Back to Life

Back to life... back to (what passes for) reality!

This week began with some much needed relaxation time and I had a lovely couple of days not really doing a hell of a lot, just relaxing on the sofa, watching movies and catching up on missed sleep. I've been on a mission to reclaim my flexibility and I've been stretching every night for the last couple of weeks - I've already just about got my right leg splits back, and I'm working on the left. I've never been able to do box splits because of my stupid hips, but I'm glad to see that the flexibility I had in college hasn't gone too far!

On Wednesday evening I joined the fabulous Miss Danni Dee at Freedom in Soho as the guest of the The Danni Dee show. It was great fun, with a hugely enthusiastic audience, and Taz came along with Jess from Burlesque on Ice to cheer me along, which was lovely!

Montage from Jess!

Mirror Picture! With Miss Danni Dee!

At the weekend I was back with the House of Magic family for a Bloody Valentines themed show - I was singing before the main show and covered myself in blood from a heart I pulled out of my chest!

My Bloody Valentine!

I love working at the House of Magic - it's a glorious, bonkers, lovely place to be and it's so far from anything I've ever done that I can't help but adore every moment!

Selfie! With Beulah Bell!

And that's about all for this week - I have a couple of exciting plans coming up for the week ahead, and hoping that shortly some plans I put in motion a few weeks ago will finally reap rewards, but that's all in the future, and for now I'm going to curl up and attempt to fight off this imminent cold with lashings of Beechams and ibuprofen!

x

Burlesque On Ice - Over and Out!

And that's all, folks! Burlesque On Ice has opened and closed to rave reviews and standing ovations, and it was a busy, brilliant and bonkers week!

Hollie Deller with the show poster at Shepherd's Bush Tube

There's been so much going on that I can't possibly remember it all - so instead I'm just going to share lots and lots of photos! So enjoy!! (Oh, and fair warning, it gets a bit gushy at the end so feel free to stop reading at the end of the pictures!)

Bush Hall - our home for the week

 

Tech Day: Hollie on the ice, Joe Morose on the stage

Looking beautiful, pre-show

With my Grandma and Mum, who came on the opening night

 

Show snaps - thank you audience!

Pro Girls! Sarah Christou, Jessica Ashby, Hollie Deller, Rosie Van Someran and Kerri-Ann Thomas!

Cabaret Girls! Jasz Vegas, Bonnie Fleur, Hollie Deller, Trixie Kixx and Ruby Deshabille!

Gwendoline Lamour and Glorian Gray

 

As Dee-ettes and Gwen's Girls!

Mirror Picture! With Jasz, Glorian Gray, Ruby, Rosie, Hollie, Jess and Trixie!

Mirror Picture! With Ruby, Jasz, Bonnie and Trixie!

 

 

Finale Wheel - I'm going to miss this!

 

 

 

More show snaps!

 

 

Backstage and post-show pub

 

 

Even more show snaps!

 

Backstage elegance

Sunday Brunch - Cheers!

And that is that - it's been such a wild journey from way back in June last year; I've been lucky enough to learn a new skill, perform in a truly amazing and unique show, make a tonne of gorgeous new friends and get to know some old friends much better.

Yes, there's been ups and downs, but you get that in any walk of life, and maybe it's the rose-tinted specs talking but there have been more highs than lows, and the end result was as spectacular as I always believed it would be.

**This is where you can stop reading if you have a sensitivity to over-sentimentality; it's going to get totes emosh... (yeah I wrote that.)**

Thank you everyone involved!
Sam Jenkins for the opportunity to be in the show and having the brilliant idea in the first place;
Sarah Christou for teaching us all how to skate, being lovely and putting up with us all over the last seven months;
Hollie Deller for her amazing choreography, determination, attitude, and for the wine, pizza, gossip and general awesomeness;
Taz Zebrowski for his incredible lighting and technical wizardry during the show, and the support and patience during the stressful times; 

Joe Morrow, for many, many things, alongside being a little bit mental and wonderful and intelligent as f**k, and one of the best drinking buddies going!; 

Glorian Gray for being supportive and tenacious and completely and utterly dedicated from day one; 

Antonia Lynch for her gorgeous costuming, gorgeous attitude and unending help; 

Cabaret Girlies: Ruby Deshabille for being a little ray of sunshine and one of the most genuinely lovely people ever, Trixie Kixx for being one of the most truly gorgeous women I've ever met, both inside and out, Bonnie Fleur for being a sweetheart and scarily talented performer, and Jasz Vegas for being truly bonkers and fabulous (remember me when you're famous!).

Pro Skater Ladies: Kerri-Ann, Jess and Rosie - frickin' love you ladies! I'm so glad this crazy thing brought you lot into my life! You have all been amazing, wonderful, fun and fabulous;

Gwendoline Lamour for truly being the Fairy Godmother of Burlesque, for inaugurating one of the running jokes of the week (niche!) and being a beautiful, lovely lady through and through;

Vicky Butterfly for her stories, advice, elegance, scissors and chocolate!;

Betsy Rose for the vintage glamour and gorgeousness, and for being a beautiful person.

Danni Dee for the chance to pretend to be a high-kicking showgirl, even if just for five minutes a show, for the laughs and one-liners, and for being fabulous daah-ling!

And thank you everyone for letting me steal your photos off Facebook for the blog (I know I didn't technically *ask* :P ) as my phone was being a pain all week and I hardly had any of my own!

Burlesque On Ice Rehearsals - Week Three!

It's the final countdown - nananaanaaaaa!

The last couple of weeks I've been sharing all the gossip from behind the scenes of Burlesque On Ice rehearsals - and now we're into week *three*!!

Eep - this week has been manic! Fabulous fun but crazy busy as we gear up for the show in a couple of days... So, how did we spend our final week before showtime?!

Monday
This morning Ruby Deshabille, Trixie Kixx, Bonnie Fleur and I joined the fabulous Danni Dee at a rehearsal studio in North London to work on the finale for Act 2 of the show - proper showgirl dancing and it was amazing! I've not really done proper full out dance routines since leaving college; other than a couple of small shows and corporate bits and bobs and it was lots of fun.

In the afternoon we went back over to the rehearsal rooms to continue the ice section of the show with Hollie Deller; we spent a couple of hours going over the choreography, cleaning and changing one or two bits, then had time to work on our individual solo routines too before getting our skates sharpened - it's very sticky now!

Our own personal ice sharpening machine!

Tuesday
I was up early this morning, which regular readers to this blog will know I *hate* but needs must, and all that (our cat was back at the vet for a check up at cock-o-clock in the morning)

Before rehearsals I nipped over to Leicester Square for a very brief meeting with Antonia to swap some costume bits and try on the dress for my ice solo - it's going to be gorgeous and I'm so excited about it!

A sneaky mirror picture (in sexy grey tights) while being fitted for my costume!

We spent the rehearsal drilling and refining the group numbers; Hollie wants them to be so ingrained it's more muscle memory than anything else so we can concentrate on giving the performance of our lives rather than worrying about the steps! Then after going through our solos one by one we did a run-through of the whole of Act Three!

And I got chilly...

WednesdayAnother fun day - we went through the group routines and solos several times and they're looking SO good now!

Absolutely exhausted as a couple of us went out for a few sneaky beverages to send off Glorian Gray who was heading back up North for the last time before show week!

 

 

Playing and practising: Ruby Deshabille, Jasz Vegas, Joe Morose and Trixie Kixx!

This is how you finish a rehearsal day!

Thursday
A long day, but a good one all told! This morning I went to the dance studio with Ruby, Trixie and Bonnie to rehearse the showgirl dance number and had a lovely couple of hours gossiping and dancing around.

In the afternoon we went back to the rehearsal hall; the whole show is looking so slick and polished now - I just want to get on and show everyone how good it is!!

Leggings Brigade! With Jasz, Rosie and Ruby!

We also had a sneaky peek of the pro skaters photos from Tigz Rice Studios - bloody hell they look amazing!!! I'm not allowed to share them yet but I have this picture that Hollie took of a pro-skaters time-out with the Burlesque Bible!

Kerri-Ann Thomas, Rosie Van Someran, Jessica Ashby and Sarah Christou!

And once again - the BEST way to round off a rehearsal day!

Friday

Last day in the rehearsal rooms! We did two full show runs today and it was wonderful to see it come together - we don't rehearse our sections at the same time as the pro skaters so we rarely get to see their routines, although it was SO nerve-racking having them watch ours!

Spiral from my solo!

In the afternoon, we dolled ourselves up and went out to Camden, flyering for the show, with Sarah and Hollie in off-ice skates! There are few things in life funnier than two vintage showgirls in fur coats, on skates, in the rain! It was great fun.

Heading out with Trixie, Sarah, Hollie and Bonnie!

 

Promotion... honestly! ** Vintage ice skates!

Love BOI!

So that's it - it's the end of the rehearsal weeks and as of Sunday we're into show week - it's terrifying and exciting in equal measure but I can't wait for the results of everyone's hard work over the last few months to come together into a spectacular production...

Will you be there?!