Posts In “Videos”
The Greats
You know, there was a rumour going around back in the day of a massive rivalry between two of the greats of musical film, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The two were actually fast friends and Gene was the one who convinced Fred to come out of retirement after Gene couldn’t take a role in a film due... • read more •Everybody’s Doing the Charleston!
Oh how I love to charleston! Often when I tell people about what kind of dancing I do, I’m met with blank stares, lots of questions and it may even require a demonstration. So here is a little education for you. Charleston is a dance that was at the height of it’s popularity in the 1920’s. It’s origins are within the African American dance community... • read more •
The Hoop Man Can!
As I have previously mentioned, I’m the resident hula hooper here at Sugar Blue. I started doing it just for something different for my acts and different from the other ladies. Plus I have secretly always wanted to learn. It looked like a jolly good bit of fun. I picked up the basics fairly quickly but they will only get you so far. Just spinning the hoop and prancing... • read more •Swingcopation!
As I type, the lovely travellin’ ladies Adora Derriere and Sapphire Demure are heading back to our shores via auto-gyro or some other contraption from the London Burlesque Festival (sans Trixi Tassels who has decided to leave as for adventures in the world beyond – BOOOOOO!). They have been teasing us with little postcards of how much fun they have been having via the bookface and the... • read more •The Queen of the Pin-ups
I would be surprised if you hadn’t heard of Bettie Page. Like quite literally like “OH MY GOD! You don’t know who Bettie Page is?????”. But then again I would have the same reaction if you told me you hadn’t read any Terry Pratchett books “You WHAT!!? Quick, take my copy of The Colour of Magic and read it immediately!!!” (I’m such a nerd *sigh*).... • read more •nihongo o hanashimasu ka?
Minasan! Konichiwa! O genki desu ka? In English that roughly translates to “Hello everyone!!! How are you?”. Why all the Japanese you ask? Well I thought I’d share with you some little tidbits and (a sneak preview if you will) of a costume I am working on. When I started performing with Sugar Blue, I knew I wanted to do a Geisha act. I’ve always... • read more •Michelle L’Amour – RAWR!
Here is one of my favourite YouTube clips that I’ve seen in a while. Michelle L’Amour is an American burlesque performer and this is her performance at the Toronto Burlesque Festival in 2008. It’s a relatively simple act in that it doesn’t involve complex choreography, costuming or props, but she executes it perfectly. I think that’s when you can really identify a true burlesque star... • read more •The Original Fire Tassel Twirler
Contrary to what some of you may think, I’m definitely not the first person who thought it would be a clever idea to set my pasties on fire! The first person to do that was Satan’s Angel way back in the 1960s in San Francisco. Below is a short TV snippet on Satan’s Angel including some recent footage of her amazing skills: And here is... • read more •Ginger Footed
I absolutley LOVE this clip of Ginger Rogers doing the charleston. The scene was cut from the original movie. I am normally all about the big crazy wacky charleston but something about Ginger’s precision and girliness just fills me with dancing delight! Isn’t it wonderful!? So cute it kills me! I used it as inspiration for some of the choreography in a new rountine I did for our Per>Lon show. More... • read more •