Bella Blue Burlesque

This past weekend was full of firsts. It was the first New Orleans Burlesque Festival which over all, was such a great thing for this city and burlesque in general. It brought so many wonderful dancers and performers from all over the country to our city. There was a lot of buzz and controversy surrounding the festival but at the end of the day, I think we all realized that we were all here for one reason—because we eat, sleep, and breathe burlesque. The classes and workshops offered were incredible and taught by the best of the best in the business. And I didn’t get to attend any of the performance because of other gigs I had going on but I heard rave reviews about them all. A special shout out to La Perle Noire for winning the Queen of Burlesque Crown.

On Friday night, we attended the kickoff party at the Westin which was sponsored by New Orleans Rum. Sooooo much fun! Got to hang out with all of my friends and extended burlesque family as well see my buddy Lola Van Ella and members of her troupe perform. It had been a long day as it was so we went and had dinner at Attiki and called it a night.

The next day I took a tassel twirling class from Jo Boobs—SO much fun. She was so down to earth and encouraging. It was really refreshing and made for a really great experience. Afterwards, we went on a full on shopping spree to make a new costume for the Canderella Ball and and appearance at Jasmine later on that night. Everything went really smoothly and it was a long night.

Sunday is where it all fell apart. The Fleur de Tease season premiere show was set to take place Sunday night at One Eyed Jack’s. I had been looking forward to this show for months. I was debuting a new number and there were going to be so many people at the show. I had friends and family coming…it was going to be HUGE. A few hours before the show we got some food. About 2 hours after we ate, the food poisoning kicked in and not only was I not able to perform, but I spent the majority of my night on my bathroom floor. Needless to say I was one with my toilet for quite a while. Luckily, I have an amazing boyfriend who took care of me every step of the way and never got grossed out once (I think). Since the food poisoning has subsided, a flu of some sort has kicked in. My immune system is really taking a beating right now and I’m really hoping that after this is all over, I won’t be getting sick for a long time. I’m really looking forward to getting back to work. It’s not like me to be down for this many days in a row and trust me, it’s killing me. I’m definitely having glitter withdrawals;) Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes and messages of concern. I heard that the crowd was cheering my name at the show on Sunday even though I wasn’t there…I can’t tell you how much that warmed my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you:)

I’m going to go lie back down now, I just wanted to get a recap of the weekend out while I had the energy. I will most definitely see you at the Fleur de Tease October show and everywhere in between:)

Love and rhinestones,
Bella