Burlesco Notturno
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Open Space for Arts & Community quietly introduces a dazzling new event, Burlesco Notturno: a sexy, saucy soiree on Vashon.
In the nouveau burlesque tradition that waves back to Gyspy Rose Lee, Burlesco Notturno brings some of the Northwest’s most extraordinary burlesque artists together for an evening of exotic entertainment on Vashon. The nouveau burlesque tradition is firmly rooted in Seattle, and is celebrated in venues such as The Triple Door, The Pampas Room, The Pink Door, Teatro ZinZanni's "Mezzo Lunatico" and many others.
Hosted by the infamous Mme X and Teatro Zinzanni star (and Vashon favorite) Kevin Kent, Burlesco Notturno also features Broadway veteran Rebecca Spencer singing to the musical orchestrations conceived by pianist Philip Fortenberry, aerialist Esther Edelman performing with live accompaniment by renowned cellist Jami Sieber, the music of Seattle band the Zebra Kings, and international burlesque stars Inga Ingenue and Miss Indigo Blue.
Burlesco Notturno: Featured Artists -
Janet McAlpin (Mme X, Founder of Open Space, Visionary of Burlesco Notturno):
Janet trained for two years at the School of Jacques LeCoq (Paris, France), co-founded UMO Ensemble and has been teaching, directing and performing physical theater for over 23 years. Janet has taught clown theater at Freehold Studio and Naropa Institute (Boulder, Co). She has directed UMO and Circus Contraption and other small groups. She has performed various characters on different apparatus (Hoops, trapeze, globes and stilts) at Teatro Zinzani, Cirque du Flambe, the Moisture Festival and with UMO Ensemble. Her most recent creative endeavors have ranged from writing and performing Zen Tales with UMO, creating a duet clown trapeze act with David Godsey and an apple and starting up Open Space for Arts and Community on Vashon Island.
Kevin Kent (Performer and Co-host):
Kevin returns to Vashon for this inaugural Burlesco. After having lived on the island for a number of years, he now resides in Northern New Mexico. Kevin has performed in and around Seattle since the swingin' 1980's. He arrived in Seattle with an improvisational company called Kings' Elephant, performed under the direction of Dan Savage for his company Greek Active, and on the radio as his sidekick for Savage Love Live. He has worked with a host of amazing people as a developer/director and performer of New Works, including Kevin Joyce, Troy Mink, Sarah Rudinoff, Jennifer Jasper, and Dina Martina (Not her real name) just to mention a few. Kevin opened the first Teatro Zinzanni show in Seattle and the first in San Francisco and currently works in both cities for a time during the course of the year. He was nominated for the Bay Area's Critic's Circle 2011 Award for best principal performance, along with Bill Irwin and Mandy Patinkin. (Mr. Irwin won.) He will be in the next holiday show at Teatro Zinzanni/Seattle with Lilianne Montevecci directed by Tommy Tune. Kevin will be in residence at Open Space for a short time building a new show and is very happy to be spending time here on the Island.
Rebecca Spencer (vocalist):
Rebecca Spencer recently co-starred in PHANTOM - THE LAS VEGAS SPECTACULAR, where she created the role of Madame Giry in the new production under the direction of Harold Prince. The role returned Rebecca to the haunts of the Paris Opera House fifteen years after her debut as Carlotta in Sir Andrew and Mr. Prince’s Hamburg, Germany production, a role she performed in German for six months. She is an original Broadway cast member of Jekyll and Hyde, and has starred in productions at the St. Louis and Trinity Repertory Companies, Cincinnati Playhouse, Theatre Under the Stars, Paper Mill Playhouse, and the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. In New York she has been featured at Lyrics and Lyricists and as well as the Ira Gershwin Centennial at Carnegie Hall, recorded for PBS, and marked her fifth ENCORES! concert at the City Center in March of 2004. She was featured at the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s 2004 and 2005 NYC Cabaret Conventions, and starred in Timeless Divas! Stars of the Silver Screen at the Triad Theatre. Rebecca was awarded the 2004 Back Stage Bistro Award for Oustanding Achievement in a Recording for her debut solo CD, Wide Awake and Dreaming.
Esther Edelman (Aerialist):
Esther has over 20 years of choreography, directing and performance experience that spans international stages and events. She is a co-founder of the groundbreaking UMO Ensemble as well as Aviatrix: a four women aerial troupe. Esther's passion is the aerial arts, specifically the Silks, also known as Tissu or Fabric. She strives for a fluid mix of circus, dance, and character in her aerial performance to produce truly innovative work. Some highlights include: a black-light aerial interpretation of White Rabbit; In My Dreams - duet with world musician Jami Seiber; Aviatrix - a 4 Women Triple Trap Ensemble featured at Moisture Festival; the Ringulon alien acrobats atop the Space Needle; Silkfire - a solo act in the Hotbox at the Museum of Glass; Rapunzel-A Radical Aerial Telling ; Zoobilee - dangling from a crane at the Point Defiance Zoo. Esther lives on Vashon Island where she teaches aerial classes, has a Pilates practice, and plays with her Family and dog Milo.
Jami Sieber (cellist):
Electric cellist and vocalist Jami Sieber reaches inside the soul with compositions that are
contemporary, timeless, lush, and powerfully evocative. An innovative musician, Jami’s music moves beyond the
surface, seeking and re-seeking her truth by creating musical bridges and connections, committed to doing what
moves her and inspiring listeners with her honesty, musical prowess, and humanity. In the 28 years since she
began performing professionally, Jami has always done something unique – employing electronics and looping
techniques to create sounds never before associated with the cello. Her music transforms from the deepest
stillness to moving melodies and rhythms that light the soul on fire. Jami’s musical path moved from classical to
folk, to rock/pop where within her popular band “Rumors of the Big Wave”, she garnered the coveted
Northwest Area Music Association (NAMA) Award for Best Rock Instrumentalist. Since launching her solo career
Sieber has entered into dynamic collaborations with an extraordinary spectrum of dancers, actors, poets, visual
artists, improvisers, vocalists, and instrumentalists that span the globe. Her compositions have been used for
film, (Queen of the Sun, Climb Against the Odds, Jews and Buddism, Hope is the Thing with Feathers) theatre,
(Orpheus, TS Crossing) and the popular video game – Braid. This sometimes ethereal, sometimes hard-edged,
musician has earned rave reviews throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, having been an invited guest
artist in China, Russia, the Balkans, Italy, France, and Thailand.
Inga Ingenue (Burlesque Dancer):
Inga Ingénue, "The Little Blonde Bomb", was the recent 1st place winner of the Miss Viva Las Vegas burlesque competition. Since joining the Seattle burlesque community in 2005, Inga has performed in shows all over the world including the Burlesque Hall of Fame Competition in Las Vegas, the Amsterdam Burlesque Festival, and Lily Verlaine & Jasper McCann’s “Land of The Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker” and "Through The Looking Glass: The Burlesque Alice In Wonderland". Inga is a member of The Atomic Bombshells Burlesque, as well as DANCE BELT--Seattle's burlesque/dance super-group--along with Waxie Moon, Lou Henry Hoover and Ruby Mimosa, with whom she also co-teaches pop-culture choreography classes at Century Ballroom in Seattle. In addition, Inga Ingénue is an instructor for Miss Indigo Blue's Academy of Burlesque, and was featured in the burlesque documentaries "A Wink And A Smile" and "Waxie Moon", as well as in the upcoming film "Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel".
Miss Indigo Blue (Burlesque Dancer):
Sexy, funny, irreverent and ingeniously clever, Miss Indigo Blue flirts with the edgy, exotic and erotic fringes of burlesque. Evoking the elegant tease of legend Gypsy Rose Lee, and inspired by the brilliant comic wit of Whitney Biennial recipient Julie Atlas Muz, Miss Indigo is more than just a great practitioner of the ol' bump and grind; she enlivens her performances with a heady blend of brainy and bawdy that makes audience's mouths water, as their minds whirl.