Bonnie tells us it was a lovely group of girls – bride to be Alex was renamed Sexy Saph (she loved sapphires). We also had Rita Sparkles, Pussy Burlesque, Bumpy Galore (a pregnant burlesquer), Angel Delight, Nikki Blue Eyes, Lady Luscious and Ripen Ready (a very pregnant burlesquer, with only two weeks until her due date!)

We hear the girls enjoyed a whole six bottles of champagne during the class, and the bride’s twin sister arrived from Australia about a third of the way through the class to many hugs. Bonnie tells us, “The group chatted and laughed a lot (mainly due to the champers), we all had a great time and by the time the tassels were twirling, they were falling about laughing.” Our sort of girls!  Excuse the blurry picture – can we blame the champagne?

Miss Sexy Saph, we wish you all the best in your upcoming marriage. For your own burlesque hen party in London, give us a call!

Viva Misadventure

The burlesque class was a surprise for the bride-to-be, (re-christened Dusty Sugar-Tits), but it was right up her street as she was no stranger to burlesque. Dusty and Amber Delight (not her real name) had participated in a burlesque workshop before, been to shows and were themselves performers in training. So, they had an inkling of what awaited them – but the others did not.

The remainder of the group: Busty Velvet, Black Magic, Chesty LeRue, Champagne Cork, Tiffany Sapphire and  Ashy von Smashy (love that name) turned out to be utter naturals. From shaking to perfection to bumping and grinding with gusto, they giggled, posed and pouted their way through our Aberdeen burlesque hen party.

They were an utter delight to teach and it was a pleasure meeting them off. We wish Dusty all the best for her upcoming wedding and I’m sure they will be using their new burlesque skills on unsuspecting Aberdonians tonight!

Gypsy Charms

Please drop us a line to arrange a burlesque hen party in Aberdeen for you!

The 17 strong party descended upon the Graduate (a favoured watering-hole in York) with a little apprehension, unsure of what they were letting themselves in for, but left two hours later as bona fide burlesque divas! As burlesque virgins, the group fairly quickly worked out that the genre has more to offer than feather boas and their inner actresses rapidly took over as they slinked and strutted their way through our session.

The group soon overcame any anxiety as they learnt how to bump, grind and ‘boom’ – and I am fairly sure they will be unleashing those on the general public tonight. In a lesson full of cheeky winks and suitably dodgy innuendos they took to being pin-up cuties with aplomb.  And as to the tassel-twirling, well, there were certainly some natural twirlers amongst them.

After posing like professionals in a shoot at the end of the class – see the attached photo – they made their way back out onto the street with a new sway in their hips.

Update, 17 April: Lovely feedback from the party today: “I just wanted to write to thank you for our brilliant introduction to burlesque in York. Gypsy was really good fun and by the end got us all doing our glove stripping with a little bit of her finesse! She made the whole thing relaxed and fun, even for the mums who thought they were too old to take part (one has vowed to use her glove peeling skills next time she does the washing up). The skills Gypsy taught us in posing are going to be invaluable for the wedding photos! The hen, Suzanne, wanted me to thank you too, she and the whole group had a really great time. The Graduate was a great venue too (welly boot pitchers of cocktails!). Thanks for all your organising”

Get in touch for your burlesque hen party in York!

Gypsy Charms

Having met two of the Elgin Follies earlier this year at a burlesque hen party I taught in Aberdeen, uber-organiser extraordinaire, the re-christened Horny von Feisty, decided that another dose of burlesque fun was due, this time in Elgin itself.  The group had been such a giggle at their Aberdeen burlesque hen party that I didn’t hesitate in grabbing this party for myself, and took the winding road up north to deliver our  brand of burlesque.

The seasoned veterans from the Aberdeen session, Horny and the newly-married Sexy Le Boeuf assured the nervous hen (Kinky Bluebelle) that there was nothing to fear, as a bit of tassel twirling action is a must for every bride-to-be.  After a few drinks for Dutch courage, the Elgin Follies set to work creating their new burlesque personas.  With a wide array of names from Easi Floss and Big Bosomed Betsy to Cocktail von Ginge  and Trixee Frou Frou, the group named each other with aplomb. After they had been re-christened we started the hard burlesque work of posing, bumping, grinding, peeling and tassel twirling.

There were some natural born posers in the group, who took to our modern posing routine like professionals, with a wink and a naughty smile.  Their inner actresses came out as they peeled like pin-up cuties.  And when it came to learning some hot tassel twirling action they didn’t let Elgin down.

I came away from our session having had the best time, with a group of ladies who were an absolute riot.  And I have the feeling that they will be ‘booming’ their way through Elgin tonight!

Thank you to all the Elgin Follies for making me smile all the way back down the A9. Here’s to the next time…

Gypsy Charms

See our contact page and get in touch for a burlesque hen party in Elgin!

Both Beginners and Improvers Glasgow burlesque classes performed at Dance House’s Spring Extravaganza last week.  Our beginners burlesque class saw eight gorgeous class participants strut their stuff as Pin-Up Cuties.  In a traditional cheesecake burlesque number that was an homage to the naughty but nice style of burlesque inspired by the pin-ups of the Wink and Eyeful era, our beginners stripped off their gloves with a wink, a pose and a naughty smile to rapturous applause.  This was a stage debut for many of the participants and they commanded the stage like seasoned professionals.  We are sure it won’t be the last time they do so!

The Improvers class consisted of seasoned class veterans, some of whom have been attending our Glasgow burlesque classes for five years, and who perform in their own right, and they took the crowd by surprise with a tango-inspired number.  Dark, intense and sexy it contrasted beautifully with the cuter style of the Beginners’ piece.  Dressed in red and black, the Improvers used their stage craft training to create a performance that was dominant, dark and sensual.  With precision timing and perfect characterisation they made the stage their own.

For Glasgow burlesque classes and Glasgow burlesque hen parties, please contact us!

Gypsy Charms

These Cardiff burlesquers were a great group and there were a good few natural posers in the group. They told me they all had burlesque costumes to dress up in that evening, but had decided against wearing them for class. I had just come from teaching a showgirl workshop at the Welsh Burlesque Festival in a bright pink showgirl leotard, so tried to persuade them that dresssing up for class was the way forward, but it was not to be. In the end, we agreed it was better to let our true talents shine through without hiding behind fancy costumes!

The time flew by with this group – it was one of those classes where we were having such a giggle, there just wasn’t time to fit the entire syllabus in!  The group were charming, intelligent and interested, and we had a blast together.

We were delighted to get an email from organiser Miss Siren Sunshine afterwards: “I just wanted to say a huge thank you for such a fantastic Burlesque class on Saturday!!  The bride to be and all the hens loved it and we had such a giggle!! We took our moves onto the dance floor in the evening and dressed up for the occasion   Please find some photos attached.”

Contact us for your burlesque hen party in Cardiff, or elsewhere!

Viva Misadventure

As advised, the girls had arrived early and enjoyed the first really sunny day of the year by sipping pre-burlesque cocktails in the beer garden of our venue. An ideal warm-up.

Upstairs in our private room, the Cardiff ladies were soon put to work picking their burlesque names. The bride-to-be had been bought nipple tassels made out of sweets, so she became Miss Ivory Candy. My aeroplane friend is now Miss Ruby D’lite, her inspiration coming from her her favourite Ruby lipstick and as a homage to Catherine D’Lish, burlesque superstar.

Two hours of rioutous fun followed, as the ladies were put through their beginner burlesque paces. Their bum presenting was particularly noteworthy, as were their prowling steps, in which Miss Ivory Candy was made the centre of attention as her friends slunk towards her, vying for her attention. The girls were introduced to the pleasure of the C-string, but this sadly led to wardrobe malfunctions for our bride-to-be, so we decided it worked better as a hairband anyway. Shimmies and glove technique followed, as the ladies discovered their inner pin-up girls. Swapping the candy nipple tassels for the real things for our grand finale of tassel-twirling, it turns out Cardiff girls are natural twirlers. And when you can eat the tassels later, so much the better.

Now Facebook friends with a few of the ladies, I got to see the pictures of their night out in Cardiff that evening and I’m happy to report their poses were top notch. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the wedding photos next month as well, so here’s hoping Miss Candy Ivory remembers her special walking-down-the-aisle slink and the all important ‘I Do’ pose

Contact us for your burlesque hen party Cardiff!

Viva Misadventure

This is the second year that Donahey’s have asked us to deliver a burlesque workshop alongside workshops delivered by the professionals from the TV show Strictly Come Dancing and other stars of the ballroom world. Being made to feel like an old friend by the Donahey’s personnel, I arrived early and had the opportunity to watch as the world ballroom champions took the participants of other classes through their waltzes.

And from the beauty of the ballroom classes, I transported the participants into the very different bawdy, raucous world of burlesque with a bump, quite literally. Putting the group of 40 or so ballroom dance students, who were utterly charming, through their paces, the burlesque session was filled with laughter, a dose of sauciness and plenty of burlesque bump ‘n’ grind. The Alton Towers burlesque ladies were particularly good at the classic burlesque ‘bump’ and I requested that if they saw me later in the evening, they strike their best poses and give me a burlesque bump or two.

After watching the sublime ballroom shows of Warren and Kristi Boyce and the breathtaking Latin fever of Darren and Lilia at the Black Tie Ball later that evening, I was subjected to a barrage of bumps by the now-slightly-tipsy afternoon class participants as they channelled the burlesque legends of the past with their new skills. They did me proud!

Later that night, socialising in the Late Night Latin Lounge, class participants Stacey, Tracey, Tracy, Jennifer and Janette, who were definitely leading me astray, had me pulling my best ballroom faces on the floor.

One, two, cha-cha-cha – and bump! Thank you to Donahey’s for having us on board again.

Gypsy Charms

If you’d like us to lead a burlesque class or masterclass at your event, please get in touch.

The group of belles filles were all French, which made for some very sultry and exotic showgirl names (although I had to ask them to spell them themselves). I was delighted a few members of the group had been to the Moulin Rouge in Paris to see one of the world’s most famous can-cans, and as we use the music from this famous revue to warm up to, I’m sure this helped the hen party ladies become one with their new cancan dancer personas.

After the warm up with the OTT showgirl poses and smiles, the skirts were on and we were off! The girls made quick work of the steps across the room, and took to the bum-flashing like ducks to water.  The chorus line proved no problems for our cancaneuses, and the ladies’ natural French elegance ensured their poses were ultra chic. The finale of the full can-can dance was spectacular, and with our central London venue overlooking the famous Pineapple Studios, I was convinced our can-can starlets were going to get discovered by Louie Spence.

Bride to be Fleur flourished, and I’m sure some of the new poses will come in handy for her wedding in June (no, not the bum-flashing one, Fleur).

With lots of cancan whoops still ringing in my ears, I left the hen party girls in the bar whistling the cancan tune, and discovered the happy news that Wales had won the rugby. Moving from Scotland to Wales has certainly had some sporting advantages…

For a cancan hen party in London or elsewhere, please get in touch!

Viva Misadventure

Held in the sumptuous Madame Koo venue in the centre of Newcastle, the group had come from as far afield as London to help the bride-to-be celebrate her last days of freedom in her hometown.  We’re big fans of groups getting dressed up for the class, all the better to help them become one with their burlesque alter-egos, and Bonbon was most impressed at the ladies’ matching tiaras.

Starting with the usual ice breaker games and warm-ups, Bonbon then took the group through posing and walking techniques. We’re told  the ladies weren’t so sure about their slow sultry Jessica Rabbit style slink, “but the slink they had down!”  Go on girls!

The 16 ladies performed their classic cheesecake glove striptease routine in two groups, giving their friends a chance to play audience – learning to be a good audience member is also a skill, and the more whoops and cheers you deliver, the more you get to see!

The last we saw of them they were off for a night on the Toon to see if their new slinking and posing skills would work on getting a few free drinks. Fingers crossed!