Exciting News!!
Posted by Jana Edele | Filed under News
The Velvet Kittens of Le Cabaret Burlesque are pleased to announce our new enterprise!
Beginning in 2004 VK producer/choreographer Jana Edele began choreographing burlesque dance numbers, presenting this particular dance style to DFW at select venues and shows. Before a burlesque revival arrived in the metroplex, seasoned choreographer Edele wanted to expand her career and explore the lost genres which dance was an integral part of mainstream entertainment. Before movie houses, before radio or television, live stage shows were society's key form of entertainment.
From hoofers to jazz dancers, musical acts, and comedians, these performers competed and showcased their talents in variety show formats under commonly known genres, such as music hall, vaudeville, burlesque, and cabaret. As each of these existed, and some co-existed, the variety of performers often included singers, dancers, comedians, and a variety of talent. Edele's beginning efforts led to her first full-length, mainstream showcase of dancers, singers, and comedians located in the heart of Fort Worth at Hyena's Comedy Club, the Red Light Burlesque Revue.
The Red Light Burlesque Revue presented an exciting opportunity to provide an on-going show featuring talented and skilled performers who had elected working in the performing arts as their chosen professions. But most alluring of this showcase was the light-hearted presentation of the artists. Years of pounding the pavement to perform on Broadway, years of auditions and theater shows, concert dancing, ballet companies, surviving the harshest of comedy stages…all these performers merged in one show performing their chosen fields and providing an evening of entertainment that was no longer a part of Texas main stage entertainment.
From this show led to the formation of Le Cabaret Burlesque, and the theatrical musical production of "Cirque de Amore" at the Hubb Theater in Dallas, and then the beginning of the Velvet Kittens of LCB. And just as the music hall, vaudeville, burlesque and cabaret genres of entertainment have all existed and evolved, so have the Velvet Kittens. What began as an endeavor of bringing the jazz styles of dance back to the main stages of DFW, a variety show of talent had emerged. From chanteuses to comedians, jugglers to belly dancers, musicians to actors, as well as hip hop, ballet, fire dancers and opera singers…the Velvet Kittens have continually offered a stage for DFW talent to showcase their abilities in a collective diverse stage show.
As we continue providing live stage shows, we have evolved beyond the burlesque genre, and into the classic Cabaret genre of entertainment. We will continue our design of dancers, singers, comedians, actors, and variety acts, and welcome the challenge of presenting DFW with a new variety showcase. We invite you to explore this new phenomenon of, as Edele likes to refer to as, "vintage nightclub entertainment."
We will continue to provide the best of area talent, and present a stage for the career performers of DFW. We invite you to journey with us into Cabaret, and look forward to continually expanding our repertoire. For those new to the burlesque revival and wanting to divulge into the burlesque scene, we suggest you visit the local burlesque website for performers and shows in the area (dallas burlesque dot com). We also wish the best to our burlesque contemporaries and their endeavors in burlesque in DFW.
We will continue to offer burlesque classes at the Verandah Club in Dallas, and workshops throughout DFW.
And as we're back in the dance studio, and adding new performers to our showcase, we are preparing to premier the Velvet Kittens' Cabaret Show!!
Stay tuned, DFW!