Christmas

Merry Christmas friends!!

I would like to tell you what happend today. A nice ten year boy came into the office, and what did he want to talk about? SANTA! It was so sweet, cute and innocent. It made me remember what magic Christmas used to hold for me and I'm sure countless others. The world actually held so much magic for me at one time in life. I used to want to grow up to be a mermaid and a trick pony rider, so why wouldn't Santa be real too?!

The Christmas Trees, the lights, the food, the cookies and candy. Everywhere you go things are decorated so beautifully and festive. People seem friendlier and are thinking of there loved ones. Everyting at this time of year is magical and today a day before Christmas a little boy reminded me of that.

I am luck to be in the world of burlesque, it has a beautiful zainy magic of its own and I love it.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, whither you spend it with family, friends or alone.

xoxo
Dangerous Delilah

Who Are You?

Two famous character have said this in movies; the Wizard of Oz to Dorothy and the Caterpillar to Alice.Now, I must say this to myself. Who is Dangerous Delilah? Right now, I'm not too sure who she is just yet, she is a mystery to me. So, what to do? I started surfing the web to look for inspirational pictures. Anything that made me think of Dangerous Delilah. So, here they are :)


Ms. Delilah is opulent and lush. She is a lover of french things and delectable food. She is comfortable in diamonds, fur, heels and red lips. She is an adventurer, explorer, and lover of life. I think it is important to know who she is as well as who she is not. She is fun but not a comedian, classy but not pretentious. On stage she is fun, flirty and sexy.

The point of figuring out who your character is helps her be more "real" on stage. Your character can be as much or as little of the real you as you want. I think the more personality of her own and the more you know her the better she will be on stage. She will come alive and be whatever it is you want her to be. She will be confident, fun, flirty and sexy and the audience will see this.
Do I know who Dangerous Delilah is or who I want her to be, no, but I know her a little better. Get to know your stage character, let her be a little be of something......and she might just shine a little brighter on stage for you.

I want to say an extra THANK YOU to Miss. Laika Fox!!! She linked my blog to my new link. So no more .blogspot.com :) Just go to www.dangerousdelilah.com whoot whoot!! THANK YOU.

xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

The Movie Review

I was able to go see the move Burlesque a week or so ago. After taking sometime to sort out my thoughts, I think this movie is pretty bad. There are some good things and some bad things, so let me tell you all about it.

Its starts out with a small town girl, Ali, wanting more, so she leaves. While hitting the pavement of LA looking for a job she sees beautiful Coco, a burlesque dancer, outside the theater. When she enters the theater, Ali doesn't know where she is or what kind of place she has walked into. This is when I was excited. On stage is a group of beautiful women in amazing costumes dancing away. And like me, Ali got excited and wants to join the group. What I really enjoyed about this part of the movie was Ali's excitement and wanting to be the girl up on the stage, because that's how I feel now. I HAVE bought all the books on burlesque, like the girl in the movie. On the other hand, the on stage dances, the stage, back stage, the bar, the costumes, and make-up, is all amazing, but it's not real. It's not burlesque.

After Ali becomes the star, the movie gets really bad. The costumes and make-up stay amazing, but now it pretty much is a Christina Agulaira music video. It's pretty bad. I tried to ignore the bad acting because the costumes and dancing were so good, but at this point in the movie it is too hard to ignore.

In all it's a bad movie with some really good things sprinkled in. To me this was another version of Coyote Ugly with better dancing. I would love to see this movie again, but edited down just to the dancing scenes.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the movie. My hope is....that people will be excited to see what burlesque really is and come out to this shows.

xo
Dangerous Delilah

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!

I hope you all stuff yourselves, then take a walk and then a nap and then eat turkey sandwiches! That's the tradition in my family!

Today is a day that we are all given the chance to take the day off and think about what we are thankful for in our lives. For me Thanksgiving has been a day of spending it with family. I grew up far away from my Grandma's, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. On Thanksgiving, my small family would all pack into the car and drive the whole looong way to the relatives house. My sister and I would play the ever fun "pinching game" that would lead to first laughter, then tears, then the parents yelling, then bruises all over our bodies. Let me tell you this was OH SO FUN! Then we all waited for the food and devoured the food all in a loud big family way. Then the best part was we all went for a walk around the long block, everyone would go, even the horse and the dogs. It was a beautiful day. I miss it.

These past few years of living in San Francisco have turned Thanksgiving into a little bit different day. I would go off with my sister the her husbands family. It was all very nice with great food, I'm thankful they always included me and made me feel welcome. Now, today as I have a cheesecake in the oven, my day will be different again. Today I'm going over to some lovely friends house to enjoy the afternoon. I'm hoping for good food, great friends and for my cheesecake to turn out!

I am thankful for these memories of my past and am looking forward to making new ones. For this year that is almost over I have not had the best year. This is when I must really look at what I do have in my life and be thankful. So, what am I thankful for? My sweet new nephew, Evan. He has shown me how wonderful a child can be. He is sweet, smart, big, funny and just amazing. I'm amazed by how fast he learns something new! And he melts my heart when I hear his little child voice say my name. I am thankful for my mom & dad who always love me. My sister who is strong and supportive and always tries to my me feel better. My boyfriend, who cares for me. My awesome friends, I don't have very many and they are scattered around the world, but I love them. Most I have know for years and years and I look forward to more years! I am thankful for burlesque! This has been an outlet for me and it is one thing that I look forward to. It makes me happy and want to become a better performer. Lastly, I am thankful for Oscar my cat. .This soft fur ball helps me in my stressful day to relax he shows me love with wanting nothing in return but a bowl of food and a warm lap to sit in.

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

xoxo
Dangerous Delilah

Before the Movie

The movie Burlesque comes out tomorrow. Am I going to go see it? Yup, I sure am! I have plans with some friends. Why am I seeing it? Pretty much only because of the title.

Most people don't know what burlesque is or if they 'think' they know, they really have the wrong idea. What I think is going to happen is that this movies might reinforce this wrong idea. On the other hand I'm hoping people will be excited to learn about burlesque and fill the shows up all over the city!! That would be great!

I'll let you know what I think after I see it.

xo

Dangerous Delilah

I Learned Something

On Thursday I got the privilege to perform at Fire Eaters Anonymous in Blank Space in the Metreon in downtown San Francisco. I was happy to perform, since I didn't think I would get the chance in November, thank you If-N-Whendy!

So this is what happened. I was getting ready at home, putting my hair in hot rollers when I realized, yet again I didn't have any cloths on. Bummer, try putting cloths on with rollers in your hair, its hard just moving your head around! This isn't the first time I've done this too, you would think I would learn. I found a cute warm sweater dress that would fit nicely over the rollers, I finished my make up and went out the door.

When I got to the show no one noticed me, that's fine for me. Then I get into costume with the other lovely lady's If- N-Whendy, Pickles Kintarro, Laika Fox, and Cherry Chapstick. It was a small, quick, beautiful show. When we were done and changed that's when I felt like I didn't belong. The other lady's had something beautiful to put on, something that made them look like performers and like they were something special. I had my sweater dress and flats back on and felt oh so out of place. My boyfriend even said I looked like a goober and I did! Not like a burlesque performer at all, I didn't even want to stay and watch the other things going on.

What I learned is, I need to stay in character. If I want to stand out, feel special, like I belong in the glamorous burlesque genera, I need to act the part. Dangerous Delilah is not a girl in a sweater dress. She is a stunner and I need to make her that way. So the very next day I when to to the Betty Paige store on Haight st and tried on a bunch of beautiful dresses and whittled it down to two. So now I have 3 pinup dresses (the other is from http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/). I L.O.V.E. them. The fit and the styling of these dresses make me feel sexy, pretty and classy. I have now worn two of the dresses and I turned heads. Just wait till Dangerous Delilah gets a hold of these :)

I hope to put up pictures of these dresses soon.

xo
Dangerous Delilah

No November :(

November has just started, but it has already been a little rough for me. It started with my birthday and the death of my beautiful grandmother.

Also, I do not have a single show this month. What am I to do? Well, I've picked up the book I put down "This Was Burlesque" by Ann Corio. I've been doing word search puzzles, got it at the craft store for a dollar! Score! I've been all over amazon and picked up some fun videos that I will talk about when I get them,I am suuuuper excited for them! And I have picked up the "Pin Up Perfection Magazine" Burlesque issue.

So, to start the book is still uninspiring and hard to get through. And that coming form me a huge reader is crazy. But, I think the magazine is promising, filled with beauties and articles. It was a little pricey (I think it was $14) I hoping it will inspire. I'll be snuggling on the couch with it right after this blog.

I have been thinking that before I get old, it would be nice to have some interesting photos of my young self to show my grand kids one day. So, I'm thinking of doing a photo shoot. More on that later.

xoxox
Dangerous Delilah

P.S~ I was wonderfully surprised by my sweetie, as a birthday gift he got me sewing lessons! Whoo whoo! Thank you sweetie, I can't wait.

Backstage

What happens backstage in a burlesque dressing room? I almost feel like I shouldn't tell, but I am :) It never seems to matter the size of the dressing room, it is never big enough! The lovely ladies fill the room with chit chat, feathers, sequins, shoes, fans, chairs, lace, hairspray, make up, costumes,fishnets and glitter. There isn't room to think.

What goes on backstage is quite a bit of organized chaos. Girls are in various stages of dress. Some are getting into elaborate costumes with layer upon layer. Others have just performed and are in pasties and a G-string. And still others are in between these stages. There is endless chatter, any thing from joking around to discussing if you can die from inhaling glitter to discussing an act and walking through steps. Glitter and hairspray fill the air with a floral scented glittery cloud.

Almost all backstage dressing rooms are too dark, sometimes way too dark. And strangely for a dressing room there are not enough mirrors. What does this mean? It means lady's overlap each other to put their face in a small square of it, or they are darting back and forth in front of it all trying to catch a quick glance of themselves. These faces all painted and sparkly transform the lady's into exciting burlesque dancers.

There is a set list. This is a list that tells you when it's your turn, who you are after and when you need to be ready by. As the show goes on it is critical to watch this list and pay attention to what is going on. You don't want to be half dressed when you're up next!

A few weeks ago a freak heat wave hit San Francisco and the dressing room. Just imagine a room crammed in with all of this and adding super hot temperature. Now, glitter sweat is dripping off all the pretty faces as they lace up into corsets and garters..... Not quite the picture of glamor! What a night, we ALL needed a cold drink that night.

The strangest "dressing" room I've ever been in was a small office space just off large kitchen of a bar and grill. The kitchen was empty of cooks, so it worked. We make do with what is available. And the smallest, wasn't really a room at all but a bend in a dark hallway that served as the coat check.

Back stage for me is great, it is the time for me to connect with my burlesque friends. It is when we share glitter and carpet tape. We help lace up corsets, get a drink, have mini freak outs, calm eachother down again and have a great show. I need this to transform myself into Dangerous Delilah.

I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into our private world.

xo
Dangerous Delilah

October

October has been the month of performing for me. I have four shows. Wow. That's a lot considering I usually only perform once or twice a month. It has been a whirlwind of a month. As well as performing I also came up with a new dance and made a costume to go with it. I'm tired and my last show will be tomorrow night.

The first show was a last minuet invitation to perform with Blazing Burlesque on October 2nd.

It was a long long drive, up near Sacramento. It was a lot of fun and I met two really great people, Lizzy D. Vine (http://www.misslizzydvine.com/) the producer of the show, performer and all around fun lady and quiet photographer named Jamie Hughes, find him here (http://jetnjme.blogspot.com/) and you can see some beautiful pictures of me. Thanks Ms. D. Vine & Jamie!

For the two shows I did in the middle of the month were for the beautiful Bombshell Betty and her Burlesqueteers! For this show the theme was a Halloween spectacular! For this show I wanted to do something new, it had to be sparkly and spooky. So first came finding a song, back in the 90s there was a popular song that I loved by Concrete Blond called Bloodletting. I loved it then & I love it now, perfect song. In the song she sings about vampires, but I didn't want to be a vampire so I thought I could decorate my costume in spiderwebs. As you can see it turned out beautiful. Silver spiders everywhere and even spiderweb pasties :)

This isn't the whole costume, you should see the whole thing, it looks so good. You have one more chance to see this great costume and sexy dance tomorrow night. My fourth and last show of October will be in Santa Cruz!

It has been quite a month and hopefully I'll have many more shows to come.

xo,

Dangerous Delilah

Procrastinating

Here it is on Sunday Oct. 10th at 3:30 pm and I have a ton of things to do on my costume for the show on Tuesday, and I can't stop watching the T.V. show I Shouldn't be Alive. What is wrong with me! Maybe I do my best work under pressure, but I sure don't like it, I want to be done with this costume and practicing the dance.

What I'm having trouble with is the corset. I have a pretty black corset that I am trying to drape in black spider cloth. I can't figure out if I just want to tack on a silver web here and there, or put the whole cloth covering the corset. I'm hoping to be able to possible preserve the corset to use another time. Burlesque costumes are expensive so I want to be able to reuse what I can.

I still have to make pasties and some final sparkles on other costumes pieces. With all this to do, I'm drawn to this show still!

So, please come to my show and see if I've finished this costume! It's October 12th at the Elbo Room, 647 Valencia street San Francisco CA

See you there,
xo
Dangerous Delilah

Pasties!!

Where would burlesque dancers be without pasties??? We wouldn't be! So this blog is about the pretty little sparkling tassel twirling things that cover our beautiful bits. With a few pictures :)

To make a pastie you need; a stencil, card stock, glue, scissors, sequins, and tassels.

Stencils can be any shape you want. Circles are the easiest to make for beginners. You can make stars, hearts, large or small shapes, whatever you want. The main thing to remember is the pasties needs to come to a point in the center. So, in the pictures below that is what the line to the center is for, turning the flat paper into a cone. Once you have your pasties cut out, you need to put on your tassel.

Tassels! These can be any length and almost any material. The most common are small ropey kind or they can be beads. I've seen some that are fishing line with fish on the end! When the tassel is a little heavy they twirl better.

Next, you have to make your card stock with a tassel actually pretty. Cover the card stock in whatever you like, make a design, a picture, use sequins, or rhinestones. Basiclly use your imagination. On my first attempt at a pastie I used sequins. The hearts are kinda rough looking and I've never used them. I'll try again later.

These are the second pair of pasties I made. I wanted to have skin colored pasties that only showed sparkle. I hope these looked better from far away!And last I wanted to show you some very nice pasties that I bought. These are beautiful.Now you have a pastie, how do you put it on? Several ways. Eye lash guy, wig glue or the way I do it, with carpet tape. Yup, the stuff that sticks the carpet to the floor. I cut a square and stick it on the back of the pastie then stick it to my skin. With useing this method I've never had on come off. I think everyone should have a pair and learn how to twirl them. Its so funny and fun, you can help but smile.

xo

Dangerous Delilah

Never Miss it Again.

What's a girl to do with so many shows going on, how can I keep track? If you search the web looking for a show in San Francisco you can find five shows or not one show. I would get so frustrated finding about an amazing show that I was getting excited to see only to find out it was last week! Boo! As someone wanting to learn more and see different performers it's frustrating to miss out on whats going on in the area.


Until........ I found San Francisco Burlesque Review. The blogger that keeps everyone in the know is Maxwell Wood. He has taken on the daunting task of putting together a list of all the shows going on that month and breaks it down to the day and time, even giving a little blurb about the shows.

http://www.sfburlesque.blogspot.com




Amazing! So never miss a show again and log on to the site. I do!

xoxo
Dangerous Delilah

Internet

Hi my Friends,

I have been very lucky, for the past year and a half I've been able to use the internet at my apt. for free. Yes free! I was very happy. Alas it was not to last, as of a week or so ago the link I used is no longer free :( and I am very sad.

So whats a girl to do? I can't live a normal modern life without Internet, so I signed up for a cable/ internet package. Whoot whoot! The cable guy came last Thursday. Unfortunately, what they don't tell you is that you need a router. It's available from the cable company, but you have to order is separate. I wonder why they don't just bring one, since it's free. What does this mean? It means I still don't have internet at my place. I'm using the work computer, but I really don't want to. On a side note, I'm very excited to have cable. I haven't had T.V in my apt. for at least a year! So, it has been very fun channel surfing :)

Hang in there my blog friends & don't forget me. I have a new act in the works that I can't wait to share with you!

xoxo
Dangerous Delilah

Make-up and Hair

Like I said in my last blog, I'm uninspired. Or now I should say 'was uninspired.' Also, I talked about a website called pinupdollhouse.com. I've been spending a lot of time surfing this site. It has tons of info on it. Examples are videos on brows, lips, different hair styles, make-up reviews, tips, also you can post any kind of make-up/ hair question and women from all over will answer you! FUUUN!

I'm pretty good at the whole winged eye flip thing. Being a girl from SoCal, we all tend to wear a thicker lined eye, I then just extend it into a flip, pretty easy for me. But my favorite eyeliner was discontinued so I've been having a harder time adjusting and finding a new one to replace it. So I think I will ask the pinupdollhouse lady's for some recommendations!

For a pin-up look, that was about as far as I ever got. In my new found interest in all things pin-up I want to figure out this whole look, the eyes, cheeks, lips, and hair. (Hair is what I dead the most!) To me the look is very fresh faced, clean and not too make-upy with put together hair.
I can't wait to start trying out the make-up, this part for me is fun, easy, and I have a lot of make-up! Actually, as I'm blogging I'm realizing I don't have any new make-up and the way I do my make-up is pretty, but I've been doing it the same for quite awhile now. Hummmm. It's time for a fresh look :)

The part I'm worried about, but looking forward to.....is my hair. I've never in my life had a hair style. I wash, brush and go, a lot of the time never blow drying! I don't own a can of hairspray! I have long, layered, heavy hair and these pin-up styles show tons for curling and pinning. The looks are so nice though. I would love to wear glamorous hair when I'm performing, that's my goal.

I guess I'm off on a shopping trip. New make-up, bobby pins, and hairspray. I think my arms are going to be tired!

xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

Web Fun

I have been uninspired. I haven't had any creative juice flowing anywhere. So, I've been searching the web. I haven't quite found inspiration yet, it's getting there.



The first I've been searching in the last week is, http://www.pinupdollhouse.com/ This site is all about talking, sharing and helping each other on hair, make-up, clothing, all kinds of things. Women sign up and post video tutorials, tip and tricks. You can ask questions and for help and the gang will answer you back. Don't even think this site is just for lady's that want to have the pinup look, oh no, there is TONS to see and learn for any look you want. I've been watching a bunch of videos on hair. They are easy to watch, have great tips and you can watch the girl do the hair right in front of you. As a woman that puts her hair in a bun everyday, these have been very helpful. It's been fun for me, a lover of make-up, to read all this great ideas and see new things to do and try. With the way my job is, I tend not to wear much make up during the day and when I go out with the Boyfriend, I look pretty, but the same. So, I need some where to do to try these fresh ideas out!

Please check out this site for some great ideas and sound your virtual self with like minded lady's.

Bummer

I was looking forward to sharing with everyone the process I go through to put together an act. But unfortunately due to bad timing and missed connections I was unable to perform last night. I heard it was great. Boo for me:(

Next time will be better.

xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

Coming up with an Act

This year Bombshell Betty decided to do theme shows, examples would be.....Summertime, South of the Border, Around the World, Halloween, Christmas, you get the idea. When she first told all of us this, I was pretty excited, since that would save me from having to come up with my own ideas and just focus on the act. This year I have done two of the theme shows so far. Now, I'm working on this months act. And yes, I'm procrastinating! I have to show Betty my act in two days!

So, I'll start from the beginning. The shows theme for August 23rd is summertime. The idea that comes to mind is the beautiful beaches I grew up going to in southern California, warm, sandy, salty. As you all know that right now Katy Perry's hit song 'California Gurls' is blasting all over the radio, I thought perfect song. Well, that's about as far as I got, nothing came to mind. I decided then that I wouldn't perform in this show. That is until just a few days ago when Betty put out an e-mail listing the dancers, and I was on it. I had forgotten to tell her! Oops! Not wanting to disappoint I put on my thinking cap and tried to think of what I could do.

Wipeout by the Surfaris came to mind, a great surfer, fun song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UofdWQG346k&translated=1 . But it's not so simple, I also really like the song Pipeline by the Ventures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G8W7dvKOX4&feature=related . Whats a girl to do? Deal with it later ;) Next, costume. As I listen to the songs I try to see what repeats, where does some thing fun happen, things like that. What is lucky for me is that both songs are very similar. That's where I figure out how many pieces I have to take off and how long I might have to do it in. I started to think... maybe a dress, gloves and bra. I knew I wanted to have a teal colored costume too, since I wanted to give a watery, ocean vibe. I headed out to see what I could find on Haight street . I first went in to New York Apparel. This place never disappoints. There I found a fun wrap skirt, the kind belly dancers wear, blue boot shorts and some black lace gloves (not for this act, but were oh so pretty I couldn't resist.)

Next, I headed down the street to a craft store that I never knew about and found some pretty, shiny cloth in the same color along with some sequins. Then I was off to Ross for a cheap bra, at least that part was really easy. Here is all my booty!





Now my problem is, what is the third thing going to be that I can take off? Maybe a dress? Gloves? I also need to keep in mind the beach theme, I'm going for. Then my boyfriend suggested a surfer T-shirt. Not a bad idea, I could put something on the front like 'surfs up' or 'surfer girl.' Now I have to decided how the top will come off. Should I take it off over my head, or make it tear away? SO many things to think about!! Why did I wait so long?


This blog is getting rather long. So more tomorrow, I have to come up with a dance now!

Oh, as you can see I'm going to try to show you some pictures of things, to make this blog even more fun!



xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

Variety Show!

Last night was a lot of fun. About a week ago my friend and fellow burlesquer, Tasty Temptress (find her on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tasty-Temptress/143848675637309 ) invited me to a friends party. I wasn't too sure about since it was sooo far away in Santa Cruz, until she told me this was not an ordinary house party, it was a variety show! She went on to tell me about her friend putting the show on and how the previous years had been. It sounded like fun. Fina Fatale ( check her out here too; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fina-Lina-Wear/127948383903899?ref=mf&v=wall#!/pages/Fina-Lina-Wear/127948383903899 ) was there too! So this varity show had three pretty burlesque dancers to watch. Lucky them :)

I was putting my make-up on when I noticed little kiddys running around. I didn't think too much of it until Ms. Temptress said "Don't worry, the kids will be told to leave when we go on. I don't want little kids seeing me." I was thinking OMG! I don't either! In my life I only really know three kids. Two are in-laws and I don't see them too often and the other is my sweet nephew, who is one. So, I don't tend to think about what kids can and can not watch. But wowza! That's when it hit me. We were the 'adult entertainment' ! And that cracks me up. Never have I ever thought of myself in those terms. I still chuckle to myself as I write this. I don't see burlesque as 'adult entertainment.' I just see it as fun PG/ PG13 rated. Am I wrong? I must be. Maybe my views are skewed since I don't have to worry about who's watching, that's what the doormen are for.

I did my very fun 'German Beer Girl' dance, Fina Fatale dance to a great Abba song and Tasty Temptress finished off the night to Sister Kate. The group of friends watching loved it and several lady's came up to me after telling me how fun it was to watch. I was relieved. As you know from my previous post, that I get stage fright. This time was no different. Actually it may have been worse since it wasn't at a club, it was just someones deck in a back yard and the people were there to be with friends and watch a variety show not a burlesque show. If Fina hadn't been 'back stage' talking to me and making me crack up, I think I really would have vomited over the railing! Thanks Fina!!!

So, add to my burlesque resume 1 variety show. Check.

Very special thanks to Liza for putting on the show! It was great fun.

xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

It's Actually Good

I decided to pick up the last book I received from Amazon.com again. In my blog from yesterday ( http://dangerousdelilahburlesque.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-books.html ) I was saying it didn't have a very promising start. By the way the book is Pretty Things by Liz Goldwyn. Those of you who know me well, know that I'm a reader, I read everything. So I can't really put a book away until I finish it.



The author started as a collector of costumes and wanted to learn about the women who wore them. It talks about the costumes, the women, the shows, and a little of the history. The writing is very well done. I'm only on page 115 and I don't want to put it down.



A happy surprise! I recommend this one out of any of the others.



xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

New Books

I have to start off by saying, I'm tired of being cold in the summer, it pits me in a bad mood. With that now said I'm going to tell you about the books I got in from Amazon.com. Where I was first so excited I had to tear the packages open as soon as it was in my hands, I'm in a worst mood now. Because of the books. :(



I ordered four books total. The first one to come in was the most promising since it had great reviews and it was written by a Burlesque star, Ann Corio, the book, This Was Burlesque. It is about the history of burlesque. I started reading right away and was bored to death. The book started with the old time comics. I love funny men, if a man can't make me laugh....I don't spend much time with him. But, OMG. How boring to read about men from waaay back when! It only went into tiny detail about each man, maybe if it included more about them it would be more interesting to me. So the next book came in the mail and I haven't picked this one up since. I'm sure I'll finish it eventually and may change my mind in the end, who knows.


The second book that came in is called Burlesque {and the New Bump-n-Grind} by Michelle Baldwin. This book saved me from tears of boredom the other book was about to give me. Its about how the new burlesque revival got started. A book much more about the present scene and an easy read with nice pictures. Over all I was happy to read it and it left me wanting to find out more about the current movers and shakers.


The next book to come in the mail excited me. Burlesque: A Living History, It is about tons of burlesque girls from the heyday of burlesque. But I was very disappointed in it. It seems to be written by an old woman that skips from one fact and tib bit to another. It doesn't go into detail in the areas that it should and rambles on and on spinning way off track in others. It will talk in one sentence about a show the girl did when she was twenty then in the next will tell you her husband died 30 years ago and the she had her hip replaced last year! Oh my. This book had potential, but it needed a better editor.



With the last book I've been avoiding it. Its call Pretty Things by Liz Goldwyn. I've slowly been reading it, so far....its ok, but I've only read 8 or 9 pages. I keep putting it down and not coming back to it....not that's not a great start.



Anyone have any suggestions on great books about burlesque? Please!?



xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

Of all things...Why burlesque?

I say why not burlesque! :) I love to dance, love love love it! When I was a wee lass I was a ballerina and danced for many years, practicing until I got blisters and the big pay off of dancing on stage. As years went by and as I grew up I didn't have the natural ballerina body, so no more ballet for me.

What's a girl to do? I wanted to get out of the house, movin to the groove, but nothing sounded right. Modern dance? No. Hip Hop? Not for me. Belly Dancing.... maybe, but the classes were a bit pricey. Then I found burlesque. Hummm.....really? I thought well, why not give it a go. It was a series of 12 classes and if I didn't like it I was done.

And now I say, why not burlesque!!! All shapes, sizes and forms are whole heartily welcome. Not once since this adventure began have I ever felt not good enough or not pretty enough. Once you learn the basic shimmy, shake, the bump and grind, the rest is up to your imagination. As a beginner, I like that if I'm on stage and don't remember every little step no one knows except me! I feel that as long as I'm hitting my ques and I'm getting cheers then, that's good for now.

For me it's easy to learn steps and stay in time to the music, doing a dance that someone else is teaching me. The challenge comes when I'm the one that has to come up with the choreography. When the kicks, turns and shimmys are all reliant on when I want them to happen, that's tough.
And that's the fun challenge burlesques lets me enjoy.


And the costumes! Oh My! How I love the glamor. Some costumes I've seen on stage, YouTube and in photographs are amazing. The sparkle and dazzle of a show stopping costume just really make all eyes turn. I love the corsets, garters and stockings that get to be worn. As a modern woman I never got to feel how feminine it feels to wear these things until now. Also, where can you get to wear such creative, colorful and sexy things?



For me, burlesques is like skydiving. I'm terrified to do it, but once I take that leap...it's exhilarating!



xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

First Show Ever

My dance group and I had been working hard on a group dance to the song 'Sway' and I was eager to dance the dance at a very small recital Bombshell Betty was putting on in her studio. I had invited two friends. It was fun, we all got sparkle-ized and bedazzled, some did solos and we all did the group dance. As I said it was fun, and we'd do it all again later in the month at the Elbo Room. YIKES! Dance for real in front of strangers! What?!


Well..... over the weekend two very lovely friends talked me into more than the group dance. They said "Why not? You're already getting up there. We don't want to go and watch other people, we wanna see you" My reply "I can't, I don't have anything to wear. I don't have a dance or a song." With the speed of lighting my friends rush into my closet and found several pretty dresses, and some new lingerie. And said "What about these?" After a flurry of dresses and lace we pick out a beautiful silky black dress and a lacy bra and pantie/ skirt set. I felt oh so pretty.......pretty silly.


Next came the song. I just so happened to have one that I had picked out at the start of class for one of the assignments. 'Why don't ya do right?' the Jessica Rabbit version, from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. She is oh so sexy and I didn't want people thinking I was trying to be this smokin hot cartoon character. Again my friends chimed in "Your dress is black, you look way better than that" Filling my head with nonsense we moved on to the dance. The friends sat on the couch and said "Go." Wait......what do you mean "go?" I don't know what the hell I'm doing!! Several hours later, I had my first act. Boy, looking back my friends had to push me a lot!


The night at the Elbo Room. I had invited all of my friends and they invited there friends, in all I had about 15 or so people come to see me. Wow, now that is a very strange feeling and I love them for showing up to support me. To top it off, they all got there early and were in the first front two rows. Great friends. Back stage was all fun and games, putting on make-up, bedazzling and glitterizing. I loved watching everyone, seeing their costumes and feeling the excitement in the air. Then it started to get closer and closer to my turn. I tried to block my nerves, push the nauseous feeling away, just smile, talk, walk around, anything. I told myself; "Remember your dance", "Just remember the order you have to take everything off in and you'll do fine","Don't throw up", "You've been on stage before, you know what you're doing", "Pleeease, don't throw up!" All rushing through my head, as the dance numbers were checked off the list.


As I waited on the wings I heard my named announced, my music cue, and I was on!! It was all a blur. I remember the insane bright light in my eyes and the room (thank God) was pitch black, except the front row of shining faces of my sweet friends. I couldn't have been luckier.


Before I knew it I was done! Back stage it was all cheers and congratulations and great jobs, but I was in shock and still sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe I had done it. I, this average, kinda conservative, odd, girl and gone on stage and fooled them all. I had fooled them into thinking I was glamerous, sexy, like I knew what I was doing. I couldn't believe that was me.


I went out to meet my friends and they said, like the good friends they are, that I was great.


My first show ever. It was something else. I never thought I would get up there and I never thought I'd be any good at it. And I never thought I'd do it again. My oh my.





xoxo
Dangerous Delilah

Amazon.com

Aaack! What did I just do!!?!? I bought a ton of burlesque books, videos and a cd. Well, I AM quite happy that I ordered so so many interesting things all for under $100! Not too bad, I just hope they really are a good as they promise! As soon as they come in and I get to looking at them I'll let you know what I think. They should be slowly rolling in over the month.



xoxox

Dangerous Delilah

The Start

I started my journey in August 2009. Just wanting to take a fun dance class that got me out of the house and meeting new people. As I searched the web I found Boumbshell Betty (find her here at http://www.bombshellbetty.net/) and really wanted to sign up, but... it took me a whole year to get the courage to do it! Finally, the second day of class arrived (I missed the first) and I didn't know what to expect.





Betty was beautiful. She showed the class how to walk, how to bump, how to grind, shimmy and shake it. All the while teaching us how to come up with who we want to 'be' and how to be it. Can I tell you how much fun this class was ? It was like eating a sexy hot chocolate sunday with all your best friends covered in sparkles and the teacher was telling you not to miss a bit. Sometimes I would be tired after a long day and not want to make the effort to get on the Muni to go to class, but I'd drag my butt to class and the next thing I knew I was having a blast.





When I was in class I'd try to copy every move Betty would maake, even when she wasn't teaching a dance move. Yes, she IS that sexy, that she can just stand there and women want to copy her. But then I'd look in the mirror and just see me, looking silly. By the end of the classes I do feel like I learned to be a little bit like Betty, sexy in my own skin.





She taught the class all kinds of fun things, dancing, coustume making, courage, confidence. In the end we learned a group number to perform live! I didn't think I had it in me, but how could I miss out? Well, I couldn't. And here I am now on this new adventure.





xoxo


Dangerous Delilah

Hello

Hello there world!


I'm new to the world of burlesque and so far....I love it. The glitter, the sparkle, the shine and the glamor! As I search the web and find old and new shakers, hear music that inspires, and look at these beautiful performers, I get excited to learn more and to improve. I'm excited and have all kinds of thought and ideas that have lead me to want to blog about it all.
Let's see where it takes us.

xoxox
Dangerous Delilah