Kuuton Klubi

Well hello again! I had a TOTAL BLAST last Saturday at The Ravishing Shangri-La Rubies' Halloween club, Kuuton Klubi! The lineup was delicious, and I had the great pleasure of relaxing and watching the second and third sets in good company since I was last in the first set. Letting my clumsy-crazy-juggler-clown out to play is always so much fun! 😁

Also, did you know that the Rubies-klubit have a team of top professionals just to take care of their life-stream? You've never seen a live-stream in so good quality, I promise! And the best thing is that even if you missed it, it is still available to be watched online until Saturday. Just follow this link to buy your access! 💛

And here go a couple of pictures of my being silly and having fun on stage, see you next time! 

Picture by Jari Flinck

Picture by Jari Flinck

Kaamos Kabaree in Oulu

 Aaaahhh, what a weekend (and week!)! This week started with some surprising (very positive and a bit unexpected) news that concern my other profession (object conservation), so I haven't been able to post about this on time, but I was utterly delighted to be part of this year's Kaamos Kabaree in Oulu, which is organized by my dear friend Lala L'More! It's been a couple of year's since I've last performed in Oulu (or visited altogether), and I really loved spending a weekend full of burlesque, laughter and friendship with you all 💛

I also got to teach a couple of workshops on floorwork and 1920s makeup to some wonderful people, and while my schedule was so tight that we didn't have time to take any photos before/after the workshops I can at least share this picture of the curtain call the night before! 

Picture by Jaakko Alatalo

Déjà vu!

 Oh hello again! Long time no write... and back after two years? Kind of sounds familiar... 😅

Well, it seems that being a full time student while juggling three other jobs on top was indeed as much as I could handle, and I haven't really touched this space during my studies. The good news is, I've now graduated and I'm back in the game! Of course I'm still a busy bee (which creative soul isn't?) and it may take me some time to fully update this blog, but I'll try to start by updating the gigs section and sharing the upcoming gigs (that I am already allowed to share). Because guess what! I'm finally hitting a burlesque stage again for the very first time after Corona! Which will also be the very first time for me performing in Hämeenlinna! 

If you're interested, follow this link to find out more about the Misty Extravaganza Night, I CAN'T WAIT TO ENTERTAIN YOU ALL AGAIN! 😍

Tampere Burlesque Experience

Looong time no write! I know, it's been almost two years since my last post and it was absolutely about time. As usual, life got in the way again and I've been way too overwhelmed to spend too much time online. The main reason for it is that I am a student again, and I'm studying for my dreamjob, but that also means I am now a full time student. And since I still keep on teaching my evening dance classes, and I have even more groups than before, there are many weeks in which my only free days is Sunday :-)
(In case you're curious, I'm studying to be a conservator of historical objects)

Anyway, I just updates the past and upcoming gigs, so I'll be looking forward to seeing many of you soon!

An speaking of which, the next chance to see me on stage will be this weekend, at the Tampere Burlesque Experience! It's been ages since I last performed in Tampere, and I couldn't possibly be any more excited about it. Olivia Rouge and Tampere Burlesque have organized such a treat for you! Teerenpeli Tease - Experience on Friday, main show on Saturday and lovely brunch on Sunday! Besides all the workshops the supertalented international guests will be teaching throughout the weekend.

You'll be able to catch me on Friday at Teerenpeli with my dear partner in crime Gigi Praline, and also performing solo on Saturday at the main event. Check out the lineup! You really don't want to miss this! <3

Love,

Pepper

Hot In HELLsinki-Burlesque Spring Partee!!

And even more exciting things happening in May! I can now also announce I will be performing at the Spring event in Helsinki, which is hotter than ever so this year it's been renamed Hot In HELLsinki-Burlesque Spring Partee!
Besides your trully you'll be able to find some of Finland's hottest performers, together with the "Dark Prince of Burlesque" Raven (all the way from Berlin/Australia!) and gorgeous Italian beauty Nuit Blanche.

More info and tickets from the facebook event!

Kitten N'Lou at Pirate Pleasures!

So I can finally announce this, current 21st Century Burlesque NUMBER ONE performers Kitten N'Lou are coming back to Finland in May! And you now have the amazing opportunity to watch them live in the small, cozy and intimate club that is Pirate Pleasures, the monthly club organized by our own Queen of Fire Tassels, Bettie Blackheart.

The theme this time will be "Leather and Lace", and I will get to share the stage with not only Kitten N'Lou but also a whole bunch of wonderful Finnish performers! More than half of the tickets are already gone, so in case you don't want to miss this you better book yours asap ;-)
More information can be found from the event's facebook page.

Announcement: Berlin Burlesque Week 2016!

And some good news! I can finally announce that I will be performing at the Berlin Burlesque Week 2016! I'm absolutely over the moon about this, I have never been to Berlin before and I can't imagine a better excuse to visit the city than performing at this event with all the other amazing performers! Catch me at the Carrousel Ooh La Laa (Wednesday, May 4th) and the Sunday Soirée (Sunday, May 8th) <3

Original picture by Atelieri O. Haapala
Headpiece by Fiona Timantti Millinery

Dancing Phalanges workshop in Turku this Saturday

I'm having the honour of coming to teach at Kiki Hawaiji's Pinapple Paradise in Turku this Saturday! I will be teaching a workshop on advanced arm techniques (suitable for all levels) in which we will learn how to make the hand/arm movements look soft and beautiful, how to move different arm joints independently in order to achieve that "wow!" effect, what kind of poses look good on stage, and how to combine arm moves with basic bump & grinds! 

Looking forward to seeing a bunch of you there! <3

More information and registration through the link below:

http://www.pineappleparadise.fi/pepper-sparkles/

Picture by Atelieri O. Haapala

Private party performance

Last night I had the honour and pleasure of performing at the birthday of a lovely lady I hadn't seen in about 5 years, and even thought I had the worst flu I've had for a very long time the audience were absolutely superb and gave me all the energy I needed!  I had such a great time, and I think it shows from the pictures ;-)

Tribal Salon 2016

I had quite a crazy year in 2015 when it comes to juggling things happening on the same day, and this is something that I decided I would like to become better at during this year. Or to be more precise, I decided that for my own sanity I should try not to book too many things onto the same day, specially when it involved running from a place to another. And guess what? It seems last year's karma somehow managed to send me a last reminder of why I should *really* try to keep it more relaxed in the future. 

Long story short, I had deleted the wrong event from my calendar back in autumn and I now found myself with three different appointments on the same day. Luckily it all work out in the end, so I started the new dancing year having the pleasure of dancing with wonderful people during the whole day. <3

In the morning I was part of Himo Club's show at the Love Me Do Fair, which won the price of best company of the year in the bachelorette party section. I'm so very proud of all my gorgeous students (also the ones that for one reason or another did not make it to the show)!!! <3

As soon as the show ended I headed to Kanneltalo for the rehearsal of our performance at this year's first Tribal Salon, which is an event organized by TribalTanssiKeskus. We performed our teacher Laura Luna's choreo "Gawazi", which is inspired by old school tribal bellydance and is so much fun to perform! Folk inspired costume with lots of vintage tribal jewelery/decoration and finger cymbals, what's not to love about it? The rest of the show was probably quite amazing, but unluckily enough I did not have the chance to see any of it, since I still had to make it to Tervakoski for this year's first corporate gig. 

A tiny bit stressful, but all in all a Saturday full of doing what I love best! <3

Paljettipommi vol. 2 released!

Wooot, this is what the postman brought today, the second volume of Paljettipommi (the first and only burlesque magazine in Finland)! Packed in a lovely envelope by the force behind it, dear friend, burlesque performer and Paljettipommi's producer Kiki Hawaiji! 

I'm utterly honoured to have had the chance to be part of this second volume, together with burlesque legends Satan's Angel and Kitten de Ville, and many of Finland's best <3

Picture by JIRINA (www.jirina.fi)

New year!

So here I am again... The last year and a half has been the most insanely stressful of my life, and I have barely been able to keep up with things (specially the ones related to the internet). This year I would like to start from scratch and try to keep up and relax, since the sole idea of thinking about everything I should get done already gets me stressed. It is so that I have finally decided to leave all the belated posts aside for the time being. It was a rather difficult decision for someone as obsessive compulsive as I am, also because so many amazing things happened which I would love to share with you all. Nevertheless, unless I leave them aside for the time being and start writing about the current ones I will just keep accumulating them. 

Soooo, that being said here goes the first post of the new year! So many amazing things to look forward to. A new apartment (which I now share with the most amazing person I have ever met <3 ), some very scary but very exciting possible plans for this year and of course, the Helsinki Burlesque Festival! This will be the second to last year (9th edition) and the lineup is as spectacular as ever, and I couldn't be more excited about sharing the stage with the XXXettes! We are cooking something extra cheeky for the festival, and if you have ever followed the ticket sales for it you know you should act fast! It always sells out and once that has happened you will regret now having acted sooner ;-)

I will be updating the upcoming gigs section in the near future, but until then here goes the poster for this year's festival, fresh from the oven! 

Paljettipommi is born!

On the 23.8 I had the great pleasure of being part of a historic event, since Paljettipommi was born! <3

Our dear Kiki Hawaiji, who is one of the people who brought burlesque to Finland, put tons of time and effort into creating the very first Finnish burlesque magazine (Paljettipommi = Sequinbomb), and a bunch of us who have been performing longest got together to celebrate it at the release party. It was so much fun! We were mostly asked to perform our very first acts, which in my case is my absynth fairy (of course with an upgraded costume, the old one was falling into pieces!), and some acts were seen that haven't been performed in years.

The magazine is written in Finnish, and it's full of articles featuring both Finnish and international performers, such as the original King of Boylesque Tigger! Even yours trully got a few lines ;-)

Looking forward to the next release!

Paljettipommi release party, all pictures by Jari B. Miettinen
Up left: Kiki Hawaiji, Up middle: yours trully, Down left: The Itty Bitty Cabaret,
Right: Kiki Hawaiji and Bettie Blackheart

More international festivals this year!

And continuing with the belated posts, it was about time I announced these also on my website! I'm most honoured, excited and over the moon about announcing that I'll be performing at both the New York Burlesque Festival and the Amsterdam Burlesque Award this year! 

I received the news about the New York Burlesque Festival already back in June, and I think it took me many days to assimilate it! Not only will I get to perform at one of the most legendary burlesque events EVER, I will get to do it with both my troupe Thee Dizzy Daisies and as a solo performer! I have never been to the United States before, so after thinking about it for a while I decided to stay for ten days, which hopefully means I'll get to see and do a lot of things! And it's already less than three weeks to my departure flight, EEEEKKKKK!!!

Btw, stayed tuned for more info about what I'll be doing while in New York, since there's more to be announced!

The next piece of great news was that we'll get to perform at the first Amsterdam Burlesque Award with our troupe Thee Dizzy Daisies! This is a brand new event and we're increadibly happy about being able to join the amazing lineup they have put together this year, plus a perfect excuse to visit A'dam again! Looking forward to it...

Blazing Burlesque Stage at South Park Festival

And fifth belated post! I might even end up catching up? :-D

Some burlesque history has been made this year in Finland! (and more on this as soon as I manage to actually catch up). Finland is a country in which in summer music festivals happen literally every weekend during the summer. But this year, for the very first time, a festival had a BURLESQUE STAGE! <3

The festival was South Park in Tampere, and the masterminds behind this were our fellow burlesque collegues Olivia Rouge and Albine A. Dorable, and Petra-Miisa Juusenaho. We had our own tiny cute stage, cozy backstage with views to the lake, and even a Sailor Jerry rum counter nearby! 

I was asked to do my absynth fairy act on Friday, and both my brand new act "Algae" and the kitties duo with Gigi Praline on Saturday. 

Upper left: La Fée Verte, Upper right: kitties duo with Gigi 
Praline, Down: Algae
Pictures by Milla Kouhia Photography

We had such a kick-ass team! Petra-Miisa acted as the MC, and the rest of the line up was composed by Miss Acrolicious, Chrissy Kiss from Estonia, Olivia and Albine, and the headliner: mindblowing aerial, fire and burlesque performer Natsumi Scarlet <3

Besides these amazing ladies, we could enjoy gorgeous Elisa Day as our pick up, Tiina Nevametsä as our DJ and Vappu a.k.a. Stella Polaire, who run from a place to another and made sure that everybody had everything they might need at all times <3

And last but not least, we had our very own lovely photographer Milla Kouhia, who has unfortunately since passed away. Unluckily enough I didn't have the chance to get to know her properly, but she was sweet and definitely had a talent for photography, and I can only imagine the pain her family must still be going through.

Curtain call shot! <3
Picture by Milla Kouhia

The weather wasn't all the best for the first set on Friday, but even in the pouring rain we had some audience, which seemed to be getting bigger with each set and as word spread. So by Saturday it was a full house and big success! And if we certainly had tons of fun on stage, let me tell you that was nothing compared to the fun we had behind the scenes! I absolutely adore these ladies, and it's always such a great party with them. Looking forward to the next one! <3

Backstage fun! ;-D
Picture by Milla Kouhia

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! :-)

Au naturel

Long time no write! I'm just surfacing from one of the most stressful periods I've ever had, which also means there has been TONS going on and you'll be getting a massive update in the upcoming days! I have travelled to both the London Burlesque Festival and the Boylesque Festival Vienna, premiered a new act, moved into a new apartment, shared fun times with mindblowing people and overall worked my bum off in my dayjob. I have indeed enjoyed myself a LOT, but the level of stress has also been such that I even got dear people get seriously worried about me. Luckily that's now over, and I can concentrate in enjoy the gorgeous Finnish summer and the upcoming events (some major update on this to follow in the very near future!). 

Before I start working on updating the website and catching up with belated posts, I would like to share the outcome of my collaboration with a lovely Finnish photography student called Jenni Holma. For her final work, Jenni decided to take two different pictures of different people, one in full makeup/costume and another one au naturel, without a hint of makeup. 

I was very excited to take part in this project and share this picture, because being able to show myself without styling nor makeup gives me peace of mind. I won't bore you all by explaining how traumatized I used to be about my body and face as a child, most of us have (unluckily enough) been there and I wouldn't be adding anything new to the discussion. The revelation for me though, arrived the day in which I realized I was unable to attend my university lessons without the tiny kohl line I used to apply in order to lengthen my eyes a bit (I didn't use anything else, not even foundation or mascara). I even found myself painting that line with a marker (!!!) the couple of times I forgot to apply the kohl in the morning. 

One day I realized it had so much power over me that to all practical purposes I had become a "slave" to it. And I didn't like the fact, not a single bit. 

It took a very long time to nurture my self confidence to such a point that I would feel confortable being around without makeup (specially in such occasions in which other people would usually wear makeup, let's say a in a bar), but I eventually succeeded. I nowadays not only don't wear any makeup on an everyday basis (which I consider a treat to my skin), but I'm not scared of joining in for a couple of ex tempore drinks at a bar if I'm not wearing makeup and the opportunity unexpectedly presents itself. 

Now don't get me wrong, I love makeup. And I'm not saying people shouldn't wear it on a daily basis if they feel like. But I want to know I'm the one who choses to wear it because I WANT TO, and not because I don't dare to show myself without it. That's the reason why collaborating with Jenni for her project was so important for me. 

NEVER BE AFRAID OF BEING YOURSELVES, whether that involves a face au natural or the most mindblowing drag makeup <3

picture by Jenni Holma

New visit cards!

I just got my new visit cards today! The design is still the same since I really like it, but you can now find the address to my website on the back. And they came right on time for the crazy "minitour" in May: London Burlesque Festival on the 15.5, the Sinsational Spring Awakening on the 24.5 and the Boylesque Festival Vienna on the 28.5! <3

Cards designed by Lassi Patokorpi
Absynth fairy picture by Jirina Alanko

Easter in the countryside

I had the pleasure of spending Easter in one of my favourite places in the countryside (my gal Gigi's and her husband's place, aka Mäkelä farm), with some of my dearest people <3

Lassi and me arrived a day earlier, because Gigi and me had planned to do some costuming that day. As some of you know I'm working on my new act "Algae", which will be premiered in a month at the Sinsational Spring Awakening in Kaisaniemi (get your tickets HERE, the lineup is superb!) and I'm currently in the middle of a crazy costuming spree! I was silly enough to only bring two bottles of Jewel-it glue though, so I run out of it already by Saturday morning and that was the end of costuming for me that weekend :-D

costuming time!

On Saturday morning we woke up to a lovely surprise! Aatu (aka Gigi's husband) came to tell us that one of the cows was giving birth, and that if we hurried we were still in time to see the little calf be born! It was really exciting since I've never seen a birth in real life! 

few-hours-old cutie <3

Soon after that I had to borrow Gigi's car and leave to Järvenpää for a couple of hours of Tribal Fusion choreo rehearsals with the Kaira Tribe gals and our teacher Laura Luna, and by the time I came back some of the rest of the guests had already arrived. Unluckily enough not everybody could make it, but it was blissful to be able to spend some quality time with these people! <3

hungry people waiting for food
picture stolen from Gigi

The dinner was organized potluck style, so that everybody brought something. There was organic lamb marinated and slowly cooked in the oven with mint jelly, mango salsa, homemade bread, tofu and veggies vietnamese spring rolls with two different kinds of sauce, egg salad, wakame, tofu salad, oven-baked potatos with fresh thyme, fresh green asparragus and an absolutely delicious lemon and liquorice charlotte cake as dessert. Oh my, where's the extra belly-space when you most need it? 

food is love!
picture stolen from Tuomas

The rest of the evening mostly consisted of sparkly, sauna and jelly beans (actually jelly beans were a constant during the whole weekend! :-D ). And as proper adults (*coughcough*) some of us went to sleep as early as midnight and woke up to a wonderful breakfast consisting of pink soda and pink sparkling wine! Plus all the tons of delicious leftover food from the previous evening. 

breakfast of the champions!
picture stolen from Gigi

The rest of the weekend consisted of relaxing in the sun (I can't even remember last time it's been so warm at this time of the year!), walking on the grass without shoes, some wine drinking and chatting, and basically just enjoying a weekend off. Thank you so much everybody involved, and extra thanks to Gigi and Aatu for being such amazingly generous and welcoming hosts <3

Gigi's cat Pertti! She likes sleeping on my bum :-D