This week's "Artists I Love: Burlesque Edition" is coming at you in a one-two punch. (Since I missed last week, I figure I owe you, the reader, a "li'l sump'en-sump'en.") Let me tell you, I'm super-stoked about this first one. She's one of the very first burlesque performers I took note of, and she's a super cool gal ...

Vixen Violette

photo by Henry swiped from Vixen Violette's MySpace page

I'll never forget the first number I saw Vixen perform because it was a pole number. If you've been reading this blog for long, you may recall that my wife is a pole dancer. So I have a special place in my heart for them that do pole tricks.

Vixen Violette is cool. I was trying to think of the perfect analogy, and here it goes: She's Jodie Foster's character in Stealing Home cool. She's the babysitter you wish you had when you were a twelve year-old boy, giving you cigarettes and booze and driving you to the beach in your parent's convertible. She's that kind of cool. A cool that's kind of dangerous, just the right amount of playful, and alluring.

She knows how to work an audience (which, come to think of it, may be part of what makes her so cool). With wily confidence she begins her number. Her musicality is subtle but well thought out, and tended to with nonchalant grace. Each peel and reveal is executed with effortless fluidity. She builds her own costumes, and it's obvious to me that this fluidity is no coincidence. Are you getting the picture? Vixen Violette is the Fonzie of burlesque, and she's way sexier Henry Winkler! Seriously, it's no contest.

She can bring the comedy, as well. Last night proved that, as she appeared separately as Go Go Yubari in a Kill Bill Vol. 1 solo number and Vincent Vega alongside Lux LaCroix as Jules Winnfield in a Pulp Fiction duet. She is a natural comic on stage. Her knack for playing to (and with) the audience is a huge asset in this regard.

Oh ... and she owns Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive." Nothing compares with the live performance, so consider this just a taste of what you'll experience when you catch this fabulous dancer in person:



Vixen Violette can be seen on the third Thursday of every month at Burlesque-A-Go-Go, the show she produces with The Fierce Lux LaCroix at Mr. T's Bowl in Highland Park. You can also keep up with her performance schedule on Burlesque411.