The New York Burlesque Festival is an annual event over several days which celebrates this art in Gotham. Not many people are aware that there is much for burlesque here, but there is! When I first heard about this event a couple of months ago, I just knew I had to go. I wanted to go to every single night, but unfortunately being a student, a lack of funds has limited my ability to do such things. But Time Out magazine must have known my predicament and I was chosen as the winner of two tickets to the Teaser Party at the Bell House in Brooklyn. They must have known I was a desperate blogger! 
The venue they held the first night of the tenth annual festival in was quite perfect for the event and had great atmosphere – I may have to frequent the Bell House more on my own, it has a great rockabilly vibe!
The warm up act was a fabulous old school Naw’leans jazz band, complete with a tap dancer. They are called The Hot Sardines, and man were they killer! Check out some of the videos I took below and judge for yourself!
Amazing, n’est pas? They really fired up the crowd and had a hot jazz sound. Check them out on Facebook!
Before the festival could begin, the Bishop of Burlesque had to bless it
The host for the evening was Albert Cadabra. Now usually I find the host to be quite corny and kind of exhausting, but this one was quite funny, energetic, and entertaining! He swallowed a three foot ballon right at the beginning of the show, like it was nothing at all.
He was giving out some free PBR to the front row of people, so we snagged some and guzzled up! The go-go dancers came out for a few minutes, then it was on to the performers!
How’s that for only being part one?! I have so many fabulous pictures from all of these wonderful performers that I couldn’t share all of them in just one post. So stay tuned for the next installment coming in the next day or so!
