London Cabaret Award nomination!

"The London Cabaret Awards are a celebration of the growing cabaret scene in the capital and an opportunity to formalise and publicise its existence to a wider audience, whilst rewarding the most dedicated, talented and inspiring members of its community."  


I am very privileged to be nominated for the award of Best Burlesque Performer.  With so many artists out there, it is very nice to be recognised for the work that I do and that I am passionate about.  To be nominated amongst performers that include the likes of Polly Rae, Kiki Kaboom, Laurie Hagen and Kitty Bang Bang, Amber Topaz and Audacity Chutzpah - all have achieved so much,  I feel that the London burlesque and cabaret scene certainly has a lot to offer!  

"Huntress Love Call".  Image copyright:  Neil Kendall

The awards ceremony takes place on 16th February 2012 on the Battersea Barge. 


For more info on the London Cabaret Awards, see here:  http://www.londoncabaretawards.co.uk/burlesque.htm 

"The Perfidious Naked Fez".  Image copyright:  Neil Kendall

Two teaser videos "The Perfidious Naked Fez"

Both filmed and edited by Mr Pustra (Daemiane), also known as "vaudeville's darkest muse" To see more of his wonderful work, go to:   www.mrpustra.com  .  Email:  info@mrpustra.com

And here is something for you to see some of his other work:

Sweet Dreams Girls - A Night Like This

Seduction and debauchery: the beautiful, the bizarre and the downright sexy!

"The Perfidious Naked Fez" @ The 100 Club for Mod Punk Blues presents the Bermondsey Joyriders 8th May 2011
Image:  Nick Henderson

*  Thursday 2nd June:  Bete Noir @ Madam Jojo's, Soho.

*  Friday 3rd June:  The Opium Den @ the Resistance Galleries, Bethnal Green with Suri Sumatra and Lydia Darling

*  Saturday 4th June:  The Sexy Circus Sideshow @ The Relentless Garage with Miss Behave (La Clique), Mister Pustra, Vivid Angel, Lydia Darling and more!  http://londonburlesquefest.com/

*  Sunday 5th June:  Opening night of Sweet Dreams Girls @ Secrets, Euston, London.

Burlesque, pole dancing and table dancing.  WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH YOURSELVES!!?  Special burlesque performances also from Siren Stiletto and Beatrix von Bourbon, hosted by the ever sultry Ivy Paige.  

Click here for Sweet Dreams Girls promo video 

http://www.sweetdreamsgirls.com/ 

*  Friday 17th June:  The Kabinet of Curiosities, produced by Neil Kendall @ the Guildhall, Chester.  Also starring Amber Ray all the way from the USA, Kitty Bang Bang straight after her run at the west-end Hurly Burly show.

http://www.amberray.net/

http://www.kittybangbang.com/   ....if you're wondering:  IT'S GOING TO BE WILD!!!

*  Wednesday 29th June:  Burlexe, produced by Howard Wilmot and Jayne Hardy at the Shodow Lounge, Soho.
This is a show that string the stories of the women who have pioneered the burlesque world over the last thirty years.  Starring Goodtime Mama Jojo (aka Jo King, founder of the London School of Striptease and the London Academy of Burlesque:  http://www.londonschoolofstriptease.co.uk/)  Kiki Kaboom (just returned from Canada after filming a feature film:  http://kikikaboom.co.uk/) with guest burlesque performances each week in the weeks leading up to the 29th June when I will be performing!
For limited discounted tickets, contact me directly:  leadmeto@exoticlunarosa.com or here:  www.wegottickets.com/burlexe
http://burlexe.posterous.com/

"Amor Voodoo" @ Taboo, Sala Apolo, Barcelona.
Image:  Xavi Calzada

Many more dates for June...coming your way soon....I'll be back....

Mwah!!

A quick look back on April, and a few dates for your May diary!

April was an extremely busy month of performing and working on new material.  I performed my latest act:  "Havana, After the Casino:  An Encounter With a Creature of the Night" (yes I know, my titles are getting longer and longer, but all my acts tell a story, I may as well set the scene...) at the Opening Gala of the London Burlesque Week.  So many great reviews, I was even labelled as a "legend in red" according to the Erotic Review Magazine.  Oh, how do I maintain my humble modesty with such flattery as that!  http://www.eroticreviewmagazine.com/content/london-burlesque-week-2011-opening-night

Luna Rosa on the HMS President for the Opening Gala for London Burlesque Week 2011
Image:  Sin Bozcurt

The International Gala at the Coronet was also one of the shows I had highlighted in my diary.  It's always great to work with so many performers from all over the world.  But before you think it's over, I'll be performing at Chaz Royal's SEXY CIRCUS SIDESHOW at the Relentless Garage, London, along with other exquisite performers such as Mister Pustra, the Vivid Angel, Miss Behave (of La Clique), Lydia Darling and many more.....see here for details:  http://londonburlesquefest.com/lbw-schedule

Here are just a few of the exciting dates that I'll be performing at this month:

• Thursday 12th May:  Taboo Burlesque at the Sala Apolo, Barcelona with LOULOU D'VIL and LOLA LABELLE

• Friday 13th May:  IVY PAIGE presents "Femme Fatales" at Volupte, London

• Thursday 19th May:  The Greene Room Opening Night, Milton Keynes with CARRIE-ANN O'DELL, AMBER TOPAZ and more!  

http://www.homagetodita.com/
http://www.ambertopaz.co.uk/

• Saturday 21st May:  The Bizarre Ball, at the Scala, London with FLAY & DeVILLE'S CIRCUS OF MARVELS

http://www.bizarremag.com/bizarre-events/bizarre-ball/

http://www.flay-deville.com/index.htm

• Tuesday 24th May - Saturday 28th May:  LADY BEAU PEEP's "The League of the Extraordinary" at the Brick House, London.  Featuring performances from the Vivid Angel, Hooray Henry Higgins,  Audacity Chutzpah and more!  

http://www.thebrickhouse.co.uk/london/events/ladybeaupeep.asp

And those of you who missed it, last Sunday at the 100 Club saw poet and activist JOHN SINCLAIR perform some poetry during the set of the Bermondsey Joyriders for Mod Punk Blues gig.  I always enjoy performing at these gigs, so if punk is your thing, keep your eyes peeled for the next one!  

Behind the scenes at the 100 Club, London
Image:  Carl Batson

What happened in Venice: Dragons, TV documentaries and beautiful people!

"Dragon of the Nubian Valley"

"Dragon of the Nubian Valley"

Oooh, it's been a while and I have been so keen to share some news and updates with you.  Since returning from my residency in Venice, I have been busy developing new collaborative work (more info to come soon), I have been booked to be part of a run of shows (also more info to come VERY soon!) and currently working on a new burlesque routine....EXOTICA of course!  But wait for it.....I'll tell ya later :)

So Venice, three weeks, performing night after night, three, maybe four times a night.  It was busy!  But I worked with some great people:  International burlesque star from Finland, LouLou D'Vil :  http://www.louloudvil.com/ and the Ambassador of burlesque in Italy and writer, Attilio Reinhardt :  http://www.burlesque.it/?page_id=20  

Luna Rosa, Attilio Reinhardt, LouLou D'Vil

Our audiences included the likes of the Italian MotoGP team, Venice Marketing (the organizers of the Venice Carnival) Playboy and many other Italian VIPs (Ooooh! Swanky!) as well as tourists from abroad who wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of the annual carnival.  At 250 Euros a ticket that included dinner and show, LouLou, Attilio and I were expected to deliver something special. Of course we did!  Here is some footage, courtesy of Les Vedettes International Burlesque Agency, where you will see snippets of my acts: "Dragon of the Nubian Valley", "Huntress Love Call" and "Amor Voodoo"  :

http://www.lesvedettes.it/video-casino-venezia-2011.htm

LouLou and I were also interviewed for an Italian documentary which was aired a few weeks ago on LA7.  "Venezia, Le Donne di Carnevale" (Venice, The Women of the Carnival") .  Very interesting documentary, luckily I understand enough Italian to follow it (my degree in languages finally comes in handy).  Skip to minute 37 to go straight to the burlesque section, otherwise I'd recommend you watch the whole thing:

http://www.la7.tv/richplayer/index.html?assetid=50205572

Television interview for TV documentary "Venezia, Le Donne di Carnevale" on LA7.

And that new routine I mentioned earlier:  "Havana, After the Casino...And Encounter With a Creature of the Night".  "What creature?!"  I hear you demand!  "Use your imagination, friends".  I calmly respond as I sip on my drink.  I'm certainly not going to be your favorite teddy bear, that's for sure.  You'll see soon, thanks to the creative hands of costume desiner and maker, Lenka Padysakova, (who also made my costumes for "Dragon of the Nubian Valley" and "Huntress Love Call"):  http://www.lenkapadysakova.com/ 

That's all for now, folks, be back with you very very soon!

Mwah!

Performing in Spain: Taboo Barcelona!

I LOVE Barcelona, I love Spain, Spanish food and the weather 'aint too bad either.  So I'm looking forward to this show:  TABOO BURLESQUE

All details are here:

Performing in Venice: 12 dates and the Venice Carnival

For the last few weeks I have been working to a specific deadline, one that I am very excited about, not only because I will be performing, but also because I know this is somewhere that I will be inspired by:  the VENICE CARNIVAL.   


I will be performing in the oldest Casino of that magical city, CA' VENDRAMIN, one of Venice's most enchanting palazzi, situated in the Lagoon, on the Grand Canal.  


It will be here that I will perform for the first time my latest act:  "Dragon of the Nubian Valley". 

Those dates?  Here they are:

19th, 25th, 26th, 27th February

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th March.

Where?

Ca' Vendramin, Casino di Venezia :  http://www.casinovenezia.it/en/casino_storia.jsp 

And this is it:   

For more information on burlesque events in Italy, please visit Les Vedettes International Entertainment and Booking Agency:   http://www.lesvedettes.it/ 

Provocative Art: Mark Roberts and the stages of the painting... (part 2)

Here we have the final stages of the painting.   And the painting? Wow!  I love it!

Picture Stage 7.

The tattoo's are painstakingly applied. For me this would make or break the painting. This took a full day to paint in, working from 9.00am until 7.00 pm. Each colour has to be applied 2 or 3 times.

Picture Stage 8.

The final details are added in such as the Shoes and the bikini. Even the jewels to the bikini were added in.

Picture Stage 9.

The black background completes the painting. Once dry 2 coats of varnish are added to protect the image and provide some gloss to the work.

Once I have completed each piece, It is sent to a photographic studio to be scanned with high resolution.

The images can then be used to produce high quality giclee prints either on fine art paper or canvas. Each print is limited to just 50 pieces to retain exclusivity.

"Table Dance for Lucifer" by Mark Roberts - www.provocative-art.com

Provocative Art: Mark Roberts and the stages of the painting...

Mark Roberts is a Birmingham born artist educated at the renowned Moseley School of Art. Following a career as an interior designer in retail, commercial and domestic arenas, Mark became a professional artist in 2007. Specialising in erotic art he became a member of The Guild of Erotic Artists.

Mark has exhibited at the Royal Society of Artists in Birmingham, Beaumont Hall Studios in St Albans, Whiteley's Gallery in London, Midland Gallery in Bedford and Vanilla Pod gallery in Ampthill to name but a few.

Following a successful exhibition at The Erotica Show in Olympia last November, Mark received several requests for paintings of Burlesque Models, a previously untapped market. After advertising for models on the 'Ministry of Burlesque' website, Mark was inundated with approaches from willing models  who loved the idea of being immortalised in a painting.

Here is the process of this project:

Have gone through a careful selection process I chose 6 different models to work with for the project. The idea being to create 6 to 8 very different paintings that captured the very essence of Burlesque, quite a task as this meant something very different to each individual.

One of the models selected was Luna Rosa, a stunning and dramatic burlesque performer from London. Mark arranged a photo shoot with Luna Rosa to attempt to capture the essence of her act.

'Luna Rosa was a brilliant subject, everything that I was looking for. Attractive, artistic, dramatic and passionate about her art. I knew that we could capture something worth painting. The pose is so important and Luna Rosa knew how to capture a movement.It was more than just a pose, I had to understand the act, the passion, the story. I needed to capture all of this in one brief moment. Luna Rosa instinctively knew how to produce this.'

'The painting still had to be representative of my style. Simple contemporary shapes and colours. How was I going to achieve this with complex costumes. It still had to be erotic, sexy and provocative. Furthermore Luna Rosa like so many contemporary Burlesque performers had tattoos that she also wanted to be represented in the final painting. This was something that had not been attempted before and something that I was not convinced would work in my style of work'.

This is the journey:-

(Picture Stage 1)

Following an extensive photo shoot Luna Rosa and I sat down to review the pictures we had created. I was delighted to find that we had captured several moments with different costumes that could be potentially make a great painting. The hard task was choosing just one. after some deliberation we made our choice.

The painting was going to be produced on a 36" x 24" canvas using Acrylic paints. Stage one is to print off the image as an A4 photograph. I then scratch a 24 x 36  grid onto an A4 acetate sheet and then fix this to the front of the photo.

Using a terracotta watercolour pencil, I then draw a 1" square grid onto the canvas. This then allows me to draw the image onto the canvas to the correct scale. Once I think I have the scale and proportion about right in outline, I re-draw over the image using 2H graphite pencil. This whole process can take several hours to get right. If the initial drawing is not right, the painting will not be right.

Picture Stage 2

The third day of the process is to start painting. I use a selection of Daler Rowney Acrylic paints. One should always try to buy the best materials you can afford. Often buying cheaper materials is a false economy. I also use Windsor and Newton artist brushes of various sizes. I choose Acrylic over oils simply because they are cleaner. It is much easier to wash brushes in water than turpentine. The down side is that they dry very quickly and need a number of coats to achieve an opaque colour.

I approach each painting differently, depending on the subject. Luna Rosa and I had decided that we wanted a black background to give dramatic effect to the pose and image. On this occasion however I had decided to leave the background until last. I went instead for the mid-tones of the body. From here I could work out the light and shade to form shapes and colour.

Picture Stage 3

Day 4. I wanted to work on the face and the head dress. It's important to get this element right. I never like to show my work unfinished. some people do not have the vision to see the end result. A face can look strange without hair for example as this is not usually how one sees themselves.

Picture Stage 4

By the end of day 5, I wanted to add in the hair, work on the face and add some further tones to the body. With Acrylic each colour has to be applied 2 or 3 times to build up the opaqueness. This is very time consuming.

Picture Stage 5

As we entered day 6, I needed to strengthen the outline and add more tone to the body. I still had the tattoo's and detail to do. Time would tell whether or not this would work with my style of painting and yet stay true to the model.

Further updates to follow...

To view Mark's website, click here:  www.provocative-art.com/  

London and Milan (again)!

 Here's a little info for what's happening this week:


Friday night, 21st January 2011, two intimate shows at the Volupte Lounge, where I will be performing alongside Gracie.  She is one half of the dynamic duo producing (the second half being the FABULOUS Kiki Kaboom who is currently cover girl of Time Out magazine)  "Gentlemen Prefer Showgirls", with a voice I highly recommend you listen to.
http://www.graciesings.com/gigs.html 


And Saturday 22nd January, back in Milan again!  I will be performing three routines alongside Kitty Bang Bang (oh, she can move!)  DO check her out:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47521031961#!/group.php?gid=47521031961&v=wall 
This show is at the Milwaukee Bar, in Milan.  Last weekend in Milan was fabulous, and I can't wait to be back!

Alla prossima, darlings!  

Mwah!

Luna x

Erotic art, rhythm n blues and Milan

Such a busy start to 2011!

This week, I have worked with a fabulous artist, Mark Roberts of Provocative Art.  Being a fan of erotic art, I was privileged to work with Mark, he certainly captures the feminine form in an exquisitely beautiful way.  I spent the day posing for him, and I am looking forward to seeing the results in his collection of artwork.  
Visit his website http://www.provocative-art.com/  and take a look at some of his work.  


I also worked with rhythm n blues and rock n roll legend, Big Boy Bloater on a music video for a track to be released on his next album very very soon.  Keep your eyes peeled for the video, and do visit his website for up and coming dates where he will be singing with his band:   http://www.bigboybloater.com/ 


And tomorrow (that's Saturday 15th January!)  Italia!  

Tomorrow night, I will be performing at the Apollo Dancing Club, Milan.  I have managed to squeeze my costumes into my suitcase, and the routines I will be performing are :  "The Huntress Love Call", "Cleopatra's Rumba" and "Table Dance for Lucifer".  Three very different routines, all talking the same language....I'll leave that language to your imagination...


Mwah!

Luna x

January 2011

Just a-testing the blog...