MELBOURNE based burlesque beauties Sapphira’s Showgirls have just touched down in London with luggage filled to the brim with feathers, corsets and glitter. Feeling slightly jet lagged and jelly legged they are readying themselves to dazzle London and Bristol with a string of shows performing their brand new burlesque extravaganza Burlesque or Bust.
Captain of the sparkle squad Sapphira says she is excited to be in the UK, after a long flight as well as a long campaign to get her girls over here.
“We made a video for Richard Branson where I changed the words of the classic song ‘My Heart belongs to Daddy’ to ‘My Heart Belongs to Branson’.
“It was shot at various famous landmarks around Melbourne, and when Branson saw the video he got back to us a few days later offering us discounted flights for our UK tour!”
Australians with expiring UK visas, please take note when purchasing your ticket home.
The video, which started out as a bit of a PR stunt, has ended up being the focus of Sapphira’s brand new show Burlesque or Bust – an all singing, all dancing and all shimmying and shaking tribute to Sapphira and Sapphira’s Showgirls heartthrob and key supporter, Sir Richard Branson. It tells the story of the tale of five girls travelling to London to declare their love to Sir Richard Branson.
“We will be performing a plane safety demo and there will be a Richard Branson lookalike competition,” says Sapphira.
“Everything is Branson themed.”
The show will also see Sapphira return to her burlesque roots — with the London show being hosted at world famous Madame Jojo’s this Sunday 26 May.
“I am so excited to be performing at Madame Jojos,” says Sapphira
“I did my first ever burlesque performance there, so it is so nice to be back where my exciting journey in burlesque all began when I was living in London.”
This time however, Sapphira is performing with her extremely talented showgirls, including Kitty D’Vine.
“I started off as a student in one of Sapphira’s burlesque classes and then she asked me to join the group,” says Kitty.
“I have a background in gymnastics which I incorporate into the shows. I love getting on stage and dressing up, it’s extremely liberating.”
Laydee Bombay, who joined the group over a year ago adds: “It’s so exhilarating being on stage celebrating sexuality and femininity.”
Costumes and music play a very important role in burlesque shows and this is particularly true for Burlesque or Bust. With glitter and feathers being the staples to every burlesque wardrobe, Sapphira reassures us we will be seeing plenty of these in the show.
With Sapphira, renowned for her signature Australian flag corset, also playing the role of costume stylist for this production, it is likely the costumes will be fun, sexy and very tongue in cheek.
“I love choosing the costumes. It’s just like playing dress ups with life sized Barbies,” says Sapphira.
The soundtrack too will receive the special Sapphira touch, with Sapphira bringing her talents as an accomplished singer, songwriter and electronic producer to bear on a programme featuring revamped show tunes.
“We will be singing old show tunes that I have changed the words to slightly to fit the theme of our show,” says Sapphira
“I find audiences are more responsive to songs when they can sing along.”
Not only can the audience sing along to the tunes in the show, but they can also learn the dance moves so they can dance along too. Sapphira and her showgirls will be running a ‘Steal the Show’ burlesque workshop before their London gig. Participants will learn how to bump and grind, enter the room like a showgirl and learn to master great facial expressions.
Who knows, YOU could be the next member of Sapphira’s Showgirls. So lace up those corsets, fluff those feathers and apply glitter to EVERY square inch of your body because on Sunday 26 May it is time to Burlesque or Bust.
Steal The Show Burlesque Workshop is from 2pm-4pm on Sunday 26 May at Madame Jojo’s. Tickets are £50.
Tickets to Burlesque or Bust Show at 6pm on Sunday 26 May at Madame Jojo’s are £15 in advance, and £20 at the door.
See misssapphira.com for details of the London and Bristol shows.
Winners will be drawn at 5pm Thursday 23 May.
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