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! 😍

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

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

More pictures from last winter's photoshoot with Teemu Rytky

While I wait for my flight to London for this year's London Burlesque Festival (I'm performing tomorrow, so excited! <3 ) here you go a few more pictures from the photoshoot I had with the Finnish photographer Teemu Rytky last winter. Enjoy! (hopefully! :-D)

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

1 weekend, 5 costumes!

I don't even remember last time I've been this tired! I had a week full of work (and some double shifts), and I've been coughing more or less for the last two weeks, so I was already pretty tired by the time the weekend began. On Saturday I performed at an event called Kevätuhri (The Rite of Spring), with a bunch of other lovely Finnish performers. I was originally booked to perform only one act, but unluckily enough three of the performers got sick in the last moment so some of us performed twice to fill in the gaps. 

My first act of the night was one of the "extra" ones, and I decided to go with my Absynth Fairy act (which is the first act I ever performed and I'm happy I still perform it). It's such a silly and easy to understand act that I most often perform it at private parties, but it was fun to do it at a burlesque event for a change!

La Fée Verte
pictures by Jari B. Miettinen

My second act that evening, and the one that I was meant to perform originally, was an act that I last performed at a public gig almost two years ago. The main reason is that the makeup change takes quite a lot of time, so it requires that I'm either only performing one act that evening or that I have pleeeenty of time to do the makeup again, which is something that rarely happens. 

I luckily did have plenty of time to get ready last Saturday though, as I first performed early in the first set and I had the honour of being the last performer of the night too. I also realized how the first time I performed this act was the same day in which I met the mindblowing fellow performer Sir Willy Waterlily, who was also on stage last Saturday, how cool is that? <3

backstage silliness with Sir Willy Waterlily

My Fuyu Momiji (Winter Maple) Geisha act is the second oldest act I still perform. The costume and the choreography have slowly developed ever since I first performed it, but the whole act got a major revamping this time, when I finally managed to replace the old corset with an actual japanese style (over 4m long!) obi belt! Besides the costume upgrading, I also had the chance to refine the choreography by including more authentic japanese moves, which we learnt from at gorgeous Cherry Typhoon's workshops both this year and a couple of years ago (arigatou Cherry-chan, and kiitos Bettie Blackheart for bringing Cherry to teach us! <3). I must confess I'm starting to be much more confortable with this act now, so I'm really looking forward to performing it more often in the future! Maybe even somewhere nearby YOU! ;-D

Fuyu Momiji
pictures by Jari B. Miettinen

The day after the event we had a group video and photo shooting in Orimattila, and even though I did not stay to party after performing I didn't really get much sleep either! Luckily enough for me, my gal Gigi Praline (who herself lives in Orimattila) came to the show the previous night and offered me a ride with her, so I got to wake up in Orimattila in the morning and to sleep a couple of hours more. We had the shooting with Asko and Nadja, who aren't only extremely talented (Asko with the camera, and Nadja as a painter!) but also absolutely adorable <3

We recorded both our Crazy Kitties and Aurora Borealis acts' videos (hoping to be able to perform abroad with the gals!) and then took some pictures of the Aurora Borealis costumes. Unluckily enough we run out of time at the venue, so we had to move back to Kaisa's place. By then we were all quite dead, but we took a few nude pictures for a painting project Nadja has, and still a few in my Mata Hari costume as well, also for Nadja to paint. 

When we were finally done with all the pictures, we got to eat some absolutely delicious vegetable borsch with smetana and homemade bread and cheese that Gigi had cooked for us. Oh my, that really felt like heaven! <3

guess who was tiiiiiiired :-D
pictures on the right stolen from Sandy

Weekend report: Drag Me To HEL + Orimattila

Omg, what a weekend it was! It has taken me some time to write about it because I was starting to get a bit sick last Thursday and I haven't really gotten much rest after it, so I've been a bit under the weather. Nevertheless, it was definitely worth it! <3

On Friday I had the honour and pleasure of sharing the stage with some absolutely mindblowing Drag Queens and burlesque performers, and I can only say that I want MORE! Besides our own Finnish artists (such as Lola Vanilla, who's new number I loved, or my gal Gigi Praline with her crazy St. Lucia/Leather Daddy act <3) we had a few international performers, and two of them really blew my mind! The first one of them, Lou Safire, I had already had the pleasure of seeing live (and sharing the stage with) in the Stockholm Burlesque Festival last October, but this time I also got to see him perform a sideshow act! And I must confess that one of the things I most enjoyed about his performace was his exquisite sense of musicallity, sublime! The second performer who blew my mind was the fabulously glamurous Meth. Her acts were creative, and her stage presence powerful! Always such a pleasure to see people with so much experience and talent rock the stage <3

Gigi, Meth, Lou and me, and Abortia
kneeling down
(all pictures stolen from Gigi!)

The night also counted with the crazy presenter duo Abortia Clinique and Regina Squirts (the latter was having her debut, we hope to see more of her in the future!), who did a great job at keeping the audience entertained throught the night! 

The event would already have been mindblowing if it would have ended here, but Abortia had a surprised hidden up her sleeve! So after the curtain call, when all the performers (including the organizer Lola Vanilla) were gathered on stage, she proposed to Lola on the day of their 5th anniversary! Let me tell you that Abortia and Lola (or Jac and Jari) are one of the cutest and sweetest couples I know, and I think all of us who were at Dubrovnik that night felt very special to be able to share such a magic moment with them. Congratulations and all the best for you both! <3

Abortia Clinique and Lola Vanilla, aka
Jac and Jari <3

After a night full of emotions and fun, Gigi and me headed to her place in the countryside. Gigi lives in a gorgeous farm in the countryside some 45mins away from Helsinki, and we were to perform at a venue in her neightbourhood the following evening. The event was a fundraiser (I can't remember what for), and we were the "surprise act" (a real surprise act, since we weren't even presented the first time we came on stage :-D). Just so that you get an idea, the rest of the performers were: a folk dance group, a couple of bands playing folk music, a very respected Finnish composer called Kaj Chydenius with the singer who usually sings his compositions, and a comic act that Gigi's husband does with some of his family and friends. Plus people at the venue were on average 55+ and most had never even seen burlesque before! There was 3 seconds of ackward silence after we finished our first act, after which (luckily) the crowd started to cheer and clap! 

Ready to go shock some people! :-D

Our first act had been a rather classic and relaxed feather fan dance, but for our second act we chose our Crazy Kitties act. I love performing this one! It's terribly silly and I get to play the stupid cat, plus puke a hairball on stage! ;-D (stay tuned, there might be a video coming in the near future)

Luckily the audience also seemed to like this one, and we got a lot of nice compliments afterwards, even from Kaj Chydenius himself! A weekend to remember <3

Kitty time with my gal Gigi! <3

Photoshoot with Marissa Tammisalo

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of having a photoshoot with my dear friend Marissa Tammisalo for her graduation project. While I still can't give you details about the idea behind the photoshoot, I can share a couple of gorgeous images that came out of it! And I will of course let you all know when her exhibition is up, so you can go have a look at the rest of the amazing pictures as well ;-)

The Crazy Juggler
picture by Marissa Tammisalo Photography

Mata Hari
picture by Marissa Tammisalo Photography

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

New solo act in the making: sneak peek

I've been wanting to create a feather fan act for a few years now, but they are one of the biggest clichés in burlesque and I wanted something with a bit of a twist. I'm still not sure if I will succeed in making it a bit less of a cliche, but at least I think the idea is unusual! I decided to make a seaweed act, so that the fans themselves would also be seaweed. I came up with this idea over a year ago, but I wasn't even finished with my Mata Hari act then, and before I could start working on this one I came up with the idea for The Chap and an irresistible urge of it being my next :-)

Nevertheless, now it's finally time for my Algae act! I have barely started to work on the costume yet, but I'm showing you a few sneak peek pictures of some of the materials. Why? Well, to tease you of course! ;-D

And because I'm absolutely in love wih the indian textiles I'm using for this one, sewing is a pleasure with them! 

left top: gorgeous indian textiles, left bottom: unusual
coloured feather fans, right: some trim and fringe

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)

Finnish burlesque at the Boylesque Festival Vienna! <3

As some of you know, yesterday was the first day of the Helsinki Burlesque Festival week! We've been waiting for this for a year, but yesterday exceeded even our wildest expectations! And that's because the Finnish burlesque scene received amazing news: my gals Gigi Praline and Lola Vanilla, our gentleman Sir Willy Waterlilly and yours trully have been accepted to perform at the very first Boylesque Festival Vienna! <3 <3 <3

This means Finland will be having an almost unprecedented representation in a international festival, and just so that you can imagine how amazingly kickass this festival is going to be I can tell you that it will be hosted by none other than The World Famous *BOB*, and besides Jacques Patriaque himself (aka the mastermind behind the event) the lineup will include such first class international performers as Tigger!, Russell Bruner, Rubyyy Jones, Conchita Wurst and Tamara Mascara (and who knows who else Jacques is still hiding up his sleeve?)

So if you don't mind, I'll just go continue jumping all around the place in excitement ;-D

Gig at Kirjaclub with Kitty Litter!

I had such a blast last night! (even literally, if you ask me) I absolutely adore performing with my dear Dizzy Daisies, but Sandy was performing at Kustom Kulture in Kaapelitehdas and Gigi was having a well deserved short holyday in Stockholm, so I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with my dear Kitty Litter. We were booked to perform at a place called Kirjaclub (bookclub), and it was the first time I've performed in which we weren't allowed to take the bras off! The audience was anyway absolutely lovely, and the organizers treated us like queens :-)

gorgeous Kitty Litter and the lovechild of a geisha and
a flamenco dancer about to hit the stage :-D

Because of not being able to take the bra off I was a bit limited with the choice of acts to perform (a couple of them are all about the twirling in the end, or at least something about the tassels/pasties is vital to the story), so I decided to perform my Geisha act (which I hadn't performed in a year and a half) and my Mata Hari act. I usually do full Geisha makeup and hair for the first one, but because we had a pretty fast change I opted for a lighter version of it, and my usual 1920's fingerwaves. 

I was going through my Mata Hari act and feeling specially energetic and strong about the way I was moving on stage last night, when I suddenly realized I was in mid-air with my legs trying to go in one direction and the body on the other one! That was of course followed by an epic landing on my left knee and forearm, but thanks to the adrenaline boost I managed to finish the act. Well, I guess I can now say I have also slipped and fell on stage! :-D

absolutely delicious food on the left, and my knee and
a bag of ice on the right :-D

After that we were treated to white wine, sparkly and some delicious food, which we enjoyed backstage while I applied some ice to my nicely swollen knee. I nevertheless was stubborn enough to go check our gorgeous and very talented gals Sandy Jungle, Bettie Blackheart, Kiki Hawaiji, Tinker Bell, Cherry Turbo-Cherry Dee and Vera de Vil, who were performing a late night show at Kustom Kulture Show. There was a lot of new/revamped acts, and it was the perfect way to finish such a fun day! Now looking forward to the Helsinki Burlesque Festival in two weeks...

Paper fan rehearsing

I haven't touched these in about a year and a half! Which is when I performed my "Fuyu Momiji" act last time. I don't usually perform this one often because of how long it takes to do the makeup change if I'm performing more than one act, but now I realize I've missed it! The costume could also use some major upgrading, but I'll have to leave that for later on...

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! :-) 

Queer much?

And soooo excited to announce I'll be joining the linup of the craziest party in Helsinki this spring! You'll be able to see drag queens, burlesque and a rollercoaster of gender bender fun! Stay tuned for more info, and check the event's facebook page! <3

Bettie Page Reveals All

Friday was a really exciting day for the Finnish burlesque community, since the premier of the documentary "Bettie Page Reveals All" was having its premier in Finland! It was screened on both Friday and Saturday during the DocPoint documentary festival, and both the director Mark Mori and producer Thorpe Mori flew all the way to Finland for this occasion. Last December I took part in an event to help promote the documentary festival, in which I had to dress up as Bettie Page and chat with people in the audience about the film. It was fun! But I was definitely shocked when I was later on asked if I would like to present the director and producer, and conduct the Q&A section after the screenings. I must confess I almost said no (that's how scared I am about talking in front of a crowd!) but in the end decided that having the honour of participating in such a unique event was definitely worth it!

with director Mark Mori, during the Q&A
picture by Rita Miklan

Both the director and producer were really happy about having the Finnish Burlesque community attend the event, and they decided to have a picture taken with the ladies! I'm afraid I don't have the picture myself since it's in their camera, but here goes one taken during the Q&A. 

picture by Rita Miklan

If you missed the movie while it was being screened in Helsinki, or if you live outside the Helsinki area, do not hesitate to go and watch it when you have the chance! You rarely get to watch a documentary in which the main character herself is the narrator, and of course you'll have the chance of glimpsing into the heart of the original pin-up girl, and one of the most influential pop icons of our era! 

(And I'll use the chance to again thank people in DocPoint for this opportunity with all my heart!)

Oh, and about the dress I'm wearing! I was silly enough not to take more pictures with it (too nervous before the screening, and too blissful afterwards), but here you go a couple of pictures of it! I found this evening gown in the latest fleamarket of the Swedish Theatre of Helsinki and I'm absolutely in love with it <3

I believe this to be 40's, and some of you may know I'm usually not very crazy about that era, but this one is a heartbreaker! This dress screams "space age" and is made of a very thick and sturdy fabric in a blueish shade of grey, and it's full of gorgeous details! An absolute deco beauty :-)

front, detail of the bow and back of the dress
I apologise for the bad quality pictures!