New York Burlesque Festival
Back in May 2003 the World Famous Pontani
Sisters and Thirsty Girl
Productions launched the first New York Burlesque Festival. They
brought together an international cast of performers for a full weekend of
burlesque – Friday and Saturday night shows followed by a Sunday
Brunch. It has since become an annual event.
I spotted the advert for
the first
festival in May of 2003 and attended the opening night at the Slipper Room,
home to several long-running burlesque shows. The line was already around the
corner when I arrived and the space was packed by the time I got in. I
got a drink and squeezed over to a spot off the side trying to get a decent
view of the stage over the heads of the crowd. Scotty the Blue Bunny was the MC
for that night and the variety of acts and styles on stage was fantastic. I was
hooked. Unfortunately, around midnight my legs started to give out after
standing so long in one spot. I had a simple digital camera with me and snapped
a few photos
despite the crowd. I have been going since.
When the 2nd
New York Burlesque Festival rolled around in 2004 I managed to catch both
the Friday and Saturday night shows. The opening night at the Pussycat Lounge
featured two performance areas – the bar stage on the first floor and
upstairs in the music venue – both packed. And the Saturday night
show at the Avalon was filled to capacity. I was a bit more prepared
photographically this time and captured a number of images from Friday
and Saturday
nights.
For the 2005 NY
Burlesque Festival I got my tickets before they sold out. I photographed
the Premier
Party Friday night at Southpaw in Brooklyn and the Saturday
Night Spectacular at the Hiro Ballroom in
Manhattan. Both venues were filled to capacity and the variety and energy
of the performers was great. I was suffering from a bit of sensory overload on
the Queen of Hearts for Sunday’s Burlesque Cruise and 2nd
Annual Golden Pastie Awards. There were
more great performances on the rolling top deck and plenty of mixing below in
the Burlesque Boutique, by the bar, and in the smoking section aft.
The 2006 New
York Burlesque Festival continued to showcase a wide variety of talent but
moved from three days in May to Labor Day weekend. The event
started with a Friday night Premier
Party at Studio B in Brooklyn hosted by Scotty the Blue Bunny, followed by The
Spectacular at The Supper Club hosted by Murray Hill on Saturday night. It
officially closed with Miss Astrid in control of the Burlesque
Cruise on the Queen of Hearts with performances and awarding of this year’s
Golden Pasties but a number of out-of-town performers stayed on a few days and
populated at a number of local shows.
The 2007 New York Burlesque
Festival was again held over Labor Day weekend. The formal festivities started
off with a Thursday
night Teaser Party at Corio Supper Club. Corio was
also the scene of a special edition of Filthy Gorgeous Burlesque early on Friday
evening before the big Premiere
Party at Element hosted again by Scotty the Blue Bunny just before he flew
off to Sweden. Murray Hill hosted the Saturday
Spectacular at the Highline Ballroom to a capacity crowd. On Sunday, in
place of the Burlesque Cruise of recent years, the Golden Pastie
Awards ceremonies were held at the Comix Supper Club.
After the performers made it down the “Red
Carpet,” Miss Astrid ripped apart the envelopes and presented the multiple Golden
Pasties while slipping in a number of performers
into the show.
{One of these days I’ll finish
editing the public albums from the 2008 NYBF.}
The 2009 New York Burlesque
Festival was held at the start of October. The festivities started off with a
Thursday night Teaser
Party at Public Assembly followed by the Premiere
Party at the Bell House. The Saturday Spectacular was held at BB Kings (I
was too visually saturated to shoot that night. On Sunday, the Golden Pastie
Awards ceremonies were held at Le Poisson Rouge. After the performers made it
down the “Red
Carpet,” Miss Astrid ripped apart the envelopes and presented the multiple Golden
Pasties while slipping in a number of performers
into the show.
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