Sinsational Spring Awakening 2014! And premiere of my new act "Algae"

Second belated post! This time about the Sinsational Spring Awakening, which usually happens around half-way through May, and is one of the major burlesque events in Helsinki. The theme this year was the animal kingdom, and the weather joined up by providing us real jungle weather! It was insanely hot and humid, and the room that was our backstage had been in the sun the whole day! Result: I have never seen so many pasties and tassels fly away on stage before :-D

We performed our Crazy Kitties act with Gigi Praline (unluckily enough a sudden pneumonia stole Sandy from us for the weekend), and besides that we both had the chance to premiere our latest solo acts. 

My new solo act "Algae" was born when I was aiming for a bit of an "unusual" feather fan act, and got inspired by the beauty of the mysterious coral reefs and algae. I made my costume from scratch (except the headpiece), and the main inspiration for it were some gorgeous wild silk and beaded Indian textiles I found in ebay. I was also happy to experiment with an unusual colour combination! :-)

Some pictures of my Algae act
picture by Jari B. Miettinen

As I said, I wasn't the one to make the headpiece. I'm actually so lucky when it comes to headpieces, that I have several friends who are professional costumers and hatmakers! And the decision is always a pretty tough one, let me tell you :-)

This time I decided to pay for the expertise of my friend Tiitta Räsänen, who has several years of experience working at Helsinki's Opera House. She's specially talented when it comes to beading, and that's exactly what I wanted for this costume! So as I usually do with my talented friends, I showed her a couple of pictures that inspired me (in this case mostly Art Noveau style), and let her do the rest. I'm in love with the outcome! By the way, she does of course takes orders and I absolutely recommend you check her website Tiisin' Design ;-)

Algae headpiece by Tiisin' Design
picture by Hanna Erkinjuntti

London Burlesque Festival 2014

So here goes the first one of my belated reviews! It seems that this year I'll end up hitting quite a few international festivals (more on that later), and London was the first one of them! I was extremely excited about it for many reasons, I got to perform on the opening night (!) with an absolutely lovely lineup, got to visit a lot of amazing places and met unbelievable people. On top of that, my better half Lassi was able to join me for this trip, and we got to crash at his cousin Nick's place, which allowed us to stay a bit longer (London is expensive for a showgirl! :-D). 

Thursday was a bit of a chaotic day since it was the day I was performing, but we still managed to visit William Morris' house in the morning, which happened to be just around the corner! And I now have a new favourite mug at home ;-)

I was dead nervous and excited (as usual) when I arrived at the venue, but all the lovely people made me feel at home right away! And I think I can say that I was probably laughing half of the time I was backstage, because besides being able to see some dear old friends again, such as Pepper Potemkin and Mama Ulita, I got to meet a bunch of crazy, loud (and hot!) ladies whom I really hope to see again in the future, I miss you all! <3

Backstage! On the left with Lovely Karleena, and on 
the right with my long-lost southern burlesque sister 
Evita Mansfield <3
pictures by Confetti Eddie

My only regreat about that night was that, because of the way the venue was built, it was impossible for me to see any of the other acts. But hei, I got to hang out with all these lovely half-naked ladies backstage! ;-D

Curtain call picture!

On Friday we had the chance to go visit the centre a bit, and meet a lady I've been looking forward to meeting for ages! As many of you know, I'm a crazy deco/flapper/edwardian lady, and have come to notice that most of the vintage oriented people usually tends to like 1940/50's or newer stuff best. That's why I got superexcited when I got a friend request from a gorgeous german woman with an absolutely (in my honest opinion, of course) exquisite style! So when we found out that we'd be in London at the same time, scheduling a meeting was a must ;-)

Meeting gorgeous Daisy! <3
picture by Nick

In the evening, we headed to the Playboy Club in London, where the Press/Mingle event was to be held. It was fun! We got to again meet a lot of amazing people, and watch the performances of Cherry on Fire, Whisky Falls and Betty D'Light. AND THE PLACE WAS FULL OF PLAYBOY BUNNIES! Need I say more? :-D

above: with my dapper man Lassi
below: with gorgeous co-performers Mama Ulita and Laura
Desiree
pictures by Joanna Kor

On Saturday we decided to check some markets, and our friend Ray, who is a gentleman and lives in London, offered to show us around. We visited the Portobello Market (where I found a couple of gorgeous 1920/30's fashion prints that currently hang on my walls), had lunch at a pub with amazing antique decoration, and then headed to the centre to meet up with Aurora Galore. For those of you who might not know her yet, let me tell you that this lady totally blew my mind since the first time I saw her, and is a rare example or originality and daring. She took us to watch Polly Rae's burlesque show at the Hippodrome, which I totally recommend if you're ever in London on a Wednesday or a Saturday. 

a street photographer in Portobello wanted a picture 
of us! :-D

Sunday was our last day in London, and what a day it was! We met our friend Ray again, who took us for lunch to one of the most mindblowing restaurants I've ever been to! Brasserie Zedel is located just around the corner from Picadilly, and is the kind of place you would probably miss if someone wouldn't take you there. From the outside it just looks like a regular cafeteria, but when you go downstairs you are introduced to an insane art deco extravaganza, recently renovated but preserving the look of the original one from the 1930's! And if that weren't enough, they serve pretty delicious food at very affordable prices. 

Brasserie Zedel, picture on the left by Ray, and the 
other two found in google images (ooops!)

After lunch we headed towards Soho for a walk, some icecream, and the Twisted Cabaret show of the London Burlesque Festival. Upon entering we bumped onto Kati and Markku Saari, who are two dear Finnish friends. They had come, just as we had, to cheer up for our Sir Willy Waterlily, who opened up the show and charmed the audience as he always does <3

With Markku and Lassi! 
picture by Kati

Looking forward to visiting you again in the future London, this time was too short! :-)

My profile at the London Burlesque Festival website

Ok everybody! I don't remember ever asking for something like this, but I need your help now! If my profile page at the London Burlesque Festival website gets 300+ likes I will get extra publicity in their website, which is something I could really use! So if you have an extra minute please click on the link below and like my LBF performer page, no registering needed nor any further actions! thank you so much <3

(and of course, feel free to share too!)

Pepper Sparkles

Helsinki Burlesque Festival Week 2014 <3

I'm back! The whole festival was once again so absolutely mindblowing, that it took me this long to catch up with everything else and be able to write again. I can begin by saying that even though every year feels like the festival has already reached the top of awesomeness, producers Bettie Blackheart and Frank Doggenstein, and the whole Helsinki Burlesque crew manage to put together an even more epic show, and this year was no exception!

Although the actual events are only on Friday and Saturday, many of the talented international performers are invited to teach workshops in a wide variety of subjects, so the whole festival craziness actually lasts for about a week. This year my "festival week" started on Thursday, when I had the honour and pleasure of attending Perle Noire and Kitten de Ville's workshops. 

Perle totally blow my mind, both during the workshop and her acts! I don't think it's even possible to get the actual feeling of awe and energy she projects unless you see her live, but I can tell you that when you do you know you have a real force of nature in front of your eyes! <3

Kitten de Ville aka The Queen of the Quake definitely deserves this nickname, and she had us all sweating our bums off even before we were through with the warmup! I think her class was extremely useful for me because, after having been studying tribal fusion bellydance for the last year and a half, I have noticed that I really needed a reminder of how to really shimmy and shake burlesque-style, and this lady definitely knows what she's talking about! <3

after the workshops with amazing Perle Noire and
Kitten de Ville <3 (pics by Cherry Turrrbo-Cherry D
and Sandy Jungle)

After the workshops we headed for the hotel for a little meet & greet with some of the performers that had already arrived. It was so much fun! We got to both see some very dear friends again after a long time and make a bunch of new ones. It actually felt so cozy that it was difficult to leave and go to sleep, but I had to wake up early and go to work the following morning! 

with some absolutely amazing ladies! Mama Ulita from 
Germany, my gal Sandy Jungle and the lady with the
perfect hair, Koko la Douce <3 (pic by Sandy)

Two of the new friends that I'm extremely happy to have met are Mama Ulita and Lada Redstar <3

Mama Ulita has such a crazy positive and contagious energy that I just wish she moved to Finland and could go for a coffee with her everytime I have a bad day! I'm so so extremely happy I'll get to see her again soonish, since we're both performing on the same night of the London Burlesque Festival <3

I've been looking forward to meeting Lada for a long time now, so I was delighted when it finally happened! This lady isn't only drop dead gorgeous, but she is also intelligent and the kind of vintage enthusiast I can totally relate to, so chatting with her was a real pleasure! As was watching her on stage again, this fierce lady is definitely a source of inspiration <3

with Lada Redstar, Lassi, and the head of the
HBF photographer team Tuomas (pic by Gigi)

After a long day at work on Friday, it was time for the real party to begin! My gal Gigi Praline and her husband Aatu (who was this year working his bum off driving all the performers back and forth between the hotel, workshops and venue) live in the countryside some 45mins away from Helsinki, so they booked a hotel room and were kind enough to invite us over for etkot (aka pre-party). The festival's theme this year was Tropical Tornado, so we ended up wearing swimwear on Friday! I got to wear my dear 1930's yellow woolen swimming suit, of which I'll post better pictures at some point in the near future. Just a bit before we left for the venue we were joined by our dear Pepper Potemkin from Stockholm, who is a real kick-ass rocker lady and a lot of fun to hang out with! She was on stage on both Friday and Saturday, and I'm delighted that she's also performing on the same night of the London Burlesque Festival as Mama Ulita and me <3

etkot! <3
(pic by Pepper Potemkin)

Friday was a blast! Such a blast that we only left the venue at some point after 3am, which meant just some 4.5h of sleep before Saturday morning's workshops, but it was so worth it! <3

with our dearest Scotty the Blue Bunny, HBF is
not the same without this humor and wit <3
and the combination of him and Minna Kivelä
must be my favourite presenters ever! (pic by Gigi)

Saturday was my birthday! And I couldn't have wished for a better one <3 (ok, I could have gotten a couple of hours more of sleep :-D). It started with the workshops of super creative and extremely inspiring Imogen Kelly, and one of the most respected photographers in the burlesque scene, Neil Kendal. 

Imogen's workshop was specially interesting because this lady has a background that is a bit more unusual in the burlesque scene; her roots are in the theatre and the circus and has been a theatre director for over 20 years. Her approach was extremely useful to me, since I am mostly interested in developing my acts and characters in a theatrical way, and having a storyline has always been vital to my performing style. 

After Imogen and Neil's workshops, my man treated me to absolutely mindblowing and delicious food in Juuri, which is a restaurant in Helsinki with food so unbelievably tasty that makes me feel like I'm back in the Basque Country. All the ingredients they use are organic (even the wines), and one can really tell since regular food from the store would never reach such intensity of flavours. After dinner, and with a very happy belly, it was time to head to the venue again, for another evening of awesome performances. 

My Saturday's outfit was partly inspired by Tribal Fusion bellydance, which itself uses different ethnic styles/adornments as inspiration sources. I will elaborate a bit more on this outfit also in the near future, but I can say that the facial decoration was inspired by a facial tattoo of a Berber tribe from Algeria, and the shawl that covered my head was a new Assuit shawl made in Egypt. 

with my dear Tiitta and Laura, tribal sisters <3
(pic by Laura)

The rest of the outfit had little to do with tribal inspiration, but I've had this crazy dress for years now and I only got to briefly wear it once (for obvious reasons) at a friend's birthday party! But hey, as my dear Gigi says "This year's festival was all about bums".

found a friend-in-outfit on Saturday :-D
(pic by Gigi)

Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2014 starting!

For some lucky ones it already started yesterday with Perle Noir's workshop, but since I was working I'm taking that workshop today! Also dropping a line in order to let you all know I probably won't be writing much until the festival is over, but stay tuned for a report of it all next week!

And thus the fun begins... <3

Rustiqua at the Tribal Summer Camp 2014! <3

Rustiqua

And registration finally opened for the Tribal Summer Camp 2014! This will be the second edition of this event, which includes a weekend of workshops with amazing Tribal Fusion bellydance teachers, and a gala event that gathers some of the most amazing Tribal Fusion dancers in Europe!

The guest stars/teachers this year are the Eslovakian troupe Rustiqua, which is one of the most respected European Tribal Fusion troupes due to its quality and very innovative choreographies. You can't even imagine how excited I am about being able to study with them! <3

As I said the registration has just opened, and you better be fast because the early-bird prices last until the end of March and the first spots have started to sell already! You can find more info about it in the facebook event page. And If you need some eye candy to convince yourself, have a look at Rustiqua's performance at last year's Tribal Fest 2013 below:

London Burlesque Festival lineups announced!

I can now announce that I'll have the honour of performing at the Red Carpet Rollout showcase within the London Burlesque Festival, which happens to be the opening gala! I must say it's as exciting as scary, but luckily I'll be sharing the stage with my dear Natsumi Scarlet and Pepper Potemkin and many other amazing performers <3

The festival is indeed over a week long and unluckily enough I won't be able to stay in London for the whole of it, but I'm ecstatic about being able to attend the Twisted Cabaret showcase on Sunday 18.5, where my dear Sir Willy Waterlily (definitely one of my most favourite burlesque performers EVER, so happy to represent Finland in London together! <3), Natsumi Scarlet and Lou Safire will be performing!

Which reminds me, tickets still have early bird prices, so go ahead and click on the links above if you want to get yours on time! :-) 

Tickets for Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2014!

My dear swedish friend Sandra was in town yesterday, and we had quite a lot of fun shopping at vintage/thrift stores, eating and trying out some absolutely gorgeous edwardian shirts/jackets she brought for me from the exquisite swedish vintage store Tidens Melodi, but I will tell you more about it later since it would require a lengthier post with some proper pictures! :-D

So what I'm going to do today is remind you that my all-time-favourite burlesque event EVER  is around the corner (just a bit over a month left!), and if you don't want to be one of those people that every year wonder why they didn't buy their tickets on time you should act now! I'm of course talking about the Helsinki Burlesque Festival, and as we speak Saturday is almost sold out and Friday is not far ahead. Have a look at this year's lineup, you don't see so many Queens of Burlesque performing at the same event everyday! ;-)

Tickets can be found in Tiketti

Vapriikki Vintage 2014 approaching!

So to keep a little bit of balance, today's post will be about my third great passion: vintage. I'm in love with vintage for many reasons, which can probably be explained more in depth at some future post, but basically let's just say things were made BETTER in the past. Better quality materials were used, people really put some thought into the actual design of the pieces, and things were made to last.

Whereas there are nice things to be found about all decades, I'm specially crazy about the 1910's, 1920's and 1930's, and the reason is probably that those are the periods in which Art Noveau and Art Deco reached their heights aesthetically, at least in my humble opinion. It's indeed difficult to explain what it is about those two that is so appealing to the eye, but they just have that special something that I love :-)

That's is why I'm looking forward to this year's Vapriikki Vintage happening even more than usual! Every year has a theme, and this year's is Art Noveau and Jugend. This event is a delight for any vintage lover! It's organized by Fintage and the Vapriikki museum in Tampere, and takes place in the museum itself. The event is full of fun things to do, which can be enjoyed for the price of the regular ticket to the museum (entrace to the vintage market is free). The program includes, among others, the studio of the super talented photographers Atelieri O. Haapala, guided visits to sections of the museum, lectures, workshops, dance, music, and a vintage clothing fashion show (where you'll be able to find yours trully showing two of her favourite vintage pieces, but more on that later!). If this made you even a little bit curious, go ahead and have a look at the program! You can find it both at Fintage's website and the event's facebook page. 

London Burlesque Festival 2014, here I come!

And what a most thrilling way to "baptize" this blog than by announcing that I have been accepted to perform at this year's London Burlesque Festival? <3

More detailed info about the exact date etc. will follow later, but so far you can click here to have a look at the mindblowing list of performers that have also been selected! I'm specially happy to see our one and only Sir Willy Waterlily also there, and so many other friends! <3