Review: Movers Shakers and Innovators (Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend 2026)
The full spectrum of Burlesque on show...
With Saturday night’s Tournament of Tease review and costume analysis complete, we move on to the Movers Shakers and Innovators showcase at this year’s Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender, with the usual highlights from me, and an extensive photo gallery courtesy of SH Photografia.
Warm congratulations to Neo-Burlesque pioneer La Cholita for her Sassy Lassy Award recognition, and mad respect and crushes on our glowing, gracious hosts, Shimmy LaRoux, Alotta Boutte and Rebecca Mm Davis.
I must also give big props to Raven Rose, Egypt Blaque Knyle, Miss AuroraBoobRealis, Qu’in de la Noche, Candi Yams, Lily EnVogue, Bee Bee Sanchez, Audrey Love, GiGi Holliday, Mocha Mocha 2.0, Sgt. Die Wies, The Chocolate Showboy, Samson Night, Poison Ivory, SinJyn, P No Noire, et al who opened the whole weekender in fine style [I’d love to complete the opening number cast list with the few we think we’ve omitted – DM here for prompt insertion!].
SHOW NOTES: Reviewed via livestream. Photos of all competitors can be found in the extended version of this feature on 21st Century Burlesque.
Chelsea Hart
Chelsea Hart deserves a participation trophy for her efforts over the weekender; from soloist to duet partner to group trouper, not to mention choreographer, she nails everything and it’s genuinely hard to take your eyes off her. Yes she’s the perfect lithe and leggy showgirl who needs little adornment, but she’s come up with a reverse-strip anxiety dream right out of the stage fright files. Chelsea’s a natural clown, understated, immediately endearing, and by the end of this neat routine we are desperate to see what’s under that hat…
Kit Katastrophic
Kit Katastrophic from Portland, Oregon appears before us as a cyclopean candy striper in desperate need of lubrication. Alas, her eye drops appear to have run dry and the sweeping curled lashes lower in disappointment. What follows is a coy Paso Doble with a larger fresh bottle across the stage, and a striptease seduction which certainly shakes things up. I didn’t think I’d ever find myself describing an ejaculation as ‘charming’, but here we are…
Betsy Bottom Dollar
If Roy Lichtenstein, Elaine Stritch and Malory Archer had a multidimensional three-way, Betsy Bottom Dollar would be stamped on the sheets. She gives us the Company staple ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ (not an easy song to sing – even Patti LuPone quailed), as a 2D society lush, belting – and unbelting – on drawn furniture. Anyone who still thinks burlesque and ‘high theatre’ can’t co-exist needs to get a f* clue. Sondheim and Betsy will certainly drink to that.
Queerly Femmetastic
Queerly Femmetastic prowls, holds, rolls and flings to Nasty Gal by Betty Davis, in red-soled knee boots, frilled feather collar, ermine, satin and leather. The drops are defined, the pauses considered, the transitions from nonchalant badass to frenzied huntress thrilling. Delivering a masterclass in control, restraint and release with a winning smile, I’ll eat anything this Evil Queen serves up, pips and all.
Sophie du Mal
Next, a transporting encounter courtesy of the visionary Sophie Du Mal – an Anthousa you could imagine meeting if you wandered away from the Venice Carnivale and found yourself in one of the city’s secret gardens. Like her unsettling, blinking flower puppets, she is black-eyed, stark white and alien in a leafy rag skirt, beaded, chained and crowned behind her rose trellis. The strip progresses to the pulsing, meditative beat of Switchblade Symphony’s Anmorata, and there’s an overall sense of peril and carnivorous threat even as you feel the trance steal over you. Fantastic stuff.
RiRi SynCyr
RiRi SynCyr gives us a front row seat to a steamy night in with her pizza delivery. Even the giant wedge of deep-dish itself gets a prolonged reveal as she teases away the cover tug by tug. The dripping cheese fringe wafts in the breeze of her slippers as she kicks them away and mounts the slice – like Crazy Horse’s ‘Lay Laser Lay’ after a three-show shift. Showering herself with confetti seasoning to Prince’s Slow Love, she fans herself with pepperoni and slaps a mushroom slice to her quivering torso, holding olive rings to her breasts like little vinyl records. In a final inspired flourish, she withdraws a boa string of cheesy filling from the stuffed crust. Extremely good fun, baked to perfection.
Déjà Louve
Ohh, this wistful fever dream from Déjà Louve. To The Rainbow by Talk Talk, she appears in a floating flowery robe with lilac trim, and plush, acid-wash pink fans. She slowly sheds the gown, embraces it tenderly and lets it go, and with fans in hold Déjà flirts with each side of the stage, comes to centre and raises them with her back to us, letting them undulate under the lights. In conclusion she draws out a tassel and lets it fall – subtle, yearning and sensual throughout. I’m officially high on Louve.
Willy LaQueue
Where to start with this feat from Willy LaQueue, a betuxed, rubbery robot dancing on a notional, skipping turntable time machine. Benign, poignant and sinister all at once – the remarkable movement so studied and utterly unhuman, it escalates into a steam-powered seizure as Willy strips to a nude, doll-like underlayer, trying desperately to animate himself. Truly an extraordinary achievement.
La Maison Lust: Large Group Stepdown
The evening concludes with a stepdown from La Maison Lust, whose brilliant blowup doll act secured victory in last year’s tournament. A sultry Portia Favro sets the stage for four sharp dressed men, giving off Glenn Miller, Gene Kelly, Jim Carrey and Victor Victoria in turns. But with the ominous wah-wahs of Dom Dollar’s Take It, it all comes undone. Waistcoats defiled and discarded, braces tugged off, ties flossed between pastied cleavage, with classic trouser tears and feral voguing – La Maison playbook firmly on the stand. Portia eventually intervenes and leads them off, with fedoras tossed graduation-style on exit.
For many more incredible photos from SH Photografia (some I can’t run here!) please check out the full feature with extended gallery.