Members

This page provides Bios and Photos for some of the members of The Columbus Burlesque Collective.
Please email us for more information and hi-res photo images at columbusburlesque@gmail.com. Thank you.
Athena Nile



 Athena has been joking that she was born covered in glitter! She has been dancing her entire life, and has been so happy to be a part of the Columbus Burlesque collective. She has traveled and taught internationally and won national awards for her precise and emotive style. 

 Please look for more information about upcoming shows and classes at www.athenanile.com 
FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1269603307&fref=ts













Betty Saponi
Beginning in musical theater as a young teen, Betty Saponi was infatuated with burlesque legend, Gypsy Rose Lee. In 2000, she was approached by Miss Judy Brown to join the first neo-burlesque troupe, Miss Kitty's Hot Box and performed as Miss Ginger. After a few years, Krista Kitty, Betty and others formed The Ooh-La-Las. 

Betty has her degree in Music Performance in Voice from Capital University, and an MFA in Art History from Ohio University. She sang mezzosoprano with Opera Columbus from the fall of 2008 until the company folded in the spring of 2011.

 Recently, Betty decided to come back to burlesque, and returned with a new performer name. 

You can also find Betty's pin-up photos on 
http://bettysaponipinupburlesque.tumblr.com/  
and 
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/bettysaponipinup







     

Colleen Nerney
Colleen Nerney is a recent theatre graduate from Upstate New York. She's just moved to Columbus and is totally thrilled to be working with the lovely ladies of the Columbus Burlesque Collective! When she's not running lights or sound, Colleen stage manages, makes lists, and yells a lot. She is also already excited for Halloween, regardless of the time of year. 
FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1232092040&fref=ts















Eileen Galvin

Elegant. Beguiling. Multifarious.

Eileen Galvin is the Co-founder of Crimson Lace Cabaret, a Queer and Ally burlesque company based in Columbus, OH, alongside highly esteemed performer and choreographer Pandora Foxx and owner of Camelot Wine Cellars Janine Aquino. The group seeks to paint sex and sexualities using bodies in motion, with a heavy dose of glitter and old school charm.

Active in burlesque for over 3 years, Eileen prefaced her career with an interest in character acting, voice, and dress-up as a child. She studied Northern Shaolin Tiger Kung Fu under Columbus Grandmaster Matt Mollica for 8 years, ultimately earning her first degree black sash, which instilled in her a respect and passion for intentional and artistic movement.
Eileen first began shimmying with Viva! and the Velvet Hearts in May 2011, and served as a member of Principal Dance Corps from 2012 to 2014. To date she has given over 300 performances, ranging from gay dives to strip clubs, theaters, bars, and festivals, such as Queerpocalypse (Chicago, IL), Fierce! – The First International Queer Burlesque Festival (Columbus, OH), and The Windy City Burlesque Festival (Chicago, IL).

She is currently a student of yoga, ballet, modern dance, and burlesque.
In her spare time she enjoys reading, origami, and decorating.
Erik Tait
Erik Tait hails from Wausau, WI which he doesn’t remember because he left it when he was very young. During his time as a lad he learned to juggle, and what followed was an voracious appetite to master a plethora of circus arts, variety acts, and the finer points of comedy.

A top graduate of the Comedy Writing and Performance program from Humber College in Toronto; Erik is currently the only magician in the world with a college degree in hilarious. This being the case he can academically prove why he’s funny. Having appeared on stages such as Second City Toronto, The Short North Stage, The Magic Castle, and many other prestigious venues Erik is in constant demand. Currently He is based in Columbus, OH where he is learning to accept the kindness of others. When not performing in various comedy clubs, corporate venues, or hosting burlesque he mounts a black stallion and rides into the night where he hunts the undead. 

FB page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=593265045&fref=ts






Graeme E. Smith
Graeme has run sound, video and lights for us at a few different shows and he is always a great team player and on the ball.  We love having his expertise on hand!
FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=202907116&fref=ts





Hillary Twaddle
Hillary is our newest member and she is anxious to learn the ins and outs of the burlesque world.  We couldn't be more happy to have her with us!

FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/fado.twaddle?fref=ts














Jeffrey Lowe
Jeff has been our stage hand on many occasions and is a good go to guy for general help.  

 FB page: 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000929634305&fref=ts















Krista Kitty

Krista is the epitome of community. She started volunteering for Anti-Racist Action and Community Festival (www.comfest.com) in the early 1990s. Now one of the event coordinators for this largest all volunteer run festival, she wears the Heart of Ohio on her cleavage. In 1998 she joined the first burlesque troupe of Ohio, Miss Kitty's Hot Box, then started her own troupe in 2004, The Ooh La-La's. Krista also took over the jazz and poetry collaboration, Circus of Cool in 1999 and continues to organize performances quarterly. 

 Today, you can find her tending bar at Dick's Den, Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza and performing when she has the time. 

 She is a founding member of the collective. 

FB page: https://www.facebook.com/kristakittyrules








Laelia Delaney
Laelia is one of our newbies that is hoping to learn the art of burlesque.

 FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1428241341&fref=ts











Lili Parallax
Having always been one with her head in the clouds, it makes sense that Lili would eventually take flight.
Lili has always been a creative individual, dabbling in various forms of artistic expression.

Her constant desire to experiment and try new things may have been interpreted as lack of focus for her parents, but she believes it has contributed to a rich life experience and her current eclectic style. She has been seen on stage at a number of locations, including The Bluestone, The Garden Theater, Wall Street Night Club, and 400 West Rich, as well as dangling from various light posts and scaffolding around the city.


FB page: https://www.facebook.com/lili.parallax









Madame O'Feelya Redd

Madam Ofeelya Redd is a veteran of theatre and recently added burlesque to her talents. She began performing in the fifth grade and continued to earn a BFA in Theatre from Otterbein College. In the 90s after college, she graced the stage of Reality Theatre, Actor's Summer Theater and CATCO. She stumbled upon burlesque in 2007 and has been loving it ever since. 

 Redd has been both a Velvet Heart and Sex Kitten, but far prefers the freedom and versatility of being an independent performer. Over the past year she has brought her sing and fling to the stage at several local establishments. 

 In addition to her stage talents, she is an expert seamstress and makes many of her costumes and costume pieces. 



FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/madamofeelya.redd?fref=ts&ref=br_tf




MissKat Colorful
























MONDO
Your Life Host!

Matthew "Mondo" Marroquinn and Casey 'Oddfellow' Ward joined forces with Defiance, Ohio rock and roll legends and troubadours Curtis 'Loot' Sauber and Angelina Goodman to create ECC/SignalFlex Productions. Started in the Spring of 2001, their tumultuous career eventually settled into Columbus Ohio where they birthed the most artistic and juicy fruits to date. Bands such as ElectroCult Circus, Infinite Crown, Blue Eyed Gunslingers, Thick as Thieves, and Besieus were just the beginning of their rock and roll endeavors. They are also involved with The Skitzo Show, Monster, the Couchfire Collective and more. 

www.eccpresents.com


FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1106671340&fref=ts






Pandora Foxx
Crimson Lace Cabaret Player: Pandora Foxx
"And now introducing, Ms. Pandora Foxx!" This black bombshell is the Co-founder and Choreography Director of the eclectically talented performance troupe Crimson Lace Cabaret, a queer-identified burlesque company based in Columbus, Ohio with a mission of embracing that art of individuality, sexuality and beauty through tease, tapestry and temptation. This company was established and founded alongside local burlesque elite performer Eileen Galvin and proprietor/business owner of Camelot Wine Cellars Janine Aquino. 

Pandora Foxx has been gracing the stage as a classically trained dancer for 27 years, studying the styles of ballet, jazz, modern, interpretative, lyrical and contemporary. She first began her dance experience at the tender age of 6, training as a gymnast where she competed for 13 years with the highlight of her career being her participation in the Junior Olympics in Concord, California in 1995. Pandora gracefully transitioned from gymnastics to dance to burlesque. She was the Director of Choreography at Viva! and the Velvet Hearts for 5 years. Her dance compositions have been featured at Burlesque Festivals such as Queerpocalypse, FIERCE!-the first international queer burlesque festival, and The Windy City Burlesque Festival (Chicago). 

 Follow Crimson Lace Cabaret on Facebook at Crimson Lace Cabaret
Contact Crimson Lace Cabaret at Crimsonlacecabaret@gmail.com  
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1705737823&fref=ts




Paul Bearer
Paul has been around Columbus and Pittsburgh music and performance art scenes for many, many years and his skills are many. Paul has been a stellar MC for the Collective on a few occasions, offering up his own brand of comedy in the mix.  There is no one like Paul and we are lucky to have him in the fold.

FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000107675159&fref=ts







Roman and Jennifer
Roman and Jennifer are thrilled, to be part of the Columbus Burlesque Collective.
They are former professional Ballroom Dance instructors and Competitors, they were regional professional finalists in Theater Arts (OH and TX 2012, 2013), Open Smooth (2013) Closed Smooth (2012) Open Rhythm (2012), International Standard (2013), and Mixed Novice (2012), as well as numerous awards won with their students in pro/am competition.
They have spent the past several years combining dance styles such as ballroom, with contemporary ballet, dark jazz, tribal, and Japanese Butoh, to create their own unique dance style, danced by no one else. Entirely improvisational, their dance transcends labels and has become voyeuristic performance art.

They have performed professionally throughout OH, being featured dancers with The Rick Brunetto Big Band, as well as The Otterbein Symphony. They have been featured as solo dancers at shows like the Columbus Italian Festival, Columbus Arts Festival, Dublin Irish Festival, and Cleveland Fashion Week: GlamJam Fashion Show, Drauma, as well as Passport to the Jazz-age: Columbus Symphony and many more.
Their solo performance art dance pieces have been performed at Wood Metal Art Gallery, CS Gallery, Flutterby Gallery, among others.
In addition to dancing, Roman and Jennifer are accomplished painters, photographers, as well as art models.

** Roman and Jennifer have relocated to the New Hampshire area and are actively booking 
      shows on the East Coast.
Salvatore Porchia
Salvatore has been a sound, video and lighting man for the Collective on a number of occassions.  He is the go to tech guy in the know!  He's a kicking bass player and has performs on stage in all sorts of shenanigans.  

He has his hand in many projects of note, some of them are:
The Trulie Awesome Show
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/TrulieAwesome
&
Electro Cult Circus
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/eccpresents 
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=12454457&fref=ts


Staci Slaughter
Staci has been an MC for the Collective on several occasions.  

FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1407445975&fref=ts

She is also a talented singer and can be seen performing with bands like 
The Dirty Biscuits 
FB page: 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dirty-Biscuits/300222670012512
and
Fes and The Black Panthers.

















OUR FOUNDER: 
Lady Monster

"A Queen of the Fire Tassels"

A title bestowed by the living legend of burlesque, Satan's Angel. Satan's Angel is the originator of the fire tassel. She has taught a very select few burlesque performers around the world to be her Fire Queens. 
Lady Monster is the President of her LLC and the only person in the Western Hemisphere allowed to teach fire tassel twirling, as sanctioned by Satan's Angel.

Lady Monster is an international star of screen, stage, song and print, with a long list of accolades, collaborations, workshops, productions and performances across the US, Canada and into Europe. She currently has a syndicated sex advice column. Was voted one of The Top 100 Burlesque Performers in the World by her peers in 2010 21st Century Magazine. She is a founding member of the collective. For more information, please go to: www.ladymonster.com 

Lady Monster now resides in PORTLAND, OR so please contact her to book her at your West Coast event via her website above.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)