The Tease Bar

The Tea Bar is a little vintage style tea room in good ole Basingstoke. It has beautiful decor and serves cocktails in tea pots, what could be more delightful, I hear you ask?!
Well......every few months the Tea Bar is transformed into the cheeky Tease Bar by the wonderful Appleton Productions.

The lights are dimmed, the food is served and the audience is in for a night of cheeky burlesque and fantabulous cabaret.

My first experience of this is a little fuzzy on account of the many glasses of prosecco I consumed, but what I do remember is being blown away by wonderful performances and thinking 'oh my gosh!!!! I have to do this'.

It just looked so fun and liberating. You could become anyone you wanted to be and create your own charismatic character to thrill and entertain audiences everywhere.

After the show I introduced myself, in a rather inelegant manner, to the stunning performers and the fabulous creator of the show, Leanna Bruce. They were all more than accommodating and willing to give advice and guidance on entering their magnificent, sparkling, sweaty world and it was encouraging for me and other members of the audience to have that opportunity to interact with the artists.

Leanna is an absolutely stunning young lady who clearly worked really hard to bring the intimacy and atmosphere of a London burlesque show to quiet old Basingstoke and she absolutely nailed it! Basingstoke has never quite had anything like it before and it was so refreshing to see the place packed out (on a school night, no less) with people of all ages (well 18+), tastes and styles. She really did put on an amazing show and her passion and knowledge was evident in the quality of it. As with any first productions, there were a few hiccups but they were quickly forgotten as the crowd roared and cheered with laughter.

I met the absolutely stunning Bonnie Fleur who, with her dark, gothic, sophisticated style, absolutely blew me away with a performance that she did on point (ballet) where she proceeded to hang herself in nothing but pasties and panties. The drama and emotion of her piece really hit me and was truly mind blowing. I have followed her since then (no not in a stalkery way) and her acts have just gotten better and her costumes.........wow! Absolutely stunning!

Since the first show, Leanna has taken it from strength to strength and the shows have included some big names on the scene including:
Rubyyy Jones, Violet Blaze, Bettsie Bon Bon and Chris Coloumbine.

Rubyyy Jones has featured in quite a few of Leannas shows and she goes down a storm! That lady is firey, fiesty and amazingly capitivating. With her womanly, voluptuous ways she owns that stage and commands the attention of the entire audience and always leaves you wanting more of her.... and if you ask nicely she will give you ALL of her!

Since my first experience of these thrilling shows, I thought to myself "damn I want to be up there" and I have had the absolute pleasure of helping out as a stage kitten and generally helping to run the shows. More recently (after much choreography, rehearsals and sewing) I have started performing as Kristyl-Rose. Experiencing the show from the other perspective was such an incredible experience and working and performing alongside some of the most amazing people I have ever met has been one of my highlights of the year! A lot of work goes into creating these wonderful performances and the performers themselves just blow me away with their dedication and talent. For a few of these lucky people this is their day job!!! Amazing! But incredibly hard work.

So if you are in Basingstoke and the opportunity arises, I would strongly recommend you to pop along to an Appleton Pin Up production and see one of these fabulous performances yourself! Alternatively look in your local areas for shows, they are great fun and give you something different to enjoy.
Also check out Leanna's blog for all things fabulous! She is an extraordinary young lady that just oozes extravagance, elegance and class, all of which is evident in her work and I am so proud to have had the honour of working alongside her.

For more info, check out:

Web
www.appletonpinupgirl.com

Facebook
Appleton Productions
Appleton Pin Up Girl

Riverdance

Last night my wonderful Grandma took me and a friend to see Riverdance at the Mayflower theatre in Southampton.
For those that don't know me, this is HUGE for me! I was an Irish dancer for many years and this was the show that launched us on the world and
said "hey, look what we can do" and suddenly everyone wanted you to come to their birthday party just so you could do a jig to bewitched.

It was the 20th anniversary of the show and I have been waiting 20 years to see it and oh my gosh it did not disappoint! Dancers from all over the world had auditioned and clearly it was the best of the best performing. Their footwork was fast, furious and right on form, the costumes were stunning, the musicians were fantastic and the whole show was absolutely breath taking. As in the original show they had other styles of dance,  tap, Spanish and Russian. It was spectacular and I must shamefully admit that I did a little cry, right after I almost wet myself with excitement! Nice, enjoy that thought!

My biggest fear was what the cast had to live up to. When Riverdance first came out, people went nuts! Michael Flatley practically became a rockstar overnight and he was, well, he was the Lord of the Dance. I was very apprehensive about the show for this reason, not because I didn't have faith in the performers, but because a show of that calibre has to be carried perfectly. I was definitely not disappointed. 
The whole cast were fantastic and I held my breath as the principal dancers took to the stage and they absolutely blew me away!

Stephen Brennan was phenomenal! He commanded the stage and had the audience captivated from the moment he stepped out. His footwork was exquisite and he did not miss a beat. His performance was strong, powerful and in my personal opinion he was on par if not better than Flatley.

As for Alana Mallon she was beautiful, graceful and so unbelievably strong in her performance. Everything from her footwork, to her arm lines to the tips of her fingers, was so magical and she absolutely captivated the audience. She is a very beautiful dancer and quite frankly I could watch the pair of them for hours.

The rest of the cast, including the other dancers, singers, musicians and, well, the entire crew, were fantastic.
To my knowledge the show went off without a hitch (but from my backstage experience that may not be so haha). It was just fantastic and I left feeling extremely overwhelmed, emotional and bursting with pride.

It has foremost inspired me to go back to dancing........I will drag this "voluptuous" 30 year old ass back down to the Irish Centre whether it likes it or not. Secondly it brought back so many fond memories of my life as an Irish dancer. All the fantastic people I have met, experiences and achievements such as representing England for the 50th Anniversary of the European Union, meeting the Queen at St James Palace, competing all over the country in Feis'. Spending hours, ripping tights up for my Gran to tie my hair in rags so I had those beautiful,  perfect ringlets (I was still around when the wigs and hair pieces came in, what a life saver) and doing Irish dancing at basically every opportunity I got, like the school talent show.
Best of all, getting out of school every year on St Patricks day, just to give the mayor a pot of shamrock hahaha.

I still dance but different styles, such as freestyle and contemporary,  but I do miss the Irish dancing. It was such a sense of community as well, a massive family.

In conclusion, I recommend anyone who hasn't seen Riverdance, try your very best to go, I can guarantee you won't regret it. If you are unfortunate in this endeavour and can't get to see it, get the DVD, it'll warm the cockles of your heart, put a great big smile on your face and leave you absolutely breathless shouting at the person next to you "how the hell do they move their feet that fast".

To the cast and crew of Riverdance (and my wonderful Grandma) thank you for simply one of the best nights of my life and thank you for reigniting that flame. I forgot how much joy it brought to my life and I hope to share that some day with my beautiful daughter. She can start at 2 right?!

To the Boyle O'Dowda school of Irish Dance..........please take me back and whip this butt into shape!

And finally to any of you who fancy a new challenge, find a dance school and get involved. It's so rewarding and just the most amazing experience! Even if irish dancing isn't your thing, to have that community, friendship and family, to be part of a team whilst keeping fit, healthy and probably most importantly, having fun......to have all this in your life is so uplifting and gives you such a sense of achievement and positivity. After all, DANCE IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE SOUL xXx