Ba-da-boob, ba-da-bing

Just got home from the 4th Annual Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, which was fabulous. I saw an ad for the festival in The Vancouver Sun, and thought it might be interesting to check out. Something different. So I got tickets to The Cheesecake Burlesque Revue, a group from Victoria, BC.

For a mere $13, we got 2 hours of glittery ruby red lipstick, sparkly eye makeup, costumes and wigs, and of course... titty tassels! Beautiful women of all shapes and sizes, perfectly comfortable in their own skin - and comfortable with showing their skin.

The performances themselves were quite varied and entertaining. Several wardrobe malfunctions (unsticky tassels!) only stoked the supportive audience even more. They also got some audience participation, which was lots of fun. In the first half, they had 4 women go up on stage and take turns shimmying (think Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie") to win a T-shirt. In the second half, they got 4 guys to go up and remove their shirts, and have a try at nipple tassels! HahAha! :D

Granted, burlesque is not for everyone. Even I thought it was a little long, because even with costume changes and different music, they all end up stripping down, so the best performances were those that had some creativity. My favourite? Bunny Ruffles' performance as a tired "entertainer". Hilarious song, coupled with appropriate hand gestures, it had me cracking up! :)

All in all, though, I thought it was terrific! I may not attend the festival every year, but I'm definitely glad I went to check it out. :)

For those interested, the burlesque fest runs until May 10, the coming Sunday! :)