Last week, not one, not two, but THREE of the burlesque troupes we work with celebrated anniversaries: VivaVoom Brr-Lesque in Anchorage, Alaska celebrated nine years together, Black Widow Burlesque in Austin, Texas celebrated five years and New Orleans’ Freaksheaux to Geaux celebrated their third anniversary. Also, the Seattle-based monthly burlesque revue Tuesday Tease celebrated two years of world-class burlesque with live music.

Milestones like this are especially notable in burlesque, since so many troupes and shows come and go. Building up a show and cast from scratch, operating on a shoestring budget and devoting spare time to rehearsals, costume creation, promotions and the million other things that go into creating a captivating experience for the audience, is not for the hobbyist. To produce multiple productions year after year requires a deep-seeded love of the artform and a commitment to the craft. These four producers have obviously figured out how to survive in the competitive world of burlesque and were kind enough to share their stories with us.

Ginger Snaps of Black Widow Burlesque: “Being in a troupe takes more work than most people realize. We work hard to put out five different and unique shows each year that include new solos, duets, and group acts. As a soloist or hobbyist, it’s a bit easier to create numbers and then figure out what shows you may fit in, as opposed to tailoring acts for a show. It’s taken a long time to get to this place, but we now have a great group of committed performers willing to work together toward a common goal and put in all the work needed for booking, producing, advertising, etc.”

Mistress Kali of Freaksheaux to Geaux: “While I don’t produce shows or perform as my primary source of income, I still give it the same level of care and professionalism that I would if it were. It really isn’t unusual for me to spend 20 – 30 hours a week working on show stuff; it really is an around the clock process. And you have to have the ability to anticipate and plan for as many bad turns as you can and be able to roll with the punches when one comes along that you didn’t anticipate. I think that’s the mark of a real professional – when something bad unexpectedly happens, you don’t dwell on it. You just put on your thinking cap and say, “Okay, what are we gonna do now?”

While, it’s a challenge just to keep a troupe or show running for a significant amount of time, the satisfaction of seeing your audience grow consistently makes it all worth it. Sailor St. Claire has done a great job with her monthly show Tuesday Tease, and last Friday was typical in that she saw many new faces in the audience.

“We mostly had a crowd of people who were new to our show, and that’s been a constant thing at Tuesday Tease over the past two years. Because we’re on an off-night and because we’re “doin’ it live,” we always get new faces at each of our shows — and more often than not they come back!”

No anniversary party, especially of the burlesque variety, would be complete without some shenanigans and it sounds like all of last week’s shows were filled with them. Here are some stories from the producers:

Sailor St. Claire:  “Our venue owner, David Pierre-Louis, really made my night at our anniversary party by creating a specialty cocktail for each of the dancers — and one for me! A moment I particularly enjoyed was when an entire bachelor party of burly mid-50’s gentlemen ordered a round of Sailor St. Claire’s and downed them like shots.”

Mistress Kali: “There were a lot of fun and inspiring moments from Friday night, but probably the best was the chocolate cake eating contest, where we pull two audience members on stage and they eat chocolate cake out of the laps of two of the performers while the band plays, “Chocolate Cake,” a song that’s actually about eating something other than chocolate cake. The two girls we had onstage Friday were great and dove in face first (literally). Apparently some of the performers were washing chocolate cake out of their hair later that night. I found some on my pants that I hadn’t even been wearing onstage.”

Ginger Snaps: “We had a great Birthday show! Good audience, awesome performances, and an all around fun evening. We brought back a couple former members to round out the cast, so it was one big Black Widow – palooza! We all got to perform some our favorite acts, and opened the show with one of the most popular and hilarious duets to come out of our troupe; Betty Blue and Sailor Cherry’s spoof on Chik-fil-A.”

So glad to hear everyone’s burly-birthdays went well and excited to work with all these amazing producers for many more years to come! We’ll see you all in May.