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The event that I was most excited to cover at Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender was the Tournament of Tease. I headed down to shoot the red carpet, nestled into a nook with my camera, and got ready to see some of the best burlesque the world currently has to offer.
The first category of contestants were competing for Best Debut. Lisa Fa’alafi of Brisbane Australia, was up first, and she did a Polynesian-inspired reverse-strip to an amazingly sassy song. She had some kind of wind machine in a little box, so things got really Beyonce there for a minute when her long locks were blown all over the place during her act’s finale. Next up was Jeez Loueez from St. Louis, Missouri. She did a fierce number to Michael Jackson’s “Bad.” She really had a handle on the power of the pose. She’d dance, dance, dance and then she’d stop and give the crowd a fierce, dirty look for a few seconds. They loved it, and gave her a standing ovation when her act ended.
When Madame Romanova of Stalingrad, Russia came out, I thought to myself, Huh. I guess she’s going to do a magician-themed act. The biggest piece of magic during her set, though, was the fact that she removed her tuxedo-esque clothing to reveal a completely different outfit — pink and red with hearts and fringe — under her clothes. My favorite part of her act was the big, graceful balloon she brought out and danced with at the end, so contrasting to her slender frame. Germany’s Mama Ulita followed in an emerald green dress. She dumped an insane amount of glitter on the stage during her act. Every time she removed a part of her dress she shook the piece of clothing and glitter puffed off like dust off a dirty rug. She finished up with a graceful fan dance.
Londoner Bonnie Fox was next and put on a great show. She can really cut a rug, that girl! She had an extremely sparkly flapper outfit on, and her personality sparkled as much as the Swarovskis. She was positively effervescent, and her choreography was flawless! It’s no surprise she won Best Debut at the end of the show.
After Fox, things slowed down and got really ethereal for a few minutes as Emma Mylan of Geneva, Switzerland did a graceful fan dance. Then The Lady Josephine of Montreal, Quebec did a swashbuckling sword number, and Missy Lisa from Dallas did a classic burlesque dance with her fishtail dress and fluffy boa. Voracious V of Vancouver, British Columbia then commanded the stage, mesmerizing us with ribbony fans, and after her London’s Aurora Galore closed out the category with fierce number to some dub-step that drove the crowd wild.
Click here for the BHoF 2014 Movers, Shakers, and Innovators Gallery