I woke up to very exciting news: an interview I did a while ago has been featured in 'Vintage Life' magazine along with a picture of me performing at Proud, taken by Neil Lewis for Behind Burlesque!

Vintage Life - December 2012

It was lovely to feature alongside one of my good friends, Dolly Rose, talking about Proud Cabaret, performing Burlesque and our inspirations and beauty tips! It's the second or third time I've had photographs of me in Vintage Life, but the first time I've been interviewed for it so it's a huge honour to have an article in my favourite magazine!

On Saturday I had a lovely little show at a gorgeous Casino in the West End - I don't think the guests were quite prepared for Burlesque during their dinner, but it seemed to go down very well!

Beautiful 'Capones Hideaway' themed venue

The rest of the week has been filled with admin, new act research (I have a new one on the way that I'm *very* excited about!) and taking time out for coffee breaks and pink wine with some of my lovely friends. 

Coco DuBois Vogueing at Proud Cabaret!

With being so busy at the moment, I'm finding it more difficult than usual to relax and switch off. I was recommended by Lili La Scala to try hypnosis to overcome my insomnia, so I downloaded a couple of 'deep sleep' apps that she suggested. I didn't fall asleep during the recording, even though I listened to it twice, however once the second time round came to an end, I fell asleep straight away! Apparently this is pretty normal for people with completely sporadic sleeping patterns and it should get better in a week or so, so fingers crossed!

Disney Princesses - Realistic Portraits

Apologies straight away - this is a super girly, geeky post...

Okay, so - those of you who know me in real life will know that I am slightly obsessed with Disney Princesses (and could be considered a bit of a Princess myself!) so you can imagine my glee when I came across these stunning artworks by Finnish artist Jirka Vinse Jonatan of 'realistic' Disney Princesses! 

I want to be one myself!

Snow White

The original Disney Princess - 1937

Cinderella

The second Disney Princess from the twelfth animated feature film - 1950

Princess Aurora

The Sleeping Beauty - 1959

Ariel

The Little Mermaid - 1989

Belle

Beauty and the Beast - 1991

Princess Jasmine

Aladdin - 1992

Pocahontas

1995

Mulan

Although not officially a 'princess' she is part of the official Disney Princess Franchise - 1998

Tiana

The Princess and the Frog - 2009

Rapunzel

Tangled - 2010

The above are the official 'Disney Princesses.' They are royal either by birth or marriage, or awarded 'princess' status due to their deeds (as in the case of Mulan) According to the mythology of the Disney Princesses, their shared characteristics include: beautiful singing voices, inner and outer beauty, and the ability to communicate with animals.

Therefore, the following images are not technically Princesses - though they are still absolutely stunning!

Alice

Alice in Wonderland - 1951

Tinkerbell

Peter Pan - 1953

Ursula the Sea-Witch

The Little Mermaid - 1989

(definitely *not* a princess, I know, but it's still part of the artists series) 

Esmeralda

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - 1996

Megara

Hercules - 1997

Jane

Tarzan - 1999

And apologies again! I've found quite a lot of Disney Princess interpretations during my sleepless hours and they are all waiting to be put into equally non-grown-up blog posts in the future!

xx

Insomaniacle

See what I did there with the title of this blog post? Yeah... pleased with that :)

I have insomnia - it's something I've had for years: sometimes it's just a case of not being able to go to sleep, but we all have that. Other times it's repeated waking-up throughout the night, but again, everyone gets that once or twice. However, every now and then, I get hit with the actual inability to fall asleep, as though my entire body is rebelling against the notion of relaxation.

As a child, I hated bedtime - most children do. I felt as though I was missing out on some great secret or immense amounts of fun that the grown-ups had when the kids went to bed. I would force myself to stay awake until I heard my parents climb the stairs to bed and only then was I satisfied that I wasn't the only person in the world trying to get to sleep. As I grew older, and had a TV in my bedroom, I would put late-night programs on, feeling naughty that I was watching shows that the adults obviously didn't want me to see (I used to love Eurotrash as a teenager!) When I moved out to college, I loved the freedom of dictating my own bedtime and would stay awake as long as I could. Throughout my working life, I have mostly had evening jobs in bars and restaurants: or have been performing in shows which obviously finish late, and fill you with adrenaline which is never conducive to a good nights sleep.

There are lots of factors contributing to my inability to sleep, and my insomnia takes different forms:

Sometimes I can't sleep because I have a lot on my mind - when my mind is racing it is difficult to switch off. I'm sure everyone gets this. I find the best thing to do in these situations is to quietly put on a movie, something I've seen hundreds of times, which will distract my brain enough to calm it down, but not distract me too much to stay awake and watch the end of the film. (Strangely, I've found that 'Monsters Inc' is the best one for me - failing that,'Shrek' works pretty well too!)

Often I don't sleep because, oddly, I sometimes feel my most creative late at night. Maybe it's a lack of other distractions (people on Facebook are all asleep, there's rarely anything good on TV, etc) that my muse wakes up and starts my creative juices flowing. I have been known to sit awake all night rhinestoning a corset, sketching a new costume or choreographing a new routine. I usually don't mind this kind of sleeplessness as at least I feel as though I am being productive during the long, dark hours.

Worst of all though, are the times when I simply can't sleep. I lie awake, my mind a blank, watching the clock tick round the hours, and there is no apparent rhyme or reason for this inability.

Last night, for example, I went to bed around 11:30 (a relatively early time for me!) and fell asleep quite quickly. (I may have had rather a lot of pink wine) However, at about 1:30, I was suddenly awake for no particular reason, and that, as they say, was that. I tried everything: I put movies on (Indiana Jones if you were wondering), I played monotonous games on my iPhone, I read an entire book, I (almost) accidentally kicked Boyfriend awake to keep me company and when he just snored and turned over, I admitted defeat.
As I eat toast downstairs in the kitchen at 5am, my equally nocturnal housemate made me a cup of tea and the cats came to keep me company for a while. I read blogs online, looked at pictures of badly taxidermied animals, played with my blogger layout (what do you think?), and mindlessly followed peoples links on Twitter and Facebook.
At some point I became slightly delirious (I think this was about 6:45) and became convinced I was going to win the lottery. I got quite excited by the prospect of owning a swimming pool full of rhinestones, then became distracted by other pressing matters, such as 'Why is gravy not considered a breakfast food? Sausages are breakfast and dinner food, so why have gravy with one and not the other?' Yeah....

I have managed to nap a little bit today though - I dropped off around the time Boyfriend left for work (with instructions to buy lottery tickets) and dozed intermittently until about midday. However this is not restful or rejuvenating sleep and I have been wandering around the house like a zombie all afternoon, with the same movie on repeat (again Indiana Jones if you were wondering - the same one I failed to fall asleep to last night) I can't coordinate my limbs enough to make a cup of tea, and therefore am relying on the munificence of my housemates to shout out when they are boiling the kettle. I am forgetting things - it took four trips up and down the stairs to load the washing machine as the first time I went downstairs I took the powder and left the clothes, then in my worldly wisdom took the powder back upstairs to get the clothes, took the clothes and left the damn powder box on the desk. Then couldn't find it when I stomped back upstairs again. I can't type, little noises make me jump out of my skin and my vision is blurred. I am refusing to have a nap, however, as that would just mean I can't sleep again tonight!

According to Wikipedia, I have what is called Acute Insomnia, it is usually stress related and short-term (though repeats the short-term patterns over and over again) and it suggests that periods of sleeplessness will last for a period of less than a month. So if you see me over the next few weeks, press a coffee into my hand (Starbucks skinny white chocolate mocha with three sweeteners please), pat my head gently and try to understand if I can't string a sentence together or bump into inanimate objects.

Thank you lovelies :)
xx

**Do you suffer with insomnia? What have you found works for you?**