Sugar Blue Burlesque in the Press

Fringe goes out with a bang - Perth Now, 20th February 2012

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:39:00 GMT

Fringe goes out with a bang

by:Arylene Westlake
From:PerthNow
February 20, 2012 11:07AM
7 comments

Fringe World Festival performers (L-R) Melanie Bruyer, festival director Marcus Canning, Bec Elshaw, Kat Traill and Thom Smyth celebrate their success in Perth. Picture: Richard Hatherly Source: PerthNow

< Prev

1 of 2

Next >

PERTH'S first fully-fledged Fringe Festival went out with a bang last night with their inaugural awards ceremony, but not before organisers crack open the bubbly to celebrate 25 days of astounding ticket sales.

Almost 180,000 people attended ticketed and free events across Perth's first Fringe World Festival 2012, snapping up almost 50,000 tickets and spending just under $1.1 million in the process.

The festival -- brainchild of Artrage CEO Marcus Canning -- managed to fill its venues up to 50 per cent capacity, a roaring success compared to the almost-empty shows at the massive Edinburgh version which sees an average of only 5 per cent capacity.

And boosting the egos of acts such as The Axis of Awesome, Lucha Royale and The Wau Wau Sisters, 44 shows had sell-out performances.

"The people have decided with their bums on our seats and their happy faces coming in such huge numbers to Fringe World,'' said festival director Mr Canning, confirming the Fringe World Festival will be back for 2013.

"The feedback from our partners has been super positive and supportive through the festival and we're already talking about next year.

"Crossing the 50,000 tickets sold line is a huge feat for Fringe in its first year, and really puts us up there with some of the more established Fringes across the world.''

Despite the big numbers, Perth's fringe festival is still on the low end of the scale, with almost 1,500 performances and a little more than 200 shows on offer at 40 venues across the city.

In contrast, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which began in 1947, saw its largest event on record last year, with more than 40,000 performances and 2,500 shows across 258 venues.

But that doesn't mean Fringe will close its doors until next year's festival.

"We're going to be making some announcements soon about some `Fringe hits the regions' events happening a bit later in 2012,'' Mr Canning said.

"There is always room for improvement, moving forward.

"We're going to be spending some time contacting artists, audiences, local businesses and stakeholders to take part in the next phase of planning.

"Fringe is an effort that should be owned by the whole of the community that contributes to it and enjoys it.''

Last night, festivities culminated in the Fringe World Awards where artists were rewarded with the opportunity to take their show on the road to tour other national and worldwide fringe events.

Reserved for WA artists, top gong of the night the Martin Sims Award went to Rachel Dease for City of Shadows, giving her access to $10,000 to build her career internationally.

City of Shadows is a haunting original song-cycle sung to the live accompaniment of a cello, two violins and electronic soundscapes. It is performed in front of a large projected display of 1920’s archival photographs recently released from Sydney ‘crime file’ police records.

Welcome to the church of sin in Mardi Gras Tease - Perth Now - 20th February 2012

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:38:00 GMT

Welcome to the church of sin in Mardi Gras Tease

by:Sarah Dunstan
From:PerthNow
February 20, 2012 3:30PM

Sugar Blue Burlesque presents Mardi Gras Tease. Source: PerthNow

SUGAR Blue Burlesque welcomes you into their gospel church of sin, complete with faith healing and many a 'praise boobies.' After being passed complimentary hankies, the 'Shrove Tuesday' inspired celebration of song and dance begins.

Decked out in their Sunday best, two faith-crazed, church-going women perform a highly energetic dance that cleverly includes hands of prayer. You almost expect a live snake to be brought on stage, or somebody to start speaking in tongues – though just as exciting events are about to unfold on stage.

The Americana theme continues throughout Sugar Blue’s production, in all hues. There is a cream cake petticoated, parasol-toting lass who quickly overheats in front of some straw-chewing hicks and has to undress down to her shimmering bustier and silky bloomers. Another “Southern belle” performs a Tom Waits song on ukelele in a prom dress and crystal slippers. There are heavily pregnant rednecks playing the banjo and a strong-man with a Southern drawl and tiny animal print shorts, as well as the regular burlesque trappings like sexy washer-women and hula hooping pixie cut vixens.

In perhaps the most thought-provoking and stunning routine, an androgynous figure dressed like the New Orleans voodoo deity Baron Samedi appears in a haze of incense to restore “the Spirit of Jazz.” With a skull-like face, long dreadlocks and a black suit, this dance routine involves fire-eating, a little help from two frightening voodoo spirits in dark body suits and eventually a demure strip-tease down to a glittering bralet.

Also particularly inventive was a ballet-burlesque fusion routine influenced by the Mexican Day of the Dead festival performed by two skull-faced dancers wrapped in roses and camellias and donning cherry red slippers.

Sugar Blue truly engages the audience with this light-hearted mardi gras, the energy continuing well until after the performance in the Spiegeltent has ended, with all the performers bidding the audience adieu outside. It is the little extras, like being constantly blessed in a tongue-in-cheek way, and the attention to detail in the immaculate costumes that makes this performance a treat for the audience. As the host, dressed in garish white like a televangelist, proclaims: “You will be SAVED!”

Premier Colin Barnett talks up Fringe World benefits, Perth Now December 19th 2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:17:00 GMT

Premier Colin Barnett talks up Fringe World benefits

From:PerthNow
December 19, 2011 2:31PM
9 comments

FRINGE WORLD: Miss Squeezy Box (Nikki Dagostino), A'dora Derriere (Melanie Bruyer), Marcus Canning (Fringe World Director), Premier Colin Barnett, The Astonishing Johnny Domino and Coco Poppin (Melanie Naumoff) who are some of the 800 artists who will be performing. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow

PREMIER Colin Barnett reckons Perth has plenty of "highbrow'' culture now that he's leapt into the spotlight to promote Perth's Fringe World Festival, which will take over the Old Treasury Building next month.

Mr Barnett said after strong growth in traditional arts events, such as philharmonic orchestras and the Perth International Arts Festival, he was supportive of the Fringe's funkier entertainment.

The full program for the 3 1/2-week festival was announced this weekend, bringing more than 150 edgy international and local cabaret, theatre, burlesque, comedy and dance acts to Perth, many of which will be housed in the 106-year-old Spiegeltent which was bought for last year's pilot program.

It will feature a mix of shows ranging from $5-$40, and free events.

"Perth's got to sort of come out of being a fairly isolated, perhaps overly conservative, city and indulge itself in some of the different art forms, some of the more extravagant even outrageous performances and acts and different types of art forms,'' Mr Barnett said.

Last year, the event attracted about 20,000 spectators and this time even more fans are expected in the grandiose Treasury Building. The long-disused building, on the corner of Barrack St and St Georges Tce, is due to be redeveloped next year.

But developers and the State Government will allow Fringe World organisers Artrage to squeeze 90 acts on to seven stages throughout the Perth Town Hall and Old Treasury Building from January 26.

Fringe World director and chief executive Marcus Canning said that making use of the Treasury Building was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Burlesque festival looks to Australia for razzle-dazzle, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 October 2011

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:47:00 GMT

Burlesque festival looks to Australia for razzle-dazzle

Ruby Boukabou

October 5, 2011

Ads by Google

Flying Business Class?

www.flyL4L.com

70% Off on All 1st & Business Class All Major International Airlines

Searching for originality ... the artistic director of the Paris Burlesque Festival, Juliette Dragon. Photo: Jean-Philippe Carre

FROM the popular music halls of the 1900s and Josephine Baker at the Folies Bergere in the 1920s to today, Paris has been a jewel in the international cabaret and burlesque crown.

Once the rendezvous of silent movie stars and the cabaret crowd, Menilmontant is a popular Paris district full of bars, cafes, restaurants and venues such as La Bellevilloise, which is about to host the third annual Paris Burlesque Festival.

The festival is the European hub of burlesque culture and this year four Australians are on the bill.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Outrageous ... Sydneysider Lillian Starr. Photo: Paula Delley

Despite receiving hundreds of applications, Juliette Dragon, a French cabaret/burlesque performer and artistic director of the Paris Burlesque Festival, says the choice was easy.

Once the acts of raunchy exhibitionism and cheesecake glamour were stripped back, the numbers with originality, punch and humour leapt out.

''We know what's going to happen in a burlesque act, so what we look for is a remarkable skill - song, dance, mime … a surprise and a calibre of artist who can, in three to five minutes, transport the audience from their daily grind,'' Dragon says.

What differentiates burlesque from ''bore-lesque''?

''What I often see from female Australian burlesque performers is very 'pin-up' [1940-50s glamour] and male seductive shows that, while very professional and slick, don't have the 'folly' that I like … The acts that I have booked have a special talent and are nuanced, to be read on more than one level.''

A'dora Derriere, of Perth, will return to the festival with her drag act as Prince after a hit performance last year, this time with two dancers.

She will also perform a 1920s showgirl shadow dance and will be teaching four burlesque workshops (chorus line, vintage hair and make-up and chair dance).

''A'dora is an hilarious actress, a great dancer and a brilliant costume designer,'' Dragon says.

From her new base in London, Derriere offers some advice.

''Good burlesque is about how the artist interacts with the audience. Sometimes the most opulent and over-the-top acts can be boring and self-indulgent,'' she says.

''The audience needs to feel part of the performance somehow, even if it's just by being made to laugh, cheer or feel sexy when a little wink comes their way.''

Laughing and cheering (and gasping) is expected for Sydneysider Lillian Starr, who will perform in the Nuits Fatalesrevue on Saturday night.

Renowned for her pop-culture pastiches and her gender-bending performances, Starr will perform her outrageous ''cherry pie'' routine (''a rather salacious story about a 1950s cooking show'') as well as a high-class Swarovski-encrusted corseted act with a live band.

''J'adore Lillian Starr,'' Dragon says. ''I love her transformation and ability to surprise.''

As Starr says: ''[Burlesque] should ultimately be entertaining. Sleazy can be entertaining but a connection with the audience, charisma and good ideas go a long way.''

What has she learnt through burlesque? ''That our bodies are an amazing vehicle for expression … I think that women feel good when we see more generous, funny and diverse representations of ourselves onstage,'' she says.

This year's festival line-up is not just women.

Boylesquer Monsieur P (Ben Palumbo), of Sydney, will perform with the globetrotting Australian tap dancer Jazmin Baret (my alter ego) for a double act that will combine theatre, tap dancing, opera and acrobatics.

''I aim to create performances that are sassy, classy and creative,'' Monsieur P - whose act involves stripping off his shirt and standing on his hands singing opera in a falsetto - says.

''Burlesque has taught me to be creative in the moment and not to hold on. In opera it is all about hitting the perfect notes and holding a very precise rhythm but in burlesque you have a wonderful theatrical freedom.

''It's helped me go with the flow - on stage and in life.''

Dragon says: ''It seems to me that Australians have a freedom of spirit, less self-censorship than Americans or Europeans, which means that when they decide to let go, they can go far."

Ruby Boukabou, stage name Jazmin Baret, is performing in the Paris Burlesque Festival, which will run from tomorrow until Sunday.

Saucy 'stars' set to razzle-dazzle - August 30, 2011 issue of Fremantle Gazette

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:08:00 GMT

Saucy ‘stars’ set to razzle-dazzle

Fun and frivolity will reign at ‘wartime’ spectacular when burlesque is performed to a live big band

arts By ANNI FORDHAM

SWING by Fremantle’s Fly by Night Musicians Club on September 10 to step back in time and be entertained by the ‘stars of yesteryear’, in a unique homage to wartime performers. Sugar Blue Burlesque and the Oz Big Band have teamed up for a night of fun and frivolity entitled Hello Sweetheart, which will see a rare collaboration between the 18-piece big band, burlesque performers and swing dancers. Sugar Blue production manager Mel Naumoff (Coco Poppin) said she and artistic director Elly Squire (Clara Cupcakes) had wanted to bring the idea to life for a long time. “We all love this theme and I don’t know why it hasn’t happened yet but it comes down to timing, I suppose,” she said. “Recently we were talking to some of the members of Oz Big Band and we started talking about a collaboration and they were excited about it. So we decided it was time.” Naumoff said she had been involved in burlesque for about four years and the style was experiencing a resurgence in popularity. “I like it because of the performance aspect. Sugar Blue Burlesque is very multifaceted and it’s definitely more comedic, vaudevillian and old school. There are lots of different types of burlesque.” The Hello Sweetheart audience will see Miss Burlesque Perth 2011, Kitty Litteure, perform a special Bettie Page tribute. “She’s doing Teaserama, which is a really famous Bettie Page act. She’s a cult pinup but she (was) a bad dancer and it will be hilarious.” Also starring will be recently-crowned Miss Burlesque Victoria, Kelly Ann Doll. Naumoff said the show was well worth seeing “because it’s probably never going to happen again”. “We’re one of the few troupes in the world that is this big and has access to and collaborations with a band of this size. Burlesque to live music is a bit of a rarity.” Audience members are encouraged to dress for the wartime theme – soldiers, sailors, pilots and nurses – with prizes on offer for best dressed. Hello Sweetheart is on at the Fly By Night, Fremantle, on September 10. Presale tickets are $40 plus booking fee from www.flybynight.org or $50 at the door.

Sugar Blue Burlesque and Oz Big Band present Hello Sweetheart at the Fly By Night Club on September 10.

My Workout - The West Australian Newspaper - 30th August 2011

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:52:00 GMT

The big top gets sexy - 6th May 2011

Fri, 06 May 2011 10:43:00 GMT

The big top gets sexy

ACCESS ALL AREAS, The West AustralianMay 6, 2011, 9:40 am

Enlarge photo

Perth's Sugar Blue Burlesque will sex up the Circus Joseph Ashton big top at Langley Park tomorrow night.

Following three sold-out shows at Fringe World in February, the local burlesque outfit will join forces with the carny folk for a one-night-only performance.

The night will feature vaudevillian antics from the worlds of burlesque, jazz, cabaret, speakeasy and sideshow, including the wheel of death, flying trapeze, acrobats and juggling, as well as contortion by paraplegic performer Kim Upton.

Guests are encouraged to dress in burlesque or circus style with prizes for best costume.

Tickets available at aladdinstix.com.au.

Burlesque revival Sugar-Sweet for Vic Park Director 15th Feb 2011

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 02:19:00 GMT

Vintage Titillation from the world of Vaudeville 15th Feb 2011

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 02:18:00 GMT

2011 - Perth's cultural coming of age? ABC News

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:50:00 GMT

2011 - Perth's cultural coming of age?

By Claire Nichols

Posted Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:57pm AEDT

Workers have been finishing off fittings at the state theatre with performances soon to hit the boards

Melanie Bruyer will bring in the new year at the ultimate costume party.

Surrounded by swing dancers, hula hoopers and chair twirlers, she'll perform to hundreds of revellers in the middle of Northbridge, with co-stars from her acclaimed burlesque group, Sugar Blue.

Performing is her passion and she couldn't think of a better way to ring in 2011 - a year that promises to be an exciting one for Perth's often maligned cultural scene.

"I think it's Perth's coming of age," says Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, who will oversee the city's continuing physical transformation in 2011.

Changes to St Georges Terrace and the long-awaited upgrade to Forrest Place will be complete by mid-year. The upgrades will complement work already done at the Northbridge Piazza and the Cultural Centre, as well as the creation of trendy new laneways throughout the CBD.

Ms Scaffidi is proud of how the city's looking and hopes the new year will bring a change of attitude about what Perth has to offer.

"I do tire of people always comparing us to Melbourne and Sydney," she said.

"Those cities are far bigger and a little older than us. We're at a different stage in our development but we are catching up quickly and I just want to hear people being more upbeat about Perth and what Perth has to offer."

Fringe benefits

Melanie Bruyer is more than upbeat.

Instead of a major new development, she's most excited about a temporary addition to the city which will bring a host of weird and wonderful performers to Perth.

February will see the return of fringe theatre to WA, and with it, a major cultural coup - a 95-year-old Spiegeltent, a mirrored tent in Dutch.

Ms Bruyer will help co-ordinate the performances inside the unique venue, as well as treading the boards as her alter-ego, A'dora Derriere.

"We're having some international performers come through to inspire us as well as well as the local performers who are doing some shows," she said.

"It'll be amazing."

She says the one-of-a-kind performance venue will introduce a brand new audience to the arts.

"I think that anyone who just walks past it will want to have a look and be curious about what's happening inside.

"It's mysterious and quirky and sort of different and exciting but also it's a very warm atmosphere as well."

Centre stage

While the small tent is sure to draw crowds, all eyes will be on a much bigger venue set to open its doors early in 2011.

The State Theatre Centre is the first theatre to be built by a government in Western Australia and is a state of the art development.

Brendan Ellmer is the venue's manager and will spend an anxious new year making sure every is ready for its opening at the end of January.

"We're very close, the house curtain's just been installed," he said.

He says while the finishing touches are being put in place, venue staff are in rehearsal mode, making sure they'll be able to deal with a rush of audience members on opening night.

"From the 10th of January we're doing our soft openings, we've invited guests so we can test out our front of house and back of house, all in time for our opening on the 27th," he said.

It's hoped the venue, with a large upstairs theatre and underground studio space, will bring a new sense of importance to Perth's arts scene.

The theatre is already close to booked out for its first year, with leading Australian companies including Bangarra Dance Theatre and Bell Shakespeare set to tread the boards.

Lisa Scaffidi is counting down the days until the curtain goes up.

"It's another opportunity for us to celebrate our city and how it's growing in the 21st century," she said.

"You'd have to be blind or really not just out and about to realise that Perth is truly changing at this time."

See article here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/30/3103859.htm

"Our Own Queen of Burlesque" West Australian 10th December 2010

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:51:00 GMT

"Fringe dwellers pitch their tent" WA Today 15th December 2010

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:50:00 GMT

Fringe dwellers pitch their tent

STEPHEN BEVIS, The West Australian
December 15, 2010, 9:08 am

More than 50 feathered Brazilian carnival dancers will shimmy, shake and help high-kick off Fringe World, a decadent tasting plate preceding an all-you-can -eat buffet of a revived Fringe Festival in 2012.Piff the Magic Dragon, Barry Morgan and his World of Organs, the Wau Wau Sisters, Frisky and Mannish, the List Operators and The Freak and the Showgirl are some of the offbeat international acts crowding into Perth's very own Spiegeltent for Fringe World in February.

Skirting the edges of the main Perth International Arts Festival over three weeks will be more than 100 performances of cabaret, burlesque, comedy, performance art and music inside the Spiegeltent, the free-entry Fringe World outdoor space in the Cultural Centre and the adjoining performance space at PICA.

FRINGE WORLD HIGHLIGHTS

The opening night party on February 3 will feature Brazilian dancers, the gypsy dance of the Woohoo Revue, and percussion duo Ben Walsh and Tom Thumb from Strut'n'Fret, the producers of The Garden of Unearthly Delights at the Adelaide Fringe.

Perhaps the star attraction will be the 95-year-old De Parel (The Pearl), one of the world's last surviving traditional Spiegeltents (mirror tent in Dutch), portable pavilions used as dance halls, bars and cabaret venues at festivals around the world.

Made of polished timber, mirrors, canvas, leaded stained glass and detailed in velvet and brocade, each tent is said to have its own personality and style. Fringe producer Artrage bought The Pearl from Belgium's Klessens family, who had never sold one of their beloved portable antique funhouses. "There was a lot of negotiating back and forth over the internet with the beautiful grand matriarch of the Klessens family," Artrage director Marcus Canning says.

May Klessens, whose family built and maintained the tents for five generations, says visitors can see and taste their atmosphere. "You have to know, I love old stuff," she says. "For me it looks much better than brand new. I would like to smell beer and history."

Seven international fringe directors will be coming to Perth for an inaugural summit designed to register Perth on the global fringe calendar.

The Perth event, dubbed "a boutique fringe at the edge of the world", will be part of a global network of 100 such festivals, with its timing fitting between regional fringes in Hong Kong, Singapore and Adelaide, says Mr Canning, who adds that a Spiegeltent is a quintessential part of the international fringe experience.

"I thought we just have to do this. We could be the only fringe in the world that actually has its own tent. It is an amazing thing for WA to be the place where a Spiegeltent lives. This is a world heritage object that we have never had the chance to experience."

Fringe World will begin a week before the main Perth Festival, restoring a link severed in 1988 when the old Perth Fringe morphed into the year-round Artrage. The Fringe World precinct in the Cultural Centre will have free entry, access to food and drink stalls and tickets ($25) to the shows inside the Spiegeltent.

With cheaper, accessible shows, a fringe will appeal to younger audiences, traditionally the toughest market to crack for arts producers, and foster the habit of attending arts events later in life, Mr Canning says.

The Spiegeltent would be available for regional festivals around WA and be used in next year's Awesome children's and youth festival in Perth. "Kids getting used to that space will turn them into fringe dwellers later in their teens and in turn become mainstream Perth Festival consumers when they hit their 40s."

The Spiegeltent, which houses 200-400 people, arrives on Christmas Eve. "At some stage we are going to have to find a master carpenter who is going to love her," Mr Canning says.

"Stepping through the doors of a Spiegeltent is just like being flown back in time into a 1920s-30s cabaret. It really does blow you away."

He notes a resurgence of interest across the world in cabaret, vaudeville and burlesque. "These old school art forms are really about having a great time, have no pretention to them at all and are a total antidote to this mediated world in which we live. There is a lot of artistry going on but it is not high art with a capital H."

Fringe World runs from February 3-26. The full program will be announced on January 6.

Perthectday.com blog about Sugar Blue classes!

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 02:26:00 GMT

Dec
13

Learn to Shimmy at Sugar Blue Burlesque

by Bethan

Whether you see burlesque as socially acceptable striping or an art form, you’ll definitely release your inner sex kitten at Sugar Blue’s burlesque bump and grind dance lessons. Held at their HQ in Northbridge every Monday at 6.30pm, its an hour of fun and frolics in a female only environment.

This is their drop in session, so the clientèle range from experienced dancers to the barely coordinated, and everyone is too busy concentrating on their own hip movements and snap ups to notice yours. The class feels very supportive and friendly, and the gorgeous instructor, Miss Jane, doesn’t mind how good you are, just that you’re well behaved! The routines are fairly challenging, but she gives options to make it accessible for everyone.

The more dedicated burlesque brigade turn up in costumes every week, with a theme to it – tonight is sailor/kitten and next week is Christmas. Don’t worry if you don’t have a corset/top hat/fishnets/50′s hot pants combo to hand though, as most newbies are fine in just some shorts or tracksuit pants and a t-shirt. The one thing they do recommend is taking a pair of heels with you, which you can move about in.

Sugar Blue also do courses for those who are more serious about performing, or the ‘Fresh faced Follies‘ are graduating with a show on the 22nd December if you want to see the end results!

Learning burlesque at Sugar Blue

How to get there: 5 minute walk from Perth station

Timing: 6.30 each Monday in Northbridge. There are also classes in Fremantle Senior High School on Thursdays at 7.30pm

Price: Currently $14, usually $16.50

Blog Post by: www.perthectday.com

" Speigeltent show to be like stepping back in time" West Australian Newspaper 6th November 2010

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:51:00 GMT

"Burlesque Festival to Revel in WA Talent" West article

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:52:00 GMT