Dreams dashed on a Saturday night, ambition crushed between tea breaks and the constant conundrum of which one is Ant and which one is Dec… it must be time for Britain’s Got Talent 2012!
Britain’s Got Talent Burlesque
Performers nationwide can tell you how the production teams hound them year after year to attend the auditions. From emails to Facebook, phone calls to approaches at events. The research assistants go out in force from September onwards to bring a collection of oddities to the screen to be judged.
Variety performer Mat Ricardo recently fought back and played them at their own game. You can read about his experiences and also hear about it during his show Mat Ricardo’s London Varieties.
Burlesque has always been part of the Britain’s Got Talent audition process, from the covered in glue and rolled through Ann Summers dance routines to highly polished classical performance. However, we’ve always wondered, as the UK prize is to perform at The Royal Variety Show… would burlesque and The Queen really be appropriate?
Let’s have a look at a few past examples shall we…
Fabia Cerra Burlesque
Starting with 2009 contestant Fabia Cerra who got all the way to the semi-finals.
Talulah Blue Burlesque
Leicester based Talulah Blue made it through the first rounds in 2011 and got a fair bit of tabloid exposure:
Michelle L’amour Burlesque
In America’s Got Talent, Miss Exotic World winner Michelle L’Amour with ‘the ass that goes pow!’ brought her own brand of fairytale to a panel again including The Hoff:
So! How does burlesque, The Royal Variety Show, The Queen and a pre-watershed audience fit together?
Oddly enough, we think the latest episodes might have had the answer…
Beatrix Von Bourbon Burlesque
London based performer, Beatrix Von Bourbon, ecdysiast and international cabaret sweetheart brought her own unique tassel technique to the judging panel on Saturday. A blushing Simon seemed overwhelmed by Bea’s saucy performance and even the women were impressed. The act was cheeky, adorable and ‘just’ naughty enough for attention but not ridicule. We loved it!
Front page of the Daily Star this week, appearing on This Morning too, Beatrix could well be the perfect mix of academic and burlesque heritage with enough innovation to make it to the finals!
Best of British to you Beatrix!
Watch Five Fabulous TV Burlesque Moments and our 70 second answer to: what is burlesque?
