Diamonds Are Forever

As I told you a while ago, I recently had two of my burlesque acts filmed in a studio, with the help of photographer Qbike. And here is one of them, the act I did my burlesque debut with, and that I named Diamonds Are Forever. The other act - Moonlight Sonata - can be seen here!

Outfit Post

When I was in Paris I walked into a lovely little shop, and was greeted by a dog. The shop was shared by four or five different designers, who sold their creations - everything from hats and jewelry, to clothes - in different parts of the shop. The reason I went in was because I had spotted a top in the window I needed to take a closer look at. It's designer's name is Meral Akrour, and yes, it ended up coming home with me...

The top is made in a lovely, flowy fabric, and the color is orangey red.

It ties at the back of the neck, and what you can't see in the picture, is that it has an opening going from the neck and then really far down on the back! Here I'm wearing it with a skirt from Daisy Dapper, and seamed stockings from What Katie Did. This evening I was off to perform at Wotever at Bonden Bar, so wearing a top underneath which I didn't need a bra was perfect. Bras leave ugly marks on your skin you know, which you don't want when taking off your clothes in a burlesque show. Many things to think about...

I had a lovely evening with the crazy Wotever-people, and performed my "Diamonds are Forever" act. The audience made lots of noise, so I guess they appreciated it. The only annoying thing was that two days before the show I had slipped on my tulle skirt, taken a very gracious dive to the floor, and twisted my whole bad leg. So now my evil Pain Demon has been back for the last, almost two weeks. I had decided that I was going to perform anyway, but since then I've spent the rest of the days just sitting as still as I can. Really scary to feel this horrible pain again, but I'm hoping for the best - that it goes away fast this time!!! 

Found some more pictures of that top on Meral Akrour's Facebook page by the way. Now I want that white, transparent one with dots to!!!

Burkläsk!

Two Saturday nights ago I put on my Dorothy shoes - which can be seen here - and left Kansas, so to say...My destination was a cellar hidden deep down beneath the streets of Stockholm, and my reason for going there was because Burkläsk was having their yearly burlesque Christmas party! Last year when I went to this event I ended up getting food poisoned from the sushi I had eaten earlier. This year though, I was going there to perform myself - so I skipped the sushi...

Burkläsk's organizers Lady Francescca, Jolie Étoile and Bernie Gogo had decorated the whole place with tinsel, glowing santas and other Christmasy stuff. In the picture above you can even spot the very burlesque Christmas tree, here outshined by Fanny and her hubby Michael!

The dressing room was tiny. But, as I later said - the smaller, the cozier! Can you imagine five-six girls trying to change into burlesque costumes in this little space?! Boobies and glitter everywhere!!!

Burlesque preparations - pasties, tassels, hair flowers, and wine - drunk through a straw so as not to ruin the lipstick of course!

I did my Diamonds are Forever number. The only problem was that the hard sole one of my pointe shoes had broken in half (later I discovered that was the case with the other shoe too), so going up on stage felt a bit insecure. But as I have always wanted to stage-dive I thought "what the f***", skipped up on stage, and ripped my clothes off! Everything went well though, so I guess I'll have to save the stage-diving for another time...Other performers were:

Pepper Potemkin and Contessa Blackbird, who did a lovely interpretation of Disney's Ferdinand the Bull, which is part of the traditional Disney medley that is shown on TV every Christmas Eve here in Sweden. Now I'll never be able to see it the same way though...

These two girls also performed solo acts! Here is Pepper as the gingerbread-girl...

...and Contessa as a 20s flapper!

Lady Francescca and Bernie Gogo!

Sindy Volkano!

Duchess Dubois!

Fräulein Frauke!

This also happened to be the first anniversary for Burkläsk, so miss Frauke had brought a candle shaped as the number one. After the last act, all performers gathered on stage, lit the candle - and then blew it out...Then we put our clothes back on (which as you can see I had already done), went out on the dance floor, and DANCED!!! It was a good night...

All photos marked "Bichard" by John Paul Bichard! 

My Burlesque Debut

On September 29 it finally happened - I threw my clothes off in front of an audience, and can now proudly add "stripper" to my CV! What I'm talking about is my debut as a burlesque dancer! It all took place at an event called "Burleskloppis" in Swedish. I have written about it before, and it's simply a burlesque flea market, where people gather to sell their old burlesque stuff, newly produced stuff, vintage stuff, and other vintage/burlesque related stuff! Every hour, on the hour, there is also a burlesque performance.

Photo: Burleskloppis

Here is NyponStina, Tifa, and Magdalena, at one of the tables. I got up at 5:30 am to glue my lashes on, because I had promised the organizer of the flea market, Marika Smith, that I would be part of the crew making everything work during the day! That's also the reason I didn't really have time to take any photos myself. I was the one performing last, at 4 pm, but since I was busy working all day, I didn't really have that much time to get nervous.

I had spent lots of time making my own pasties, and glueing Swarovski crystals to everything - including my pointe shoes. So everything was ready to hit the stage! 

Fanny had appointed herself my coach/stage kitten (the girl picking up the clothes from the stage - a man doing the same thing is called a "glitter boy"), and she really excelled in her job! First of all - she brought champagne!!! Alcohol + pointe shoes isn't the best combination though, so I just drank a little before the show - and the rest after...

Photo: Fanny

So I taped my pasties in place, tied my corset on, burped a little (champagne bubbles + corset), and went out on stage!

Photo: Fanny

This is my whole costume before - with corset from What Katie Did, and a lovely stole from Vivicore...

...and after! 

Photo: Burleskloppis

As some of you may know, I've been living with chronic pain for almost eight years now, from a dance related injury. So this was the first time in over seven and a half years I went up on a stage. Eight years ago I was literally crawling on the floor, because I was in too much pain to stand up, and now I have managed to work away so much of my pain I can do this! So it was a big day for me, and it felt marvelous! Can't wait to perform this - and other burlesque numbers - soon again! Fanny also filmed my show with her iPhone. Those of you following me on Facebook might have seen it before, but for the rest of you, here it is - Diamonds Are Forever: