Bump´n´grind

One of the quintessentials in burlesque is, of course, the bump and grind. The not-so-suttle movement of the hips gets the attention every time. Hey -if Elvis got in trouble for his hips...  ;)
I´m taking the first of my dance-coreo classes tomorrow with the lovely Tinker Bell...hopefully she has not too much to "undo" after Bent´s MAN-class on Tuesday haha! Anyway, I have been looking at videos for inspiration and wanted to share this one with you: the gorgeous Crystal Starr showing how the bump´n´grind should be done. I wish I could move like that! Practice, practice and practice...Tink, you are going to have your hands full tomorrow!!!

The Daddy in Me

Oh my :)

My Lucia just got some new stuff today... I had a wonderful (private) workshop with Bent van der Bleau about how to find my inner leather daddy. You know, those marvelous ûber masculine gay men who are hot as hell and whose whole visual image is just absolutely spellbinding and beautiful (to me). I guess I have to say here first hand that I don´t believe that there are only two genders (as in feminine and masculine) but that most of us have both sides, in different amounts. Depending on the culture, the norms and the era one lives in different amounts of that get out. I have always connected very much to what I (half-jokingly) call "the gay man in me" and I find especially the leather scene very interesting and a visual turn on. Being more of a femme in my every day-life does not stop me from wanting to get to know this gay man in me more. I have penis envy on two occasions: 1) when I have to pee outside in the winter and 2) when there´s a men-only party at a gay club. 

So I talked to Bent and he promised to help me out with this. No, he still can´t get me in to the club (goddamnit!) but he had some awesome tricks to help lure out that masculinity. The most surpirsing was that putting something (in my case: my leopard scarf!) up my trousers as a fake penis made me walk, talk and act differently. This should not be surprising in any way :) but it was! 

So next time I do my Lucia it will for sure be quite different.

Thank you, Bent. You´re da MAN <3

Not oranges but bottles under the arms to give that little xtra whoosh :)

How to do it. My man Bent.

Version 1.0 : feet are wrong. Forget heels!

Version 2.0: better. Not perfect, but better.

What we work with.

My package.

TA DA! (and ass confetti)

In the middle

Some people say that you should not show work in progress. BS! I say. Work in progress can be hugely inspirational. You should not *judge* things not finished but then I'm not much for judging anyway ;)
I started my Project: Shoe HBF13 last night. I realized that the glitter faux pas I did when ordering (too small) is actually working to my benefit here since it's easier to make patterns with smaller stones. I found these pretty shoes (Material Girl) in Florida last June but the feeling was not quite right with the ribbons for what I need. Olivia suggested to clip them off and voila! we have a pair with much more delicacy plus it's easier to add rhinestones in the colors of the outfit to tie everything together for an ensemble. This is not finished but here's a few shots to give you an idea. Have an inspirational Sunday!!!

Before and almost after.

Where I left things last night.

The small meets the bigger.

Sunny side of Saturday

If last week found me gloomy, this Saturday is really good :)

The sun is shining, the kitteh is feeling better, I´m off to bodybalance and then just stuff...as in the calendar is empty and I can choose myself what to do. I think that includes laundry and pimping my shoes for the festival outfit - or at least starting that!

I hope you have a great day,too!

How it looks outside right now

 

What a week

Thee Dizzy Daisies, fierce! by Jirina Alanko

Hello peeps! 

This week is soon over and I´m not really sad about it. One of our cat´s got bitten by something, a raccoon dog we presume since those have been around lately (supikoira in Finnish) and both her front paws are in really bad condition. The left one we might have to loose all together, the next week will tell how the antibiotics and cleaning of the wounds help. So do send some love her way, don´t know what we will do if she doesn´t make it :( 

In one and a half weeks there will be Instro a Go Go in Hellsinki with go go-dancing by me and Sandy, it´s going to be pretty quiet for a while now since I really have to concentrate on the upcoming number for the Helsinki Burlesque Festival. Tomorrow I´ll be going to Tampere for a final fitting with Olivia Rouge, also booked some dance classes with Tinker Bell...since coreo and dance really are not my forte as of yet :)
I´m also taking a class with Bent van der Bleu about drag (king:ing) and faux queening (if that is a word?): I want to make my Lucia better and more masculine and who´s not a better teacher than the Prince of Finnish boylesque! My advice for everyone out there is: use the knowledge around you. Take all classes you can get in the subjects that you think you need to work on and if they are not organized, ask for private tutoring. Yes, it will cost you some but some things can not be valued in money. We are surrounded by real talented people, pick some brains and get out there! Remember though that you have to make it YOUR own, not copycat anyone else´s thing. To be an original is as important as being nice to people around you.

We got the fantastic photos that Thee Dizy Daisies took with Jirina in December, so I´ll leave you with a couple. Have a great night and a good start of the weekend! Ta! 

Sometimes it just all goes array! Burlesque, as you can see is all about pose, elegance, sensuality and being dead-serious.

by: Jirina Alanko

Lucia, faithfully. By: Jirina Alanko

Librarian chic

It's been kids birthday parties all weekend long and for the one yesterday this is what I wore. The dress is one of my favorites from Stop Staring!, the 40's style hair net is from Olivia Rouge, the specs I found at Walter optiikka in Hellsinki, boots Prada.
I really love the nerdy look <3

Go Go Dancing

Last summer at Nastolan Rautalankafestarit. Photo: Minna Kivelä

Hello folks! My Saturday begun with a foot massage, I hope yours has been as wonderful :) And no, not the kind of foot massage they talked about in Pulp Fiction haha!!! 

In a couple of weeks me and Sandy will be shaking and shimmying for the Dangermen at Instro A Go Go at CLub Liberté in Hellsinki. There will be a lot of surf bands playing so do come and enjoy the night. It´ll be a good way to forget this January-gloom that´s going on outside....