The New York Burlesque Festival is underway

Wow! The NYBF is in the middle of its run. Tonight, their Saturday Spectacular includes performances by Angie Pontani, the reigning Miss Exotic World, Jo Boobs, Miss Delirium Tremens, Dirty Marini, the World Famous *BOB*, and local favorites Delilah and the Flying Fox.

Last night, Scotty the Blue Bunny returned to his old stomping (hopping?) grounds to host the Premiere Party. Vivienne VaVoom and Miss Indigo Blue were amongst those performing.

I'm actually fascinated with the idea of burlesque festivals, especially now that I'm volunteering for Tease-O-Rama. Aside from TOR and the NYBF, there is the London Burlesque Festival, the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, the Texas Burlesque Festival, the Toronto Burlesque Festival, the Burlesque Ball in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, the Helsinki Burlesque Festival, and of course the Burlesque Hall of Fame/Exotic World Weekend in Las Vegas. There may be others that don't pop up in Google search. In fact, there probably are a few.

I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of the performers that I've only read about or seen on YouTube. I suppose this is one of the great things about these festivals. It gives audiences the chance to see some of the best perform all in an evening or three. And for the performers, it's a way of maintaining relationships in a community that spans a continents, and even oceans.

All-in-all, these festivals seem very, very cool. I'm so looking forward to TOR!