Performing at Bonden Bar

The day after Valentine's Day I was booked to perform at Bonden Bar, at Burlesqueer's event Swinging Valentine! One of the organizers - Pippi - had asked me to do my Diamonds are Forever number, but to a different piece of music - the aria Voi che sapete from Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro. 

Photo: Fanny Kellerman

Pippi sang the piece herself, and on piano we had Erik. I love performing to live music - and in this case song too! The funny thing about this though, was that the whole number - including the very ballety costume I wear when I come out on stage - looked so classical that the audience didn't really expect me to start stripping in the middle of it...

Photo: Fanny Kellerman

When I unhooked my tulle skirt and let it fall to the ground, I heard some surprised "wohoos", and also one "oh YES!!!" Haha! After that I swiftly skipped backstage to change pasties, because I was also going to premiere my new number Arabian Nights that evening.

As you can hear from the name of the act, my costume is inspired by Arabian stories, and is made of black, transparent fabric and dark red and golden Swarovski crystals and beads. Above are the pieces of clothing I'm left with after taking off the rest!

And a closeup of the pasties! I love making these costumes, and spending hours decorating them crystal by crystal!

So when my music - Beauty Beats by Beats Antique - starts, I go out on stage. And the first thing I notice is I can't balance on the tip of one of my pointe shoes because there is something wobbly there! At that moment it's too late to do anything about it, and I don't even want to ruin my performance by looking down to see what was wrong. But I just continued and did most of the choreography without actually getting up on my tip toes as much as I was supposed to. Since I'm a perfectionist the fact that I couldn't do it the way it should have been done annoyed me a lot! But none of my friends had seen anything that looked weird when I danced though. I guess they were too busy looking at my boobs to notice what was going on down at my feet...Anyway. As you can see in the picture above, one of the little crocheted thingys I had sewn on the tip of the shoes (to make them last longer, and make the shoes less slippery) had gotten loose on one side and bundled up. That little platform needs to be flat to be balanced on! 

At the end of the number, just before the music stops, I shower myself in golden glitter, which I pour out of my Aladdin-lamp. Everyone should take a glitter-shower now and then! It feels great! 

Here is a very good - not grainy at all - iPhone picture my sister snapped of me exactly at the moment for the above mentioned glitter-shower! Even though I tried to get most of it off me after my performance, I still woke up with a whole heap of glitter in my bellybutton the next morning...

Burlesqueer

On Friday January 18, me and Elegy Ellem packed some poisoned wine and her Tommy Gun and went to Burlesqueer - Femme Fatale, at Bonden Bar in Stockholm. Ellem had been asked to create a burlesque number for the "Femme Fatale" themed event, and she asked me if I wanted to assist her as her maid. Of course I said yes!

This is her Tommy Gun (replica) by the way! I love it, and I want it! It's quite heavy though, and I was glad no one caught Ellem when she was carrying it to the show on the subway, with it's pipe sticking out of the bag...

Photo: Linda Merja Holmgren

The storyline of our number was that Ellem comes home from being out murdering some people. I'm her maid, that serves her as best as I can. The problem though, is that Ellem is a self centered diva, who treats me like shit - and I'm very tired of this! So in the end of the number, when she has stripped, I give her some poisoned wine...

Photo: Linda Merja Holmgren

...that kills her!!! Sexiest corps I've ever seen, by the way...When she's dead, I then take my apron off, and throw it over her. Then I put her black coat on, and steal her cigaret and Tommy Gun, and walk out. The end!

Photo: Elegy Ellem

Of course though, I didn't kill her for real! Since we're hoping to do this number together again, I thought it would be best to keep her around for awhile...Here is us after the show. You don't want to meet us in a dark alley at night. Just sayin'...

Photo: Elegy Ellem

And another one. This is how you clean a gun properly!

The rest of the evening was spent drinking and fighting, and I played with Ellem's snake-tongue. That's my finger there...

And here is also a video of our number, shot and edited by Alexander Valenkamph!