The amazing burlesque dancer, Laurie Hagen is heading off to the Burlesque Hall of Fame. She will be one of the women representing the UK this year for ‘Best Debut’. Get her burlesque story…
Laurie Hagen Burlesque Interview
Name: Laurie Hagen
Burlesque CV: I was spotted by Miss Polly Rae in one of her burlesque classes many moons ago and ended up getting a place in her original Hurly Burly troupe. Our compère at the time, the sensational Dusty Limits, took me under his tarnished wings and pimped me out to the cabaret circuit with my solo material.
I perform all over London in venues such as Cafe de Paris, Savoy, Hippodrome Casino, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club and Madame Jojo’s.
A few years back I was lucky enough to appear in the Helsinki Burlesque Festival as one of Polly’s Hurly Burly Girlys alongside Satan’s Angel, World Famous Bob, Scotty the Blue Bunny and my ultimate burlesque hero Fancy Chance.
I hosted this year’s Saturday show of the Swedish Burlesque Festival. And I am the proud owner of a London Cabaret Award for Best Burlesque Act 2013.
Burlesque highlight: Putting on A Night of Stuff at Madame Jojo’s with the amazing Audacity Chutzpah and co-creating Between The Sheets for the Hippodrome Casino with Miss Polly Rae, Kitty Bang Bang and Klare Wilkinson aka my besties!
Top burlesque tip for non-burlesquers: When something goes horribly wrong, acknowledge it, embrace it and chances are people will love you for it.
How/Why did you get into burlesque: Being cast as a showgirl in the play ‘Keeler’ at Upstairs at the Gatehouse had me researching burlesque. I was so pleasantly surprised with the amount of humour, skill, creativity and freedom involved in the burlesque acts I saw, that I thought it would be fun to attend a burlesque class with a mate for a laugh. My friend ended up having to bail out last minute so I reluctantly dragged my behind to Dance Attic and the rest is history. I fell into it, as it were.
What’s your Tournament of Tease story: I sent my application for ‘Best Debut’ off for the first time this year with my reverse strip, after having been encouraged to do so by the likes of Miss Polly Rae, Kitty Bang Bang and Mat Fraser, whom I hold in very high esteem. Upon founding out I made the selection, I felt utterly sick with excitement!
What’s next? Traveling to Vegas, sourcing a local Bentwood chair for my act, soaking up the BHoF atmosphere, consuming many an oversized cocktail by the pool and hopefully doing London proud in the ‘Best Debut’ competition!
Nobody knows that burlesque… comes in equal measures of glamour and non-glamour.
See Laurie Hagen’s innovative reverse striptease, see it in this video:
Laurie Hagen “Reverse Striptease” from Laurie Hagen on Vimeo.
Check out Kitty Bang Bang’s Burlesque Hall of Fame Diary.
Burlexe is a sensational London burlesque show inspired by the women who created the genre and perform the art. It fuses burlesque performance with storytelling, dancing with acting.
We love to showcase UK burlesque performers and share the stories of these wonderful women who perform burlesque. Laurie Hagen is one such woman.
To see more, join us for the Burlexe show by booking your ticket.
(Main image from Loughborough Echo)
