Wow its a year since my last blog and what a year it’s been. Make yourself a cuppa you could be here a while!
I was sunning myself on holiday and making plans for a charity event a year ago, …. well all went to plan and I couldn’t have been happier. I turned 50 years old ( I think I’m one of the oldest instructors , which just shows you that Burlesque Chair Dance is suitable for any ages and I’m here to prove that!) on the 12th November and the following week we held our charity event to celebrate and to raise money for Alex Craven.
Alex is 5 years old and is the son of one of my longest attending ladies he has cerebral palsy and is unable to walk. A procedure abbreviated to SDR (Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy) will give him that chance to do what most children take for granted and he has been having intensive physiotherapy to enable the surgery to happen. He will be in America having the operation that his parents have been fund raising for over 2 years for, as you are reading. Get well soon Alex we can’t wait to see you take your first steps xxx
We wanted to contribute to the £60,000 cost of this procedure and after taking part in our first show in Doncaster over a year ago, my ladies were itching to get back on stage and perform again.
The support was amazing and we sold almost 200 tickets!! The room was full to capacity we had put a video recording of Alex together which was projected onto the screen as everyone was arriving and began the night with all 3 classes performing Express, 27 dancers in total.
With the sale of raffle tickets, the fantastic amount of prizes donated, vodka jellies and the support from a few body builders happy to get their shirts off, a fantastic DJ and compare, local ladies that perform classic burlesque (just to break it up a bit) and not forgetting my burlyesque boys we put on an evening of glitter and glam. I was even surprised on the night with a fabulous film show of all my ladies, family and friends wishing me a happy birthday and was presented with a huge birthday cake and flower. I didn’t want the show to be about me but my lovely ladies had other ideas!!
We raised just under £3,000 and I was so proud, grateful and happy that we pulled it off. The feedback was outstanding and immediately was asked “when’s the next one?”…. it was supposed to be a one off but as I am easily led! it wasn’t too long before I bucked under the pressure… probably about 15 minutes if I’m honest!!
So…. in May we did another show, once again the support was fantastic, lots more of my ladies were asking to do their own choreography, the guys were eager to get their frocks back on and off!! and our DJ only happy to help out after having so much fun and the first event, we recruited more topless butlers and had a hubby come forward to have his head shaved. Our compare / DJ Scott was “gently” persuaded to do drag and once again sold out of tickets and raised just under £3,000
It’s so hard to put into words the feelings I had on both nights, we had a lot of laughs during rehearsals and a few downs (but not many I’m happy to report). It was very stressful at times checking everything was running to plan but the support from all my classes and the pride I felt seeing all my gorgeous ladies and gents on that stage was second to none. Watching the audience cheering, laughing and having a great time just made up for the hard work that goes into putting on a show.
There are so many people that I cant thank enough for their support and some may be reading this (you all know who you are xxx) West Yorkshire ladies, you did me proud xxx
No doubt we will be doing more shows in West Yorkshire to raise money for Alex’s aftercare but for now I am concentrating on getting classes back to normal (someone please tell me the definition of normal hahaha) My Pontefract class has moved to Wednesday evenings so please come along and join me for a giggle and a wiggle:
Tuesday 8.30-9.30pm at The Northfield Hotel in South Kirby,
Wednesday evening 6.30-7.30pm at Pontefract Sports and Social Club and
Thursday evenings 6.30-7.30pm at Agbrigg Community centre in Wakefield
Love and Sparkles
Krystal Spirit xxxxx
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