The beginning of the month I went to a Burlesque taster session with my Bessie mate Fordy. We met after work for some tea and went to an old favourite the Rummer Tavern in Cardiff opposite the castle. When we both worked in Cardiff this was our favourite haunt for having lunch. We decided to have the BBQ chicken which is one of our favourites and it didn’t disappoint. Sizzling hot, enrobed in BBQ sauce and smothered in glorious melted cheese we were in heaven.
The time came to head over to the venue, which was luckily just down the road in Revolutions bar. We waited anxiously and not knowing entirely what to expect. Two ladies sat down next to us in their 50’s who were also waiting for the lesson to start as well and were full of dutch courage. They had come from Bristol and it would seem spent the whole afternoon building their confidence. Quickly Fordy and I began to realise we had only been drinking soft drinks and maybe it would have been a good idea to have something a little stronger.
Armed with our lemonade and squash with ascended the stairs into the venue room, to be met by the lovely and warming Hannah who was taking the session. She immediately put everyone at ease with her approachable and friendly manner. We donned our trainers and took to the floor for the warm up exercises. So far so good, these were the standard exercises for any warm up.
Our first task was to learn how to walk in the Burlesque style. There were three walks, one where you stepped out to the side (this was followed easily with a shimmy), the second where you had to drag your foot behind you (Hannah made it look really easy, I felt like I was wiping dog poo off my shoe) and the last you lifted your knee and did a little hop. We were walking all over the room, trying all the different walks. Then walking as a group, which I failed miserably at and decided I am not best at working in a group when trying to learn something. But I got there in the end.
Next came the facial expressions, these were quite amusing and ranged from innocent, to shocked and snobby. To combine the two (the walking and the facial expressions) in pairs we had to think of our Burlesque name (first pets name followed by your mothers maiden name) and then walk down the centre of the room to the other girls do our pose and say our name. This was hysterical; we had a lot of Kittys. My friend Fordy didn’t really like her mother’s maiden name for this so borrowed my nan’s maiden name Bevington, she became Skippy Bevington, mine is always good for a giggle and I transformed into Felicity Tipples.
From here we moved on to some moves, how to turn when walking and how to get down on the floor with out looking like you just got in from a days work and plonked yourself on the sofa. It was hilarious seeing all these women of different ages getting on and shoving their bum and boobs out all over the place and rolling around on the floor. I felt like I was dusting the floor at one point rather than doing anything remotely resembling sexy. Next came to incorporate a prop. We each had a fan, which we had to link in with the moves and walking that we had been doing. We were taught how to hold the fan correctly so with a flick of the wrist it would open.
When Hannah thought we had got the moves a bit under control and more comfortable with them we learnt a routine. This was great, but there were quite a few of us in a small space so a number of us nearly got kicked in the face a few times. For the end of the session we were split into two groups and performed the routine for each other. This was brilliant and everyone was very supportive. Of course we all cooled down and gave each other a round of applause, what a fantastic night and something a bit different I would recommend it
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