On September 25, 2010, I celebrated my first Saturday night back in Montreal by going to the Belmont club and checking out The Blood Ballet Cabaret. While I’ve seen burlesque numbers performed at Indyish messes, this was the first time I’d ever checked out a full fledged burlesque show. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew that with my Forget the Box colleague Chris Zacchia being involved it would be some naughty fun.
With a name like the Blood Ballet Cabaret, it’s not hard to deduce that the theme of this troupe is combining horror and sex. While the quality of the skits, some of the technical aspects and stand up routines may have been varied throughout the show, one must remember that it’s only the Troupe’s third show performing together. The first skit, a True Blood parody, was weak, but they more than made up for it with a hilarious Frankenstein inspired skit about a out of control drunken robot.
One of course doesn’t come to a burlesque show just to watch stand up or comedy skits. The real star of a burlesque show is the dancers, those brave girls who strip down to their undies and pasties or in one case nothing on top at all! Being a heterosexual woman I watched these numbers, mostly performed by the dancer Miss Bloody Mary-Anne, wondering where I could score the cute lingerie. My male companions for the evening meanwhile seemed more than impressed with the “assets” the girls had to offer. Hetero or not, even I can’t deny that the final number, where two dancers shaved each others legs and sprayed water on each other was hot, hot, hot.
As much as we all know men love boobs, without a doubt the highlight of the show was the performances by acrobats/contortionists Brianna Darwin and Sasha. These amazing people climbed up walls, jumped through hoops and moved their bodies in ways that this out of shape writer will most certainly never be able to in her life.
All in all, I had a great time at The Blood Ballet Cabaret. While the show may have some growing pains to work out, the Troupe has a great chemistry. So if they continue as planned with a monthly performance, the overall timing will certainly only get better.
* Featured image by Celia spenard-ko
