Saturday, 21st of May 2016
A few weeks ago, while I was browsing through some websites to get ideas on what to do the next few days, I found out that London was hosting an international burlesque festival.
Immediately, I was intrigued. I have always liked the dancing art of burlesque and having been a long time fan of Dita Von Teese, one of the most famous personalities in that area, I just wanted to get the opportunity to see a live show and to understand, with my own eyes, what it really means being a burlesque performer (and since she lives in the United States and it will be rather difficult to see her any time soon).
Lucky me, it turned out to be the 10th annual extravaganza and so the stakes were higher than ever before. Producer Chaz and Betty Royal, two of the biggest names of the scene, prepared a all month event, with a variety of themes, such as: the Hollywood or Tattoo Revue, the Twisted Cabaret, the Nerd-lesque, the Big Bottom Bonanza or the Sexy Circus Sideshow. All of the events took place at the legendary Dingwalls, in Camden Lock.
I was very excited, but with more than 15 events scheduled, I still had to choose just one to attend. My choice was the Drag Strip.
The Drag Strip is not at all a traditional burlesque performance, it actually breaks all the rules. The artists performing that night were no ordinary people, most were drag queens, having also drag kings (women who perform dressed as men), the boylesque and queerlesque theme was the most present, being so an over all gender bending performance.
The show started at 9PM, but as always, the case here in London is that you should arrived one hour before to get to your seats. I went on a bus to Camden Lock, which took me almost 45 minutes and got to the area a bit confused, since Dingswalls, to my amazement, is sort of a cave, being a little hidden from the eyes of people who never went there.
When I finally arrived, and I knew I was at the right place since most people were dressed as the 1950´s, I showed my ticket and took a place in the middle area of the arena.
At exactly 9PM, Ruby Wednesday, the drag queen who was hosting that day, emerged to the stage and did a little playback performance before starting to introduce the other numbers. I found out that burlesque also means humour, Ruby became not only the host but assumed also the position of a stand-up comedian.
The artist list included names from cities all over the world, from London to Helsinki, to Munich and Amsterdam. Names such as: Alfie Ordinary (the so called Drag Prince who performed a live version of "I Gotta Be Me"), the Itty-Bitty Tease Cabaret (a group of four women who went back to the 90's as a boyband), Lady Laverna, Lola Rogue and Melody D'Amour (women who stripped from a male identity to a female at the end of their show), Smashlyn Monroe (a new name on the scene, performing there for the very first time and assuming a cowboy like identity), Lydia L'Scabies (a famous drag queen that takes her singing performance to a all new level), ending with Lou Safire and Vivid Angel (two very recognized names).
The show lasted two hours, finishing at 11PM and I absolutely loved it, I became even more of a fan than before. The glamour, the glitter, the strip and mainly, the gender bending scene made me look at burlesque with a new set of eyes.
From a girl in love with a new art form,
Mariana Fidalgo
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