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The Burlesque Hour

Yesterday night i saw a burlesque show for the first time. Not any show, but the award-winning Australian extravaganza The Burlesque Hour. It was part of the City of Women festival which runs until October 13 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.


The Burlesque Hour - Azaria Universe as Valeshka Queen of the Carnival by Heidrun Lohr

At the origin of this incredible mix of cabaret, variety, circus and showgirl acts are performer and writer Moira Finucane and director and playwright Jackie Smith. They invited other performers to join them.

Circus star Azaria Universe (founder of The Candy Butchers group) hoola-hooped in full sexy burlesque attire and a full bear, did some bondage-inspired trapeze stunts and had a hilarious take on Bonnie Tyler's hit Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Butoh artist Yumi Umiumare (one of the founders of Dai Rakudakan) danced as a frantic robot, removed dozens of knickers to the sound of Pizzicato Five while keeping her Japanese schoolgirl outfit on, and finally had a strip-tease performance in which she took the stage as shy geisha and left it as a fierce tattooed naked warrior.

The performance in Ljubljana included also cheeky singer Maude Davey and the amazing Ursula Martinez.

With Hanky Panky, a 5 minute choreographed magic strip-tease, Martinez had the audience on their knees. She enters stage fully clothed, performs a trick involving a little red handkerchief which magically disappears and reappears from her jacket pocket. Off goes the jacket. Then the hanky disappears and re-appears from her various items of clothing, which she removes one after the other until she is naked. There's a last hanky trick and she retrieves it from... well, you can guess. If not, the video of the whole performance is online, i watched it 3 times and still have no clue how she does that.

In another of her performance, she lighted a cigarette inside the theater and used it to set fire to both her bra and pants.

(image source)

On Sunday 7th October, from 10 am until 4 pm the artists will also hold a circus shock cabaret workshop entitled The Provocation at the Old Power Station, in Ljubljana.

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