Black Orchid Best of Burlesque competition finals

What a fantastic evening!! I spent the week looking forward to the final round of the competition... not only in anticipation of the new acts by Roxy Delilght and Miss Kitty Fay, but also because I was asked to perform and knew I would have an opportunity to get my tassles out for a change!! (And I do love getting them out!)

I attended a belly dance show last weekend and the dancers did a divine cabaret number to the Pink Panther theme tune and as soon as I heard it I though... ooooh yes! I must admit that the story line of Roxy Delights act last week inspired me to do something new and with a bit of a theme.. so thank you to the Delightful Roxy for the inspiration!

So on Wednesday I managed to get the music from a dear friend and started thinking about a costume... A mid afternoon call of desperation to Helna from Wolf clothing, asking whether she could make me an emergency corset by the next day... to which she kindly answered yes, and I was pretty much set.

I managed to burn my fingers on the soldering iron that I used to melt swarofsky crystals onto my bra... but it's minor compared to the burns I get on my knuckles every time I use my curling tong! (for which the results more than make up!)

Anyway... I had such fun putting together my costume and my mainly improvised routine... that the next thing I knew it was time to get dressed and ready to go.

I arrived at the venue at 10pm on the dot, but heaven forbid any Cape Town event should ever start on time, so by 10:30... the ball finally started rolling...

I am very happy to report that after a sever scolding from Lady Magnolia, our MC refrained from swearing at the audience until the very end of the show. (I'm not saying that I'm happy he swore at them, just relieved that it was only once... )

Roxy Delight did a fantastic act inspired by the Stepford wives (or so she told me... I am afraid that we don't have TV so I am actually quite clueless as to who they are... but I gather they are a rather demure bunch who occasionally let their hair down...) Roxy has such a classic, feminine burlesque way about her, I really enjoyed her act and loved when she ripped off her blonde wig and let her lovely long dark hair down. The judges were even left with a pie which they surreptitiously nibbled during the interval!!

Miss Kitty Fay did a very unusual and slightly contemporary number to a Kate Bush track... very theatrical and rather daring... which was fun to watch and very different to her first act. Since she was the winner, I'm afraid that she'll have us all doing the splits and handstands in our next show!!

There were a few comments from the audience while I was dancing about me being very much a woman... but I think it's just because I had the biggest ...

feather boa

of all the dancers!!! ;-)

I had such a fantastic time... I wish I could do it every night... I'm totally in my element up on stage...

Till next time... enjoy the pics..

courtesy of Portia Daniels and presumably friends and family of Roxy Delight...