Event Review - Twirl ‘n Tone presents: “Decadence on the dance floor”Showcase.
As part of being a student at the Pole dance fitness academy I attend, they organise two pole show cases a year. One in spring, then one in winter. This allows the students to perform their work to an audience of family, friends and other guests. Not only does the evening include the stunning and talented people from the academy, but special burlesque guest performers are invited a long to put some variation into the evening. I am not at the stage of being ready to perform in front of an audience - far from it, but I wanted to support them, and be there in the audience to see what the show was all about, and I knew from reading the flyer, it would be an exceptional night out, and it meant I could chat to people on an even more social basis as well. I felt very lucky to be part of the audience and getting to witness the sheer talent, creativeness and strength of everyone. I promised some people I would write a real event review of the evening. So here it goes:
I arrived at the ALEA casino, and it was all very prim and proper as I entered and proceeded up the escalator, which had a very grand looking bar area and I was welcomed at the door to the function hall for the show, by two bubbly girls who directed me to the door. I think it’s great that the show is located at such a place as well. At first I felt very nervous as I was attending myself and I had it in my head that a lot of the performers, who I have built a comfortable familiarity with over the last three months, were going to be back stage or at a specific table, which I understand from being a performer myself in the theatre world, so I sheepishly located any old table, but luckily and kindly, Instructor **T** found me and got me a very good seat at the very front with some people who she introduced me and it felt very comfortable to chat to them, and I turned round to saw the table with familiar faces and was all smiles and waves, and then I felt totally at ease, and ready to enjoy the show with my Bacardi and Cola. Throughout the night I ended up sitting with lots of different people anyway, which was good.
The evening was very well put together by owner **A** and managed well by many instructors and helpers who were back stage, and everybody did a grand job at making it a success for us all who were there to be entertained, as everything happened very smoothly throughout, so a mega applause for the crew as well as the performers. It was structured in three acts, with each act having several pole performers from the academy, but with a side show in between of a burlesque type performance, for example sword swallowing. Each act had an interval after each, which was a great way to structure it, because it meant audience could top up drinks, and performers from each act could enjoy the rest of the show in the acts they wern’t scheduled on. There was a very hilarious, classy and talented man called Tom Harlow who, as I understand is a rather well known burlesque performer, who hosted the evening, and he for me had my attention right from the beginning, all the way through. I actually looked forward to each time he entered the stage. He was dressed in a corset and trousers and very exaggerated make-up, he reminded me of Cabaret the musical, which funnily enough, was his opening singing number. I thought his voice was outstanding and his stage presence was very strong, and his confidence shone over the entire room. You could tell he had been doing this line of work for a very long time. I also felt he engaged with the audience brilliantly, It was like he became the audience’s friend immediately and when joking around, he did so in a tasteful way. I have been at a Cabaret evening before, where certain acts put you on the spot in an uncomfortable way, by asking you questions and getting you to stand up and things like that but this guy did not. He made his jokes primarily in a generic way to everyone in the room, and only occasionally pointing someone out, but it was very quick and sharp moved, and it meant the person wasn’t looked at for too long. I liked that. It was just enough joking around.
For the side show acts, there were two burlesque stripping acts, of which I admired the womens’ confidence and poise on stage and the costumes were amazing. They really caught everybody’s eye and the stripping element was performed very tastefully and with elegance. There was a very unique performer called Kim Khaos, who did a performance where she firstly ate glass pieces from a smashed up light bulb. At first I thought she was an illusionist, when I saw her eat the light bulb, but then I watched her second act, and she was literally dancing on a pile of broken glass. Now...I have stepped on a tiny piece of glass once at a New Year’s Eve party and I can tell you It is not very fun, It got stuck inside my foot and spent New Years Day morning (whilst hungover) trying to fish it out! so I was very flabbergasted at the talent she possessed of being able to comfortably dance in a pile of it and I sat in my seat, wondering how the heck she was doing this. I also thought to myself, how do you “practice” not standing in it the wrong way? I most definitely won’t be trying this at home! But Kudos to Kim! There was also a sword swallower act, who was very slick and did the job well, the best part was when he did two at once. I still don’t see how people do that, they must have a mighty disciplined gag reflex. Lastly there was an act towards the very end of the night called Frank Sinazi, who was a Hitler impersonator, and he sang Frank Sinatra songs, but changed lyrics to suit his jokes. On a positive note, he had a very good singing voice and possessed the cabaret feel, and his work is very clever and some of it is funny, most definitely, but at times I did feel a little uncomfortable with his jokes, but that is purely a personal taste.
So moving onto the amazing pole artists!
There were at least over twenty pole acts, so I won’t review every single one, as that will make this review more like a catalogue, so I will review generically, but with a few examples that stood out to me the most. Each act had their own unique speciality and beauty within it. The re-occuring music theme, seemed to be rock, which is a genre of music I enjoy, so I really enjoyed that about the acts. It got you pumped up as you watched the performance. It was very clear that every single person performing had put a lot of thought into their pieces, as they were all on point, totally in time and I didn’t notice any mistakes, and if there were, they were masked and recovered brilliantly.The moves being pulled were effortless, and full of flexibility and smoothness. I also thought everyone's’ choice of costume were great too, a lot of them tied in with their act. One of my favourite costumes was *L* who was first on, she had a garland of flowers on her which lit up, which was really lovely. I also really liked **A**’s snake themed costume, which was very cool. The acts I enjoyed the most however, were the pieces with a little bit of a unique beginning, like a hint of acting. For example **K** with her need to be an amazing pole and rock star with the help of a famous pole artist, then someone of authority not agreeing, but she tears through that and rocks on anyway, and her moves as I expected were simply flawless and her piece in general was just full of energy and class, and she quite rightly got a very massive cheer at the end. I also adored the pieces that involved gymnastic influences. They were spectacular to watch. One example was a doubles performance by **A** and **J** who did a strong metal rock song and was very fast paced, but their gymnastic moves stood out to me a lot, there were some flips, and **J** holding **A** in very impressive positions, then with their amazing pole skills in-between. This style of poling is very entertaining to watch, and keeps you at the edge of your seat to see what they do next. The other type of performance I enjoyed were songs that had a slower tempo, for example, one was from a girl called **Z** who used a very slow and sensual song choice by Rihanna, and it was the one pole act I felt emotional to watch, her movements were so in synch with the song’s feel and It made me feel very drawn in to her performance. There is no wrong answer when it comes to pole performing, everybody has a style they pursue and all of them are very special in their own way, and I loved watching all the different takes on performing on the pole. Everything I watched, pole wise has further encouraged me to keep working on my own moves and become confident and smooth at it and one day be good enough to join these people and perform something special too.
Thank you Twirl n Tone for a lovely, entertaining evening, keep up the amazing work! You are all a true inspiration.
