31 Jan 2020

Beasted and bested by the boa


The feather boa is an ill-disciplined thing.

It sticks to the back of one’s neck at the merest hint of perspiration.

It attaches the feathers that it has shed to one’s fishnets – always at the back so that they waggle away, blissfully out of one’s view.

It grips fingers like a constrictor, twirling itself tightly around them, seconds before the boa is due to be cast exuberantly off and away.

And it refuses, gleefully, to fall where it should when removed and thrown to the floor.

It is, it must be said, a brilliantly funny sight to see a showgirl trying repeatedly to kick away discretely a boa that has wrapped itself firmly around a heel or ankle or wedged itself in a shoe buckle. Watching this happen in class on Wednesday, I was reminded of the furtive little foot shoves and foot shakes that one gives to a small and randy dog who is intent on mating with one’s leg and whose owners just don’t care.

Needless to say, the boa in question was unrepentant.

Yours, at the mercy of our props,

Burlicious x

25 Jan 2020

A banging good time

It's fair to say that we bloomin' well love our sessions with the WI... and our evening with the fabulous ladies of the Faversham Gunpowder WI was no exception.



In a beautiful setting, and in typical Burlicious fashion, we shimmied our groove thang for them and then invited them to join us in learning the first part of our version of Lady Marmalade.

You gotta love every one of 'em. They took to it like a duck to water. Feathers were fluffed; stuff was strutted; street walking was perfected; and sass was everywhere in abundance. And, most importantly of all, the whole thing was an absolute hoot.

And then it was time for tea and delicious cake. Heaven.

You were brilliant, Showgirls - up for it in the best possible way. Thank you for letting us share your evening.

Yours, loving what we do,

Burlicious x


16 Jan 2020

Paddling like fury underneath the surface


Over the years we have choreographed a range of delicious, Burlicious dance routines. We have triumphant, strutting ones; sexy ones; smouldering, sensual and secretive ones; sassy ones; bouncy, cheeky ones; suggestive ones; sort of retro or vintage ones; and ones in which our tongue is firmly in our cheek.

The routine that we reprised in class last night is a positively genteel little number. Think showgirls from the Folies Bergere (sadly, without those amazing costumes), doing a lot of very nice walking about with some ladylike twirls and knee bobs.

Well, that’s the idea.

In practice, it does acquire a slightly more informal feel to it when we are teaching it as it all gets a bit more random. And the Sergeant Major-style yelling of “slide, BOB, slide, BOB!” is a smidge at war with the elegant, gliding, swans-on-the-surface appearance that we are after. And that’s before we even get to our favourite bit where we know we will be shouting “CURTSEY!!!” at the very top of our corseted little lungs, half scaring our showgirls off their heels as they skip about having set off on the wrong foot ðŸ˜Š.

All in an evening’s crafting of beauty, Showgirls, all in the crafting of beauty.

Yours, itching to acquire second-hand feathered headdresses,

Burlicious x

9 Jan 2020

A chaos of chorus girls


OK, so we accept that it is three weeks since we last danced the current routine.

And, December being the social whirl that it is, most of our showgirls missed at least one or two classes before term ended – so there are chunks of the routine that they have never been taught.

And we Burlicious Three have three other routines in our head at the moment as we have been rehearsing this week for a performance next week. There is, it must be admitted, a bit of confusion creeping in for us between routines as a result.

Even so, last night our final class for teaching this routine soared to new highs of delightful, feathery, thigh-slapping, bum-smacking chaos!

Our showgirls were not aided by the fact that they are being led from the front by me and that that I went a bit unintentionally “freestyle” in places. Nor did it help tremendously that we had to canter through it all so that we can start a new routine next week. But, oh, how we love them for gamely strutting their stuff regardless!

We always say that we love it every bit as much when we b*gger it up as when the troupe dances in perfect, delicious synchronicity. Last night was a tad more the former than the latter, and it was a hoot.

Thank you, showgirls, for another night of giggles and daftness 😊.

Yours, smiling in anticipation of next week,

Burlicious x

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