Oh, Stella!

The Burlesque Beginnings of Stella de la O

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A little bit of Glamour Inspiration: Hedy Lamarr At one time, she was simultaneously one of the smartest women in the world and lauded as the most beautiful woman in the world. Tough job but someone needed to do it. Oh, and you can thank her for wi-fi.

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See more amazing showgirl and burlesque costumes at 

http://fortheloveoflingerie.com/20-vintage-showgirl-costumes-will-amaze/

And follow

http://for-the-love-of-lingerie.tumblr.com/

[schoolofburlesque]

Adventures in Burlesque Costuming – With Vicky Butterfly

Photo: Vicky Butterfly by Maria S Varela. Please do not use without source and photo credit.

This is the beginning of a new feature on our blog! We will be talking with some of the most accomplished burlesque performers on the planet about their experiences with costuming and staging. We hope Adventures in Burlesque Costuming will give burlesque fans and performers insight into all the work behind the magic. Enjoy this first installment!

“ “The Spider’s Kiss” is one of my favourite pieces but one that I feel is still a work in progress. Usually when I create an act, I have a few themes and ideas swirling about in my head before a moment of inspiration channels them into a “story” with a beginning,  middle and end. I like moments of transformation and creating shapes with fabric and feathers - it’s very much about movement for me, so that often determines the nature of the design. So this one has been a bit more of a challenge. I make a lot of outfits for myself that aren’t costumes  - I like to experiment with how things drape and move but they don’t always translate to stage: some of the more elaborate things I make and wear wouldn’t give me total freedom to move or might tangle  (I have a whole drawer of impractical bits ditched from acts and most headdresses end up perched on my dressing table). I just wanted to see if I could make it and if it would look like I pictured it.  It was much, MUCH harder than I thought!  I think I was making it to wear to a party, but it took five times as long as I  thought  (note: my rule of thumb is to double the time I think I need  - if nothing else just to give time to buy more materials as something is always a bit short ). I think the challenge was to see what the maximum impact I could make on a budget. Although time consuming, I think there was a sale on bias  (maybe 100m for £25). This photo was shot backstage before a show in Munich by Maria S Barely for fun,  but people liked it so much I ended up creating an act around it!  My personal taste can often run to very voluminous, flowing  costumes with a lot of texture but a lot of my more popular costumes, like this and  "When the Hard Rain Falls… The Night Flowers Bloom" rely more on boldness and silhouette so, although I love them too, I know you don’t always need expensive materials and lots of costume elements for it to have an impact. I even have a costume made of plastic rubble sacks… “

See more of the legendary beauty and spectacle that Vicky creates at http://www.vickybutterfly.net/Home.html  

[schoolofburlesque]

Act Development Essentials Saturday Dec 5 Learn all about becoming a burlesque showgirl! If you’re considering learning burlesque to perform, get your crash course here! For all genders. Act Development Essentials Saturday Dec 5 includes: Understanding Burlesque History of the 20th Century Neo-Burlesque History Creating Your Burlesque Stage Name Choosing Music for Classic Burlesque Finding your Showgirl Persona Basic Costuming Tips and Tricks Stage Makeup Tips and Tricks, including false eyelashes and glitter lips Choreography Tips for Burlesque Finishing Touches Etiquette, Career Advice, and How to Get Booked Updated Reference Handouts. All props needed for the class are included. Bring a copy of The Burlesque Handbook and a notebook and pen.

Register now at

http://www.schoolofburlesque.com/burlesqueintensive2015.shtml

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Burlesque Performance

Lydia DeCarllo - The 6th Annual New Orleans Burlesque Festival

This performance incorporates multiple facets of burlesque-style dance, including:

⋆Tassel Twirling ⋆Fan Dancing ⋆Belly Dancing (slight influence) ⋆The Glove Peel ⋆What can only be known as the "Stevie Nicks" twirl

Bonus points for using a song from the classic musical, "South Pacific." Well played, Madame. Well played.

[ohdita]

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Burlesque Performance | Michelle L’Amour

I follow Miss L’Amour on Twitter and it’s always fun to read her #TeaseTips. Miss L’Amour teaches Burlesque in Chicago and in other cities. Unfortunately, I was out of town the last time she visited San Antonio. She also does Naked Girls Reading, which has a local chapter in Austin.

In the above video, she makes use of a barre and not much else. I love Michelle because, even though she doesn’t have a bad body by any stretch of the imagination, it is not a “perfect” body by today’s standards. I’ll discuss my own issues in another post but I want to underscore my favorite thing about burlesque, which is diversity. Any body type, any race, any gender or sexual orientation has a place in Burlesque and that’s incredibly empowering.

This performance also shows that a performance needn’t be complicated. Most of the time, Michelle is dancing and doesn’t strip until almost the end of her number. Even then, she takes off a grand total of four pieces.

I also enjoy the music. I like the jazz and Big Band associated with traditional Burlesque, but my favorite exercise is to imagine routines set to contemporary songs and artists, like Imagine Dragons and Florence + the Machine. I’m not sure what the song in this video is; I’ll have to do some research but I believe it’s a NIN remix.

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Dita Von Teese performs her final show at Cafe Ole in Ibiza, Spain on Monday evening 8/18.

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Loving the carnival vibe of this act!

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How to Do a Chair Dance | Burlesque Dance Howcast

A super simple chair dance routine to try out. She even counts it out and does it a couple of times so the viewer can follow along.

Side Note: Have I ever mentioned how much I love Youtube?

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Tutorial | Pin Curls

A super easy way to do pin curls. If you have long hair like me, it might take awhile and, yes, it involves a bit of hairspray but the result pretty gorgeous. Credit to Jenny Lopez for the vid.

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"The difference between burlesque and the newspapers is that the former never pretended to be performing a public service by exposure." ★ I.F. Stone

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Burlesque Performance

Marion Cotillard performing “Take It All” in Nine

J’adore Marion Cotillard! She’s beautiful, intelligent, and unapologetically French. Nine was full of great performances by brilliant actresses/singers but hers was my favorite. Somehow, she turned the vulnerability that her character was feeling into the sultry burlesque number you see in the film. Parfait!

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Burlesque Performance

Lula Houp Garou - Cirque du Burlesque

I thought this was interesting because she uses a bed of nails as part of her act. I’m thinking of incorporating knife throwing into my performance and it’s always fun to see how other performers personalize their stage time.

Fun Fact: Loup Garou is the french word for “werewolf,” so her name is a play on words in two languages.

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Burlesque Icon

Tempest Storm

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A couple of gems I bought to add to my burlesque repertoire. Sorry it’s blurry…the camera on my tablet isn't that high resolution.

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Burlesque Performance

Vivian Lashes doing an Improv-a-Tease

Note: I did theatre improv in high school. As long as you had a basic knowledge of how a scene was put together and could sell what you were making up, you would be okay. I hope the same applies for improv burlesque. The biggest thing that would mess people up was hitting a snag in what they were trying to do. Vivian Lashes is a pro — when her zipper gets caught, she gives a wink and a smile and makes the fix part of the performance.

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