What happens when a glamorous, if slightly strait-laced, burlesque show is invaded by out-there teasers from Portland, Ore., and Seattle?
Honolulu is about to find out, as Pretty Peacock Productions presents “Big Tease Burlesque,” a stylized romp bringing together dancers from the Pacific and the Northwest.
Pretty Peacock director Lola Love describes it as “loosely scripted,” — and loosely clothed – mix of burlesque and variety entertainment, with dance, striptease and even circus arts. As with all Pretty Peacock Productions, the performance will be friendly to people of any gender or persuasion.
Cross-dressing performer Rhonda Corner provides a through-line, portraying the midcentury modern leader of a rather restrained group of dancers as they encounter anarchic Northwestern bombshells.
Mayhem — dancer Meghan Mayhem, that is — ensues.
“We’re doing some things that are sillier than usual,” Love hints, without giving away the plot.
The music also provides some clues: It ranges from jazz standards to space-age tiki to rock ’n’ roll, electronica and hip-hop.
Dancers include Lola Love and Honolulu troupe The Aphrodisiacs. The show marks a return to Hawaii for Mayhem, now a resident of Portland, who along with Love is a co-founder of Honolulu burlesque troupe Cherry Blossom Cabaret.
Seattle’s Ruby Mimosa, sometimes known as “The Island Flower” because of her Hawaii roots, and Honolulu’s Vila, a “belly-dancing burlesque seductress,” will take the stage.
The Portland dancers’ descriptions give a hint of what’s in store: Angelique DeVil “puts the pop-n-lock in the bump-n-grind”; Rummy Rose is a rock ’n’ roll rebel; Tana the Tattooed Lady is a “singing, dancing, one-woman-arts-district.”
Expect performances that blur boundaries between athletic acrobatics, drag, burlesque and contortion from duo Izhonny and “glamazon” Isaiah Esquire. Johnny Nuriel combines aerial maneuvers with dance and LED lights.
Love built connections with many Portland dancers while participating in Burly-Con, an annual gathering of burlesque dancers, she said. Last year, the idea hatched to bring the mainland dancers to town.
“We’ve created a bit of magic that will be unexpected,” Love said, promising “sexy new approaches” and surprise costume reveals, elements of parody and rock ’n’ roll attitude.
For Ruby Mimosa, born Tanya Lanimaka‘ala Harris and raised on Oahu, this performance is a homecoming — and a premiere. It will be the first time she brings her burlesque act to Honolulu.
“I’ve been traveling and performing all over the world — the East Coast, Shanghai,” she said. “But I’m really excited to be coming home and performing in Hawaii.”
As Ruby Mimosa, Harris tours with The Atomic Bombshells, a troupe that has garnered international recognition as headliners on the tour circuit, and also partners up with cowboy-rock band Brent Amaker & the Rodeo, with appearances that include the South by Southwest festival, in 2011.
She’s a fourth-generation islander, brought up on hula, ballet and gymnastics. Her great-grandfather was a founder of the Kodak Hula Show, which featured colorful hapa-haole hula dancers in Kapiolani Park from the 1930s through 2002, and she says the sensibility of this kind of performance informs her work in burlesque.
The base of her burlesque comes from the classic style popularized onstage in New Orleans from the ’20s onward — polished, seductive dance and striptease, performed with “zest,” Harris said. Kitsch of the ’50s and ’60s is also an influence, providing humor.
Here in Honolulu, she promises a performance that will start out sedate, soft and dreamy, then kick in to “out of control, stripper goodness” with a soundtrack by Motley Crue.
Harris, who has performed with Love, says she reached out to the Honolulu crew.
“Let’s do it,” Love said. Now, along with the rest of the performers, Ruby Mimosa will transition from “classic to crazy” at The Republik on Friday night.