I was at work for half the day and I was most excited for by the end of the day, I was going to be in NYC!
I have not been there in quite a few years, and this was to be my first trip there with out being under the wings of my parents.
I went with my friend and fellow performer Petra Precocious. She picked me up at my tiny house, I said goodbye to my fat kitty, and we hopped in her car and headed up to NYC at about 4pm.
Surprisingly, we arrived to the city in a little over 3 hours. Immediately upon checking into the motel, we quickly proceeded to get ready for the Friday night premiere show in Brooklyn. It was a blur of makeup, glitter, hairspray, dresses, and fake eyelashes in that room and we were out the door and through the tunnel to Brooklyn.
The Friday night show was at The Bell House in Brooklyn, about 20 minutes from the motel. It is a very nice venue in a very industrialized area. By the time we got to the show and it had already started. As we were about to walk into the show, we were very distracted by the offerings of drag-addict.com. I mean, all the gowns of sequins and fabric boas….oh my! I REALLY wanted to buy something, but I decided not to at the moment.
For entrance to the show, they had UV light stamps and a black light at the door, a technique I do not see done often, but I do like. (no ugly black stamp design on your hand) Upon entrance, there we were, at The New York Burlesque Festival.
I actually felt rather odd. It began to sink into my head how my day just went: I went to work, went home and packed, hopped in a car and was now at the New York burlesque festival…I was a little surprised. Kind of a little weird.
The show was difficult to watch, due to the fact that I am a mere 5ft 1in tall. It was a decently large venue, standing room only. But of course all the tall people stand in front, and since we were not there at the beginning, I was dodging a lot of heads in my way to get a view. Also, if a performer was laying down or crawling, I had no clue they were even on the stage at all.
After a while, I was kind of getting burlesqued-out. Wither performer after performer and me not being able to really see anyone except for a gigantic blue bunny, it kind of got frustrating. I wanted the show to be almost over, because I was fading; I was hungry, it was late, I hadn’t eaten since lunch, my blood sugar was dropping. The resolution to that problem was simple, a little Red Bull and Jeager! We went out of the performance venue to the bar and had a drink. After having a drinky, I was feeling a little better, and we headed back to the show.
Fortunately, we were able to see the sweet performance of pregnant Little Brooklyn and her burlesque baby shower. While I did not cry during this, I really liked all the other performers giving her burlesque “gifts” and then her performing on her own…or well, performing for two really. I honestly thought that it was the show closer, for it totally felt like the end of the show, and I would have hated to go on after that…but alas that was only the halfway point!
As the show continued on, the crowd thinned out a little bit and we were able to see a bit more of the show.
About the show: Peekaboo Pointe did a very slow and still and calming french routine. Clara Cupcakes hula-hooped. The Incredible, Edible Akynos shaked and jumped and moved so fast, Faux Pas…loved the cake dress. Kita St Cyr, meow. Madame Rosebud was very dark and intense and she really moved. Kristina Nekyia performed with vintage polio crutches and I didnt see her at the show at all for she was well below my vantage point. Lady Jack moved roboticly, very poppin’ and lockin’, and I thought it was was well done and kinda funny. Cheesecake Burlesque Revue did a 60s space retro group routine. Ruby Valentine was last, and even though she used cake frosting as pasties and covered her legs with frosting and I thought that was yucky, I really liked her as well.
It was interesting to see the big name performers standing watching the show, just like us newbies, just like the non-performers. We were all struggling to see. It was also a little difficult for me to really recognize people. After all, performers dramatically change make up and often hair and wigs and I wasn’t totally sure of who I recognized in the dark with out my glasses.
We stuck around for a little bit afterwards, watched a lovey graceful rollerblader “go-go” on stage, and then it was time for a 24hour Dunkin Doughnuts stop and back to the motel.
One burlesque show down, 2 more to go.
