It´s here!

Happy Friday everyone!

And indeed, a happy one it is! HBF kicked off on Wednesday with the first workshops and today is the first day of shows at Gloria! I really do hope you have tickets because the last time I checked tomorrow is sold out and for tonight there are only a few left! The line-up is amazing! I got to meet some of the performers last night at the meet & greet and they are such sweethearts even if there is a some jetlag and flue going around <3
A big thank you at the moment especially to Perle Noire and Kitten de Ville whom I had the pleasure of assisting at their workshops! You ladies are a true ispiration and raise the bar of performing  sky-high!!! I learned so much!
21st Century Burlesque made a piece on the Helsinki Burlesque Festival and why it´s so popular and in high demand, please read it here! Bettie Blackheart is one helluva producer & performer and an ispiration and I´m so proud to be able to call her my "burlesque-mom" <3

Hope to see you at Gloria or tomorrow at Imogen Kelly´s or Kitten de Ville´s workshops! Ta!

Warm up club!

Tomorrow night there is a warm up party at Tyra´s Boudoir! Fredrikinkatu 24, @ Liike, fantastic drag show by Linnea von Kattendam and a possibility to buy some burlesque accesorizes from Tyra Therman!

Vienna Boylesque Festival

Just when I thought this week can´t get any better, you know with HBF and all, I get some pretty friggin´AWESOME news!!! I have been accepted to perform at the First Annual Vienna Boylesque Festival this March! To make it even MORE special, so has my darling Pepper Sparkles so Thee Dizzy Daisies are well represented :) AND my darlings Sir Willy Waterlily and miss Lola Vanilla are coming, too!!! A proper Finnish delegation haha!
There´s some amazing performers like Tigger!, Russel Bruner and Miss Anne Trophy and they are still announcing more but one of the things that got me (if possible) even more stoked is that I *finally' get to meet my Idol World Famous *BOB*, who is MC´ing the event! Gawd, I had to do 1,5h worth of weight-training tonight just to calm myself down!!! WOOP!!!! Thank you Jacques Patriaque for the honor!

EEEP <3

Practice, practice...

Our studio tends to get a bit cold this time of the year, so it´s woollen socks and proper warm up that makes all the difference! Making a new number is such a pleasure, well at least at the point when things start "clicking" together. My dress is in the making and I have been planning stuff with Tyra Therman as well so this is definetly getting there! For my upcoming number the boost was my fantastic HUGE boa that burlesque legend Fannie Annie in Las Vegas made for me and that Bettie Blackheart kindly enough crammed into her suitcase from NYC last Fall. The next step was thinking of a story and then finding the right music...Now I´m working on the coreo and as some of you might remember that´s *always* the hardest part for me! I´m really looking forward the workshops of Perle Noire and Kitten DeVille next week since I really think they will help me hugely with my on going project!

People often ask where I get the initial ideas to new numbers from - it´s really hard to say sometimes. Mostly with me it has been the musical inspiration that comes firstly. It´s funny because I seldomly listen to music these days without thinking "hmmm, can I use this in something...?" It´s also a lot about research and trying to google if anyone has made anything similar before. One wants to be original and it´s a BIG no-no to rip other performers stuff!!!

I also tend to collect bits and pieces of costuming, jewellery, fabrics etc for future use. Sometimes I never use it, usually though a good portion of a number is things I´ve had for a good year. Sometimes it´s just an idea that I store up for future reference: like what kind of underwear I´d like to have or what colors I´d like to use. I have a little black notebook for ideas and store inspirational photos on my laptop.

Also something that is really important for me to get the number finished is a deadline :) Yup, I´m one of those. I might have a good idea and almost finished costume but until I have a set date when to perform it...well, let´s just say it´s a challenge.

Siberia stripper-chic @Raspberry Fields a few weeks ago

Practicing with my new boa last night!

Long time

It´s been a while, hasn´t it?
between being really sick with a damn cold and a trip to Stockholm there hasn´t been much going on. I have officially declared Spring in the form of changing my kitchen curtains and buying a fabulous Frida-Kahlo-ish wax cloth for my big table! It´s bright turquoise with pink roses and I LOVE IT!
I was supposed to go and see Pepper Potemkin shake her thang last Saturday in Stockholm but having 38 degrees fever kinda put a stop to that plan :( Good thing is, she is coming to Helsinki Burlesque Festival next week!
NEXT WEEK! I´m taking workshops with Perle Noire and am happy to be Kitten DeVille´s workshop assistant -can´t wait to meet these amazing ladies! I´m trying not to stress about festival outfits, I will take the easy way out this year even if me, Sandy and Pepper do have an idea for Friday-night!
Looking forward to tomorrow at Raspberry Fields, I´ll be working on my upcoming number and making some coreo-changes with Sandy for some of Thee Daisies stuff. Just hope this snot would disappear from my head!!!
Have a grand day everyone! I need to get some teacher-stuff done, even on this week of holidays :) Ta!

(c) Jirina Alanko

Drag me to HEL

Mondays. What can I say? Seldomly fantastic, this one finds me sick. I'm stuck in bed with a real sore throat and fever chills and hoping to be well by Wednesday due to a sportday-event at school plus of course I want to attend the movie premiere of my nephew on Thursday...So please Universe: werk with me here!!!
The tickets to Drag me to HEL are sold on Tiketti as we speak, and am proud that Thee Dizzy Daisies have a good representation there as both me and Pepper are performing! It's going to be a blast, a twisted cabaret so get your tickets now!!!

Iggy Pop says it.

In the name of love

Lahti Pride was fantastic! The audience was really welcoming and we had a blast! I hope there will be many more to come. The Pride-season is now open, next one is in Rovaniemi! Have a colorful week!

Pic: Sonja Siikanen

Pic: Sonja Siikanen

A happy dog coming home! Pic: Lola Vanilla

Mr. A. Le Coq whos stage kitten cherry was lost.