Meet the va-va-va-vamps of the Toronto International Burlesque Festival.
It’s not every day you see a nun in full habit get down on her knees, pound a chalice of sacramental wine, shove a handful of Eucharist wafers in her lipstick-laden mouth and then rip off her robes to reveal a tarty devil getup, ample bottom and more than a little sass. But if you were at the Gladstone Ballroom this past Friday night for the Toronto International Burlesque Festival Fundraiser, you would have seen Toronto’s own Trixi Jones do just that. The evening—designed to showcase the best of Ontario burlesque—featured more than 20 tasselled and bejewelled performers who strutted onstage clothed, only to exit (nearly) nude.
The event was really just a tease for the upcoming fest, running July 22 to 24, which features burlesque stars from around the world (like Windsor-born Roxi Dlite, the reigning Queen of Burlesque at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas).
We interviewed a dozen of Toronto’s cheekiest vaudevillian divas as they primped for the show. And what did we learn? That a lady reveals nothing (especially her age) until she reveals it all; that it’s as important to make ’em laugh as to make ’em swoon; and that when your outfit is made up of equal parts sequins and Velcro, you better believe it’s coming off.
Fionna Flauntit
Day job: Art gallery employee, retail clerk at vintage clothing store
Dancing since: 2008
“For my first performance, I didn’t even have my hair curled. The show was in Halifax, and I’m pretty sure I was just wearing a bra and panties. My costumes now are much more involved.”
