Chaz Royal's 3rd Annual International Burlesque Festival, London: April 1,2,3,4,5.
Over the past decade the art of Burlesque has grown to near mainstream popularity in North America. In recent years this Burlesque Revival has shimmied it's way back across 'The Pond' currently taking the UK by storm! It was only a matter of time before this 'Neo Burlesque Resurgence' would generate the demand for an international showcase in a contemporary city that continues to maintain it's nostalgic aesthetic and reputation as one of the greatest cultural epicentres of the world...
Ladies and gentlemen, Chaz Royal's International London Burlesque Festival is back for a 3rd year, showcasing the best in British Burlesque & beyond!
Chaz Royal is a name that sets the precedent in Burlesque entertainment worldwide having produced Burlesque events in over 200 cities and being the first to successfully book Burlesque tours across North America, the UK and Europe. With over 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry, all of Chaz Royal's groundbreaking endeavours have culminated to the Burlesque world's grandest event for 2009!
The London Burlesque Festival will expose Londoners as well as Burlesque connoisseurs from across the Globe to over 100 of the world's best Ecdysiasts who have been selected from over 200 applicants hailing from North America, Europe, the Netherlands, Australia and the United Kingdom. The festival will feature a variety of acts ranging from the nostalgic traditional style of Burlesque's early years to 50's 'Bump and Grind' as well as more modern avant-garde interpretations that are growing in popularity with Neo Burlesque's younger set.
There will be several showcases of sizzling strip tease, vaudeville variety and Burlesque pageantry at it's best taking place in London's finest districts over the span of five fabulous nights.
Some of the Burlesque talent performing includes: Beatrix Von Bourbon, Miss Polly Rae, Miss Scarlett Diamond, The Slipper Room Revue, Tomahawk Tassels and many, many more.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
London Burlesque Festival Kicks Off!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Ouch! Harsh Review of Hurly Burly Burlesque
"Oh dear, oh dear. After seeing the members of La Clique put on a high-spirited display around the corner at the Hippodrome a few months ago, I was hoping that this might turn out to be another rip-roaring chapter in the rebirth of burlesque. In the event, it was about as exciting as listening to the fire-and-brimstone preachers doing their stuff in the square.
Measured purely in terms of bare female flesh, the willowy Polly Rae and her young troupe of Hurly Burly Girls can claim to be raunchier than the artists at La Clique. But if you are going to put on a burlesque show - an exceptionally tricky concept in our unbuttoned era - it has to be done with a certain amount of panache. The dancers are likeable enough, but their overly coy routines, played out over tinny piped music, are workmanlike and, for the most part, resolutely unsexy.
Worse still, the general presentation is so lacklustre that you find yourself thinking that there may, after all, be something to be said for staying home and trying to laugh at Jonathan Ross's jokes. Humour is certainly in short supply in the patter of the master of ceremonies, Paul L. Martin, whose stand-up routine died a slow death. Someone needs to tell him that being gay is not in itself a punchline.
The tap dancer-cum-juggler Stuart Pemberton had a distracting knack of unintentionally dropping his balls, but there was a smidgin of fun to be had after the interval when the musical duo of Frisky & Mannish deconstructed pop tunes and indulged in a playfully caterwauling bout of one-upmanship on Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better. After a grim hour and a half, however, as the girls came back to bump and grind, I felt so disheartened that I decided to cheer myself up by leaving early and listening to another lecture about the Apocalypse."
I haven't had the chance to see Hurly Burly myself, and everyone is entitled to their opinion but is this guy just out of touch? Can anyone share some positive reviews of the girls or is there merit to this mainstream media review?