Burlesque Routines

What is this?

I'm a burlesque performer outside of my little corner of the internet. I dance with a troupe and have been doing so for over 5 years. This is just a space for me to keep track of the routines that I've done and look back on them.

These routines are from oldest to newest.

So this was my first offical Burlesque show! I was part of a troupe when I was at university, but I never actually did any shows. When I moved back home I joined a troupe in my city. I started off in the beginner's class, then went to the open class which is where I learnt this rountine.

Out of the 4 of us did the beginner's class, only me and one other girl moved into the open group. We had about a month to reherse and then it was straight into performing for the troupe's Halloween show!

Looking back it was a very simple and cute routine. I spent most of the song with a scarf over my face, pretending to be a ghost. We pretended to fight, did little teases from under the scarf before finally doing the big reveal at the end. I never actually took anything off. I only took off a ribbon I tied had around my waist. I simply wasn't ready and I'm glad there was no pressure. In my university troupe we were expected to have tits out by the end of the 5 week beginner's course, hence why I never got that far.

All in all, this routine has a special place in my heart because it was my first. The wait to go on was so nerve wracking, but I was so proud after getting off stage and wanted to do it all again!

The girl who came with me from the beginner's class, I never actually saw her again after this, but I'm still so grateful that she came with me and I didn't have to do it alone.

I didn't get to dance much with my troupe during 2020 for obvious reasons! But we did do an online Halloween show, which I wanted to be part of. The concept was prisoner inmates and we each had chains to dance with. The chains were actually cheap plastic tat from Poundland or somewhere similar, but no one needed to know that!

As this was towards the end of 2020 we actually got to reherse in person which was so nice. Online filming also took a bit of the pressure off. I was still a little shy and awkward, but I did a bra reveal. It usually goes costume > bra > pasties, but I still wasn't at that final stage yet.

I enjoyed this routine. It was a fun one. Not too slow and not too fast. We also had white shirts that we got to customise ourselves, so everyone had a unique look.

This damn song became such an earwig though! I have a Spotify playlist of all my dance songs and it was always coming on, even on shuffle, so I did get a bit sick of hearing it. But that was after the show!

The one was kind of a blur, I don't actually remember much about it! The routine was cute, with some spooky moves that I enjoyed. I also got to wear a mesh top with zombies on it that I LOVE and hardly ever get to wear cause its so weird.

This was my first pastie routine. I wasn't actually going to do one. I was just going to take off a bra that was over the mesh top, but during practice it looked really stupid and I just decided that I was going to go for it. I even brought some skeleton/zombie hand pasties to use! They were stickers basically, so didn't have any worries about them coming off!

My friend from another one of my dance groups was in the audience and I wasn't expecting to see her, so it was a bit of a shock when I came on stage and locked eyes with her, but I'm used to it now and we've even done a dance routine together at a show (more about that later!)

I CAN'T FIND THE SONG! I have Googled the lyrics and nothing. I even asked ChatGBT. I can't find the song anywhere, but it was an old retro song. A woman was singing about what she wanted to give to her partner for Christmas. It very was campy with lots of induendos and at the end it turns out that she's yapping about a dog. If you know the name of this song, please let me know!

This one was very campy and cute. This was my first Christmas routine as I tend to prefer the Halloween ones as I have a mad resting bitch face. Even still it was fun. I had a holly headband and spent a lot of the routine smiling in triumph that I had managed to keep it on. Also had some red bow pasties (still stickers) that were very cute!

So this was an old routine that the troupe had done in the past before I came along. I had seen videos of it and always thought it looked cool. I also absolutely love the song and Britney's Circus album is one of my favourites. When I found out we were redoing this routine I was buzzing!

We could choose what we wanted to dress as, so long as it was circus themed. I chose to be a clown, but one girl was a lion, another was a sexy bag of popcorn. There was a lot going on!

Have so much love for this routine! It was a great mix of fast and slow, loved the song, loved the theme. ALL THE LOVE!

This was the first time I did 2 routines in one show!

Strictly speaking, this wasn't with my regular troupe. This was with some girls from my troupe and a few girls who joined via Zoom. This routine was part of an intensive course so we only had 3 classes to reherse it and we didn't get our positions until the final rehersal!

It was my first time doing this, but the routine was so messy, wild and campy that it was quite forgiving if you missed a step. There was a lot of hair swinging and shimming, by the end of it I was exhausted. It's a banging song though!

This was my first time doing a festival. It wasn't like a music festival, it was just in a small town nearby. We had to walk in a parade (me while hula hooping) and then do this routine in one of the venues.

This was a very slow, chill and peaceful routine. I really enjoyed doing it, even if I did end up pushed against the back wall. Let's get say that it's a good thing it didn't happen at one of our regular troupe shows, because the back wall there is NOT solid.

I wore a cute hippy dress and some big earrings. In the parade photos it was also the best my hair has ever looked!

Always tend to love the Halloween routines. I also really like this song!

We had a creepy intro before this song came on. We had to walk on in cloaks and be cultists. Then it changed to Unholy. People in the audience seemed to really like it!

This routine was so fun and it had some great moves. I'd love to do this routine again!

Don't really rember much about this routine. I almost forgot to inculde it. The Blue Star section was just a little introduction before the Gwen Stefani song.

There's a bit in the Gwen Stefani song where she says "sweet gingerbread" and there was a really fast move we had to jump into. Even hearing that now it freaks me out a little lol.

This was another routine from my intensive group. Let me tell you that even years later, when I hear this song come on around Christmas it sends me into a mild panic.

This routine was FAST and it was non-stop. We were constantly moving and there was always something going on. I only had a limited time to get a pair of stocking off and it was stressful. My hands were shaking on stage when we finally performed it.

Since it is a pretty happy, campy song there was a lot of smiling which is so difficult for me, especially when I'm trying to concerntrate. I'm really shook that I managed to do this rountie. We only had 3 rehersals and as I said, it was FAST.

I have yet to do a routine more difficult than this one.

So this one was a bit of a weird one.

Let me start off by saying that my troupe actually has 2 groups. An open group that anyone is welcome to join, and then a more advanced group which is invite only. Now this routine was meant to be part of the intensive course, but for some reason the whole of the adanced group also ended up doing it. We were doing it for the video project/online show but the advanced group were also doing it for a show in the city.

I actually really liked this routine. I love this song and it's always on my Halloween playlist. The routine was cute and the remix made it a little less campy. I also managed to get to grips with the choreography pretty quick, so I didn't embarass myself in front of the advanced girls lol.

I can't remember the name of the damn remix, but it was good!

I think this could possibly be my least favourite routine. It wasn't the song or the choreography, it was the headspace I was in.

The routine itself was cute and had some cool moves. It was also my first time using silk fans. I enjoyed aspects of it but the class was very crowded. A few of my friends had moved over to the more advanced group and I although I wanted to I wasn't sure if I would be able to. I wasn't sure if I was good enough.

So we all that going on in my head it wasn't the best performance I've given. I definately could have rehersed more. I think I missed 2 classes which also put me on the backfoot.

With all that being said, I did actually get to move into the advanced group shortly after this!

So this was my first routine with the advanced group offically. We were also going to a troupe festival, where burlesque troupes from around the country came to perform. It was a little nerve-wracking!

Again I think I missed a couple classes, because it was so easy to fall behind. This routine was also an old one that most of the others already knew, so we only briefly touched on it before moving on to the other routine we were doing.

I really liked the routine, it was cute and sassy. It fit with burlesque so well! I just wish I'd rehersed more.

Also I had to be the first to walk on and it was so difficult hearing the host. I almost walked on at the wrong time twice, so while I do like this song I am reminded about that.

In case you couldn't tell I LOVE THIS ROUTINE! I watched the advanced girls perform this at our troupe Halloween show the previous year. I watched all wide-eyed, with my little rainbow spinny hat thing, thinking it was amazing. I was so excited to find out we were doing it again!

The concept was that our cheerleading bus crashed and we died then came back as zombies. The Acid Rain section was just after the crash. The song is really haunting and pretty. Then when we died it changed to Living Dead Girl, which is also a song I love!

The Acid Rain part of the song was very fast in some parts. It was a challenge but I felt really comfortable doing this routine. When I vibe with the theme and the song I have such a great time!

So I wasn't sure whether to count this as it wasn't actually burlesque. It was my first bellydance performance.

Bellydance is humbling af. There's so much control needed and I even backed out of the summer show performance because I didn't feel confident enough.

The concept was witches from the witch trials. Being hung and burnt at the stake. It was really haunting and such a cool routine I enjoyed it so much! Would love to do it again!

I love Rocky Horror, but omfg this routine was so crazy. It was so fast with costume changes and everything had to the second or you'd fall behind. There was running on and off stage. Running backstage and back on stage. It was wild.

It was also my first time performing with the advanced group on our home stage so it was a little daunting. I did like the routine and found it cute but I was dreading it as the show date got closer and closer.

This was my first time using feather fans properly! They were so heavy and took a while to get used to. My hands were camping during the end of the first rehersal.

There were a lot of challenging moves and the music was this ballroom kind of music. It was a little difficult to work out the ques but I had a lot of fun with this routine.

Aboslutely no clue what the song was. As I said it was very ballroom with just instrumentals and no lyrics. If I managed to find it then I'll add it!

We did this song for a routine before in the open group but it was only used for an intro. This time we did a routine for the entire song.

Didn't mind the routine. It was very slow and got to work with feather fans which I enjoy playing with. The costumes were white with sparkly jewellery which looked pretty on the camera.

So this was another routine with my intensive group but it was a little different. We were going to be filming this routine in a rain room. What is a rain room you ask? It's a room where it rains!

We went to a studio where they had a rain room and a tank for photoshoots. I had a photoshoot first thing in the morning and then had to film this routine last thing in the evening so was there pretty much all day.

Felt really unprepared for this routine. It was quite fast and we had to encorporate kicking water and splashing around. There was also a lot of floorwork which I kind of struggle with sometimes.

So when I did my photoshoot in the morning the water was warm and it was totally comfortable to shoot in. I even told the other girls that it was gonna be warm and totally fine. Well when it was our turn to film, the place had ran out of hot water for the day. We had to shoot the video in cold water and it was FREEZING.

Was stood there shivering like a soaked kitten while we talked through things and switched cameras. It was a lot of fun though. I really like that studio! The tank not so much as most of the water ended up in my nose.