Catica Ballero

Moonlight Shimmers

There’s no city like London for a burlesque dancer. Actually, you might find Parisians arguing vehemently that there is no city like Paris … But I stick by the good old Smoke, not just for the range of clubs in which I can earn my living as a burlesque dancer, but also for the wonderful shops, markets, and individual traders who supply the glitzy little bits and pieces that help add to our beautiful, glamorous image when we are on stage.

Me, I am a huge fan of silver jewellery, which I feel sets off my hair, eyes and skin tone better than gold does. The shine and sheen of silver is entirely different from that of gold, like moonlight on water instead of sunshine on sand. To me it evokes night, shadows, twilight, mystery and romance. Lovely.

As I said, London is a superb place in which to find silver jewellery. At the most bargainy end of the market, there are the many car boot sales or jumble sales that take place every weekend throughout the city. Here you can find a lovely selection of cast off jewellery from the tacky and the tasteless to the gloriously glamorous. It is certainly pot luck, but by rummaging around on the tables and elbowing away the competition, it is possible to find some really beautiful pieces and some real bargains.

Then, of course, at the top end of the market are the achingly lovely, expensive, exclusive jewellery shops in the city centre, in Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Chelsea or the City. These are special occasion shops for me, but it is a treat to look forward to when the boyfriend wants to show his love or I need an extraordinary piece for a special show.

Need more advice on shopping for glamorous jewellery? Just let me know!

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My friends the Ruby Dolls

I couldn’t make it down tonight because I’m out of town, but tonight my friends the Ruby Dolls have been performing their show, Rubies in the Attic, at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, West London. As a burlesque performer I really admire these ladies. What they do isn’t itself burlesque, although they are a group of four pretty girls in pretty and rather sexy dresses. They themselves call it “cabaret theatre” – they’re all trained actresses, from the London Academy of Dramatic Art no less, but they’re bringing their acting skills into a slightly new arena. Rubies in the Attic brings together loads of different styles of performance, including singing, puppetry, dance and, funnily enough, acting, to tell the stories of several of the Dolls'ancestors.
The girls dig back into their own family histories and uncover some brilliant, compelling, sometimes funny and sometimes deeply poignant stories. The Jewish tailor who thought he was going to get to America, but got off to early and found himself in London. The Italian woman distantly related to Al Capone. And the Scottish woman who found herself escaping South Africa. The story of the tailor is perhaps the most brilliant, being told through a combination of song and a puppet made of string. It’s a lovely thing to watch. No Florida Villas though!
The other thing I really admire about the Dolls is the way they create their own characters. Knowing them socially they really take their own personalities and bring them onto the stage, just slightly amped up. And what lovely characters they are. Go check them out!

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