New York burlesque star Dirty Martini, who has toured with Dita Von Teese and been photographed by Karl Lagerfeld, came up with her stage name in the most mundane of ways.
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Working in an office, a world away from the stage, a word processing program spellchecked her real last name Marracini as Martini.
"The 'dirty' is a bit of fun because what I do is so far from what people think burlesque is. You can see more on Baywatch than you can in my show. So it's an ironic name," she said.
The travelling carnival of the Australian Burlesque Festival has arrived in Canberra on its way to Sydney, all feathers and sequins and bumps and grinds.
Festival director Dawn Lindsay, aka Dolores Daiquiri, said the festival's show, Shake-O-Rama, was about the big tease.
There was no full nudity – nipple tassels or "pasties" and g-strings preserved some modesty.
"You might see a bit of bottom but it's all tastefully done," Ms Lindsay said
"It's all about the art of tease, the peel and reveal.
"It's more of a classic show. Glamorous acts. Big costumes. Funny."
The troupe, who had a rest night in Canberra on Wednesday and headed to – where else but? – the Ducks Nuts in Dickson, also posed for artists at a Dr Sketchy's workshop at the National Gallery of Australia on Thursday night.
They are all holding individual workshops in Canberra on Friday ahead of their performance at The Abbey in Gold Creek later that night.
"Mine's called The Ultimate Guide to Knocking them Dead," Dirty Martini said, with a flourish of feathers.
Also performing are Australian performers Jacqueline Furey Zelia Rose and Alyssa Kitt. They all feel empowered by burlesque.
"It's like this five-minute fantasy when you can become someone else and become something else and really represent whatever it is you want your message to be on stage," Alyssa said.
"Yeah, who knew that taking clothes off would be so political?" Jacqueline said, with just the hint of mince.
"We're so involved in the development of our act, the costumes, the rehearsals, the concept, it's amazing when you get something together and present it to the audience," Zelia said.
Dirty Martini said the best part of burlesque was that it unashamedly allowed women to be "strong and sexual".
"We present the show how we want to be seen instead of how people might want to see us."
And how people often see Dirty Martini's voluptuous form is plus-sized. She's having none of that.
"I present myself as glamorous," she said. "People look at me as plus-sized but that's our world, you know? If the world was mine to create, I wouldn't have regular sizes and plus sizes, I would have women buying clothes that fit them. Then we could all go to the same damn store!"
More details about the shows and workshops for the Australian Burlesque Festival are at www.australianburlesquefest.com/festival/
