Introducing "the tease"

I appeared in the *Adelaide Magazine on the 30th of September which can be found in the Advertiser. I was interviewed by Katie Spain who is a fabulous writer and who will also be making her Burlesque debut at the next Peaches 'n' Gin show!





Photo by David Solm



INBOX: Introducing the tease. Meet Luna Eclipse, an environmental management student who's a finalist in Miss Burlesque Australia



AGE: 23

STAGE NAME: She's been Luna as long as she can remember. It started as a compliment:"Who knows how much they were exagerrating, or if they were trying to get lucky, but someone said I eclipsed everyone else on stage".

DECKED OUT: Luna has more than 50 costumes. "My favourite is my poker costume - a tutu covered in cards, poker chip pasties, bright red shoes. What's not to like?"

MISCONCEPTIONS: "Some people still expect us to take everything off, or move in ways that leave nothing to the imagination. Burlesque is not always about stripping. Most burlesque is comedic, or even political. Whilst the glamarous striptease is an important part of burlesque, it's not the only aspect."

DAILY GRIND: As well as performing, Luna also teaches burlesque, swing dancing and belly dancing, and is completing an environmental management degree.

PARTY TRICKS: Luna has plenty of experience in belly dancing but can also "balance a sword just about anywhere, throw my fans around in the air, and twirl a mean tassel!"

HOME TOWN: "Burlesque culture in Adelaide is amazing! It's still a relatively new scene, but is charging to the forefornt."

GET INVOLVED: Check her out at www.peachesngin.com. "We can teach you to strut, sashay and shimmy like the burlesque stars of days gone by. Everyone has it in them to be a confident, sexy and glamarous gal."



Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque

Adelaide's Dynamite Duo

info@peachesngin.com

Ph 0431949703

A very grand show

Usually, I spend about an hour or so each day watching burlesque videos, reading articles about burlesque, and the rest of the day thinking about burlesque! Not owning a car can be awful but the long commute to work and uni allows for many pleasurable hours of burlesque discovery. I've watched many videos ranging from sideshow comedy acts to elegant and sensual shows. The thing that strikes me the most about these elegant shows is the props. They are often insanely amazing. The sheer time and money that must go into developing the props alone must be extraordinary, let alone the costume, act, lighting, music and production. So I thought I'd share some of my favourites!

Immodesty Blaize...what can I do but sigh? A stunning creature perhaps not from this world!

Atop her gigantic telephone, so femme fatale! Image sourced here.

Dita Von Teese is undeniably one of the most succesful neo-burlesque performers, she has become a household name!

Riding a mechanical Mac lipstick. It actually bucks like a mechanical bull! Image sourced here.


Okay, so she doesn't actually use it in a show, but I just had to include the Virgin plane Dita's image graces! Image sourced here.

Roxi Dlite was just crowned Reigning Queen of Burlesque at The Burlesque Hall of Fame Pageant.

They don't call her 'The Drinkin', Smokin', Strippin' Machine' for nothing! Image sourced here.

Catherine D'Lish is a woman of many talents! Her shows are breathtaking and her costume designs to die for.

Catherine D'Lish with the worlds largest feather fans. Image sourced here.

There are lots more but I've run out of time, hope you enjoyed!

Happy Teasing!
Luna

Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque
Adelaide's Dynamite Duo
info@peachesngin.com
Ph 0431949703

Lili St. Cyr

This post kind of follows on from my last post about some of the legends of Burlesque. I mentioned in class that I don't really know much about Lili St. Cyr, so I decided to educate myself a little! It was whilst reading a fantastic blog called Daily Burlesque, which is written by Jo Weldon, headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, that I came across a post of hers with a link to an interview with Lili St. Cyr from 1957, on The Mike Wallace Interview. The interview is fascinating, as Lili talks about her disillusionment of the burlesque industry, and how keen she is to get out of it! At the time of this interview she has been doing burlesque for about 16 years, and I'm very interested to know more about her!

A screenshot taken from the interview, which you can reach by clicking here.

A book was written about her by Kelly DiNardo, called The Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique. Jo Weldon interviewed Kelly DiNardo about the book and DiNardos experience with Burlesque, and it's a great read! I am very intrigued and so will be getting my hands on a copy of the book post haste!

Click here to buy the book!

And to finish here is a gorgeous video of Lili, it's been edited which annoys me, but you can still see her gorgeousness.


Happy Teasing!

Luna

Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque
Adelaide's dynamite duo
info@peachesngin.com
Ph 0431949703

Legends of burlesque class!

This week at the Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque Academy we had a bit of a burlesque history lesson, discussing some of the legends of burlesque. I think knowing the history of burlesque is really important for understanding and respecting the origins of the art form we all adore! In no particular order...

Tempest Storm
What I adore about Tempest Storm is her grace and elegance, and she is so darn alluring! Tempest Storm has one of the longest careers in burlesque, with her last performance only just last year. She told her story in the book The Lady is a Vamp".


Dixie Evans
Can you say sexy? Golly gosh! Dixie makes me all hot under the collar. Dixie Evans is an amazing, amazing woman. She is the curator of The Burlesque Hall of Fame and has done so much for the modern burlesque revival. She is famous for her Marilyn Munroe burlesque, which she performed throughout her entire career. Recently she taught the act to Kitten DeVille who performed it as a tribute to her.


Jennie Lee
The Burlesque Hall of Fame's collection began from Jennie Lee's personal collection of items from the golden era of burlesque. She passed away in 1990, but the work she did for the burlesque community is legendary. Her pectoral muscles are also legendary!


Gypsy Rose Lee
Gypsy Rose Lee was one of the most successful burlesque performers, celebrated as a striptease artist, actress, singer, and all round entertainer. There has been numerous books and movies about her life, all worth reading and watching. It was because of her "high class" striptease that the term ecdysiast was created by H. L. Mencken, however she was happy with the term "stripper". She was known for her humour and wit on stage, which can be clearly seen in this clip of her from the movie "Stage Door Canteen".


There are other legends to mention, which will come in part 2 of this post!

Happy Teasing!

Luna

Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque!
Adelaide's dynamite duo
info@peachesngin.com
Ph 0431949703

Backstage at Dr Sketchy Adelaide

Last night Sapphire and I joined the lovely ladies of Miss Kitty's Meow once again for Dr Sketchy Adelaide's All-Star Aphrodisiac night! Here are just a few shots from backstage, hoping to post some photos from front of house soon!
Peeking through the curtain to watch Miss Grace Cherry pose!

Grace Cherry in full made up glory!

Sapphire calls me a poser....pfftt, don't know what she's on about.

Then again, takes one to know one.

One of our gorgeous Academy ladies, Tamara, with her sketches of Sapphire and I.

Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque!
Adelaide's dynamite duo
info@peachesngin.com
Ph 0431949703

We're back!

Well, the start of this blog came to an abrupt halt when other things like show prep, day job, family happenings and all other oddities of life got in the way, but now the P&G blog is back! I'm determined to keep on top of it, and post all of the amazing things I come across in my burlesque journey. I recently decided to make burlesque my full time career once my studies are through, and so I am exploding with passion for burlesque and I want to share that passion with you!

Our show "Belles of Burlesque" recently went off with a bang, with guest performances by Miss Direction, Grace Cherry and Tiger Lilly of Miss Kitty's Meow, as well as our regular cast Cara Louise, Rohan Watts and Joseph Buckett. Let's also not forget Sapphire Snow and myself!


I had fun using my assets to twirl my "assles" Photo by SeeminglySane


Grace Cherry blew the audience away with her graceful and elegant fan dancing. Photo by SeeminglySane


Tiger Lilly went POP! Photo by SeeminglySane


Joseph Buckett and I expressed our darker desires. Photo by SeeminglySane


Sapphire performed her take on the Cinderella story. Photo by SeeminglySane


Cara Louise and Rohan always get a giggle from the audience. Photo by SeeminglySane
We will hopefully have footage up soon!


Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque
Adelaide's dynamite duo
info@peachesngin.com
Ph 0431949703

The big day approaches

As the day for the Miss Burlesque SA heats approaches, my nerves are getting more and more jittery. I'm starting to dream about it now, and my act songs are permanently on repeat on my ipod. I think I hate those songs, I listen to them several times a day. I run through my acts in my head before I go to sleep (an explanation for the dreams) and have my costumes hanging up where I can see them for motivation and inspiration. This is pretty usual behaviour leading up to a production, but why am I so nervous?
I'm pretty sure most people get at least a little nervous before a performance, and I am no exception. However, having been performing since I was about 8 years old, I've learnt to relish the nervousness and fuel it towards powering myself on stage. I love being on stage, I'm an absolute addict. Before a Peaches 'n' Gin production I am normally more nervous about things like ticket sales, enough seating, music and lighting, and all the other things that go along with running a show.
I think it has mostly to do with the fact that this is the first time I've been officially judged (we're always unofficially being judged by our audiences!) on my performance skills since those terrifying ballet exams when I was seven years old. It's also the first time I've competed with other performers (apart from the food fights I've had with Sapphire on stage!), and it's not helped by the fact that the SA entrants are all of such a high calibre! I've always considered myself a very confident performer, as I've said before, you have to drag me off star sometimes. But this competition has got all my normal performance feelings twisted around. Hopefully when it comes to those seconds before I step on to stage and the lights come up, the usual surge of adrenalin and excitement will carry me to success, and I won't drop my basket (or case!).

Luna Eclipse x


If you'd like to see Sapphire and I compete make sure you get your tickets and show us some love!


Peaches 'n' Gin Burlesque!
Adelaide's dynamite duo
Visit our website
ph 0431949703
Info@peachesngin.com