Moving!

And fourth belated post, plus a sneak peak!

Some of you might remember my last post was about the Boylesque Festival Vienna. The reality check after it was twice as hard though, since as soon as I set foot in Finland I had to start packing and move into my current apartment. Moving is always tiresome and rather annoying, but I luckily had the invaluable help of Lassi during the whole weekend, and that of our dear friends Jari and Jac who were kind enough to also lend a hand on Sunday. Besides, the apartment I was moving to was so insanely gorgeous, and in such a breathtaking area of Helsinki that I couldn't be happier about it! I was also going to become the flatmate of the crotchet pattern designer Molla Mills, who also happens to be my dear friend.

Outside of the building, and my new William
Morris mug bought in London last May

The building is from the 1920's, and it's definitely the most gorgeous one I've ever lived in. My room is spacious, and I've decorated it with a mixture of Finnish jugendstil furniture/objects (many of them found by Lassi), with a slight orientalist touch. I have also finally been able to hang some of the gorgeous antique prints and Atelieri O. Haapala's pictures I've been saving for years on the walls! 

The feeling is indeed indescriptible. The peace, the space, the kitchen always clean, and the feeling of HOME which I got as soon as I stepped on it (which I actually never felt in the previous apartment, but that's a whole different story). Bliss <3

Sneak peak of my room at the moment, changes/aditions still to come :-)

Vienna baby! <3

Belated post number three! The Boylesque Festival Vienna <3

I'm still so full of love when I think about this festival and what a good time we had, that I don't think I'll be able to translate even half of its awesomeness to words. 

So in the end of May I had the great honour of being part of the mindblowing lineup of the Boylesque Festival Vienna, which happens to be the first Boylesque Festival in Europe! So you might be wondering, "Wait, boylesque? How come your performed there?". Well, as it happens, the organizer Jacques Patriaque decided to have a Queerlesque Teaser Party the day before the main even, for which he aimed to get a collection of as many and varied burlesque acts as possible. The next piece of amazing news was that not only did I get into such a fun event, but also my gal Gigi Praline with her leatherdady/Lucia act, our charming gentleman Sir Willy Waterlily and our dearest Drag Queen Lola Vanilla. Finland was well represented! <3

We rented a room with Gigi and Lola, and on the day in which we were performing we had the crazy idea of walking all the way to the venue with our suitcases! Which might not have been that bad of an idea after all, since due to unexpected *coughcoughhungovercough* circumstances we didn't really have the chance to see much of the gorgeous city that is Vienna. 

The lineup was EPIC! And When I say epic I really mean it, I have never performed in an event with so many performers, and I barely stopped laughing the whole time we were backstage. I have probably also never been in so many backstage group pics, but I'll try to be nice and not spam you too much :-)

before the show shots backstage!
[upper pic by Sheila Wolf, lower pic 
by Lola Vanilla]

Since our tech rehearsals happened to be pretty early, I decided to sneak out before the show to try and check a vintage store that one of our lovely stage kittens Philippe had recommended. The store did indeed have some gorgeous items, but unluckily enough out of reach of my current money situation :-D

Nevertheless, that trip allowed me to again see a little bit more of Vienna, and most importantly, to discover the Majolica House. I stumbled upon this drop-dead-gorgeous building on the way back to the venue, and I literally spent five minutes staring at it WITH MY MOUTH WIDE OPEN. This unbelievable piece of art noveau awesomeness was built in the years 1898-99, and is named after its facade, which is completely covered in painted ceramic tiles (majolica) that form the biggest art noveau pattern I have ever seen in my life. The poppy-like flowers climb all the way up to the roof, and the balconies are decorated with something reassembling lotus flowers. Of course in that moment I had no clue of what that building was, but a bit of googling provided the info I needed, and let me find out that the beauty continues in the inside. I'm in love <3

The Majolica House! <3 <3 <3
[upper left pic by justvienna.com, upper right pic by 
blackeiffel.blogspot.com and lower pic by jellbellfrhell.blogspot.com]

After my little escapade I headed back to the backstage, and I had the chance to meet the whole bunch of amazing performers with whom I'd be sharing the stage that night. I was performing about half-way through the second set, which meant I wasn't able to watch anybody else's act *sniffsniff*, but we had a hell of a time backstage anyway! We also had the chance to share the stage with the non-burlesque headliner artist of both nights, 2014 Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst! And I'm afraid that's the one picture I should have taken and did not, but I'm shy! :-D

The stage was huge, and the audience outstanding! I was a real pleasure performing in such a huge and gorgeous old theater, which was sold out!

Big stage! And one of our stage kittens, plus absolute
sweetheart and perfect assistant Philippe <3
[upper picture by Philipp Lipiarski, www.goodlifecrew.at
lower picture by Bernie GoGo]

After performing, and while waiting for the curtain call, it was time for more pictures! I couldn't be happier about having been able to see World Famous *BOB* again (who was the festival's MC), and tell her how useful the workshops she tought in Helsinki quite a few years ago have been <3

left with World Famous *BOB*, and right with Polish 
boylesque performer Jimmy Bottle
[first picture by Gigi Praline, second by Jimmy Bottle]

At this time, I will use the chance to introduce you to the mastermind behind the whole event, who worked very hard in order to make his dream come true! Ladies and gentleman, Jacques Patriaque! I think none of us can thank him enough for the wonderful experience <3

The mastermind behind Boylesque Festival Vienna, 
Jacques Patriaque!
[picture by Bernie GoGo]

Another one of the highlights of the Boylesque Festival Vienna was that I got to see a very dear friend again, after over 3 years! We met in Helsinki almost 8 years ago, when we were both metalheads (I still am, I just don't look like one anymore! :-D), and hadn't seen since Marisha moved to Cologne in Germany quite a few years ago. As luck has it, she happened to be visiting the city around the same time, so she came to see our show and we could do a bit of catching up afterwards <3

Before we left the venue, we were invited to the afterparty in a legendary rock club in Vienna, that, if I understook correctly, belongs to the husband of lovely Austrian performer Kitty Willenbruch. Marisha joined up for the afterparty, and we were able to share some more fun until yours trully and the rest of the Finns (except Willy) decided that we might be "a tad" too tipsy and should leave to the hotel. Btw! My friend Marisha is an excellent seamstress specialised in reproduction historical clothing, so please do check her facebook page out while the official website is under construction! 

upper pic with Marisha at the venue, and
below with Gigi at the afterparty
[pictures by Marisha]

As you can probably guess, the next day we woke up to the hangover of the year! We barely made it to breakfast before it closed, and I really had to make use of all my stubbornness in order to be able to go see Vienna on the only free-ish day we had. So I had some painkillers, gathered myself, and dragged Gigi and Lola out with me, since I was told there was some paintings by Klimt in a museum called Leopold Museum. My convincing skills weren't strong enough to drag Gigi and Lola into the museum with me, so I visited it alone while they had a coffee nearby. I loved it! Not only did it have some of Klimt's art, but it was full of gourgeous jugendstil, art deco and arts & craft paintings, illustrations, furniture and several other kinds of items. 

After that we went back to the hotel and got ready for the mindblowing succession of world-class boylesque performers that was the main evening of the Boylesque Festival Vienna. Omg! Used as we are to get just a few boylesque performers per event, getting one after another, after another, after another, was unbelievable! And Gigi had booked us tickets in the very middle of the second row, so we had a perfect view! (may I say that maybe even too perfect sometimes? As Gigi put it "I don't think i've ever seen so much testicle hair before")

After the main event, with Lola aka Bent van der Bleu 
and Lady Francesca <3
[picture by Lady Francesca]

After the main event the party continued in another club, but unfortunately we had to leave early due to our early flights the following day. 

What can I say? Vienna, you and your charming people stole my heart! I want more! <3

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

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)

Infusion Tallinn 2014

Wow, it has taken me ages to write this! In the begining I thought it would only take about a week, mostly in order to rest and get over the fairytale feeling that always accompanies Infusion Tallinn, but the reality-check upon my arrival was rather rough (let's say it felt more like reality hit me on my face with a hammer :-D) and weekly routine has consisted on working (dayjob) and sewing/costuming like there's tomorrow every single other waking hour (with a couple of very welcome and very necessary dance lessons in between). So here it finally goes, my report about this year's Infusion Tallinn! <3

Friday

Infusion Tallinn is probably the biggest Tribal Fusion event in northern Europe, and the lovely and gorgeous organizer Jaana (aka Yahna) brings some of the most talented international teachers to teach workshops and perform every year. But oh my, this year we got THREE teachers! And no other than world-famous tribal fusion superstar Kami Liddle, the absolutely exquisite Aleksis Southall, and one of my very own top of the pop favourite performers: italian creativity explosion Violet Scrap <3

Just as last year, a big bunch of us travelled together from Finland, and booked a room in our favourite little hostel just in between Tallinn's Old Town and the Müstika dance school: Euphoria Hostel. These people really know how to make you feel welcome, for the second year in a row we had a welcome message written for us at the entrance and the staff took care of all our questions and the mess of having to deal with 11 people almost at the same time :-D

(Oh, did I mention we kidnapped two of our very favourite Sweds into our room? Dear Gita and Pernilla, miss you so much!)

Euphoria Hostel <3

We cought up with our teacher Laura Luna (who had already arrived in Tallinn the previous Wednesday in order to take Aleksis' workshop about ITS), and after some sushi in Sushi Cat (<3!) Laura and me left for that weekend's first workshop, which was a 3-hour-long intermediate/advanced level workshop on complex foot patterns and layering with Kami. I must admit I was quite nervous! I have so far only studied bellydance for a bit over a year and a half, so I wasn't sure if I'd only be embarrassing myself and getting into everybody's way! :-D

We did a lot of relevé and spinning-work, which are two things I definitely struggle with, but Kami gave us so many tricks about how to position the body in order to keep it under control that I think I got just what I needed in order to start working on it by myself and hopefully improve soon! 

After the workshop, it was time to run back to the hostel and get ready for the evening's show. This year there was two different shows, one on Friday which was a Hafla held in Müstika (with an absolutely DELICIOUS vegan buffet) and a main even on Saturday, in which each one of the performances was inspired by a country/city/location in the world and was accordingly named "Around the World". I performed on Friday both with Kaira Tribe (aka Laura Luna's students) and YIlan Kabilesi (aka Alli Ruth's American Cabaret students). As usual when I bellydance, I got EXTREMELY nervous and I almost lost my balance during the first one of the performances (workshops on anxiety management anyone? :-D), but it was still a delightful evening. There was indeed very many enjoyable performances, but I think that if I'd had to chose one it would be the delicate and breathtaking modern dance fusion piece that my dear Estonian friends Maris and Krete performed. It was so full of emotions and just plain beautiful!

with the Kaira Tribe girls
(picture stolen from Tiitta)

Saturday

We woke up already a bit tired from the previous day, but there was no rest for the wicked since we had three workshops (6,5h altogether!) ahead on this day! We first had a workshop on fluid movement with Kami (who again, made it all seem much easier!), then two hours of Jamila Salimpour-style crazy finger-cymbal drilling and layering with Aleksis (omg, I want more!) and a superinteresting workshop with Violet, in which she one and again tried (and succeeded) to make us get out of hour confort zones :-D

Oh! And I mustn't forget to mention that Jaana pampered us extra this year, because she gave us the chance of ordering some very yummy WARM food in between the workshops! How cool is that? :-D

if you know me, you probably know why I just HAD TO
buy this gorgeous poster :-D <3
(and the ticket for Saturday's show on the upper corner)

The rest of the girls who weren't performing in the evening had time to take it easy before the evening's show, and had a nice relaxing walk back to the hostel. We also found some curious things on the way!

you don't simply park your car anywhere in 
Tallinn! and an absolutely gorgeous turn-of-
the-century building completely engulfed by
a modern monster :-D

After a shower and getting ready, we had just enough time to have some sushi in our favourite sushi restaurant in Tallinn: Sushi Cat. Besides the advantage of it being on the same street as the hostel, it has absolutely delicious sushi (and drinks!) for prices that sound absolutely ridiculous to anybody used to Finnish prices. It's also fully decorated anime style, and the waitresses wear cute japanese schoolgirl uniforms and kitty ears! :-D

As we had to run to the venue right after that, we decided to have some "desert" in between the sets, rum&cacao! <3

food is love! Sushi Cat and some 
rum&cacaos at the venue (notice how
the woman sitting on front of us decided
to take a picture of us :-D)
(and pictures stolen from Tiitta, again)

The event was mindblowing! So much awesomeness that I would need a whole week of writing to describe it all, but I must at least say that it was a pleasure to realize how all the performers had made an effort to created something really different and special. And after it was over, I shamelessly turned my "fangirl mode" on and ran to have a couple of pictures taken with the performers! :-D

up: Chrissy and me with Kami! Isn't she gorgeous? <3
(picture stolen from Chrissy)
down: with Tanja, Laura, Aleksis and Violet (oh my, I have such
a girl-crush on this woman! :-D)
(picture stolen from Tanja)

Sunday

And ready for more workshops! By Sunday we were all quite tired, but with teachers like these one finds the strength and inspiration to keep on working no matter what! :-D

We had two workshops on Sunday. The first was a workshop with Violet, about exploring and really trying to feel the conexion between music, feelings and dance, and it made me understand SO many things! Not only when it comes to tribal fusion / bellydance but also burlesque! Total "Ahaaaaa!" feeling, love you (also) for that! :-D

The second was again a 3-hour-long intermediate/advanced workshop with Kami about fluid upper body. If you've ever seen this woman dance, you will probably understand why I was so looking forward to this, she's elegance personified! The upper body is indeed an area that requires a lot of work in order to get it strong and elastic at the same time, and once again she provided us with the right tools in order to work towards achieving that goal <3

Sunday was picture-time! Above after Violet's workshop, 
and below after Kami's workshop

After all the hard work the whole weekend, we all deserved a treat! So we joined the Infusion Tallinn dinner, which happened to be in one of our super favourite restaurants in Tallinn: African Kitchen. We arrived first, so we were "devasted" about having to order one of their delicious cocktails while waiting for the others (life is hard! ;-D). After that, we moved onto my new favourite cafeteria in Tallinn, Pierre Chocolaterie, for some cake and hot chocolate. And guess what? They made my dreams come true, they had white chocolate cheesecake! EEEEKKKK! It even had some cherries and cherry jam in the base! Could have died right there :-D

After Pierre it was sadly enough time to say goodbye to our dear Estonians and the super talented teachers that kicked our bums during the weekend, but we decided to still grab a couple of drink at the Depeche Mode bar in Tallinn's Old Town. 

drinks and waiting for the food in African Kitchen, 
the piece of heaven called "white chocolate cheesecake" 
in Pierre, and drinks at the Depeche Mode bar
(pictures stolen from Tiitta, except the one with the white
chocolate which I stole from Tarja)

Monday

Some of us had decided to book our return tickets for Monday evening, in order to spend some quality time relaxing in Tallinn after the crazy weekend. The weather was gorgeous, and we had a perfect day. We first had some sewing-supplies shopping at Karnaluks, then strolled to the Old Town, had some tea and bombons in Pierre's terrace and lunch at Bollywood before heading to the boat, perfection! <3

I love this house in the old town, decorated with real 
egyptian inspired motives! <3
some crazy decoration items on a window,
and the most catchy title for a talk ever :-D

And still a couple of lines about my new favourite cafeteria in Tallinn, Pierre Chocolaterie. Their selection is absolutely delicious (eat ALL the cakes!), just as in Josephine Baker, but this one has a couple of mayor advantages compared to it! First, the decoration is exquisite, with real jugend and vintage pieces everywhere and arranged in a really cozy eclectic way, with most chairs/tables being different from each other (which is how I remembered Josephine Baker, but it has changed since). And second, the terrace is located in an absolutely gorgeous medieval building's inyard, with all the magic you can expect from such a place :-) <3

at the Pierre's terrace, and waiting for our food :-)