April March

April March is a burlesque legend whose career spanned thirty years from the early 1950's to the late 1970's.

During that time she performed across the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe. April headlined on the Minsky Theater circuit and starred in Ann Corios show "This Was Burlesque" on Broadway. It was during a press party thrown by Ann Corio that a writer discovered April was a talented golfer. Because of that interview she became the first, and only, burlesquer to be written up in Sports Illustrated Magazine.

April March is known as "The First Lady of Burlesque" due to her lady like behavior on and off stage. Never crass or profaine, Arpril perfected the "elegant" strip and became known for her class and grace.

In 1964 April appeared in a film short made by Jim Henson called Time Piece which won major awards within the film industry, including an Acadeny Award for best short film.

Her extrordinary life has including romances and marriage propsals from such prominent men as Mel Torme, Joe DiMaggio and host of well known movie actors and entertainers. Her beauty and grace once drew the attention of a Saudi Arabian King and resulted in her being involved in a bit of espionage between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. She was also a central figure in a fatal shoot out in a Miami nightclub which garnered her the title of "Femme Fatale" wnen the incident was written up in a national crime magazine.

April recently appeared in a documentary entitled "Behind The Burly Q" written and directed by Leslie Zemeckis. "Behind The Burly Q" is an historical look at the art of burlesque in America and the performers were part of it in it's earlier days. It made it's American debute on April 23, 2010 NYC and continues to play in theaters across the U.S.

She has become an annual special guest star at The Great Burlesque Exposition in Boston and the Miss Exotic World Pageant in Las Vegas. In 2009, April performed her world famous strip tease for the first time in thirty-one years. This performance at the Great Burlesque Exposition was met with a standing ovation.

April has been working with a writer on compiling the many fascinating stories and events of her life and career for publication into a book .

Beau Blush

Beau Blush is performer and lover of all things costume! After graduating college and studying costumes for the Theatre she loves to bring her knowledge to those interested! A graduate of BABE (Boston Academy for Burlesque Education), she's been perfroming for 2 years, including: the New Comers Showcase in 2010, The Burlesque Marathon 2010 and several shows in Worcester. The fearless leader of The Wortown Bombshells, she directs, produces and creatse costumes for most of the dancers including herself!

Betty Blaize

Betty Blaize has been a proud member of the Boston Babydolls since it's start in 2005! She's been proud to choreograph and dance in every major show that this multiple award winning group has staged. She's performed in Boston and around the country, including New Orleans, Vegas (Miss Exotic World), Canada, and New York. She currently holds the title of Lead Choreographer and is proud and privileged to work with a group of amazing fellow dancers. Along with a deep love of Burlesque, Betty draws her inspiration from a great deal of ethnic dance, most especially Bharata Natyam, Kalaripayattu and Middle Eastern forms. She's a senior student and teacher with Navarasa under the tutelage of Aparna Sindhoor and Anil Natyaveda and also been seen performing Bollywood out and about Boston!

Brigitte Bisoux

Dancing for 20 yrs (ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap), Choreographing for 8 years, Burlesque for 5 (Tufts Burlesque Troupe - Dancer, Choreographer, Director for 1 year; The Boston Babydolls - almost 1 year)

Burgundy Brixx

Burgundy Brixx has produced Vancouver’s weekly burlesque show, “Kitty Nights” since 2008 and is one of the directors of “The Vancouver Burlesque Centre” where she teaches. In 2011, she was a headliner at the Toronto Burlesque Fest and appeared in the Queen of Burlesque competition in New Orleans. She has performed as a solo artist at The Burlesque Hall of Fame, The New York Burlesque Festival, The Best of Midwest Burlesk Fest, and Tease-O-Rama. She continues to bring burlesque into the world of mainstream arts in Vancouver through various dance and theatre works.

Chicava HoneyChild

Chicava HoneyChild is the Creative Producer of Brown Girls Burlesque in New York City. She is finishing her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art at Goddard College. She is working on a documentary on Women of Color in burlesque heritage. She also teaches classes through BGB’s Broad Squad Institute.

Dahlia Fatale

Dahlia Fatal has been a dancer her entire life, and fell in love with the burlesque community in 2010. She has worked with various companies and troupes as both dancer and choreographer including En'Lair dance, Urban Bombshells and Chameleon Productions. When she is not performing or creating she enjoys her dog, whiskey and mismatched socks

Dave "Super Dave" D'aranjo

Dave D’aranjo is a bassist, producer, composer, and drummer. In 2007, he moved from his native Singapore to New York City to study at the famous Bass Collective. He was a participant in Victor Wooten’s instructional DVD “Groove Workshop” in 2008, before moving to Boston to pursue his degree at Berklee College of Music. Dave was Musical Director of the Boston Babydoll’s 2010 production of “The Wrathskellar”, and composed the show’s eponymous theme tune. At the Great Burlesque Expo of 2011, Mina Murray debuted her tribute to vintage burlesque dancer April March, featuring Dave's re-arrangement of "April's Blues" (1961). Dave is currently producing way too many projects to list, including a twelve-track album for the Babydolls due in 2013. More information is available at www.davedaranjo.com

Devora Darling

Devora teaches Introduction to Burlesque at B.A.B.E. (Boston Academy of Burlesque Education) and ballet at a Boston-based nonprofit dance group. She has a dance background in classical ballet, and has been with the Boston Babydolls for two years.

EmpeROAR Fabulous!!!

EmpeROAR Fabulous!!! is a Seattle based Singer-Songwriter, Boylesque Performers, Emcee, Instructor, and Event Producer. He is most well known for being “The Exposing Composer”- as he writes and sings much of the music he performs to. He has had the honor of performing with luminaries such as Jo Weldon, Miss Indigo Blue, Lily Verlaine, and countless other including Legends Satan's ANgel, the late Joan Arline, and Isis Starr.

Evie Sphinx

Evie Sphinx's winning smile and wholesome good looks will have you thinking she's sweet and innocent, but inside her friendly demeanor lurks a fitness demon and a dance goddess. Having recently come to the stage with the Boston Babydolls, Evie jazzes up her bumps and grinds with killer kicks and jaw-dropping splits using her classical ballet roots. In addition to dancing, Evie is currently attending college here in Boston. When not dancing or in class, Evie can be found tearing up the streets of Boston on her bicycle. Watch out! This lady is danger whether she's on two wheels or high heels.

Hoi Polloi

Hoi Polloi has been acting and singing and other odd things onstage for the last 27 of his 34 years. he has also done make up, directed, produced and stage managed various plays and burlesque shows. In his spare time he works for amazon.com and spends time with his 4 cats, his Basset Hound and his wife, Scandal From Bohemia

Joe Paul Williams

Joe is considered the world expert in the Delsarte body language system which shows how Body, Mind and Spirit become visible in specific parts of the body and in movement. He teaches this method for the Dalcroze Institute at Juilliard, and in Master Classes for dancers and actors around the country. He is especially well known for his Delsarte for Middle Eastern Dance, and is on the faculty of Morocco and the Casbah Dance in New York. A long time fan of burlesque, he might well be remembered for bringing burlesque to Dayton, Ohio in the 80's, with his comic stripping gorilla routine which he performed for several years.

James and the Giant Pasty

James and the Giant Pasty is the founder and Artistic Director of Boylesque TO, Canada's Premeire All-Male Burlesque Troupe. Upon seeing his first burlesque show at the tender age of 16 on Coney Island, James fell in love with the twirling tassels, seductive looks, and hilarious stylings of the performers and just had to don some glitter and tassels himself. He founded Boylesque TO and began his performance career in early 2008. He is proud to be the leader of Canada's sexiest group of men and has produced and performed in numerous sold out and critically acclaimed shows with them. He has performed across Canada and in New York and San Francisco. James is fresh off an appearance on Canada's got Talent (with Boylesque TO) and this is his first American Burlesque Festival. You can catch James along with the rest of his sexy band of gentlemen later this month in the inaugural Boylesque Festival in New York City.

Lola Martinet

Lola Martinet is the director of the Dolls of Doom- Chicago's acrobatic, aerial, and engineered burlesque troupe. She has performed worldwide both as a soloist and with her troupe. The Dolls of Doom hold two Burlesque Hall of Fame titles: Best Variety 2010 and Most Comedic 2011. By day, Lola is an audio professional and has been teaching audio and sound seminars worldwide. She has been involved with numerous high end productions and world tours.

Lucida Sans

Lucida Sans is the founder and producing director of Rhinestone Gorilla Burlesque. RGB performs monthly at The Triad Theatre in Manhattan. Their shows are often themed, sometimes scripted, and almost always performed with live music. They are embarking on their first national tour this summer. Formerly known as Alpha Psi Ecdysia, Rhinestone Gorilla Burlesque was founded in 2008 as the nation's premier undergraduate burlesque troupe. While based on the campus of the State University of New York at New Paltz, RGB lived a double life as an educational institution and a professional producing entity. On the New Paltz campus, RGB dedicated itself to teaching burlesque history, the politics of neo-burlesque and the practice of burlesque performance; off-campus, RGB was the underage darling of the New York stripperformance art scene, getting naked on school nights at The Slipper Room, Rififi, Public Assembly, and Sugarland and in venues in LA, SF, Boston, and beyond. Though frequent subjects of controversy and police activity, the students of Alpha Psi Ecdysia--now under the direction of current SUNY students--remain the only state-sponsored strippers in the nation.

Mad Merry Death

Meredith Magoun is a new import to the greater Boston area. She grew up in Vermont, but most recently called Pittsburgh, PA her home. She holds an MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University(’11) , and a BA in Theater from Smith College (’05). She has designed costumes for shows in Vermont, New York, Pittsburgh, and Boston. She has had the opportunity to work with such noted names as Paul Zimmet, Tina Sheppard, and Gregory Lehane. Her most recent credits are "Poe! Poe! Poe!" for the Watertown Children’s Theater, and "Neither Have I Wings to Fly" for Bad Habit Productions. She has always been interested in the quirks, kinks, and darker side of performance and is excited to be exploring that!

Midnite Martini

Midnite Martini is the Great Burlesque Exposition 2011′s ”Best Soloist” and a Reigning Queen of Burlesque Competitor at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend 2010 & 2011! She is the “Mile High Flying Tease” and combines her aerial acrobatic skills with the art of tease. Midnite has titillated audiences across the world from Las Vegas casinos to the Atlantis Resort Bahamas to New York nightclubs and Montreal theatres.

Miss Mina Murray

After the job market for glamourous archaeologists dried up, Miss Mina Murray abandoned her Ivory Tower to become co-founder of The Boston Babydolls andHeadmistress of the Boston Academy of Burlesque Education. Known for her "Ivy League brain in a Combat Zone body", she delights audiences with her elegant performances, award-winning costumes, and occasional flashes of unexpected humor. Miss Mina was privledged to create the first tribute act in honor of living legend April March, the First Lady of Burlesque, which she debuted at The Great Burlesque Exposition of 2011. She draws her inspirations from Sally Rand, Lili St. Cyr, and the music of Cab Calloway.

Nasty Canasta

Internationally-renowned artstar (and reigning Cheese Queen of Coney Island) Nasty Canasta is frequently hailed as a genius of the neo-burlesque scene. A "burlesque queen" (The NY Times), 2nd Runner Up at the 2010 Miss Exotic World Pageant, and "Brooklyn's greatest burlesque star" (The Brooklyn Paper), Nasty is host and producer of Naked Girls Reading NYC - "New York's Best Story Hour," (The Village Voice) - the impresario behind Sweet & Nasty Burlesque, and was an original co-creator of Pinchbottom Burlesque ("Best Burlesque in NYC" - NY Magazine, "Most Innovative" - Burlesque Hall of Fame). Nasty began her performance career as a stage actor, studying theatre and costume design at Brown University. In 2005 - after too many years of horribly embarrassing (though, fortunately, horribly-attended) off-off-off-Broadway shows - she discovered her true calling on the burlesque stage. Now a full-time burlesque performer, producer and costumer, Nasty draws on her years of experience in the theatre to create acts and shows that combine tease and titillation, humor, spectacle and theatricality. In addition to her burlesque performances, she spent the summer of 2010 as a snake charmer and contortionist with the world-famous Coney Island Circus Sideshow in Brooklyn, NY. Nasty is best known for her 'burlesques on burlesque:' subtle and surprising twists on classic striptease such as her car-alarm fan dance, her "Unknown Stripper" act, and her award-winning ecdysiastal tribute to Dorian Gray, "The Portrait." Equally at home with classic tease and contemporary pop culture, her numbers range from the sublime to the silly, and have been a favorite with audiences around the world.

Scandal from Bohemia

Scandal from Bohemia has been making people laugh by taking off her clothes on burlesque stages since 2007 and on sketch comedy stages since 2005. She has been fortunate enough to perform burlesque at the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, at Le Zebra in Paris, and at Gay Village in Rome in addition to winning 2012's Most Humorous award at The Great Burlesque Expo. She would like to say she is responsible for causing her husband, Hoi Polloi, to appear onstage in women's underwear, but, since he appeared in four different productions of the theatrical version of Rocky Horror before they met, this would be inaccurate.

Scarlett Letter

Scarlett Letter, has been a professional dancer for over a decade. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts Management from Scripps College and is also an award-winning costumer. Scarlett's dance experience encompasses a wide variety of styles, genres, situations, and venues. She can regularly be seen producing and performing at burlesque venues throughout Southern California, as well as burlesque events across the continent and in Europe. Four feet of red hair, a vintage flair, and very calculating feet are her calling cards.

Scratch

"The King of Boston Burlesque", Scratch has been a professional performer since age four. Originally from New York City, he has trained in a variety of performance disciplines. He is the founding chair of The Great Burlesque Exposition and co-founder of the award-winning troupe, The Boston Babydolls.

The Shanghai Pearl

The Shanghai Pearl is The Tantalizing Temptress from Taipei and Princess of Pulchritude! The Shanghai Pearl is an international burlesque performer and instructor based out of Seattle, Washington. Her range is broad; spanning the burlesque gamut from tantalizing tongue in cheek tease to irreverent vaudevillian vignettes. This exotic firecracker is known throughout the burlesque community for her opulent accoutrement.

St. Stella

St. Stella has been performing burlesque for 5 years. She has performed at the Toronto, Montreal and Great Burlesque expo in Boston, where she won a 'Legends Choice' award in 2011. She also made her New York debut at the 'Champagne Riot' in fall 2011.

The Incredible, Edible, Akynos

The Incredible, Edible, Akynos is a New York based burlesque entertainer, curator and performer of exotic entertainment. Performing on the New York burlesque stages since 2007, she has performed in The New York Burlesque Festival, Toronto Burlesque Festivals and Jim Thorpe Burlesque Festivals. She's been seen on such stages as Symphony Space, The Zipper Factory and The Triad Theater. She has produced three successful burlesque and variety revues, and has traveled internationally to perform and produce live burlesque productions. She won the Best Soloist and Legend's Choice award at The Boston Burlesque Expo in 2009 and placed 1st runner up in the Miss International Showgirl Competition in Negril, Jamaica in the same year. The less than five foot dynamo has been performing since she was 12 and has been on the adult entertainment scene for more than ten years. She is currently writing her senior thesis at Goddard College which explores Sex Work and Performance history in the context of race, feminism, size-ism. She is currently one of the newest members of the popular Brown Girls Burlesque Troupe.

The Lady Josephine

The Lady Josephine has been working as a Burlesque performer since 2008. Burlesque took its place as a priority in Josephine’s life after she followed classes at Harbour Dance in Vancouver, enrolled in Mlle Oui Oui Encore ‘s striptease classes, and started choreographing her own pieces for Bluelight Burlesque. She was a guest performer in many of Bluelight Burlesque ‘s monthly shows for the following two years in Montreal. She appeared in the Montreal, Toronto, and Colorado Burlesque Festivals in 2010 and 2011, brought home the award for “Most Beautiful” act at the Great Boston Burlesque Expo, and has appeared on stages from Los Angeles to Washington DC. She is proud to currently be performing across North America with the Blood Ballet Cabaret.

Zehara Nachash

Zehara Nachash is a professional belly dancer, glass walker, fire eater, and Boston's premier Snake Charmer. Zehara has been performing professionally since 2005 bringing her unique brand of Fusion Belly Dance to audiences across New England with and without her slithering dance partners!