A return to costuming

As I have had a longish pause in designing I have been itching to get my hands busy with some new ideas, one of which has been bubbling away for quite some time, and that is my brand new act, "Teach Me Tiger" I will be showing this to you very soon!
It was so much fun to get the design brain switched back on and lovingly stich this crazy idea into life so I really am looking forward to sharing, it is also the most fun I have had with an act in a long time!

I am also very excited to be starting a new project for my fellow performer and friend, Evie Red, who will be getting a very elegant showgirl ensemble. It will be such a treat to have her wearing something of mine as she is just gorgeous and definitely an up-and-coming talent to keep your eyes on!

In the meantime I thought I would post some beautiful and fierce costume inspiration I have been collecting...

*Please excuse my lack of credits, I tend to click and save images without checking, oh dear!

Back in the land of tassels!

Hi folks!
I thought it was probably about time I get back on the blogging train since I have in the last month or so been performing again post baby and have so many exciting things to share with you!

I was flat out all of September with Metropolis 2040 at Red Bennies. We had a 6 show run and I enjoyed every minute of it! I cannot praise creatrix, Vesper White, enough for her vision, attention to detail and creativity in this stunning show. It is such a joy to see our artform being driven by thoughtful, artistic people and I finished the season feeling triumphant and utterly inspired! I will be posting pictures and a proper review shortly, so stay tuned.

In Burlesque Festival news, we have bid farewell to co-founder, Sapphira, as she embarks on some very exciting personal projects and I wish her the very best!
We have got some REALLY exciting surprises in store for 2012, but I will have to keep a lid on it for a bit longer, though I tell ya, it aint easy! As always it is going to be bigger, better and all round bombastic!

I have a few other nice little projects coming up including a new event "Sirens of Sin - The Seven Deadly Sins Reavealed!" Which I will cover in a later post, as well as a burlesque open mic (open shirt?) night, which will hopefully be launching by the end of the year.

The Fringe festival has been on in Melbourne, which unfortunately I have completely missed out on, but from the looks of it there have been some killer show and I am hoping to make it to Fringe Royal Rumble this Sunday (and you should too!) where the cream of Melbourne Fringe Festivals performers have been hand picked to enter into mortal combat in the Red Bennies Mexican Wrestling ring of carny carnage! Burlesque vs Vaudeville! Comedians vs Cabaret! Mime vs Circus! - its going to be outrageous!
Sounds too good to miss out on! You can get tix here.

In other news, The Gorelesque beast is on the road! Last weekend Sydney got their first taste and tonight and tomorrow Adelaide, before the bus of gore comes home to Melbourne. This looks like a blood-tastic feast, and if B-grade horror films and zombies are your thing I implore you to check it out. See photos here. Tickets available through the website.

This is what The Armchair Traveller had to say:

"Armchair Traveller had the shock and awe treatment - or should that be shock and gore - at Gorlesque! Touring nationally this October - catch it - so you too can be covered in blood, meat, vomit, mothers milk and flesh! Yes - Armchair Traveller was up stage and is now soaked in gore! A night well spent!"

And thats all for now! I look forward to seeing you at a show real soon.

Kisses, RR

Sydney here I come...

This morning I am getting ready to go to Sydney, and as usual have left my packing to the last minute! And this packing will be no easy task considering I have 3 costumes to bring (one of which is an oversized stuffed lobster) as well as a weeks worth of clothing!

I am super excited to be going on this trip, its rare that I have more than a day there if I go up for a show but because I will be there for a week I will have plenty of time for some long overdue catch-ups with dear friends from when I lived there.

I am also very pleased that it will be warm up there! Melbourne winter has been dragging its miserable feet and I am craving some sunshine, It is supposed to be Spring after all!

Anyhoo, if you are in Sydney and would like to pop along to one of the fantastic shows Noir Revue or Underwater Love (or both!) don't forget to get your tickets early, I would love to see everyone there!

 

 

Issue 6 of Burlesque Magazine out now!

Lots of interesting articles from around the burlesque globe, with reigning Burlesque Hall of Fame Queen "Roxi Delite" gracing the cover, lovely interview with her plus lots more on the BHoF weekend.

There is a fantastic "backstage ettiquette guide" with New York School of Burlesque Headmistress, Jo Weldon.

The Australian Burlesque Festival gets a special double pager with photography by everyone's fave, Angela Mcconnell!

"WHERE Sydney and Melbourne
HIGHLIGHTS A sparkling event supporting burlesque in Australia, some of the nation’s most talented performers took to the stage in several sold-out shows. We loved the vicious tassle twirler that is Foxtrot India, the Latino-inspired Imogen Kelly, the fiery Tasia and of course, you can never go wrong with pocket rocket Kelly Ann Doll. Special mention goes to British Heart’s crazy boylesque performance! We want more!"

Plus lots more, and you can read the full issue here!

Interviews and whatnot.

The other day I was talking with miss Amy Duncan of Chapel Tattoo about the angst that goes along with being interviewed.

You really never quite know how you are going to come across in written word, even with blogging I forget sometimes that I'm not really allowed to use sarcasm due to the lack of inflection! (sarcasm is one of my favourite things, though best used in spoken conversation with someone else who appreciates it)

Any way, a few months back I was interviewed for the Red Bennies website, if you would like to read it, you can here.

Speaking of interviews, blogs and Amy if you get a chance to pop over to Amy's blog Pennywhistles and Moonpies you really aught to because she has lots of wise and interesting things to say and share, you can even read an interview with her!

Amy is a very talented tattooist and I am very lucky to be having a piece done by her at the moment (though I am somewhat of a wimp so can only go a few hours at a time) we have great conversations too, which I almost look forward to as much as getting pretty art from her!

Hurrah!

ps here is an editorial piece for which I was interviewed around the Australian Burlesque Festival in June this year.

Springtime... oh yes!!

At last! Tomorrow is the first day of spring and I am so very, very pleased!

Having missed out on the warmer months last year while I was honeymooning in America, I feel I am long overdue for some warm golden days and breezy light-filled evenings... oh rapture!

Springtime always seems to bring with it this wonderful sense of unfolding. New ideas start bursting out as blossoms do...

sigh...

BIG HAIR...

This little post is about BIG hair.

...And how much I am digging it at the moment! Especially beehives and other sky-high up dos...

My little obsession has come from my divinely hot mama friend L'amour and her incredible bouffant styles she always has going on, what a bombshell! How could anyone resist wanting to look like this amazing woman!
This first pic is of her pre-baby and the second one with her most beautiful and delightful little family!

What a total babe! Gah!!!

I think it would be criminal to has a blog post on big hair without an honorable mention of the heart-meltingly sexy Brigitte Bardot... this photo makes me weak at the knees I tell you...

I also must feature to honey-voiced Dusty Springfield and her equally honey toned and impressive 'do.

 Another songstress with immaculate hair, Mary Wells... what a beauty... sigh...

 

An Alexander McQueen catwalk creation channelling Elizabethan glamour...

 

No wonder Marie Antoinette was always smiling, she had AWESOME HAIR!

Some unknown, but nonetheless deluxe hairdos! I particularly love love love number 2, this is what I want to look like!! weeeeee!!!

This is me, today... hurrah!

 

And now for something to give you a cackle... Someone I loath almost as much as Delta Goodrem... don't ask why, just giggle... x

 

Do you love big hair? what 'do are you rocking at the moment? Do tell!

Taking the leap...

This year has really woken me up to the fact that I need to make some decisions about my life, the directions I want to take and the fact that I need to organise myself better! Through the festival preparations I was still working on all of my personal projects as well as working part time, and it was a struggle!
I want to share with you my thoughts on the process of turning your dreams into reality, your hobby into a career. Its certainly not easy and I have seen so many friends work their fingers to the bone getting their dreams off the ground. But here is the state that I am in:

 I have been doing burlesque for over 4 years now, and the question arises: When does a hobby turn in to a career? And more importantly, how can you make this transition smoothly? There have been so many times I have doubted myself, my skills, my dreams... on a daily basis really. I certainly never though that doing burlesque could be any sort of career. But over time I found myself investing in a future, with new props and costumes, travel and finding new and creative ways to raise the funds to do these things I want to.

For a long time I maintained a full-time job as well as doing burlesque. It was a terrible telemarketing position, but my idea was that if I had a mindless, boring day job I would be able to invest all my creative energy and inspiration into the things I was passionate about. Good idea in theory, but in actual fact the constant boredom and depressing atmosphere had quite the opposite effect and I found myself so drained and down at the end of the day that all I could muster the energy for was to order take-out, flop on the sofa and watch TV. Horrid.
To be honest, even now that I am only working part-time in a much less awful environment, I still find it takes away from me being the creative, inspired person I know I have the potential to be.

So this brings me to the reason it is so difficult to ditch the day job and be a full-time artist... MONEY. Probably the number one source of depression, fear and frustration in the western world. We are so conditioned to believe that being "financially secure" is one of the most important things in life. This is one dogmatic idea that I have found seriously hard to shake. Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of spending 50 years of my life working 9-5 in a job I loathe simply to have nice things, that is one of the most ridiculously materialistic sacrifices we make, to give up your life in order to have a nice car, a pretty house and designer clothes. BUT, and it is a big but, it doesn't stop me from having a panic attack when I get an exceptionally large phone bill or can't pay the rent...

So this is when your average burlesque dancer realises that she needs to be more than just a dancer if she wants to support herself. Especially in Australia where gigs are not that easy to come by and certainly not enough to sustain any sort of standard of living. Whether its teaching classes, making costumes or putting on events, if burlesque is your lively-hood, you need to make it work for you. You need to create your own brand and market yourself as you would any product or service. It doesn't pay to be shy or under-sell yourself, if you are getting booked for gigs you want it to be because you are a professional and high quality performer, and not just because you are cheaper than the act they really want to book.

So you do these things to make yourself stand out from the crowd and you are at the point where I am, working part-time, juggling producing shows, performing, designing costumes, traveling, trying to be a half-way decent partner and friend... its HARD. Like any creative venture, you can end up obsessing over things and leaving zero time for healthy relationships let alone any semblance of "me time". Some days I will get up, spend 2-3 hours replying to emails and working on projects, go to work in the shop for 8 hours, then go straight to a gig and not get home till 1:00am.. that is a 17 hour day. That is also not very healthy physically or emotionally, right?

So when do you take that leap? When do you ditch the day job and allow your dreams to become your reality? It is so hard to take a risk that might end up in financial ruin, or worse: FAILURE (this is a big one for me.)But if you don't focus everything on your goals you are never able to put in 100%, and how can you expect to get 100% if you can't give it?

So I guess the answer is that there is never a good time, you just have to do it and hope for the best, and hope that your friends and family still love you even though you haven't always the wife/daughter/buddy that you could be...

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

x RR

For the love of tassels...

One aspect of being a burlesque performer that makes me a very happy gal and feeds my creativity is the constant costuming that takes place... lusting for crystals rhinestones and silk trims, scanning op-shops for jeweled brooches to make a perfect centrepiece on a bralette... It all pays off when you get to pull together something breath-taking and take that first step onstage to debut your newest creation!

I like to create most of my costumes from top to toe, meaning everything from hand sewn corsets to painstaking beading is lovingly tended to and more often than not sends me into fits of frustration working out new patterns and un-picking miles of dodgy starts.

So yes, it can be a love/hate affair at times pulling a whole ensemble together, but the one thing I always adore without fail is making the nipple tassels! An experienced pastie-maker should be able to knock up a pair of beauties whilst watching a good movie on the couch with a big pot of tea and some cake.

When making a new costume I always leave the tassels as the last thing, they should be the icing on the costume-cake! The cherries on top!

There are endless methods of tassel making, and I use lots of different ones, infact I doubt that any of them are the same come to think of it!
For example, for good spinners you need a very stiff base with a high peak so they can twirl for days, or sometime a soft backing is good as I find it is much easier to make them stay stuck. between you and me, in a rush to get a pair done at the last minute I once used cardboard from a box of oatmeal... The burlesque dancer is a industrious breed...

Anyway, I thought I would share some of my handy-work and also some lovely ones that I have stumbled across!

Made for Melbourne Burlesquer, Cat of Nine Tails for her debut performance at the ABF's Baby Bombshells!

Made for the lovely Laura

A selection of well-loved Rosy Rabbits!

Some of L'amours to-die-for numbers

Etsy love! Autumn Luciano creations-so cute!!! see them here

These little fellows blow my mind a little... I really admire the intricate folding, this would take a lot of patience and practice! There are some amazing other silken origami creations at ClytemnestrasCloset ... Sigh...

Desert anyone?!?
Charlotte Harlot has some of the cutest pasties I have ever seen, including mini cowboy hats and poker face pasties!

So there you have it... the joy of nipple tassel and pastie making! 
I hope I have inspired you to get out some pretty sequins and hack up a box of cereal to create something from vixen to siren to sweet as Cherry pie!... and on that note.... 

Sweet dreams, I'm off to bed... 

xx RR

So much going on in my life at the moment! I have not stopped since returning from the US, but I feel as though I hit the ground running and great things are happening!

My most important project coming up is co-producing the first annual Australian Burlesque Festival in June, and it is a massive task, but we are getting there and its shaping up to knock some serious socks off!

If you haven't checked it out yet, drop past the website here!

Thats all for now.. I'm really going to try and catch up on things and get some more photos of recent performances up but for now, BED! (after I finish some sewing... ai!)

xx

Humble beginings and Modern Burlesque

I have been involved in theatre for as long as I can remember, the first grand entrance being as a dwarf policeman in the musical “Sweeny Todd”. I was a member of a youth theatre company all through school competed in everything I could get my paws on from Eisteddfods and Shakespeare festivals to Short film competitions and back yard clay-mation.

I clearly remember going to my first burlesque show, and from that day on it has been a little obsession of mine! To see this woman on stage absorbed in the simple task of removing a glove I was breathless. She had the whole audience eating out of the palm of her hand and she had only just walked on stage. With a flick of the wrist and a bump of the hip she tore down any inhibitions remaining in the audience and left a mess of hollering, flush-cheeked and grinning woman and men with a glow and a spice that I still don’t have a name for.

This, I thought to myself, this is what something I might try.

And I did.

Burlesque has grown so much since the original 1950’s strip-tease shows and is now truly becoming a contempory and constantly evolving art form which can be as political and thought-provoking as it is titillating and entertaining.

Burlesque is one of the only performing arts that I know of where the performer has complete creative control of her show from choreography, to costume and set design, to sound design, marketing, scripting, character development and styling. She has 3-5 minutes to engage the audience, win them over, navigate the logistics of corsets and garter removal, entertain, seduce and (something I am still working on) twirl her nipple tassels to high heaven! This whole production is then packed neatly into a vintage suitcase and lugged on teetering heels from show to show.

The Modern burlesquette is a creative and fiercely independent woman. Burlesque is blossoming in every corner of the globe, from New York to Copenhagen, Shanghai to Tasmania. There are so many opportunities for performers, and if there are none I bet your bottom dollar that they will create one for themselves.