Happy Holidays!

It´s time to wrap this up for 2014! It´s been a crazy, wonderful year with lots of fantastic things both personally and professionally! I got to perform in so many wonderful places, meet so many great human beings, share stages and backstages with so many amazing people there are no words for it really. My dream of performing at the New York Burlesque Festival came to life AND I got to go there with my ladies Sandy & Pepper, Tinker and Bettie plus Frank and Tuomas, which made it even more fun! Another long time wish of mine happened in Vienna  where I was introduced by World Famous *BOB*, -and that whole festival was such a mindblowing experience, meeting all these crazy, talented, shimmering people from all around the world. Amsterdam Burlesque Awards was the icing of the cake where Xarah, in spite of everything, made some magic happen. And all these events here at home where I´ve laughed, swapped pastie tape and hugs...Oh boy! <3
My nephew says "Dream Big"...if your neighbours aren´t laughing at your dreams they aren´t big enough. My dreams might not be those of winning titles or of world dominance but this year surely made some of them happen.
I want to thank especially my partners in crime: Sandy Jungle and Pepper Sparkles for being my ladies, my friends and companions on this journey. A huge, warm hug & thanks to my Finnish burlesque family (you know who you are!), my burlesque mama Bettie Blackheart (to whom I owe SO MUCH!) and a squeeze on the bottocks to my husband for all the love and support -because if it wasn´t for a supportive spouse this would be pretty impossible.

Now it´s time to relax and greet the New Year of 2015 with hope, wishes and maybe, just maybe...a few more dreams. Have a great Holiday Season and take care <3

(c) JBM

It´s that time again...

...to release the fantastic line up for Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2015!!! <3
Thank you everyone at Wäiski last night! Now it´s time for me to grade some students, do some yoga and get myself in the Holiday-mood...My gaze is already set for the new shenigans of next year so be prepared!

Darkness is upon us

...as it usually goes in December. We are a few weeks from Xmas, that means a few more gigs before calming down a bit...To re-appear in January with new shenanigans! I have two new numbers planned, one probably premiering earlier this Spring. We´re also going to work on some changes in our new group number so busy busy :)
Last weekend was so lovely! On Friday we finally got the news that the law for equal marriage is on it´s way to be passed and got to spend the evening performing at a private party with Lola, Bettie, Frank and Pepper <3 Saturday was a big night for Sir Willy Waterlily, who produced the Burlesque Fantastico!-night in Porvoo. It was spectacular, some 450 people and one fine show! Thank you for letting me a part of that! Here´s some photos from Saturday. Oh! And don´t forget to come to Wäiski on the 10th of December for "Under the Mistle Tease Vol2 -the Showgirl Edition" -tickets are on sale!

(c) Tuomas Lairila

(c) Tuomas Lairila

(c) Tuomas Lairila

Sandy Jungle, yours truly, Lady Laverna (whos pic this is) , Foxy Suzy, Miss Chrissy Kiss, Trixie Tassels, Miss Acrolicious

Some Gala photos

Oh, Mordor! As it gets darker by the minute here are some glittery shots from last weekends Finnish Burlesque Gala. All images by Tuomas Lairila <3

Think Pink!

Just finished embellishing our brand new costumes by Tyra Therman that we´re going to premiere tomorrow at the SOLD OUT Finnish Burlesque Gala! It´s a pleasure to be a part of this, since it´s a fundraiser for the Helsinki Burlesque Festival in February. So thank you everyone for helping -with whatever you have been doing, -from buying tickets, to planning what to wear, to spreading the word to making the magic happen! Biggest kaboom! is of course to our own Bettie Blackheart for being the master mind behind it all.
Also note that the seated tickets for the Festival are, but a few, also sold out so you really should get running to Tiketti! The line up will be pretty f*ing awesome as usual, trust me...Can´t WAIT to see Minnie Tonka, Darlinda Just Darlinda and ...*swoon* Mr. Gorgeous again <3
It´s going to be a busy Xmas time for yours truly, some dates have been added to the calendar so hopefully I´ll see you around! Helsinki, Porvoo, Lahti - the possibilities are endless ;)

I remembered when I was working on our first group number with Sandy and Pepper and how we all laughed because well..."Naked" is all pink! I had never been a big fan of the color but hey whaddayaknow - we have a new PINK number tomorrow! You gotto see it to believe it!

Have a marvellous weekend ya´ll!

Some of our inspiration for our new number: our stage kitten costumes at HBF12, Fiona Timantti and Queen <3

Events and more events!

Hello ya´ ll!

Back in Finland again but quite frankly this resembles more Mordor at the moment...BRRR! But fret not because I bring you the sparkly news of glittering events along the upcoming Winter where you can see me and my few glitter tribe shake our tail feathers (sorry everyone who "hates that word" but I really love it and think it somehow explains a lot of the community I feel a part of)!

Here goes! Firstly a few gigs where you can see yours truly! In less than two weeks me and my girls will be performing at the Amsterdam Burlesque Awards Sunday Matinée! We are very happy to bring our crazy kittehs over there!

On the 22nd of November there is the annual (and always sold out) Suomi Burleski Gaala that is a benefit for the Helsinki Burlesque Festival and Bettie Blackheart will bring you some of the sparkliest of the Finnish burlesque scene! As usual the event will be at the Ravintola Kaisaniemi.

On the 26th of November there will be the Burlesque Fantastico produced by Sir Willy Waterlily in Porvoo -combining both acrobatics, tango and live music with some burlesque!

Thee Dizzy Daisies are pretty busy performing at private events and parties this season so do send an e-mail quickly if you´re interested in booking us!

But this NOT all! Oh no way :)  The Itty Bitty Tease cabaret are also busy bees indeed, serving us a sweet compot of live music (Sweet Jeena and her Sweethearts) and burlesque at the SPECTAC-O-RAMA at Allotria in Helsinki, on TWO dates none the less! So mark 08.11 (that´s next Saturday, folks!) and 26.11 in your calendars if you can´t be in Porvoo!

So stay tuned people! Also in December there will be the Teerenpeli Tease on the 13th of December in Tampere produced by the oh-so-lovely Olivia Rouge

And the following evening 14th of December there´s the Under the Mistle Tease Vol2. the Showgirl Edition in Helsinki!

And right before we´re running off to those well-deserved holidays the Shimmering Sheilas are organizing the last of their shake-trilogy at Lavaklubi in Helsinki on the 20th of December!

So really- if you can´t find an event to satisfy your needs for glitter I don´t know what will! Ta!

Fun in the sun

Enjoying the warmth and sun here but a quick reminder: the tickets are selling fast for the annual Finnish Burlesque Gala so be sure to get yours!!! 

Girl Child

Today is the International Day of the Girl Child.
"Together, we must create a world where violence against women and girls is never tolerated and girls are always empowered to reach their full potential" - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Unfortunately girls are still second-class citizens (if citizens at all) in many places the world, deprived of education, human rights and sold as merchandise on a daily basis. Even in places where we are equals on paper girls and women still have to deal with glass roofs and crippling ancient norms and attitudes. As much as I am a feminist and stand for *equal* rights non-gender-specific this is a sad fact and it makes me very glad that the Nobel peace prize this year went to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for fighting an important battle for girl´s rights. Remember: education is the best weapon against extremists. Education is true power.

Have a wonderful weekend <3

F-f-friday!

Hello sweetie-dahlings!

I hope your´re NOT reading this but watching the fantabulous drag- & gameshow in Turku as we speak! Turku Burlesque Weekend is full on and tomorrow it´s time for moi, aussi to get my glitter bum over to the shoreside!
Meanwhile, I have to share with you the absolutely amazing painting of Luma Rouge that she made of us last Sunday at the New York Burlesque Festival! HOW COOL IS THIS?!?!? <3 So honored!

Thee Dizzy Daisies (c) Luma Rouge

New York, New York

Tonight Thee Dizzy Daisies will take the stage with some of my favourite performers at the Highline Ballroom at the Golden Pastie Awards! NYC has been an incredible experience and can't believe how fast these days have gone. Every time I visit I fall harder in love with this city! Anyways, I have to concentrate on breathing now so I don't faint :)

Wish us luck!!! 

Turku Burlesque Weekend

Getting ready for New York but remember that you will be treated to some fantastic, spectacular craziness right here in Finland as well! Kiki Hawaiji is producing the annual Turku Burlesque Weekend only in a couple of weeks! All of Thee Dizzy Daisies will be on stage in solos, group and of course the rather seldomly seen The Tourettes :) not to mention our headliner Tigger!  that really should come with ten exclamation marks!!!!!
Tickets are OUT NOW! so run!

I am Divine!

I remember as a kid watching music videos (the one programme that wouls show them once a week... Welcome to Finland in the 80's...) and Divine's "I am beautiful" would play quite frequently. I was blown away, I thought she was fabulous! I didn't have a concept of drag, I just found her extremely interesting and realized she stood for something different from "everyone else".
I think the seed for facination for all things drag and queer was planted then. 

Tonight 'I am Divine' is screening at Rakkautta&Anarkiaa at Andorra at 9pm and after that there is a drag show at Dubrovnik featuring, among others, my drag mother Lola Vanilla and Abortia Clinique.

Be there!!!

Getting there!

I had a great time teaching a bachlorette workshop tonight! Good job, ladies! 

Pepper is already in New York and the rest of us are flying on Wednesday which means hard core laundry and packing for the upcoming days! Can't wait to get there and meet everyone! 

My Talented Friends

It´s been a while. Again. This is getting to become a regular huh? Well, this time my excuse is organizing a big birthday bash for me and hubby (160 attended! THANK YOU!!!) last Saturday where we had the pleasure of having some of our super talented friends on stage! A very wet and sloppy kiss to my burlesque family that could attend and shake it on stage: Kiki Hawaiji, Olivia Rouge, Sir Willy Waterlily, Bent van der Bleu, Vera de Vil, The Shangri-La Rubies and Ane & Tiitta from the Kaira Tribe and of course Frank Doggenstein for taking care of the music, Mascha Bordeaux being the ever fantastic backstage manager and Jac aka the Furious Otter for leather daddy stage kitten realness! Thank you Annika Damström for hosting, Mallusjoki Rytmi Pois and Gööls for your fabulous song, Taru Nyman, Jaakko Kyrö & Hannu Oskala for making many eyes wet with your beautiful performances, to Marc Gassot for being a scary and funny-as-hell mime perv! and of course to our beautiful families, friends and neighbours for attending! I´m sure there will be some photos at some point :)

But on the note of what we saw last Saturday: it´s my pleasure to tell you that you can catch some of this talent in November!

Marc Gassot is bringing his "Dark side of the mime" to both Q-teatteri in Hellsinki and in the Tampereen Teatteri!
"Dark Side Of The Mime is an audacious physical theatre performance with a little bit of clownery and plenty of porn and violence mime. We want Marcel Marceau to turn in his grave and to love our performance and us. In the year 2014 mime has risen to a whole new level and can bee seen giving the white finger to enyone brave enough to look. In Dark Side Of The Mime the spectators are strongly advised to take part in the show. The performance is not suitable for people under 18 years of age. Are you bold enough to enter the Dark Side Of The Mime?"

The Itty Bitty Tease Cabaret will bring their SPECTAC-O-RAMA to Allotria on November 8th and 29th with a rock´n´roll show including both burlesque, music and drag! The band is Sweet Jeena and her Sweethearts that I also had the pleasure of performing with in Nurmes this Fall! You can get both dinner and drinks here!!!

I highly recommend both <3 Now, if you excuse me I´ll go walk in circles because New York is only a WEEK away!!! 

From one look to the fifth

I'm exhausted but happy! Making a show reel-video has been on my to-do-list for AGES and today we did a full day if work to make it happen with my super talented friends Asko and Nadja <3 Changing in to five different costumes, looks and performances was much harder than I first thought- keeping the fire burning for six hours was quite exhausting! But we did it and can't wait to see the final edit!!! From my red yoga-face this morning I went through at least these looks... ;) 

#paljettipommi

Super-duper thank you´s to Kiki Hawaiji for making Paljettipommi, to the the whole crew that helped out last night, the performers and the audience! Thanks to you my life sometimes is a glittering bubble I don´t want to burst <3
The FIRST Finnish burlesquezine can also be read online if you can´t wait to get the paper copy!!! Link to it here!

I´ll post some pictures later, right now all I can manage is laundry (WHERE does that come from?!?!?) and gardening... Hope to manage awake for a couple of more hours, it´s been a fun but pretty exhausting weekend (that´s what driving approx. 1200km in 24h wil do to ya...)

Have a good start for the week!

Photo: Kaylin Idora

Roadtripping showgirls

With Tinx and Cherry by Bomba in Nurmes

Greetings from the road... Somewhere between Eastern Finland and Helsinki Tinker Bell, Turrrbo Cherry and myself are driving towards Wäiski and some history in making: the first Finnish burlesquezine will be released today and the party will be grand! Totally new numbers and collaborations as well as first numbers that haven't been seen for ages in stages! Huge thank you to the amazing power house Kiki Hawaiji for making it happen!

The ladies and I had a good time last night in Nurmes at the Drive In & Rock- festival where wwe shared the stage with Sweet Jeena and her Sweethearts. I have a special connection to Northern Carelia since my dad's from there and I've spent many childhood Summers up there. It was nice to see Pielinen again <3 

Hope to see you tonight!

Jeena doing her pre-stage stretching :)

Risto, Olli and Ville from the band

Drag.

Ready to rumble towards Hellsinki!

Hoop!

The past week included some moments of pain, gain and fun including our weekly rehearsals and the hoop dance workshops I took on Wednesday (the pain was the huge bruise I managed to get on my hand from trying to manouver the hoop...) I can safely say I won't be a hoop dancer - it's much harder than it looks! but I was happy to be able to get it at least spinning a bit :) Thank you Merilei Mandelin!!! A week ago I challenged myself with aerial yoga which I loved and I've decided to cram in some Bollywood-dance classes this Fall as we'll! Noticing these crazy things keep me alert and inspired!

Yesterday I performed with my drag mother Lola Vanilla at a birthday party and today taught a great fun bachlorette class at Raspberry Fields. I came up with the coreo late last night (that's what happens when I nap; can't sleep and inspiration hits at weird hours...) -and despite a few mandatory cock-ups (teacher forgetting the steps ...) the ladies were awesome! 

Tomorrow is a well-deserved day off. I might work on my elbow-stands but then again... I just might cook and read on the sofa :) Have a good Sunday folks <3

RIP Mr.Williams

Robin Williams is gone and I am saddened not only because the world lost an amazing actor and a brilliant comedian but because depression and addiction took yet another life. I hope that this sad event will shed more light upon mental illnesses and help wash away the stigma of them.

Rest in peace, my Captain. You won't be forgotten. Much love to his family and friends in this difficult time.

Good girls go to heaven...

...but bad girls go everywhere.

Tonight in Tampere the basement of Teerenpeli fills up with steamy burlyQ again! I can´t be there (sniff!) but you should definetly go! Remember: cash only at the door!

Bad girls of Burlesque

Sweet August nights

Teacherlife is back ON since school started this week but Summer is far from over! It´s so hot and sunny still that we should really all be lying on beaches with umbrella-drinks in our hands but what can one do?!? Next week Thee Dizzies will start training our new number that will premiere later this Fall and we are also brushing up on our solos! My "Zigoto" is far from ready (it really was a first draft at the Spring Awakening this May...) and my "Diamonds" Vol2 has finally gotten some stuff that I think works for the new songs. In a couple of weeks me and the girls will join forces to promote and celebrate the FIRST Finnish burlesquezine (magazine about burlesque) Paljettipommi! and the party is held at Wäiski in Hellsinki. The performers are some of the trailblazing ones in Finland and the numbers to be seen are some of the first ones these performers ever did! So some of them have not been seen for ages! I think this is a purrfect reason to get those tickets -that is, if you really need a reason? August is wonderful: dark, balmy nights...what better way to spend them than on a boat in glittery company?!?!?
New York is getting closer as well...we got flights and flat settled! Yikes and hurrah!

Music! Summer!

I haven´t been to too many festivals this Summer (none, to be exact!) but right here at the end of it I managed to get my bum into a couple of awesome gigs! Last weekend we went to see Jon Spencer Blues Explosion play Tavastia in Hellsinki and today I spent the evening at the Hori Smoku Summer Boogaloo-happening with Sandy. Great punk bands <3 I think my favourites were our very own Finnish Heartburns as well as Räjäyttäjät (thank you to the singer who stripped all full monty to our viewing pleasure) and of course the punk legend Death from Detroit. The whole thing had a really good vibe to it, great atmosphere and I felt right at home. It was also REALLY hot and sweaty so unfortunately we had to go outside in the middle of the gigs for some air :) But hey, soon we´ll have 3cm of snow on the ground so shouldn´t complain, huh?
Enjoy while you can <3

Pic by Sandy

Girls of Summer

New York, New York!

I can finally spill the beans on this piece of marvelous news: Thee Dizzy Daisies will be performing at the New York Burlesque Festival this September! Four days of glitter mayhem in Gotham city - COUNT US IN <3 We are so happy and honored to be able to do this!!! Will keep you posted! In the meantime, do enjoy the fabulous Summer heat - 2 weeks until it´s back to school ;)

A few crazy photos

I have been told that one of my strong sides in performing is a very expressive face, that watching me is never boring because so much is going on in my face and eyes. That´s a good thing, right? Yes it is -until you get those pictures taken from a show :) !!! I have seriously been at lost since there are only a few I can use because my face looks so weird. Before going on stage I think "let´s calm this down a bit tonight" and then...I forget myself! Which, I suppose, is a good thing but also something I have to work on. NOT because of the pictures but because *being aware* on stage is a good thing from time to time. So while I go work on that here´s a few pictures from Midsummer Night´s Dream at Teerenpeli Tease in June! All pictures by A-P Hakanen!

Praline Airlines about to take off...

Our duo with Sir Willy: "Garden of Eden"

SEE WHAT I MEAN?!?!? :D