Media Man Australia Profiles
Moulin Rouge
Burlesque
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, December 13, 2008
American pin-up Bettie Page dies - 12th December 2008
Bettie Page, the bombshell pin-up queen who both titillated and outraged Americans during her legendary career as a model and actress, has died. She was 85.
"With deep personal sadness I must announce that my dear friend and client Bettie Page passed away at 6:41pm PST this evening (1.41pm AEDT Friday) in a Los Angeles hospital," her agent Mark Roesler said in a statement.
"She died peacefully but had never regained consciousness after suffering a heart attack nine days ago."
Roesler said Page had been hospitalised for three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she suffered the heart attack December 2.
Page, with her jet black hair and trademark bangs, attracted national attention in the 1950s with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure in bikinis and see-through lingerie that were quickly tacked up on walls across the country.
Her photos included a centrefold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.
Page converted to Christianity in the 1960s — even serving as a Baptist missionary in Angola — and consequently faded into obscurity.
Her popularity resurged in the 1980s, however, and she even gained a cult following.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bettie Page
Burlesque
"With deep personal sadness I must announce that my dear friend and client Bettie Page passed away at 6:41pm PST this evening (1.41pm AEDT Friday) in a Los Angeles hospital," her agent Mark Roesler said in a statement.
"She died peacefully but had never regained consciousness after suffering a heart attack nine days ago."
Roesler said Page had been hospitalised for three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she suffered the heart attack December 2.
Page, with her jet black hair and trademark bangs, attracted national attention in the 1950s with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure in bikinis and see-through lingerie that were quickly tacked up on walls across the country.
Her photos included a centrefold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.
Page converted to Christianity in the 1960s — even serving as a Baptist missionary in Angola — and consequently faded into obscurity.
Her popularity resurged in the 1980s, however, and she even gained a cult following.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bettie Page
Burlesque
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Drawing inspiration from cabaret - Fairfax - 18th Feb 2008
The Museum of Contemporary Art showcased artists of a different sort last week when it hosted a burlesque life-drawing class.
Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School, which originated in New York as an antidote to "boring life-drawing classes", held a cabaret and drawing session at the museum's Foundation Hall on Friday night.
Burlesque dancers posed for students, protecting their modesty with sequins, fishnets and feathers. One of the dancers, Rachel St James, based her performance out of an over-sized champagne glass.
The museum's curator of public programs, Christine Morrow, said modern burlesque performers continued an artistic tradition that dated back more than 100 years.
"Edgar Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec used to draw showgirls and dancers so it's something very traditional but because burlesque is going through such a resurgence at the moment it's also very contemporary."
A trained artist, Morrow said a clothed (or semi-clothed) figure wasn't as easy to draw as a nude. "As soon as you put a sequined G-string or feather boa on, it's much harder. There's all this extra fluffy stuff going on."
Dr Sketchy's also runs fortnightly cabaret and life-drawing sessions at the Arthouse Hotel.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Dr Sketchy's
Burlesque
Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School, which originated in New York as an antidote to "boring life-drawing classes", held a cabaret and drawing session at the museum's Foundation Hall on Friday night.
Burlesque dancers posed for students, protecting their modesty with sequins, fishnets and feathers. One of the dancers, Rachel St James, based her performance out of an over-sized champagne glass.
The museum's curator of public programs, Christine Morrow, said modern burlesque performers continued an artistic tradition that dated back more than 100 years.
"Edgar Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec used to draw showgirls and dancers so it's something very traditional but because burlesque is going through such a resurgence at the moment it's also very contemporary."
A trained artist, Morrow said a clothed (or semi-clothed) figure wasn't as easy to draw as a nude. "As soon as you put a sequined G-string or feather boa on, it's much harder. There's all this extra fluffy stuff going on."
Dr Sketchy's also runs fortnightly cabaret and life-drawing sessions at the Arthouse Hotel.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Dr Sketchy's
Burlesque
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Carmen Electra takes to stage for burlesque show - The Daily Telegraph - 31st July 2008
Saucy Carmen Electra took to the stage, wearing a tiny burlesque outfit, and danced and shimmied to an adoring crowd. See the hot pictures.
In a jaw-dropping display, Electra worked her booty with kinky burlesque act Les Femmes Cheries at a club in Hollywood, California.
She had lost her bottled blonde and returned to her natural colour for the raunchy show. Dressed in black satin bra and knickers with a sheer black body over the top, the former Playboy girl she looked good at 36.
Gallery: World's best boobs poll
Carmen thrilled the crowds at Les Femmes Cheries, which is a new event aiming to create original Hollywood glamour with cabaret, hard rock music, classic pin-up beauties and high fashion.
To see the raunchy pictures of Carmen strutting on stage click here
The former Baywatch babe is soon to be screen on the big screen with co-star Kim Kardashian in a new film Disaster Movie.
Gallery: Carmen Electra defies her knockers
Media Man Australia Profiles
Carmen Electra
Burlesque
In a jaw-dropping display, Electra worked her booty with kinky burlesque act Les Femmes Cheries at a club in Hollywood, California.
She had lost her bottled blonde and returned to her natural colour for the raunchy show. Dressed in black satin bra and knickers with a sheer black body over the top, the former Playboy girl she looked good at 36.
Gallery: World's best boobs poll
Carmen thrilled the crowds at Les Femmes Cheries, which is a new event aiming to create original Hollywood glamour with cabaret, hard rock music, classic pin-up beauties and high fashion.
To see the raunchy pictures of Carmen strutting on stage click here
The former Baywatch babe is soon to be screen on the big screen with co-star Kim Kardashian in a new film Disaster Movie.
Gallery: Carmen Electra defies her knockers
Media Man Australia Profiles
Carmen Electra
Burlesque
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Gypsy Wood's Pin Up Exhibition - tonight, Arthouse Hotel, Sydney, Australia
The Launch Party of Gypsy Wood’s Pin Up exhibition 's Wall - Thurs 26th June 2008 7.30pm
You are invited to the official Launch Party of Gypsy Wood's Pin Up exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney.
Young and sparkling burlesque queen Gypsy Wood re-ignites a passion for 50's cheesecake, with a daring deck of 52 nude playing cards
Model, muse, performance artist and international party girl Gypsy Wood, will unveil an exclusive selection of images from the deck of cards, in an exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel running from the 22 of June until 13 July. The official launch party to be opened by Madam Lash will be Thursday 26 June 2008 from 7.30pm including performance by sisters Gypsy and Amelia Wood, there will also be tunes from the 50's and 60's by DJ GoldFoot.
In collaboration with artist and animator Antoinette Starkiewicz and photographer Louise Whelan, Gypsy Wood presents a deck of delightful playing cards. Featuring herself in pin-up poses, Gypsy virtually visits 52 famous destinations around the world.
In all of them, Gypsy our cheesecake darling is uniquely nude.
" I wanted to create a set of playing cards that were inspired by vintage postcards and the erotic pin ups from the 40's and 50's. In this age of internet porn and babe magazines, I wanted to do something daring yet innocent, a positive message of being naked in the world through my playing cards."
Also showing in the exhibition will be photos by Louise Whelan, and paintings by Antoinette Starkiewicz, The decks of playing cards will be on sale to the public following the exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney.
From Sydney Harbour to New York City each card features Gypsy Wood posing against a captivating backdrop celebrating her twin obsessions of vintage style and exotic dance.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Gypsy Wood
Burlesque
You are invited to the official Launch Party of Gypsy Wood's Pin Up exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney.
Young and sparkling burlesque queen Gypsy Wood re-ignites a passion for 50's cheesecake, with a daring deck of 52 nude playing cards
Model, muse, performance artist and international party girl Gypsy Wood, will unveil an exclusive selection of images from the deck of cards, in an exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel running from the 22 of June until 13 July. The official launch party to be opened by Madam Lash will be Thursday 26 June 2008 from 7.30pm including performance by sisters Gypsy and Amelia Wood, there will also be tunes from the 50's and 60's by DJ GoldFoot.
In collaboration with artist and animator Antoinette Starkiewicz and photographer Louise Whelan, Gypsy Wood presents a deck of delightful playing cards. Featuring herself in pin-up poses, Gypsy virtually visits 52 famous destinations around the world.
In all of them, Gypsy our cheesecake darling is uniquely nude.
" I wanted to create a set of playing cards that were inspired by vintage postcards and the erotic pin ups from the 40's and 50's. In this age of internet porn and babe magazines, I wanted to do something daring yet innocent, a positive message of being naked in the world through my playing cards."
Also showing in the exhibition will be photos by Louise Whelan, and paintings by Antoinette Starkiewicz, The decks of playing cards will be on sale to the public following the exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney.
From Sydney Harbour to New York City each card features Gypsy Wood posing against a captivating backdrop celebrating her twin obsessions of vintage style and exotic dance.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Gypsy Wood
Burlesque
Friday, June 06, 2008
Announcement: US Burlesque Star to perform at The Burlesque Ball Australia 2008 - Press Release
It is with great pleasure we announce that US Burlesque star, Ava Garter will be performing at The Burlesque Ball in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane 2008!!
Ava has been seen on stages around the world from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas, Paris and Tokyo. Trained by the world-renowned CATHERINE D’LISH and DITA VON TEESE themselves, Ava comes from the school of REAL BURLESQUE, this is not the sanitized version you have seen before!
With a desire to preserve and carry on the tradition of Hollywood glamour from the 1930’s and 40’s, Ava Garter embodies the essence of the most glamorous of that era, such as Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, and Joan Crawford.
Captivating audiences with her charming, yet sensual presentation, impeccable style, and beauty, she is unique in the realm of burlesque entertainment.
Her performances are always tasteful and elegant. Ava is a true visual delight with her costumes and props that are one of a kind.
Ornately bejeweled in rhinestones, ribbons, and lace, she combines beauty, flair, and a sense of kitsch to entertain and delight audiences of men and women alike.
For more information on Ava, please visit her page.
Media Man Australia Profiles
The Burlesque Ball
Jac Bowie
Burlesque
Ava has been seen on stages around the world from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas, Paris and Tokyo. Trained by the world-renowned CATHERINE D’LISH and DITA VON TEESE themselves, Ava comes from the school of REAL BURLESQUE, this is not the sanitized version you have seen before!
With a desire to preserve and carry on the tradition of Hollywood glamour from the 1930’s and 40’s, Ava Garter embodies the essence of the most glamorous of that era, such as Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, and Joan Crawford.
Captivating audiences with her charming, yet sensual presentation, impeccable style, and beauty, she is unique in the realm of burlesque entertainment.
Her performances are always tasteful and elegant. Ava is a true visual delight with her costumes and props that are one of a kind.
Ornately bejeweled in rhinestones, ribbons, and lace, she combines beauty, flair, and a sense of kitsch to entertain and delight audiences of men and women alike.
For more information on Ava, please visit her page.
Media Man Australia Profiles
The Burlesque Ball
Jac Bowie
Burlesque
Thursday, June 05, 2008
The Launch Party of Gypsy Wood’s Pin Up exhibition
Young and sparkling burlesque queen Gypsy Wood re-ignites a passion for 50's cheesecake, with a daring deck of 52 nude playing cards
Event Info Host: Gypsy Wood
Type: Music/Arts - Exhibit
Time and Place Start Time: Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 7:30pm
End Time: Friday, June 27, 2008 at 2:00am
Location: the Arthouse Hotel
Street: 275 Pitt Street,
City/Town: Sydney, Australia
You are invited to the official Launch Party of Gypsy Wood’s Pin Up exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney.
Young and sparkling burlesque queen Gypsy Wood re-ignites a passion for 50's cheesecake, with a daring deck of 52 nude playing cards
Model, muse, performance artist and international party girl Gypsy Wood, will unveil an exclusive selection of images from the deck of cards, in an exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel running from the 22 of June until 13 July. The official launch party to be opened by Madam Lash will be Thursday 26 June 2008 from 7.30pm including performance by sisters Gypsy and Amelia Wood, there will also be tunes from the 50's and 60's by DJ GoldFoot.
In collaboration with artist and animator Antoinette Starkiewicz and photographer Louise Whelan, Gypsy Wood presents a deck of delightful playing cards. Featuring herself in pin-up poses, Gypsy virtually visits 52 famous destinations around the world.
In all of them, Gypsy our cheesecake darling is uniquely nude.
" I wanted to create a set of playing cards that were inspired by vintage postcards and the erotic pin ups from the 40's and 50's. In this age of internet porn and babe magazines, I wanted to do something daring yet innocent, a positive message of being naked in the world through my playing cards."
Also showing in the exhibition will be photos by Louise Whelan, and paintings by Antoinette Starkiewicz, The decks of playing cards will be on sale to the public following the exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney.
From Sydney Harbour to New York City each card features Gypsy Wood posing against a captivating backdrop celebrating her twin obsessions of vintage style and exotic dance.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Gypsy Wood
Art and the Creatives
Poker News and Casino News
Burlesque
Event Info Host: Gypsy Wood
Type: Music/Arts - Exhibit
Time and Place Start Time: Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 7:30pm
End Time: Friday, June 27, 2008 at 2:00am
Location: the Arthouse Hotel
Street: 275 Pitt Street,
City/Town: Sydney, Australia
You are invited to the official Launch Party of Gypsy Wood’s Pin Up exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney.
Young and sparkling burlesque queen Gypsy Wood re-ignites a passion for 50's cheesecake, with a daring deck of 52 nude playing cards
Model, muse, performance artist and international party girl Gypsy Wood, will unveil an exclusive selection of images from the deck of cards, in an exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel running from the 22 of June until 13 July. The official launch party to be opened by Madam Lash will be Thursday 26 June 2008 from 7.30pm including performance by sisters Gypsy and Amelia Wood, there will also be tunes from the 50's and 60's by DJ GoldFoot.
In collaboration with artist and animator Antoinette Starkiewicz and photographer Louise Whelan, Gypsy Wood presents a deck of delightful playing cards. Featuring herself in pin-up poses, Gypsy virtually visits 52 famous destinations around the world.
In all of them, Gypsy our cheesecake darling is uniquely nude.
" I wanted to create a set of playing cards that were inspired by vintage postcards and the erotic pin ups from the 40's and 50's. In this age of internet porn and babe magazines, I wanted to do something daring yet innocent, a positive message of being naked in the world through my playing cards."
Also showing in the exhibition will be photos by Louise Whelan, and paintings by Antoinette Starkiewicz, The decks of playing cards will be on sale to the public following the exhibition at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt Street, Sydney.
From Sydney Harbour to New York City each card features Gypsy Wood posing against a captivating backdrop celebrating her twin obsessions of vintage style and exotic dance.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Gypsy Wood
Art and the Creatives
Poker News and Casino News
Burlesque
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
THE BURLESQUE BALL 2008 TOUR - Press Release - 27th May 2008
Jac Bowie PR & Events proudly presents The Burlesque Ball, back in 2008 and touring the UK, USA and Europe in 2009!
In it’s 3rd successful year, The Burlesque Ball will be touring Australia yet again, this time travelling to Sydney, Brisbane and finally Melbourne!!
Australia’s biggest and most internationally renown burlesque spectacular has become one of the most anticipated events on the arts calender, and with it’s most impressive lineup to date, featuring Australia’s Queen of Burlesque, Imogen Kelly, this is set to be the biggest Burlesque Ball yet!
All Artists will be debuting brand new shows, and of course, the Guests are encouraged to dress to impress in black, red or burlesque, with a spectacular prize for the Best Dressed Award.
We would also like to announce that we will be taking The Burlesque Ball to the UK, USA and Europe in 2009, and on the lookout for local venues and performers.
THE LINE-UP
Mc The Birdmann
Imogen Kelly
Tigerlil
Lena Marlene
Lauren LaRouge
Little Kelly Doll
And many more acts still to be announced…
DATES & LOCATIONS
Sydney
NOV (TBC)
The Gaelic Theatre
64 Devonshire Street
Surry Hills
Brisbane
NOV (TBC)
The Tivoli Theatre
Costin Street
Fortitude Valley QLD
Melbourne
DEC (TBC)
The Hi Fi
TICKET DETAILS
All tickets this year will be available from www.burlesqueball.com and will be $59.00 + Booking Fees.
ENQUIRIES
All media & advertising enquiries to:
Jac Bowie
Email: jac@jacbowie.com
GROUP BOOKINGS / MEDIA BOOKINGS
Discounted Group Bookings and Media Passes will be available shortly, please contact Jon Wright on jon@jacbowie.com or 0415 535 002
CELEBRITY / VIP GUESTS
Some VIP’s will be entitled to a reduced ticket rate and receive an invitation to our VIP party. For more information on this, please contact Jac Bowie on jac@jacbowie.com or 0439 078 606. There are a limited amount of VIP tickets available so please contact us asap not to miss out.
SPONSORS
We are looking for sponsors for The Burlesque Ball again in 2008. Please contact us if you are interested in being involved as a Product Sponsor, Clothing Sponsor, Alcohol Sponsor etc.
Sponsors will be featured in our full advertising campaign including all flyers, website and listings, mentions on the night and all print advertising. You also have the opportunity to promote your product physically on the night should you wish.
ADVERTISING
Please send us rates and specs with all other relevant detail for our Designer. We also need to know cut-off dates for print.
Preference will be given to Advertisers who can also offer an editorial opportunity.
VENUES
We are looking for additional venues in each city to host our VIP parties for Crew, Artists and VIPs. If you are interested in holding this event, please contact us.
MORE INFORMATION
More information on this event is available from www.burlesqueball.com
Proudly Produced by Jac Bowie PR & Events
www.jacbowie.com
PH 02 9552 4157
EMAIL info@jacbowie.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
The Burlesque Ball
Burlesque
In it’s 3rd successful year, The Burlesque Ball will be touring Australia yet again, this time travelling to Sydney, Brisbane and finally Melbourne!!
Australia’s biggest and most internationally renown burlesque spectacular has become one of the most anticipated events on the arts calender, and with it’s most impressive lineup to date, featuring Australia’s Queen of Burlesque, Imogen Kelly, this is set to be the biggest Burlesque Ball yet!
All Artists will be debuting brand new shows, and of course, the Guests are encouraged to dress to impress in black, red or burlesque, with a spectacular prize for the Best Dressed Award.
We would also like to announce that we will be taking The Burlesque Ball to the UK, USA and Europe in 2009, and on the lookout for local venues and performers.
THE LINE-UP
Mc The Birdmann
Imogen Kelly
Tigerlil
Lena Marlene
Lauren LaRouge
Little Kelly Doll
And many more acts still to be announced…
DATES & LOCATIONS
Sydney
NOV (TBC)
The Gaelic Theatre
64 Devonshire Street
Surry Hills
Brisbane
NOV (TBC)
The Tivoli Theatre
Costin Street
Fortitude Valley QLD
Melbourne
DEC (TBC)
The Hi Fi
TICKET DETAILS
All tickets this year will be available from www.burlesqueball.com and will be $59.00 + Booking Fees.
ENQUIRIES
All media & advertising enquiries to:
Jac Bowie
Email: jac@jacbowie.com
GROUP BOOKINGS / MEDIA BOOKINGS
Discounted Group Bookings and Media Passes will be available shortly, please contact Jon Wright on jon@jacbowie.com or 0415 535 002
CELEBRITY / VIP GUESTS
Some VIP’s will be entitled to a reduced ticket rate and receive an invitation to our VIP party. For more information on this, please contact Jac Bowie on jac@jacbowie.com or 0439 078 606. There are a limited amount of VIP tickets available so please contact us asap not to miss out.
SPONSORS
We are looking for sponsors for The Burlesque Ball again in 2008. Please contact us if you are interested in being involved as a Product Sponsor, Clothing Sponsor, Alcohol Sponsor etc.
Sponsors will be featured in our full advertising campaign including all flyers, website and listings, mentions on the night and all print advertising. You also have the opportunity to promote your product physically on the night should you wish.
ADVERTISING
Please send us rates and specs with all other relevant detail for our Designer. We also need to know cut-off dates for print.
Preference will be given to Advertisers who can also offer an editorial opportunity.
VENUES
We are looking for additional venues in each city to host our VIP parties for Crew, Artists and VIPs. If you are interested in holding this event, please contact us.
MORE INFORMATION
More information on this event is available from www.burlesqueball.com
Proudly Produced by Jac Bowie PR & Events
www.jacbowie.com
PH 02 9552 4157
EMAIL info@jacbowie.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
The Burlesque Ball
Burlesque
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Dita Von Teese lesbian porn past revealed - The Daily Telegraph - 3rd April 2008
BURLESQUE stripper Dita Von Teese has a secret lesbian hardcore porn past with explicit clips have been leaked online.
The former Mrs Marilyn Manson, who has just been named as the new face of Wonderbra, is seen in an X-rated flick, Pin-Ups 2, being spanked and pleasured with a bizarre sex toy by women, report The Sun.
TMZ says the movie is from 1999 and features Teese doing weird things to a shoe.
Click here to see Dita's saucy burlesque strip-tease
She has previously admitted to enjoying pornography. "Ametuer pornography is a great thing. You can find anything for everyone on the internet. People love watching other people having sex. Im no different," she said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Burlesque
The former Mrs Marilyn Manson, who has just been named as the new face of Wonderbra, is seen in an X-rated flick, Pin-Ups 2, being spanked and pleasured with a bizarre sex toy by women, report The Sun.
TMZ says the movie is from 1999 and features Teese doing weird things to a shoe.
Click here to see Dita's saucy burlesque strip-tease
She has previously admitted to enjoying pornography. "Ametuer pornography is a great thing. You can find anything for everyone on the internet. People love watching other people having sex. Im no different," she said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Burlesque
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Drawing inspiration from cabaret - The Sydney Morning Herald - 18th February 2008
The Museum of Contemporary Art showcased artists of a different sort last week when it hosted a burlesque life-drawing class.
Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School, which originated in New York as an antidote to "boring life-drawing classes", held a cabaret and drawing session at the museum's Foundation Hall on Friday night.
Burlesque dancers posed for students, protecting their modesty with sequins, fishnets and feathers. One of the dancers, Rachel St James, based her performance out of an over-sized champagne glass.
The museum's curator of public programs, Christine Morrow, said modern burlesque performers continued an artistic tradition that dated back more than 100 years.
"Edgar Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec used to draw showgirls and dancers so it's something very traditional but because burlesque is going through such a resurgence at the moment it's also very contemporary."
A trained artist, Morrow said a clothed (or semi-clothed) figure wasn't as easy to draw as a nude. "As soon as you put a sequined G-string or feather boa on, it's much harder. There's all this extra fluffy stuff going on."
Dr Sketchy's also runs fortnightly cabaret and life-drawing sessions at the Arthouse Hotel.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Dr Sketchy's
Burlesque
Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School, which originated in New York as an antidote to "boring life-drawing classes", held a cabaret and drawing session at the museum's Foundation Hall on Friday night.
Burlesque dancers posed for students, protecting their modesty with sequins, fishnets and feathers. One of the dancers, Rachel St James, based her performance out of an over-sized champagne glass.
The museum's curator of public programs, Christine Morrow, said modern burlesque performers continued an artistic tradition that dated back more than 100 years.
"Edgar Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec used to draw showgirls and dancers so it's something very traditional but because burlesque is going through such a resurgence at the moment it's also very contemporary."
A trained artist, Morrow said a clothed (or semi-clothed) figure wasn't as easy to draw as a nude. "As soon as you put a sequined G-string or feather boa on, it's much harder. There's all this extra fluffy stuff going on."
Dr Sketchy's also runs fortnightly cabaret and life-drawing sessions at the Arthouse Hotel.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Dr Sketchy's
Burlesque
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Friday, December 28, 2007
Bollywood, Beehives & Burlesque, by Erik Jensen - The Sydney Morning Herald - 28th December 2007
Burlesque and '60s psychedelic Bombay make a spicy mix.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Burlesque show sparkles - Voice of Tasmania - Mercury - 24th December 2007
BURLESQUE is back in a big way in Hobart, with the city's very own group, the Diamonds of Burlesque, recently launching their 2008 calendar.
The Diamonds of Burlesque are a group of women from all walks of life who perform burlesque in all its artistic interpretations, combining ribald comedy, dancing, circus and the art of tease -- not sleaze.Classy, cheeky and captivating, the girls leave audiences entertained, slightly shocked and with a smile.
"We hope to inspire women and give them confidence," Diamonds of Burlesque manager Bec Nichols said.
"Burlesque is a great way to express yourself, entertain and feel sexy. We had a Halloween performance at the Republic Bar and people didn't know what to expect, but after the first act they loved it! There was a mosh pit of an audience who stayed right 'til the end.
"Hobart has really been missing out on the burlesque scene, but not any more!"
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Tease like a goddess, and seize deity within, by Shelly Horton - The Sun-Herald - 23rd December 2007
Forget sleazy pole dancing lessons or cheap Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease, the latest classy yet sexy way to get fit is Salon Burlesque - Boudoir Etiquette for the Sophisticated Lady.
Sydney's own femme fatale Rachel St James hosts the nights at the lingerie store Dirty Pretty Things in Paddington...
Media Man Australia Profiles
Rachel St. James
Burlesque
Sydney's own femme fatale Rachel St James hosts the nights at the lingerie store Dirty Pretty Things in Paddington...
Media Man Australia Profiles
Rachel St. James
Burlesque
Saturday, December 15, 2007
The Burlesque Hour - Australian Stage Online
| |||||
| From the frenetic house of Finucane & Smith - internationally acclaimed Queen of Cabaret Bizarre Moira Finucane and Patrick White Award winner Jackie Smith - comes the work that has created an international storm of sell out critical acclaim and won 6 Australian theatre awards for its provocative and astonishing images of gender, sexuality, power and desire. The Burlesque Hour… SIZZLES! With a mind-cracking mixture of the old, the new, the unexpected, in the world's most astonishing, most sizzling salon of showgirls with very sharp teeth! Join legendary iconoclast Maude Davey with her infamous and fabled strawberry act; Moscow circus trained circus and burlesque star Azaria Universe; Japanese butoh dancer and shock cabaret artiste Yumi Umiumare and guest artiste Clare Bartholomew's Pierre – Magician and Love Machine! Creating a frenzy amongst critics and audiences around the world, from Tokyo to Trieste, London to Ljubljana, Edinburgh to Croatia to the Opera House and beyond; The Burlesque Hour mixes vaudeville and variety, circus and sideshow, striptease and cartoon strip, boho and butoh, music hall, monologue and mayhem in a wild ride that hijacks Burlesque, explodes expectations, and delights and disturbs long after the carnival is over. …your table awaits… "Intensive and hairsplitting physicality... it opens up a whole new world, a world of the surreal" Dnevnik News, Slovenia “Sexually emancipated, hilarious and kerosene fuelled… gender bending, bodice ripping, stereotype trashing, neo-circus cabaret madness” Metro UK “Every single artiste is wickedly entertaining, yet hugely different… saucier than your Edinburgh chippy … grotesquely addictive … with more than a tablespoonful of gothic sex appeal…” Three Weeks UK "Unmissable…The minds that inspired it are as sexy as the bodies that perform it… comic, erotic, dynamic, acrobatic… The Burlesque Hour is a night to remember and will retain its power to delight and disturb long after the carnival is over" The Age Melbourne “Jaw dropping, feisty, seductive, dynamic… I suggest you grab a drink, sit back and allow yourself to be thrilled. Unmissable. Edinburgh Guide The Burlesque Hour Created By Moira Finucane & Jackie Smith Set Adrienne Chisholm Lights Marko Respondeck Costumes David Anderson Sound Darrin Verhagen Venue: The Famous Spiegeltent, Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne Dates: Tues 11 Dec – Fri 14 Dec 2007 Time: 7pm Tickets: $38 full/$31 conc (gst incl) Bookings: All tickets through Ticketmaster Phone: 1300 136 166 Online: www.ticketmaster.com.au More Info: www.moirafinucane.com | |||||
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Rachel St. James peforms Burlesque Follies tonight at Ruby Rabbit De Nom, Sydney, Australia
Rachel St. James and Ruby Rabbit De Nom proudly present 'Burlesque Follies', inspired by the "Green Fairy" with special guests, Adam Mada and Dennis.
Tonight
Websites
Ruby Rabbit
Rachel St. James
Profiles
Rachel St. James
Ruby Rabbit
Burlesque
Tonight
Websites
Ruby Rabbit
Rachel St. James
Profiles
Rachel St. James
Ruby Rabbit
Burlesque
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
ABC's 'Sideshow' gets the gong, by Daniel Ziffer - The Age - 8th November 2007
CONTROVERSIAL comedy show The Glass House was axed last year amid ABC board denials that the decision was politically motivated. Now the show created from its ashes by the same company has been axed, too.
Hosted by Paul McDermott, The Sideshow, which screens at 9.30 on Saturday nights, is an hour-long mix of stand-up comedy, circus acts and music.
The final episode will air on December 1, leaving production house GNW TV with no active programs. The executive producer of both shows, Ted Robinson, was busy in rehearsals yesterday and did not return calls.
Co-host Claire Hooper said the show's impending demise was disappointing.
"I think it's just been amazing for the industry for up and coming comics (and) circus and burlesque acts to get their stuff on TV," she said.
A comedian who appeared on the hour-long program, Brisbane's Josh Thomas, said the 9.30 timeslot was a problem for The Sideshow. Thomas agreed with other comedians that the show should have been shown on Wednesdays, the night The Glass House aired and alongside ABC comedy hits The Chaser's War on Everything, Spicks and Specks and Summer Heights High.
Two weeks ago, when Summer Heights High ended, the three programs were the most-watched in the nation, with more than 1.5 million viewers each.
"(The Sideshow) was at 7.30pm and then moved to 9.30pm," Thomas said. "It's quite alternative and my grandma is probably the only person home at that time."
Ratings show that the program's audience skewed towards women over 55.
In the first 10 weeks, when The Sideshow was televised at 7.30pm, it drew about 615,000 viewers nationally. When it was moved to 8.30pm, the average was about 410,000. Melbourne viewers made up 32 per cent of the audience, with an average of 160,000 watching — more than in Sydney, where 136,000 tuned in.
Analysts consider the figures a solid result, particularly as The Sideshow spent most of the year up against AFL games.
ABC TV spokeswoman Lesna Thomas confirmed the show would not be renewed. "We tried two slots for it and the audience wasn't there," she said. "It's had a good year (but) for next year we're not having The Sideshow."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Burlesque
ABC
Hosted by Paul McDermott, The Sideshow, which screens at 9.30 on Saturday nights, is an hour-long mix of stand-up comedy, circus acts and music.
The final episode will air on December 1, leaving production house GNW TV with no active programs. The executive producer of both shows, Ted Robinson, was busy in rehearsals yesterday and did not return calls.
Co-host Claire Hooper said the show's impending demise was disappointing.
"I think it's just been amazing for the industry for up and coming comics (and) circus and burlesque acts to get their stuff on TV," she said.
A comedian who appeared on the hour-long program, Brisbane's Josh Thomas, said the 9.30 timeslot was a problem for The Sideshow. Thomas agreed with other comedians that the show should have been shown on Wednesdays, the night The Glass House aired and alongside ABC comedy hits The Chaser's War on Everything, Spicks and Specks and Summer Heights High.
Two weeks ago, when Summer Heights High ended, the three programs were the most-watched in the nation, with more than 1.5 million viewers each.
"(The Sideshow) was at 7.30pm and then moved to 9.30pm," Thomas said. "It's quite alternative and my grandma is probably the only person home at that time."
Ratings show that the program's audience skewed towards women over 55.
In the first 10 weeks, when The Sideshow was televised at 7.30pm, it drew about 615,000 viewers nationally. When it was moved to 8.30pm, the average was about 410,000. Melbourne viewers made up 32 per cent of the audience, with an average of 160,000 watching — more than in Sydney, where 136,000 tuned in.
Analysts consider the figures a solid result, particularly as The Sideshow spent most of the year up against AFL games.
ABC TV spokeswoman Lesna Thomas confirmed the show would not be renewed. "We tried two slots for it and the audience wasn't there," she said. "It's had a good year (but) for next year we're not having The Sideshow."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Burlesque
ABC
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Fetish for footwear, by Hadley Freeman - The Sydney Morning Herald - 28th October 2007
Painful heels, pointed toes, patent leather: the big trend in footwear this season is fetishism. But why, asks Hadley Freeman, would you want to dress like a lap dancer?
At the fashion shows in Paris early this month, I saw a woman who looked, to all intents and purposes, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, tilting by at least 45 degrees. Sensing that she was being quizzically watched, she straightened herself up and took tentative baby steps to her seat, barely able to move more than a cobblestone at a time.
It was Dita Von Teese - a burlesque dancer who has achieved a certain level of fame thanks largely to her diligently maintained cartoonish sexiness, which was certainly on display at the Louis Vuitton show - hoiked up on heels higher than the length of my hand.
Three years ago when I interviewed Von Teese, she claimed that she "literally" could not put her feet flat on the floor, having worn such high stilettos for so long. "So you stand on your tiptoes in the shower and stuff?" I asked. "Yes," she replied, with a solemn purse of blood-red lips.
At the time, this seemed like confirmation of Von Teese's strange devotion to extreme footwear and, with the rest of us in the room that day shod to a woman in ballet pumps and trainers, unique. However, when I saw her in Paris, Von Teese's feet, while still defying basic anatomy, did not look quite so unusual. Many journalists at the shows had been complaining about the lack of trends coming from the catwalks, but one look at the journalists themselves revealed quite an obvious one: fetishistic footwear.
This season has been dubbed the one of "extreme footwear", but the prevalence ("dominance" is probably the more accurate if not exactly delicate word here) of shoes that can rightfully be described as fetishistic (defined by the Oxford English Dictionary with typical dryness as "an object . . . which serves as the stimulus to, or the end in itself of, sexual desire") is remarkable.
The fashion magazines are in love with "shoots", which are basically ankle boots, savagely cut as low as possible and generally pointy toed, giving one the look of a Bond assassin, flick-knife concealed in the aggressive little tip.
Patent leather is easily the most popular shoe material this season and heels are vertiginous (or, for some of us, nearly suicidal). Balenciaga's multi-coloured heels wouldn't look out of place on a shelf of sex toys. Even those whom you might think would be more averse to playing the sexual aggression card seem to be taking inspiration from Madame Lash: the icily beautiful Keira Knightley appeared in Vogue two months ago wearing galumphing patent wedges with corset lacing up the side that, frankly, looked as if they were made for a transvestite prostitute.
If patent-leather ankle boots and silver platform stilettos seem a long way from tweeds and quilted tartan blankets, next season looks to be even more extreme, with Chloe making shoes that can only be described as peep-toe rubber weapons, and Balenciaga's beaded heels bringing to mind the title of the 1990 Almodovar film, Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down.
This isn't unpredictable. Collections for this season were full of fetishistic elements: leather dresses, thick quilted gloves and miniskirts and dresses in gaberdine (spill-proof clothes seem to be very popular in the fetish world, for reasons we need not ponder long). But, funnily enough, few women who work during daylight fancy trussing themselves up like Lily Savage, no matter how - to use the frequent justification of designers who keenly promote the look - comfortable they are with their sexuality. Hence the trend has been most successful in a slightly more discreet accessory: shoes.
"You can channel that feeling into your shoes in a way you can't with your clothes," says Serena Rees, co-founder of boutique sex-wear chain Agent Provocateur. "If you work in a bank, you can just wear your massive heels beneath your suit, suggesting something underneath."
This kind of contrast does sound quite seductive at first: Von Teese combined her heels at the fashion show with an almost demure Louis Vuitton knee-length green dress, keeping her from tipping over into camp cliche territory.
But there is, surely, something irredeemably tacky about fetish shoes, evoking swapping parties in the suburbs or desperately flirtatious wannabe socialites.
Not surprisingly, Rees disagrees: "Our take has always been to make a woman feel good about herself," she says. But how does wearing shoes that squeeze make anyone feel better? "A woman who feels sexy feels good about herself, but she has to be doing it for herself, not a man."
This brings one to the knotty question about dressing sexily and, in a more general sense, fashion as a whole. Fine, a woman feels better if she believes she's looking good, but isn't that just because she's getting sexual attention, in which case, isn't it ultimately another example of women suffering physical discomfort for male attention?
Currently in Paris there is an exhibition that, at first, seems to confirm this. David Lynch and Christian Louboutin have collaborated for the baldly named photography show Fetish, in which two women pose in a Blue Velvet atmosphere for Lynch, wearing Louboutin shoes that are definitely not made for walking, but would probably be perfect for walking over a grateful masochist. The shoes are so high the women are basically en pointe, and that's just the shoes they can actually wear, as opposed to the ones with nails and spikes.
The actual shoes are displayed on plinths in front of the photos and I wrenched my foot into the most innocuous, which was red (of course), indescribably high (naturally) and with a spike for a heel. Truly women were put on this earth to suffer, I mused, right before I fell over and banged my chin. Only two men, I grumpily thought, could come up with this exhibition. "But heels celebrate a woman," Rees protests. "They add and emphasise a woman's curves: they're not about skinniness." And she's right: in the notes accompanying the Parisian show, Louboutin writes, "David had only one demand: 'No bones'." And the models are lusciously curvy.
Rees' devotion to this style of footwear means that she knows how to make them wearable beyond the confines of a fashion shoot: "I know where the padding should be and how to make a heel look higher than it is. I've got great runaround heels, but also ones I can only wear as far as my bedroom door."
Certainly, there were no men around during the fashion weeks for the fetishistically shod fashion editors to entice. Instead, their shoes completed the scary facades that are de rigueur at fashion shows.
"A man might look at a woman in massive heels and think that she's teetering around, but she's not," says Rees. "She's striding forwards." Albeit just a few centimetres at a time.
Guardian
At the fashion shows in Paris early this month, I saw a woman who looked, to all intents and purposes, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, tilting by at least 45 degrees. Sensing that she was being quizzically watched, she straightened herself up and took tentative baby steps to her seat, barely able to move more than a cobblestone at a time.
It was Dita Von Teese - a burlesque dancer who has achieved a certain level of fame thanks largely to her diligently maintained cartoonish sexiness, which was certainly on display at the Louis Vuitton show - hoiked up on heels higher than the length of my hand.
Three years ago when I interviewed Von Teese, she claimed that she "literally" could not put her feet flat on the floor, having worn such high stilettos for so long. "So you stand on your tiptoes in the shower and stuff?" I asked. "Yes," she replied, with a solemn purse of blood-red lips.
At the time, this seemed like confirmation of Von Teese's strange devotion to extreme footwear and, with the rest of us in the room that day shod to a woman in ballet pumps and trainers, unique. However, when I saw her in Paris, Von Teese's feet, while still defying basic anatomy, did not look quite so unusual. Many journalists at the shows had been complaining about the lack of trends coming from the catwalks, but one look at the journalists themselves revealed quite an obvious one: fetishistic footwear.
This season has been dubbed the one of "extreme footwear", but the prevalence ("dominance" is probably the more accurate if not exactly delicate word here) of shoes that can rightfully be described as fetishistic (defined by the Oxford English Dictionary with typical dryness as "an object . . . which serves as the stimulus to, or the end in itself of, sexual desire") is remarkable.
The fashion magazines are in love with "shoots", which are basically ankle boots, savagely cut as low as possible and generally pointy toed, giving one the look of a Bond assassin, flick-knife concealed in the aggressive little tip.
Patent leather is easily the most popular shoe material this season and heels are vertiginous (or, for some of us, nearly suicidal). Balenciaga's multi-coloured heels wouldn't look out of place on a shelf of sex toys. Even those whom you might think would be more averse to playing the sexual aggression card seem to be taking inspiration from Madame Lash: the icily beautiful Keira Knightley appeared in Vogue two months ago wearing galumphing patent wedges with corset lacing up the side that, frankly, looked as if they were made for a transvestite prostitute.
If patent-leather ankle boots and silver platform stilettos seem a long way from tweeds and quilted tartan blankets, next season looks to be even more extreme, with Chloe making shoes that can only be described as peep-toe rubber weapons, and Balenciaga's beaded heels bringing to mind the title of the 1990 Almodovar film, Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down.
This isn't unpredictable. Collections for this season were full of fetishistic elements: leather dresses, thick quilted gloves and miniskirts and dresses in gaberdine (spill-proof clothes seem to be very popular in the fetish world, for reasons we need not ponder long). But, funnily enough, few women who work during daylight fancy trussing themselves up like Lily Savage, no matter how - to use the frequent justification of designers who keenly promote the look - comfortable they are with their sexuality. Hence the trend has been most successful in a slightly more discreet accessory: shoes.
"You can channel that feeling into your shoes in a way you can't with your clothes," says Serena Rees, co-founder of boutique sex-wear chain Agent Provocateur. "If you work in a bank, you can just wear your massive heels beneath your suit, suggesting something underneath."
This kind of contrast does sound quite seductive at first: Von Teese combined her heels at the fashion show with an almost demure Louis Vuitton knee-length green dress, keeping her from tipping over into camp cliche territory.
But there is, surely, something irredeemably tacky about fetish shoes, evoking swapping parties in the suburbs or desperately flirtatious wannabe socialites.
Not surprisingly, Rees disagrees: "Our take has always been to make a woman feel good about herself," she says. But how does wearing shoes that squeeze make anyone feel better? "A woman who feels sexy feels good about herself, but she has to be doing it for herself, not a man."
This brings one to the knotty question about dressing sexily and, in a more general sense, fashion as a whole. Fine, a woman feels better if she believes she's looking good, but isn't that just because she's getting sexual attention, in which case, isn't it ultimately another example of women suffering physical discomfort for male attention?
Currently in Paris there is an exhibition that, at first, seems to confirm this. David Lynch and Christian Louboutin have collaborated for the baldly named photography show Fetish, in which two women pose in a Blue Velvet atmosphere for Lynch, wearing Louboutin shoes that are definitely not made for walking, but would probably be perfect for walking over a grateful masochist. The shoes are so high the women are basically en pointe, and that's just the shoes they can actually wear, as opposed to the ones with nails and spikes.
The actual shoes are displayed on plinths in front of the photos and I wrenched my foot into the most innocuous, which was red (of course), indescribably high (naturally) and with a spike for a heel. Truly women were put on this earth to suffer, I mused, right before I fell over and banged my chin. Only two men, I grumpily thought, could come up with this exhibition. "But heels celebrate a woman," Rees protests. "They add and emphasise a woman's curves: they're not about skinniness." And she's right: in the notes accompanying the Parisian show, Louboutin writes, "David had only one demand: 'No bones'." And the models are lusciously curvy.
Rees' devotion to this style of footwear means that she knows how to make them wearable beyond the confines of a fashion shoot: "I know where the padding should be and how to make a heel look higher than it is. I've got great runaround heels, but also ones I can only wear as far as my bedroom door."
Certainly, there were no men around during the fashion weeks for the fetishistically shod fashion editors to entice. Instead, their shoes completed the scary facades that are de rigueur at fashion shows.
"A man might look at a woman in massive heels and think that she's teetering around, but she's not," says Rees. "She's striding forwards." Albeit just a few centimetres at a time.
Guardian
The Burlesque Ball, Sydney, Australia - review
Another fantastic Burlesque Ball. You epitomize what a world class burlesque event and full on happening should be all about. The positive contribution from your John was also evident, and great that it appears that congratulations are in order on a personal nature also.
I think that love was in the air on that wonderful evening with you and John, Todd and Angie "hanging out" and working, Rachael St. James (perhaps in line for Australian rising burlesque talent for the year) and Jason, and of course, Patricia and I. Patricia told me something along the lines that it was one of the greatest events she had ever been to and was the best thing I had taken her to.
Can't wait to see Todd's video and stills.
Jac, you and your amazing team have once against raised the bar in world class burlesque events.
PS: make sure Tara finds out that I thought she looked hot, deserved to win best dressed, and that it was me who shouted out her name and threw my arms in the air at the end, and she acknowledged it. I'm sure Tara will remember. She's also mentioned in Central magazine at the moment in the 'Be Afraid - Sydney's Spookiest Spots - Weird Sydney Ghost and history tours' article.
Let's all keep making history.
I think that love was in the air on that wonderful evening with you and John, Todd and Angie "hanging out" and working, Rachael St. James (perhaps in line for Australian rising burlesque talent for the year) and Jason, and of course, Patricia and I. Patricia told me something along the lines that it was one of the greatest events she had ever been to and was the best thing I had taken her to.
Can't wait to see Todd's video and stills.
Jac, you and your amazing team have once against raised the bar in world class burlesque events.
PS: make sure Tara finds out that I thought she looked hot, deserved to win best dressed, and that it was me who shouted out her name and threw my arms in the air at the end, and she acknowledged it. I'm sure Tara will remember. She's also mentioned in Central magazine at the moment in the 'Be Afraid - Sydney's Spookiest Spots - Weird Sydney Ghost and history tours' article.
Let's all keep making history.
Friday, October 26, 2007
The Burlesque Ball, Sydney, Australia, on tonight - 27th October 2007
First release tickets have now sold out for Sydney, so head to www.jacbowie.com to not miss out on the BIGGEST Burlesque event Australia has ever seen!
Dress Code is STRICTLY Black, Red or Burlesque! Looking for something to wear? We recommend
http://www.dragonsbloodcreations.com.au
http://www.nocturnaldesigns.com.au
The Burlesque Ball official website: www.jacbowie.com
Media Man Australia Profile
The Burlesque Ball
Dress Code is STRICTLY Black, Red or Burlesque! Looking for something to wear? We recommend
http://www.dragonsbloodcreations.com.au
http://www.nocturnaldesigns.com.au
The Burlesque Ball official website: www.jacbowie.com
Media Man Australia Profile
The Burlesque Ball
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Burlesque Media - Gypsy Wood on Ralph TV tomorrow night, Sydney, Australia
Burlesque performer, Gypsy Wood, will be on Network Nine's Ralph TV tomorrow night
Websites
Gypsy Wood
Gypsy Wood MySpace
Ralph
Ralph TV
Profiles
Ralph
Gypsy Wood
Websites
Gypsy Wood
Gypsy Wood MySpace
Ralph
Ralph TV
Profiles
Ralph
Gypsy Wood
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Kiss my sass, by Charles Purcell - The Sydney Morning Herald - 31st August 2007
Kiss my sass - credit: The Sydney Morning Herald
There are many reasons why burlesque is enjoying a worldwide comeback. You could point to the popularity of burlesque icon Dita Von Teese and her famous cocktail-glass routine - or its championing by pop stars such as Pink and Christina Aguilera, who employ it in their risque stage shows.
Then there's burlesque's sexy but non-threatening nature; the love of vintage and retro clothing; even the influence of pin-up star Bettie Page or raunchy American web sensations the Suicide Girls, who brought a burlesque show here last year.
Yet one of the key reasons has to be the novelty factor. In a world of entertainment where everything else appears familiar, burlesque seems new and exotic and original.
"I think it's due to the fact that people want something else when they go out," says Russall Beattie from Australian outfit Sugartime, which holds hit bi-monthly burlesque events at Darlinghurst's 34B.
"We come from a generation when everything has been done. These clubs have been around for hundreds of years."
For its next event, Sugartime is throwing Good Drugs, Bad Women, a burlesque extravaganza that includes Angie Pontani of the Pontani sisters, who were voted by AOL.com as America's No. 1 burlesque act.
Pontani is into "old-school style American burlesque stripteasing - I'm really into the bump and grind". One of her signature routines is "gold digger", where she shakes and shimmies on stage in a magnificent gold silk brocade corset.
"I think burlesque is a wonderful form of entertainment - beautiful, classic, classy," Pontani says.
Burlesque's wave of glitter and nostalgia has already hit Sydney, ranging from live shows at club nights to art classes at pubs (see below).
Performer Lola the Vamp - who intriguingly studied burlesque as part of a PhD - says Sydney has possibly the oldest burlesque scene in Australia.
"People like Imogen Kelly have been performing for about 20 years," she says.
"Performance-wise in Sydney there is a combination of performance art, conceptual and political work. There is also a sizeable retro- and vintage-inspired scene that has developed in the last few years in line with the retro-vintage resurgence around the world."
Indeed, there are many types of burlesque performers and some are finding audiences at mainstream events around Sydney. For example, Metro has recently watched contortionists at a corporate event to launch a mobile phone as well as an aerial performer who climbed a silken rope before doing elaborate manoeuvres metres above the ground at a charity event.
One thing all burlesque styles have in common is that it is not about the amount of skin shown. Most performers never go past the pasties and the panties. Rather, it's about the art of the tease. Or, one might say, it's more about the "sass" than "ass".
"That is definitely true," Pontani says. "It is about the tease, sass and class and being sexy. It's not sleazy, it's just fun."
The amazing clothes are an added attraction, the chance for performers and patrons to wear spectacular outfits from the heydays of Moulin Rouge chic and Las Vegas glam: giant headdresses, gloves, stockings, corsets and feather boas.
"I have hundreds of costumes between myself and the Pontani sisters, a whole warehouse of clothes," Pontani says. "I've�got rhinestone in my bloodstream."
Pontani's high-profile co-star in Good Drugs, Bad Women is American Miss Amber Marie, who, according to her press blurb, "drives straight men crazy and gay men straight". "Burlesque is fun, it's couple-friendly," Marie says. "You wouldn't take your girlfriend to a strip club. These women are having fun." (Incidentally, Beattie says that 60 per cent of Sugartime's audience is female.)
The line-up of Good Drugs, Bad Women includes homegrown talent Belladonnas de Lux, Tiger Lil, Cougar Jones and Miss Kelly Doll, plus "the live gutter sounds" of band the Snowdroppers.
"Burlesque for me is all about having fun with the audience," says Belladonnas de Lux's Tasia. "I have shared the stage with girls in giant martini glasses, fire breathers and snake charmers, high-flying aerialists, crazy comedians, TV stars, crooners and sultry songstresses. What a life!"
Another Aussie performer will be Kira Carden from Hu-La-La, the "hottest�hoop group in town".
"My signature act is circus hoops, with a rating from G to gee-whiz," she says.
Marie's signature routines include a fan dance, which is "a little dirty", and taking a cat bath in a giant saucer of milk, which she won't be able to bring to Australia.
It's a shame about the cat routine. Does she wear the catsuit outside of work? "No," she laughs.
Marie, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Von Teese in some photos but not in real life, says burlesque makes her "feel like I'm coming into myself".
I've always liked those tassels the old-time performers used to have. Does Marie have any?
"I do, yeah, I love them."
It looks hard to get one tassel to spin one way and one the other. "It is kind of tricky. [But] even a man could do it."
Maybe I'll give it a shot.
"You'll have to practice in the mirror."
I'll let you know how it goes.
GOOD DRUGS, BAD WOMEN
September 8, 8pm, Metro Theatre, city, 9550 3666, $30.
Give it a burlesque
Turn up to Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School at the ArtHouse Hotel on Tuesdays from 6.30pm and you'll get more than just a life-drawing class.
"Instead of a quiet life-drawing session, we have a bawdy night of entertainment where our models are burlesque starlets, punk rockers, dominatrixs and pin-up models," says Dr Sketchy's producer, Jac Bowie. "The models pose for two hours and in the middle of the evening there is a show."
Sugartime stages bi-monthly events at 34B Oxford Street, holding themed shows such as Love Letters from Paris. The Crystal Boudoir at GPO Sydney boasts a Parisian club feel, with performers in sequined costumes dancing to lounge music every Saturday from 9pm.
Lola the Vamp will be vamping it up at the Gaelic Club on September 20, her act billed as the most elaborate burlesque show Australia has ever seen. The Gaelic Club will also host the main event on the calendar, the annual Burlesque Ball, on October 27, which includes top stars such as Rachel St James and Gypsy Wood.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Burlesque
The Burlesque Ball
Jac Bowie
34B Burlesque
There are many reasons why burlesque is enjoying a worldwide comeback. You could point to the popularity of burlesque icon Dita Von Teese and her famous cocktail-glass routine - or its championing by pop stars such as Pink and Christina Aguilera, who employ it in their risque stage shows.
Then there's burlesque's sexy but non-threatening nature; the love of vintage and retro clothing; even the influence of pin-up star Bettie Page or raunchy American web sensations the Suicide Girls, who brought a burlesque show here last year.
Yet one of the key reasons has to be the novelty factor. In a world of entertainment where everything else appears familiar, burlesque seems new and exotic and original.
"I think it's due to the fact that people want something else when they go out," says Russall Beattie from Australian outfit Sugartime, which holds hit bi-monthly burlesque events at Darlinghurst's 34B.
"We come from a generation when everything has been done. These clubs have been around for hundreds of years."
For its next event, Sugartime is throwing Good Drugs, Bad Women, a burlesque extravaganza that includes Angie Pontani of the Pontani sisters, who were voted by AOL.com as America's No. 1 burlesque act.
Pontani is into "old-school style American burlesque stripteasing - I'm really into the bump and grind". One of her signature routines is "gold digger", where she shakes and shimmies on stage in a magnificent gold silk brocade corset.
"I think burlesque is a wonderful form of entertainment - beautiful, classic, classy," Pontani says.
Burlesque's wave of glitter and nostalgia has already hit Sydney, ranging from live shows at club nights to art classes at pubs (see below).
Performer Lola the Vamp - who intriguingly studied burlesque as part of a PhD - says Sydney has possibly the oldest burlesque scene in Australia.
"People like Imogen Kelly have been performing for about 20 years," she says.
"Performance-wise in Sydney there is a combination of performance art, conceptual and political work. There is also a sizeable retro- and vintage-inspired scene that has developed in the last few years in line with the retro-vintage resurgence around the world."
Indeed, there are many types of burlesque performers and some are finding audiences at mainstream events around Sydney. For example, Metro has recently watched contortionists at a corporate event to launch a mobile phone as well as an aerial performer who climbed a silken rope before doing elaborate manoeuvres metres above the ground at a charity event.
One thing all burlesque styles have in common is that it is not about the amount of skin shown. Most performers never go past the pasties and the panties. Rather, it's about the art of the tease. Or, one might say, it's more about the "sass" than "ass".
"That is definitely true," Pontani says. "It is about the tease, sass and class and being sexy. It's not sleazy, it's just fun."
The amazing clothes are an added attraction, the chance for performers and patrons to wear spectacular outfits from the heydays of Moulin Rouge chic and Las Vegas glam: giant headdresses, gloves, stockings, corsets and feather boas.
"I have hundreds of costumes between myself and the Pontani sisters, a whole warehouse of clothes," Pontani says. "I've�got rhinestone in my bloodstream."
Pontani's high-profile co-star in Good Drugs, Bad Women is American Miss Amber Marie, who, according to her press blurb, "drives straight men crazy and gay men straight". "Burlesque is fun, it's couple-friendly," Marie says. "You wouldn't take your girlfriend to a strip club. These women are having fun." (Incidentally, Beattie says that 60 per cent of Sugartime's audience is female.)
The line-up of Good Drugs, Bad Women includes homegrown talent Belladonnas de Lux, Tiger Lil, Cougar Jones and Miss Kelly Doll, plus "the live gutter sounds" of band the Snowdroppers.
"Burlesque for me is all about having fun with the audience," says Belladonnas de Lux's Tasia. "I have shared the stage with girls in giant martini glasses, fire breathers and snake charmers, high-flying aerialists, crazy comedians, TV stars, crooners and sultry songstresses. What a life!"
Another Aussie performer will be Kira Carden from Hu-La-La, the "hottest�hoop group in town".
"My signature act is circus hoops, with a rating from G to gee-whiz," she says.
Marie's signature routines include a fan dance, which is "a little dirty", and taking a cat bath in a giant saucer of milk, which she won't be able to bring to Australia.
It's a shame about the cat routine. Does she wear the catsuit outside of work? "No," she laughs.
Marie, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Von Teese in some photos but not in real life, says burlesque makes her "feel like I'm coming into myself".
I've always liked those tassels the old-time performers used to have. Does Marie have any?
"I do, yeah, I love them."
It looks hard to get one tassel to spin one way and one the other. "It is kind of tricky. [But] even a man could do it."
Maybe I'll give it a shot.
"You'll have to practice in the mirror."
I'll let you know how it goes.
GOOD DRUGS, BAD WOMEN
September 8, 8pm, Metro Theatre, city, 9550 3666, $30.
Give it a burlesque
Turn up to Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School at the ArtHouse Hotel on Tuesdays from 6.30pm and you'll get more than just a life-drawing class.
"Instead of a quiet life-drawing session, we have a bawdy night of entertainment where our models are burlesque starlets, punk rockers, dominatrixs and pin-up models," says Dr Sketchy's producer, Jac Bowie. "The models pose for two hours and in the middle of the evening there is a show."
Sugartime stages bi-monthly events at 34B Oxford Street, holding themed shows such as Love Letters from Paris. The Crystal Boudoir at GPO Sydney boasts a Parisian club feel, with performers in sequined costumes dancing to lounge music every Saturday from 9pm.
Lola the Vamp will be vamping it up at the Gaelic Club on September 20, her act billed as the most elaborate burlesque show Australia has ever seen. The Gaelic Club will also host the main event on the calendar, the annual Burlesque Ball, on October 27, which includes top stars such as Rachel St James and Gypsy Wood.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Burlesque
The Burlesque Ball
Jac Bowie
34B Burlesque
Iconic Australia Sex Symbol Goes Overseas
Gretel "Madame Lash" Pinniger has taken a few weeks break to travel to Bali. Over the years Gretel has given guidance and inspiration to burlesque entities such as Gypsy Wood, Lou Lou Whelan, Jac Bowie and Rachel St. James. We look forward to assisting Madame Lash with her homecoming party upon her return.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Burlesque Media Update
Dr. Sketchy, Sydney, Australia - Jac Bowie and her troupe continues to wow them at The ArtHouse Hotel, Tuesday nights in Sydney, Australia. Jac is taking the show / franchise national, starting in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. For more details: Jac Bowie PR & Events - Media Man Australia - Profile Website www.jacbowie.com
Google News search for "burlesque australia"
Betty Page shirts as seen at Wintersun Festival, Gold Coast - we bought a Betty Page shirt from Gorgeous Gear on our recent trip to the Gold Coast. Check out their fab range of clothes, perfect for burlesque events.
Burlesque Profile - Media Man Australia
Google News search for "burlesque australia"
Betty Page shirts as seen at Wintersun Festival, Gold Coast - we bought a Betty Page shirt from Gorgeous Gear on our recent trip to the Gold Coast. Check out their fab range of clothes, perfect for burlesque events.
Burlesque Profile - Media Man Australia
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Seductive Sydney - Sydney Morning Herald - 6th May 2007
Seductive Sydney - The Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney is undeniably one of the most romantic cities in the world, writes Denise Cullen.
Sydney is a very sexy place. Just ask fashion designer Leona Edmiston, who swears by the city's aphrodisiacal charms. "It's all about the body," she insists.
Blame it on the sunshine - 342 days a year. Blame it on the moonlight, reflected on the harbour late at night. Maybe you can even blame it on the Opera House, an icon to rival the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop for cooing couples on holiday. These days, Sydney wants to be known for more than just money and sin. It wants to be romantic.
Can thousands of Asian honeymoon couples be wrong? Sydney regularly polls as one of the top-three destinations for newly wed Japanese, Korean and Chinese tourists. Interstate couples have also started to take advantage of cheap flight-and-hotel packages to enjoy a romantic weekend in the nation's oldest city.
Yet, according to a recent study commissioned by the Hilton Sydney, more than three million Australians don't know how to begin once they've hung out the "do not disturb" sign. About a third are too embarrassed to seek ideas, while almost half simply hope things will get better over time.
This explains the hotel's new Provocateur package, wherein the room comes with rose petals, candles, champagne, an aphrodisiac platter (oysters, fig tart, etc), and a pamphlet of tips from S & M mistress Madame Lash. You have to bring your own partner, however.
One of the best ways to get the pulse racing outside the bedroom is by climbing to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The trek along the top of the structure offers spectacular views, but don't overlook the Discovery Climb, a new route which draws climbers through the heart of the bridge before their ascent to the summit. It offers a more intimate focus on the architecture and engineering of the bridge, as climbers witness an interplay of light and shadow that is particularly fetching as twilight descends.
If the experience inspires you to indulge in a sky-high smooch - or perhaps even pop the question - you won't be the first. Since opening in 1998, BridgeClimb Sydney estimates more than 1700 couples have become engaged on the bridge.
If the way to your companion's heart is through sweets rather than brisk exercise, then take advantage of the current competition between makers by picking up some mint fondants, pralines swirled with hazelnuts, or stemmed cherries steeped in Kirsch and dipped in the deepest, darkest chocolate. Lindt, Haigh's and Jeff de Bruges are among the upmarket chocolatiers who have set up shop in the CBD.
The new burlesque - ABC Radio - Artworks - 20th May 2007
Artworks takes a look at the new burlesque with the person who is often described as 'the world's most fashionable woman,' Dita Von Teese— a retro fantasy of Hollywood glamour and corsetry.
You can also hear the Australian performer who takes a much more subversive line on the old art of burlesque, Moira Finucane, co-creator of The burlesque hour and Fiona Scott-Norman. Fiona's a performer as well as journalist and one-time reviewer of cabaret.
And Artworks drops in on a life drawing class, Dr Sketchys. It runs every Tuesday night at a noisy pub in inner-Sydney, the Art House, and the models are burlesque performers. The classes are about to open in Brisbane too. Regina Botros is our guide.
The Burlesque Hours Melbourne Shows are at
fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Thurs 21 June - Sun 15 July 2007
Stephen Burnett
Dr Sketchy's MC
Jac Bowie
Manager Dr Sketchy's
Moira Finucane
Performance artist
Fiona Scott-Norman
Performer
Dita Von Teese
Performer
Further Information
Presenter
Amanda Smith
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Jac Bowie secured rights to Gold Coast’s first ever Burlesque Club
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jac Bowie secured rights to Gold Coast’s first ever Burlesque Club.
Jac Bowie PR & Events is thrilled to announce the opening of the Gold Coast’s first ever Burlesque club, Desire Burlesque.
WEEKLY PROMOTIONS & EVENTS:
Fridays: The Ruby Revue (Traditional, decadent Burlesque) From 9:00pm
Saturdays: Vaudevillians (Vaudeville & Circus Burlesque night) From 9:00pm
Sundays: Fetish Burlesque (Lesbian / Gay) From 8:00pm
Broadbeach 4218 QLD
Fax ; 07 55388177
All media enquiries:
Jac Bowie
Jac Bowie PR & Events Pty Ltd
PH 0439 078 606
Jac Bowie
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Dr. Sketchy's Sydney - every Tuesday, Arthouse Hotel
Dr.Sketchy's, Sydney, is on every Tuesday at The Arthouse Hotel
Dr. Sketchy's Sydney MySpace
Media Man Australia Profiles
Dr. Sketchy's
Jac Bowie
Burlesque
Art
Dr. Sketchy's Sydney MySpace
Media Man Australia Profiles
Dr. Sketchy's
Jac Bowie
Burlesque
Art
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Art of Performance, by Katrina Fox - 12th April 2007 - Sx
The Art of Performance, by Katrina Fox - 12th April 2007 - Sx
In 2005, American artists Molly Crabapple and AV Phibes asked the question, "Why can't drawing naked people be sexy?" They then proceeded to comb the world to find the most beautiful burlesque dancers, most bizarre circus freaks and handsome hunks of men, in order to make art sexy. The result was Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School, a regular event held in Brooklyn, New York, which became a movement and has now landed in Sydney.
In 2005, American artists Molly Crabapple and AV Phibes asked the question, "Why can't drawing naked people be sexy?" They then proceeded to comb the world to find the most beautiful burlesque dancers, most bizarre circus freaks and handsome hunks of men, in order to make art sexy. The result was Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School, a regular event held in Brooklyn, New York, which became a movement and has now landed in Sydney.
Each Tuesday at the Arthouse Hotel, a group of performers and models will make themselves available for anyone who wants to sketch them. The roster so far includes Sarina del Fuego, Jamilla De Ville, Suzie Q and Kira Hu La La.
"The aim of the evening is to make art sexy," says organiser Jac Bowie. "As opposed to a very quiet art life drawing class, this incorporates entertainment too and people are coming to draw a character. The girls and guys will be in very elaborate costumes and will bring props with them. The models sit for one hour in various poses, then there'll be a performance. Then they sit again. During that time there's music on, and drinks."
To add to the fun, little competitions are held throughout the night, such as 'Best five-minute left-hand drawing' or 'Best incorporation of a woodland animal' in which participants can win drinks or prizes.
While it's mainly an evening for sketchers, others are welcome to come along for the ambient entertainment, and no one is forced to draw. "The Arthouse has an art life drawing class on a Monday night which is huge," Bowie says. "They are always packed out and knocking people back each week so I think we'll have a lot of the crew from there. And with it being burlesque too you've got a lot of people who are already booking for certain people like Kira because she's got quite a following, so there'll be a lot of the burlesque crew too, and maybe some corporate people who want something different to do after work; it should be an interesting mix."
Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School is held on Tuesday nights, 6.30pm-9.30pm at the Arthouse Hotel, 275 Pitt St, Sydney. Cost is $15 which includes a free drink. Anyone interested in posing should contact Jac Bowie on 0439 078 606or visit www.jacbowie.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
Friday, April 06, 2007
Burlesque girls put sketchers on a learning curve, by Clara Iaccarino - 7th April 2007 - The Sydney Morning Herald
Burlesque girls put sketchers on a learning curve - The Sydney Morning Herald
Molly Crabapple, an illustrator for The New York Times, was disillusioned with the Big Apple's life drawing classes. She longed for romanticism and sexiness - what she describes as the "booze-and-hot-chicks fantasy" that led her to enrol in art school.
Five years ago she set up Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School, a life drawing club where cabaret meets art school, and burlesque acts pose, scantily-clad and feathered.
"Two years of twisting my back for 15 bucks an hour as an artist's model convinced me that modern sketch classes weren't nearly as sexy as they were cracked up to be," Crabapple said. "I wanted a sketch class that jived with my daydreams and rewarded models for their talent."
The concept is now found in 16 cities, with a Dr Sketchy's launching in Sydney on Tuesday and another to follow in Brisbane. The schools replace silent models with "bodacious burlesque queens". The promoter and booking agent Jac Bowie believes there is a demand for risque entertainment fused with arts.
Bowie believes her Burlesque Ball, hosted by Bessie Bardot last year, pushed the art form into the mainstream. "People are familiar with Dita von Teese and they are screaming out for more, different entertainment," she said.
Hula hooper and theatre performer Kira Carden (aka Kira from Hu La La), will be a regular. As she contorts her body within a slinky of 40 hoops, gyrating in a cherry bikini, she bats her gold-flecked lids and fake eyelashes: sexy, skilful and mischievous.
"Burlesque girls are a bit curvy and with all the feathers and everything, it will be great," Carden said. "I can't wait to see everybody's pictures."
Profiles
Freak storm: sideshow alley to shake up the Show, by Daniel Lewis - The Sydney Morning Herald - 4th April 2007
Freak storm: sideshow alley to shake up the Show - The Sydney Morning Herald - 4th April 2007
The following article appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald. While the article is not purley about burlesque, it means the Easter Show and "Carnies" (carnivals), and also mentioned the late, great, Big Chief Little Wolf, father of our great friend, David Little Wolf. Happy Easter.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
The following article appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald. While the article is not purley about burlesque, it means the Easter Show and "Carnies" (carnivals), and also mentioned the late, great, Big Chief Little Wolf, father of our great friend, David Little Wolf. Happy Easter.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
In A retro move stirring nostalgia in those who remember the bearded lady, the Royal Easter Show is bringing back the freaks that once starred in sideshow alley.
The Psycho Sideshow of Anarchy features acts like midget belly dancer Tiny Rima and the sword swallowing Space Cowboy.
This is the Show's 10th year at Homebush but when the Show starts tomorrow there will be a Big Top with three weird and wonderful shows daily, and the Tiny Top, which seats 36. It started in 2000 and tent master Tony Rooke is delighted to be appearing for the first time at an agricultural show. Contemporary sideshow, he stresses, has none of the exploitation associated with sideshow freaks in the movie Elephant Man.
Mr Rooke said some people took offence at acts like Tiny Rima, but "we treat Rima like royalty. She loves [performing]. Everybody's got something special about them."
Rima Hadchiti, 24, from Melbourne, is one metre tall and weighs 19.5 kilograms. Her father is a musician who encouraged her to dance and "entertainment was always in my blood". She has no fear of the label freak. "I actually think that we are all freaks. You will never find a person who is exactly like you. I'm just expressing my freakiness, like everyone else."
Space Cowboy - Chayne Hultgren, 28, from Byron Bay - swallows a torso-length steel sword and does a mind-reading act. He won't be doing the act where he guesses which one of five polystyrene cups has a knife in it by smashing the other cups with his hand after an accident last month in Adelaide. "The newspaper headline was, 'Psychic Needs Surgery After Slice of Reality'," he said.
Rod Berrell, 63, one of the Show's horse-riding greencoats in the Main Arena, said the Tiny Top it took him back. "One of the things I remember very vividly was Big Chief Little Wolf, the wrestler," he said. "He put an Indian death lock on me."
Video - freaks and more at the show
Media Man Australia profiles
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Burlesque Media Update - Bessie Bardot, Jac Bowie, Dr Sketchy's and more
Burlesque fever is alive and well in Sydney, Australia.
19th March 2007 - Pole Position, by Keith Austin - The Sydney Morning Herald
Bessie Bardot says there's nothing smutty about her new show, despite the title.
In the finale to the 17th season of The Simpsons, Marge and Homer play relationship counsellor to baseball player Buck "Homerun King" Mitchell and his pole-dancing-addicted wife, Tabitha Vixx. The first session, in the Simpsons' living room, prompts this exchange:
Tabitha: "Oh! Your standing lamp is dirty. Let me polish it."
Bart (on his mobile after seeing Tabitha dancing around the lamp): "Cancel all my appointments."
Whether you'll want to cancel all your appointments when new adult reality show Erotic Star kicks off on Foxtel's Arena on Saturday is neither here nor there. The point is pole-dancing has been "done" on The Simpsons. It's arrived.
Or has it? When Home and Away wants to make the point that a character's life (Martha McKenzie, played by Jodi Gordon) is spiralling out of control, they have her enter the supposedly seedy world of pole dancing.
It's a dichotomy that wasn't lost on former model, author and businesswoman Bessie Bardot, the host and co-producer (with husband Geoff Barker) of Erotic Star.
"There is a fine line between being overtly sexual," she says, "but also making sure everyone feels comfortable watching it. I was constantly alert for that. I was always keeping in mind how things were being filmed ... I wanted to be involved in a show that was great TV, but not exploitative, and really kept an elegance about it. Just because it's about exotic dancers doesn't mean it has to be smutty."
Erotic Star, based on a British series that aired last year, is about the search for Australia's "most sensuous performer" and has all the hallmarks of the genre - challenges, performances, judges and evictions - but with the addition of women in hot pants and high heels.
"We did the pilot but really didn't expect to hear anything until we got a frantic call saying they wanted it in three weeks. So we shot eight episodes in eight days in a beautiful beachside house in Manly. It was full-on but, from a producer's point of view, it was fantastic because we had to make it in real time. The girls didn't get a chance to practise in between the challenges. It was exactly how you would hope a reality show would be filmed."
Anyone hoping for a cheap thrill, however, is likely to be disappointed. One of the first girls to go was described by Bardot as too sexy.
"The point was to make an international reality show about the hugely popular pole dancing and the resurgence of burlesque ... so we're looking for a true performer," Bardot says. "Someone who has those burlesque qualities, the amazing costumes, with wit and character coming through ... just being able to wiggle a little bit or table dance was definitely not good enough."
And it's not as easy as it looks. Just watching some of the girls' routines is exhausting. And for evidence that it's not just about a pole and a girl in her knickers dancing around it, watch the Sofia Coppola-directed pop video for the White Stripes' version of I Just Don't Know What To Do with Myself. It features a pole-dancing Kate Moss, who couldn't have done a worse job had she been wearing hobnail boots and a poncho.
So did Bardot herself think to give it a go? "Well, not until the show, and I only tried it when nobody was around. All the crew and the girls were on a break and ... well, I'd seen one of the girls jump upside down on the pole and do this beautiful slow slide around the pole. Of course, I failed miserably. Couldn't even get up on it. It looked incredibly unglamorous, so my ego was a bit bruised. It takes incredible strength. I'm not that strong and not that flexible.
"These girls are like elite athletes. They have to train, learn their choreography. This is their career of choice, not because they got into a bad situation through dependency on substances. Some people are like that but not these girls. Their parents know about it and are proud of them. I think it's good for people to know you can't put them all in one basket."
And who knows where it will all lead? Guess what Anna Nicole Smith was doing when she caught the eye of 85-year-old J. Howard Marshall II in 1991.
Erotic Star premieres on Arena on Saturday at 11.30pm.
Media Man Australia Burlesque Profiles
Bessie Bardot
Jac Bowie Events and PR
The Burlesque Ball
Dr Sketchy's
Madame Lash
Media Man Australia Foxtel Profile
Disclaimer: Media Man Australia, Greg Tingle, is the Media and PR Director for Jac Bowie Events & PR, and has done business with Bessie Bardot, and successfully pitched Foxtel on a range on initiatives.
19th March 2007 - Pole Position, by Keith Austin - The Sydney Morning Herald
Bessie Bardot says there's nothing smutty about her new show, despite the title.
In the finale to the 17th season of The Simpsons, Marge and Homer play relationship counsellor to baseball player Buck "Homerun King" Mitchell and his pole-dancing-addicted wife, Tabitha Vixx. The first session, in the Simpsons' living room, prompts this exchange:
Tabitha: "Oh! Your standing lamp is dirty. Let me polish it."
Bart (on his mobile after seeing Tabitha dancing around the lamp): "Cancel all my appointments."
Whether you'll want to cancel all your appointments when new adult reality show Erotic Star kicks off on Foxtel's Arena on Saturday is neither here nor there. The point is pole-dancing has been "done" on The Simpsons. It's arrived.
Or has it? When Home and Away wants to make the point that a character's life (Martha McKenzie, played by Jodi Gordon) is spiralling out of control, they have her enter the supposedly seedy world of pole dancing.
It's a dichotomy that wasn't lost on former model, author and businesswoman Bessie Bardot, the host and co-producer (with husband Geoff Barker) of Erotic Star.
"There is a fine line between being overtly sexual," she says, "but also making sure everyone feels comfortable watching it. I was constantly alert for that. I was always keeping in mind how things were being filmed ... I wanted to be involved in a show that was great TV, but not exploitative, and really kept an elegance about it. Just because it's about exotic dancers doesn't mean it has to be smutty."
Erotic Star, based on a British series that aired last year, is about the search for Australia's "most sensuous performer" and has all the hallmarks of the genre - challenges, performances, judges and evictions - but with the addition of women in hot pants and high heels.
"We did the pilot but really didn't expect to hear anything until we got a frantic call saying they wanted it in three weeks. So we shot eight episodes in eight days in a beautiful beachside house in Manly. It was full-on but, from a producer's point of view, it was fantastic because we had to make it in real time. The girls didn't get a chance to practise in between the challenges. It was exactly how you would hope a reality show would be filmed."
Anyone hoping for a cheap thrill, however, is likely to be disappointed. One of the first girls to go was described by Bardot as too sexy.
"The point was to make an international reality show about the hugely popular pole dancing and the resurgence of burlesque ... so we're looking for a true performer," Bardot says. "Someone who has those burlesque qualities, the amazing costumes, with wit and character coming through ... just being able to wiggle a little bit or table dance was definitely not good enough."
And it's not as easy as it looks. Just watching some of the girls' routines is exhausting. And for evidence that it's not just about a pole and a girl in her knickers dancing around it, watch the Sofia Coppola-directed pop video for the White Stripes' version of I Just Don't Know What To Do with Myself. It features a pole-dancing Kate Moss, who couldn't have done a worse job had she been wearing hobnail boots and a poncho.
So did Bardot herself think to give it a go? "Well, not until the show, and I only tried it when nobody was around. All the crew and the girls were on a break and ... well, I'd seen one of the girls jump upside down on the pole and do this beautiful slow slide around the pole. Of course, I failed miserably. Couldn't even get up on it. It looked incredibly unglamorous, so my ego was a bit bruised. It takes incredible strength. I'm not that strong and not that flexible.
"These girls are like elite athletes. They have to train, learn their choreography. This is their career of choice, not because they got into a bad situation through dependency on substances. Some people are like that but not these girls. Their parents know about it and are proud of them. I think it's good for people to know you can't put them all in one basket."
And who knows where it will all lead? Guess what Anna Nicole Smith was doing when she caught the eye of 85-year-old J. Howard Marshall II in 1991.
Erotic Star premieres on Arena on Saturday at 11.30pm.
Media Man Australia Burlesque Profiles
Bessie Bardot
Jac Bowie Events and PR
The Burlesque Ball
Dr Sketchy's
Madame Lash
Media Man Australia Foxtel Profile
Disclaimer: Media Man Australia, Greg Tingle, is the Media and PR Director for Jac Bowie Events & PR, and has done business with Bessie Bardot, and successfully pitched Foxtel on a range on initiatives.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Burlesque in Australian Media
Burlesque in Australian media today
Read the article, 'Confessions of a burlesque ingenue'
Profiles
Burlesque
Lola The Vamp
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
Read the article, 'Confessions of a burlesque ingenue'
Profiles
Burlesque
Lola The Vamp
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Burlesque Media
Media Man Australia has updated it's Burlesque profile.
Profiles
Jac Bowie aka "The Burlesque Blogger"
Rachel St. James
Lorelei and Sarina
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au
Profiles
Jac Bowie aka "The Burlesque Blogger"
Rachel St. James
Lorelei and Sarina
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Burlesque Portfolio Updated
The Media Man Australia Burlesque profile has been updated.
Profiles on burlesque greats such as Rachel St. James, Wendy Dys, Gypsy, Lorelei and Sarina, Dita Von Teese and Lola The Vamp @
http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/burlesque.html
Profiles on burlesque greats such as Rachel St. James, Wendy Dys, Gypsy, Lorelei and Sarina, Dita Von Teese and Lola The Vamp @
http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/burlesque.html
Friday, November 24, 2006
The Burlesque Ball on ABC Radio
Media Man Australia was delighted to assist The Burlesque Ball with media coverage. Recently The Burlesque Ball had a feature on them on ABC Radio.
Listed to the interview via The Burlesque Ball official website.
More burlesque news on the profiles page.
Listed to the interview via The Burlesque Ball official website.
More burlesque news on the profiles page.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Welcome to the Burlesque Media blog
Burlesque Media is a creation of Media Man Australia.
We are delighted to play a modest part in the revival of burlesque, particuarly in Sydney, Australia.
Special thanks to the following who are working tirlessly and have been of great assistance to us in our burlesque work:
Lou Lou Whelan, Wendy Dys, Madame Lash and Jac Bowie.
Visit the Media Man Australia burlesque profile.
More news in the near future.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au
We are delighted to play a modest part in the revival of burlesque, particuarly in Sydney, Australia.
Special thanks to the following who are working tirlessly and have been of great assistance to us in our burlesque work:
Lou Lou Whelan, Wendy Dys, Madame Lash and Jac Bowie.
Visit the Media Man Australia burlesque profile.
More news in the near future.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au
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