Burlesque is one of those art forms that has high standards that many fail to meet. Really good burlesque is not as common as you’d think; there’s lot of cheap imitations out there, and dancers who lack the impossible to pin down ‘it factor’. They shimmy but they don’t sparkle, and you’re just not convinced down deep in your stomach – like you should be.
Good burlesque, however, creeps over you, straddles you and lights your cigarette. Before you know it, you’re paying for the cab and you don’t know why. Good burlesque is glitter and smoke and heavy hips with a twist of heel that you just can’t look away from.
Noir Revue showcased that kind of burlesque. Dramatic without spilling into drama, with artists who knew how to make their skin work to tease, and acrobatics and vocals that were understated bliss – Noir hit all the right notes, and hit them hard.
The showcase was directed and designed by the striking and ridiculously talented Sarina del Fuego who opened the show with her slow, grinding and weaving smoking dance. Lithe and bold she moved through the audience, peeling her beaded outfit away like snakeskin, dipping and perching on knees. Her heady puffing had a sleepy quality that lulled us into submission and readiness for what she’d curated for us.
Each act was as strong as the last. They were broken up by the divine and immaculately dressed Chantal’s slightly gritty renditions of cabaret standards and soulful classics such as “Blue Moon” and “Crazy”, accompanied on the house piano.
Each piece had a strong narrative, all tinged with flirtation or tragedy. There was the woman who receives a letter of rejection from a lover who toys with different methods of dispatching him until settling upon poison. There was the woman who attempts to pack and leave her absent sweetheart, but ultimately stays, but not before thrashing ever-so elegantly in distress about the theatre.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a revue without a fan dance. The decadently draped and sequined blonde minx who cheekily swayed and peeked at us from behind her gorgeous peacock fans didn’t disappoint. Tiny and perky in pin curls and low heels, her steps were sure, her movements fluid and delicious. She managed to flirt with the audience with every turn of her wrist as she drew shapes with feathery magic.
The acrobatics were stunning and erred on the side of languid and controlled. We were treated to a hoop routine from the pint-sized Kelly Ann Doll that literally made my companion gasp and a dusky, moody, autumnal-themed trapeze bar piece in the later set from a dark haired elfin performer (whose name unfortunately escapes me). The two came together later to perform a masculine, emotionally charged chair-dance in simple black and white that set the crowd to a roaring applause.
Noir Revue was a polished and thoroughly enjoyable old-world buffet of talent and sizzle that had me all aflutter. I left the theatre most assuredly wooed. I could have easily taken seconds, and gobbled them down.
