ATELIERI'S ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHY -pt.2

Our second group shot from the Helsinki Burlesque Festival by Atelieri O.Haapala; The Itty-Bitty Tease Cabaret's wild evil tigresses. We look pretty well tamed in the picture though...

You can view all portraits on Atelieri's flickr.

ATELIERI'S ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHY -pt.1

One of our group shots from the Ateileri shooting at the Helsinki Burlesque Festival (as you could see in the video) earlier this month; The Itty-Bitty Tease Cabaret : Surfin' Bird.

CAMP OVERLOAD

Joi Lansing - Web of Love; Scopitone 1966.

I have a thing for Scopitone* clips; I just can't get enough of them! Very much a product of their time, they feel utterly kitsch today. As with many popular culture things of the past, some may seem a bit too camp or tasteless**, but I don't think they were all meant to be taken too seriously in the first place - like this song with Joi Lansing. I think it's superb (in it's own category). It's also rather burlesque. And the snake, goddamit!


*) Scopitones were jukeboxes with something of music videos in them, illustrated songs, made in the late fifties and under the sixties (and somewhat the seventies too). For more, check out the Scopitone Blog for example. And Youtube.

**)well, tasteless and tasteless, that's how it's said, but one could perhaps call it another kind of taste, and lots of it. I mean, one wouldn't maybe describe all music videos of today to be made with that much good taste either?

MASTERS AT WORK

A video of Atelieri O.Haapala photographing the guests and performers of The Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2011. You can spot lovely Cherry Typhoon from Japan, gorgeus Alotta Boutté and my favorite Kitten On the Keys (from the US) getting their portaits taken. And also us, The Itty-Bitty Tease Cabaret!

Can't wait to see the results, as I know that the outcome is always very very good.

A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS

In case someone's not already, here's some stuff to get ou in the mood for tonights huge venue; The Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2011!

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW

(Or, to be precise, four things earlier today. I'm in the harbour right now.)

I like to give myself a little extra bit of weekend; take another Sunday morning those Mondays that I'm going to the evening shift. And so I did today - made a grat breakfast (soured whole milk (viili) and blue berries are such a good combination that right now I can't think of anything better!), took it easy, resulting in having to rush and stress like crazy later on in order to get done what needed to be done before work. Sigh.


The more the better - I burlesqified these heels for our new routine. And four more pairs. (It was fun the first two-and-a-half-pairs, the rest more painful. But, still more to come; more to be done!)


One of Kerttu's photos, with us Itty-Bitties swimming, is on the cover of 6degress. The article is about burlesque and the upcoming festival.


Meanwhile, the dog is smoking in the blue room.

THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL

The Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2011 started today with the opening of Kerttu Malinens burlesque themed photo exhibition. She has been taking pictures on and off stage, backstage and on various locations for a couple of years.


The exhibition is at Jukka Male museo in Kaapeli.


Lola Vanilla and Lola Vanilla.

Tinkerbell and Tinkerbell.

Fiona and Fiona.

Me and me! From this shoot.

Fiona and I were both wearing lots of glitter and sparkle.
And she was also wearing a hat of her own design, of course. I wore a vintage gold lamé dress that I got form my grandmother. And my sparkling shoes too, may I add. Like I said, lots of sparkle.

There are so many amazing photos, so I really recommend stopping by!
The exhibition is open from 30.1 to 27.2, nine to nine daily.

The master herself.

SPARKLING LEGS

The shimmering fishnets in my previous post were give to The Itty-Bitty Tease Cabaret to try out and review by We Love Colours, you remember, where also the colourful socks Eddi got to try came from?

The lurex glitter fishnets are soft, stretchy but still durable so they work well for dancing. They sparkle in strong light which will be great for stage (and for one of our new numbers, soon!), but in other conditions the shimmer is more soft and all-over; you don't have to be a show girl to use them :)

MIRRORS, FEATHERS

We Bitties are rehearsing for some new routines that will première on the Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2011.
And they will be fabulous.

The whole festival will be rather fabulous actually - as usual, but especially this year - with a totally incredible line up.
(There are still a few tickets left, so if you are interested you better hurry up and get them!)

You can see more pictures on our burlesque blog (soon).

BITTYCAVE!

The Itty-Bitty Tease Cabaret (that's us you know) rent rehearsal and work space in a basement of a building in the outskirts of the city centre, our Bitty Cave. Kitsch is the main theme when it comes to decorating there!


We have Modesty Blaize watching us from the wall.


And lots of girls in the bathroom, of course.

Today, during a madly heavy snowfall, we started our first - or well, Finland's first actually - burlesque beginners' class there. (It is fully booked but we might do another one next fall again :)

50 DEGREES C AGO

We're up in the north of Finland about to perform at a nightclub. It's close to minus twenty degrees (Celsius) outside. Made me think of a gig and road trip we did last July to the middle of the country. It was hot, sunny, humid; more than +30.
That's a fifty degree difference between four months.
But, that's the way it is up here.

Off we go.

Coffee break.

The yellow fields of summer.

Lots of props.

The "retro-glamourous" backstage.

My trustworthy reds are dying.

Lola before.

Coffee.

The warmth makes me sleepy.

Lola afterwards.

Maria Lund & Sweet Jeena.

THE EERIE GIRLS IN THE DRAWING ROOM - A GHOST STORY

The ghosts of Jackie O'Lantern, Vera De Vil and Tinker Bell by Marko Saari.
Make up and hair by Liina Junna.

You can see more pictures from the shoot over at the Itty-Bitty Tease blog!

LA CEREZA NEGRA

I have a new burlesque act in which I am a real desperado bad ass.

Bang bang! This is just me trying out the costume at home. It's a good thing there are no neighbours opposite to us I think. (Although they'd be entertained for sure if there were any.)