Las Vegas: Rachel Reid can't wipe the smile off her face when she tries to sum up her first taste of Sin City.
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She pauses momentarily before summing it up in two words: "mind blowing".
Reid became the first Canberran to perform at the Burlesque Hall of Fame festival when she appeared alongside 100 of the world's best performers last week under the guise of "Jazida".
The 30-year-old took to the stage in the 'Movers, Shakers and Innovators' category of the global burlesque festival, performing a circus routine that sees her transform from an aggressive ringmaster to a forgetful clown and back again in four minutes.
Reid says her category was "all about the future of burlesque - all the weird and different things people are doing now, innovative and different ways of tackling the art form".
That was just the start.
There were "fabulous women in their 70s and 80s hopping up on stage and stripping like they did back in the day", and an "insane" tournament pitting the best in the world against each other in a bid to win the Queen of Burlesque Miss Exotic World title.
There were giant props - Reid's favourite was a giant bowl of ice cream that "almost touched the ceiling", with a performer dancing and sliding around in the bowl.
"They even had burlesque ice skating, so they closed the curtains and they opened them and the stage had ice on it," Reid said.
"Ice on the stage they just casually put out in a few minutes, she ice skated around, stripped on the ice and then they closed the curtains and the ice was gone.
"The production value was something I had not ever seen before, it was amazing."
Starring in Las Vegas is a fair achievement considering the ACT government customer experience specialist only made her debut performance in 2015.
Reid took to burlesque like a duck to water, immediately feeling at home in fishnets and false eyeleashes to win Burlesque Idol Canberra and the local Miss Burlesque and Baby Bombshell titles in her first two years on stage.
Reid says burlesque - traditionally performed in a variety show format and featuring "bawdy comedy and female striptease" - is soaring in Canberra.
"I’ve been so excited to see the real stuff, the best stuff, and to be immersed in the best of the best and to see what it’s actually like," Reid said.
"In Australia that was the impression I had, ‘I’m going to see the best stuff now’. I went and watched it and the take home message I had was we really do have amazing quality burlesque back home.
"In Australia the stuff we’ve got is top notch and I think it’s an art form that is worth checking out. The quality we have on stage is so good and if we support our local artists, it just allows more and more great shows to be happening.
"It’s very fun, it’s so good. I feel like a lot of people will go to a show and be like ‘this is something I need to do’."
