Roxy Velvet

When did you first realise you wanted to perform?

It wasn't a conscious ambition. I wanted to be a helicopter pilot when I was a child and still do. I spent a lot of time dressing up and looking in the mirror and still do. I started acting when I was really young but wasn't aware of anything beyond the limits of conventional theatre - it was never really presented to me as an optional. Between age 15 and 17 I had my eyes opened to the world of performance by the Glastonbury and Edinburgh festivals and by the drag queens in Ibiza. I was never really ready to become a performer because I always had a nagging feeling that I should be reading Anthropology somewhere or trying to win the Turner prize but it drew me in nevertheless and I didn't resist.

How did you train?

I started acting classes when I was 5 years old. I've never had a dance class in my life, but I spent the better years of my youth dancing the night away at illegal raves which is a training of sorts. I trained in fine art at college for 4 years which has given me an understanding of the aesthetics and concepts that are shown in my work.

How long have you been performing?

Since I was 18, almost 10 years.

What are the best and worst things about performing?

At the moment I've got a sprained wrist and a multitude of minor wounds from my heart-light arial hoop which I used at Torture Garden's Valentine Ball. The same evening I ran my monthly supper club, Love on the Rox, and two days before I was at Head Over Heels, a monthly night at Paradise. You have to have amazing powers of dedication, stamina and optimism sometimes because it can be so demanding with a tight time frame. Nothing is ever predictable and you have to be very flexible and resourceful to get by. That's a plus for me though, I love working under pressure and the excitement of spontaneity. I have the opportunity to work with some clever, talented and beautiful people and essentially we all have the same mission - to entertain, love and be loved. This week I'm helping the Diamond Dogs cast some Dickensian strumpets for The Hoosiers new music promo.

Do you do anything else alongside your performances?

I run Love on the Rox and am the founding director of The Victor and Vanquished, an artist collective which runs Head Over Heels. Very occasionally I work on production jobs for my friends, I enjoy the organisational side of things. I also do flyer design, although it's not really a money thing. I'm in the process of setting up a boutique flyer design and distribution company called IDST Design meaning 'If Destroyed Still True'.

How do you unwind after a show?

With my friends usually and a large V&T. At the weekends I go straight out after my shows, or I come home to a party. I have an amazing antique bath to sink into when I'm really exhausted.

What's been your favourite show so far?

All of them! They are all so different. Love on the Rox is like one happy family so we have a ball every month. I enjoy doing big fabulous award ceremonies and lavish corporate parties as well because I love the detail that goes into producing them. I did an amazing night at No1 Piccadilly and the caterers had built a chocolate factory. There was chocolate in a cement mixer which you could plater on to the walls and wheel barrows full of meringues - total fantasy. The audience make up so much of the show, sometimes you can feel a wave of euphoria coming off them and it lifts you up. It's an amazing buzz.

Have you performed in front of any VIPs?

I fan danced for Lady Spencer. That's my greatest celebrity accomplishment, Lindsey Lohan was there too. Ziggy from Big Brother came to the Valentines Head Over Heels. I was at Matt Lucas' wedding party and you couldn't move for TV celebrities and I had to get quite stern with Jonathon Ross for putting his pudding bowl on the Black Jack table. I'm always rather oblivious to celebrities though because I don't own a TV!

Do you travel a lot?

I travel abroad about once a month on average. I went to Verbier in the Swiss Alps just before Christmas with Fashion TV and to Croatia at the beginning of this year. My next trip is to Norway with Gypsy Hotel, I can't wait... I think it will probably be my maddest trip yet. I have enormous fun when I do Torture Garden on tour abroad. It's great traveling with people like you and having a laugh with them in a strange place.

You are known for your performance with the Birdcage - how did this come about?

My ex-partner and I came up with the idea whilst drinking coffee in bed one Sunday morning. The next minute I was on the phone to a friend of mine, Finn Kay from The Village Disco, who works with metal. He designed and built it and there it was. It's absolutely my favourite prop, I love performing with it. We belong together.

I started working with the Texas Chainsaw (TC) about a year and half ago at the Blood Ball on Halloween. Then they managed to convince me do The Damned show in November '07 whilst we were at The London Burlesque Festival together. I took on the part of being a deadly bird-snake creature in the story and did two plug in performances. One was my Hospital of Horrors and the other was an arial routine. The arial routine was particularly special because it ended with Captain Howdy being suspended with flesh hooks from the bottom of my hoop. It was a great moment performing with him. TC was the first time I have ever worked as part of such a large scale production. The months of rehearsals and direction were tiring but also very rewarding, it gave me a new outlook on my work which led me to starting The Victor and Vanquished. I had been very solitary and self-sufficient up to that point and I realised the benefit of working with others. I don't have any intention of continuing with TC at present but that"s not to say never.

How about your performances with Torture Garden (TG) ?

I've been a resident performer at TG for at least four years now. I do regular shows and tour Europe with them. I love TG because it gives me the freedom to push the boundaries and do things that aren't acceptable in more burlesque environments. I am inspired by the extremeness of the fetish scene, the costumes, the narcissistic fabulousness of it all... and an audience that can't be shocked. Torture Garden have really nurtured me through my career and given me space to do my thing without questioning it too much. They've also made me do some less likely things such as sitting in a pink cadillac outside the Kerrang! Awards in the biting cold, looking like a Sheila's Wheels girl!

I have recently started working with Mlle Fifi on an arial hoop double act. I work very closely with The Victor and Vanquished on our collective concept, although we don't actually go on stage together.

Could you tell Subversion a bit about the twisted side to some of your performances?

I have a passion for horror, more specifically blood horror. I completely get off on the aesthetic of it and the reaction I get when I bring it to a live audience. I have been performing my notoriously squeamish nurse shows for a couple of years now and they have recently been profiled on Current TV. I am fascinated by prosthetics and special effects so recreating them to fit into a stage performance is fun for me. The element of destruction and defilement is very important, to begin with something beautiful and push it to the extreme. My horror shows are about drawing the audience in and giving them a comfort zone before I shock them, it's also about presenting something horrible as something aesthetically pleasing and playing with the boundaries of both flesh and morality. For me the horror shows are more of an art piece than the burlesque shows, the sub-context is more challenging and poignant. At the moment I am working on a Countess Bathory inspired horror piece: The Bloody Queen.

You seem to have a lot of different images and looks - which ones are your favourite?

They are all my favourite to begin with, then I get bored and move on. I am something of a work of art in progress. Sometimes I get changed five times in one day.

I have various dependable sources whom I consult. I work with a make-up artist and hairdresser and occasionally with costumiers. I have a few sponsors who give me key pieces. For example, The Modern Courtesan's Santa Baby dress inspired the rest of one of my costumes. At the moment I am working on a strip tease with a Storm Trooper suit for a show in March, the costume came before the idea in that case.

Where do your ideas for new performances and shows come from?

I'm often pushed to create something new for the season or a particular event. My show Queen Of Hearts was originally for Valentine's under the title "I'm In Love With Myself". I do a lot of research online, looking into anything that might be vaguely related. I read a lot in encyclopedias, story books and mythologies, it's so important to have meaning and narrative in the subcontext of an act. I have a very visual memory so I have a scrapbook of inspirational images in my head to add to the one on my shelf. Sometimes an image will be so strong in my imagination that I have to create it straight away, others wait years before I find somewhere to use them. Quite often I use a single object as the pivotal point of my concept, it can be anything like a plastic ball, a christmas decoration or a feather. Music is very important and I spend a lot of time listening to potential show tunes for inspiration.

I admire Matthew Barney enormously for his off the wall creativity and the mythological influence in his work. It's so brave and yet very aesthetically pleasing. I am a great believer in beauty. I am also a great fan of Catherine D'Lish for her amazing costumes and performance skill.

Love on the Rox is my baby, it is a supper club cabaret salon which is held at Volupte on the third saturday of the month. It started in June 2007. You can come down to the restaurant and have dinner and cocktails whilst we entertain you. It's a perfect Saturday night for couples and a sophisticated option for stag and hen parties who want some vintage glamour. We run the whole show twice in one evening, the cocktail bar upstairs is always packed and there is a a DJ till 2am. I saw Ivy Paige at Burlesque not Bombs and was introduced by a mutual friend, she is the perfect compere for Love on the Rox. I met Gracie, our singer, through The Laundrettas. They are both very sassy, witty and sexy. I do two or three of my own acts and have two or three guest performers - Lazlo Pearlman, Fancy Chance, Kitty Bang Bang, Gwendoline Lamour, Kalki Hula Girl or Vicky Butterfly. The show is packed with champagne explosions, pyrotechnics, fire, glass walking, balloon popping, hula hooping, belly dancing and other mischief.

What kinds of things do you do in your workshops?

I do monthly workshops at Paradise with Ivy Paige and Kitty Bang Bang. We teach basic burlesque dance moves and simple striptease techniques, working with props and costumes, stage presence and show conception. At the end of a course, lasting a month, our burlesquers have a simple routine and costume planned out, a balloon popping striptease for example. We give them the opportunity to perform in front of an audience at their graduation ceremony at the beginning of Head Over Heels. Ivy Paige also runs more in depth seminars for those who are more advanced.

At the moment I'm looking into starting up an East based Head Over Heels as well as the west based one. The venue is on Brick Lane but that's all I can say for now. I'm involved with a few forthcoming film projects as well, a feature film and a short art-house film Fancy Fatale. I'm also looking into directing a promo with Trepan records in a disused space in Bristol.

www.roxyvelvet.com
www.myspace.com/therealroxyvelvet
www.myspace.com/loveontheroxsalon