Dolly Berlin | Burlesque Performer | Toronto
Producer of Peeler's Playhouse at the Gladstone House and Sizzle at The Cat on Q. Dolly Berlin specializes in private events, live band burlesque, corporate parties, bachelor and bachelorette parties and more!
I’m pleased to announce that a show that is near and dear to my heart, Toronto’s “Great Canadian Tease” burlesque brunch is back, with a new venue, new format and plenty of sexy!
We are soft-launching the return of the brunch, which took a hiatus in November and December at GIRLESQUE this weekend for a one-off special at ROUND venue, then continuing our regularly scheduled monthly brunches with a kick-off on February 23rd at the Libertine!
Catch us there!
I’m excited to share with everyone a new and exciting source for workshopping your burlesque, basics and beyond! Some of my fellow members of Great Canadian Burlesque have been cooking this up for quite awhile, and with our friend and sister-in-sparkles Miss Cadence moving to Toronto, this is finally becoming realized.
Check out the new site www.torontoburlesqueschool.com which will be continually updated in the coming weeks.
I’m really excited about the logo, which cheekily combines inspiration from collegiate crests and feminine funbags! Incase you were wondering, the tagline means “Dance Without Shame.”
GIRLESQUE ’13 is right around the corner! Girlesque is an annual winter burlesque showcase in Toronto, and this year promises to be the most spectacular show you will see all year. At 84 years old, our special guest for the weekend TEMPEST STORM is still making headlines (having dated gangster Mickey Cohen as portrayed by Sean Penn in ‘Gangster Squad,’ and a recent collaboration with Jack White and Third Man records). But that’s not all. There will be many amazing headlining and guest acts throughout the weekend such as Jo Boobs Weldon, Peekaboo Pointe, Coco Lectric, Tiffany Carter, Burgundy Brixx, Tanya Cheex, Mitzy Cream, Coco Framboise… the list goes on and on. Learn more at on the Great Canadian Burlesque website!
It’s very exciting to perform out of your regular area of expertise. I always love the shows in Hamilton, even if it is only an hour away. We carpooled to the venue with Pastor Morgan and MOPO, both excellent drivers.
After settling in with a smoke and a glass of water, everyone got down to getting their make-up, hair, glitter, wigs, costumes etc on. Yesterday was a very wig centric show, with myself, Tanya Cheex and the Schlep Sisters all tossing hair about. Darlinda Just Darlinda really impressed me though, with her ability to wear one wig for her first number (a Schlep Sisters number with Minnie Tonka that looked great although was a challenge on the tiny triangular stage), then to take it off, shake out her hair, and quickly wrap it up with a hair pin for her second number, coincidentally, a “Hair” piece (… see what I did there, hur hur hur). Total sex-bomb hair! I’ve never been able to have nice hair after a wig act, so I usually just leave it on for the rest of the night.
The show was super smooth, no hiccups or need to stall (yay!) although the stage was sort of difficult to work on (just because it was small and in the corner of the room with a step-up). Everyone did a fantastic job though, especially Aviva and Chaos Divine. Despite it being an overall great show and concept from Chaos, when you see her new act keep in mind that everything was hand-made by her without patterns!!!! That bitch! Haha, I hate sewing and I really hate drafting so I really commend her, it’s very slinky, sexy and beautiful. And Aviva was just very effing spot-on. Her bellydance abilities were really able to shine on the small stage since she could still be doing a lot of controlled movement without having to actually move back and forth or side to side. Very smiley, sweet with a few naughty implications.
And of course it’s always a pleasure to hear April March speak. She’s such a genuine sweetheart with so much to talk about in her crazy life. Unfortunately, she’s had a very bad experience recently with trying to publish a book. The person who wrote it for her, based on tapes of her telling stories she wanted included in it, and her written information apparently embellished and mixed facts, consolidated stories and she had to pull it. So please, do not buy this book if you come across it, or if you have it/have read it, note that it is false information! April has lead a very amazing life and there is not reason to not portray her exactly as it happened.
MOPO as very kind to take us to McDonalds after the show, everyone had been to busy running around all day after work and school etc to eat properly (not that McDonalds is eating properly, buuuut)..it really hit the spot.
Wish I took pix but I forgot my card in my card reader, danggit Will have to take some tonight and Sunday in Ottawa.
Hope to see you at Revival tonight!
Dolly Berlin | Burlesque Performer | Toronto 