ONSTAGE
What: The Cheesecake Burlesque Revue: Halloween Boo-lesque Extravaganza
Where: Farquhar Auditorium, University Centre, University of Victoria
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $28; students/alumni $26
Reservations: tickets.uvic.ca, 250-721-8480
If there’s one thing Champagne Sparkles can guarantee about her appearance during Cheesecake Burlesque Revue’s Halloween extravaganza at the Farquhar Auditorium on Saturday night, it’s that it won’t bear any resemblance to the last time she danced onstage at University Centre.
“I think I’m a better dancer and much more entertaining now,” said the leader of Victoria’s award-winning burlesque troupe, which has strutted its stuff from Victoria to Las Vegas, New York, Paris and Rome.
Sparkles was in a dance recital at the auditorium in the late 1990s while an undergraduate at the University of Victoria, studying biology and taking modern dance for fun. “Maybe that’s how I got my start,” she said with a laugh.
To celebrate Halloween, its favourite holiday, the troupe is putting on another fresh, fleshy spectacle full of old tricks “and a few new treats.” It recently got a fright, however, when one of its colourful, sequined characters was involved in a bicycling accident.
“It was really scary, so we’re very happy to have Betsy Bottom Dollar on the mend and back onstage after her collision,” said Sparkles, who will shimmy and shake with some familiar faces: Kitten Kaboodle, Dollipop, Ginger Kittens, Lolly Lushbottom, Maya Papapa, Midori Colada, Silk E. Gunz, Wild Honey and Cherry D. Vine.
Staging a Halloween show is an annual tradition for the group, founded in 2007 and formerly known as the Capital City Cheesecake Burlesque Revue. The idea originated at a birthday party with a burlesque twist, with an emphasis on empowering women to “love the skin they’re in,” no matter what their body type. Their signature style involves sexy, high-energy, tongue-in-cheek musical-comedy routines influenced by film classics such as Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Broadway hits such as Guys and Dolls.
The participants come from all walks of life. They include an environmental consultant, a veterinary technician, government employees, university staffers and a PhD candidate.
Since burlesque has gone mainstream, the women have attracted a wider, more informed audience, Sparkles said. And the women who playfully jiggle their naughty bits, but keep their bottoms on and wear pasties no longer have to dispel misconceptions that it’s anything other than good, clean fun.
“In Victoria, we don’t come across many people who don’t know what it is anymore,” said Sparkles, who hopes to reach local audiences who might never have seen them before.
“We’re burlesque that you can bring your grandma to. It’s cute, cheeky, very silly and funny, and just enough to bring you a little thrill.”
Despite the #metoo movement in response to the Harvey Weinstein sexual-harassment scandal, they won’t be poking fun at the disgraced movie mogul.
“That guy doesn’t get invited to our show,” Sparkles said.