Dita Von Teese.
When Dita Von Teese takes the stage, nothing short of spectacular is bound to happen. The modern burlesque queen stuns audiences around the world with her spell-binding and dazzling sets. Dressed in ornate haute-couture performance costumes adorned with Swarovski crystal, the vedette is always sure to impress.
The global showstopper is slated to bring her talents onboard the luxurious Norwegian Joy during Friendship Festival, a music festival cruise created by acclaimed artist Destructo.
Ms. Von Teese’s show, dubbed Ship Teese, takes place on Tuesday, January 9th, marking her return to the high seas for the dance music event’s fifth sailing. To offer a tease of her performance, Ms. Von Teese says it’ll likely showcase one of her larger-than-life martini or champagne glass stage props, adding that she usually brings one because it “has a small footprint, it's easy to move it around and it's what people like to see.” Those props are minimal when compared to some of Ms. Von Teese’s others because the boat limits her ability to do her usual full-scale production like she does when on tour or at her Las Vegas residency. The entrepreneur adds she has her “favorite group of performers” that she likes to bring on the ship because they enjoy the music and the audience “loves them.”
Dita Von Teese performing live.
Before Friendship was Holy Ship!, another music festival cruise that was founded by Destructo, legally known as Gary Richards. The producer parted ways with Holy Ship! when he left HARD Events, where he was formerly the founder and CEO. Ms. Von Teese would perform on that music festival cruise prior to the founding of Friendship. Ms. Von Teese says she did her numbers to electronic music during her first sailing, but she later learned that ravers enjoyed hearing a shift in music, causing Ms. Von Teese to then do her sets to her usual show music.
“I love giving people a different perspective,” Ms. Von Teese says. “For me, a lot of people maybe can't understand why I am performing on an electronic dance music cruise. But the truth is that when I was 19 years old, [I] went to my first rave party, and I met Gary Richards—Destructo. We knew each other when we were very young. That atmosphere was somewhere that I met eccentric people. I met drag queens, I met trans people, and we had so much fun dressing up and reveling in this music. It's really been a big part of my youth, my development and creating fantasy and spectacle. I was a Go-Go Dancer in the early ‘90s, a pretty well-known Go-Go Dancer in that time in Los Angeles. It's, for me, fun to see all these other generations getting involved, and I have so much fun with those people.”
Ms. Von Teese adds that she finds the atmosphere of dance music cruises to be “a place of peace, fun and play.” Ms. Von Teese has never seen any fights and never felt threatened, noting it’s become a place where she has made “lifelong friends,” and the experience is “a big part of who I am today.” Experiences like Friendship allow her to show burlesque to those who may have never seen it before.
The New York Times Bestselling author says all of her shows are different, whether she’s performing on tour, at private events or at her Las Vegas residency. Ms. Von Teese’s recent tour is “the biggest burlesque show in history,” and her Las Vegas residency is “beyond all of the production levels I've reached in the past,” Ms. Von Teese says. Her brand has grown beyond what Ms. Von Teese anticipated when she first started in the ‘90s. Ms. Von Teese adds that she constantly looks for ways to “make it more extravagant and raise the bar.”
Ms. Von Teese notes that her shows even have mostly female fans, which she says may be “hard for people to understand because it's a strip tease show.” Burlesque was originally geared toward the working-class man in the ‘30s and ‘40s. However, Ms. Von Teese prides herself on making her shows diverse and inclusive, with an equal balance of showgirls and showguys. Her performances truly offer something for everyone, making her shows accessible to anyone.
Dita Von Teese has worked with designers Elie Saab, Jenny Packham, Christian Louboutin, John ... [+]
Ms. Von Teese is always dressed in the most lavish show costumes for her performances, even working with designers like Elie Saab and Christian Louboutin. Ms. Von Teese says she’s been close friends with Louboutin and has worked with him for many years. Their relationship started when he saw her show in London. He previously designed shoes for showgirls, with Ms. Von Teese adding that the two “hit it off immediately.” From there, they started to design “unusual” shoes together, with him even making Ms. Von Teese “the most precarious styles, whether it's super extreme height, things with spurs on them or any kind of crazy footwear.” Ms. Von Teese believes he enjoys making shoes for her because they love to push the envelope on designs together. Ms. Von Teese also works with numerous fashion designers who create gorgeous costumes for her.
“It's always a fun experience working with these fashion designers because I have to make them understand how the strip tease elements of these clothes work and how when each piece comes off, it's a totally different look that has to look like a picture perfect look,” Ms. Von Teese says.
Indeed, Ms. Von Teese’s shows are unlike many other burlesque sets as they feature luxe costumes, exquisite performances, top-tier production and her classic charm of cinema's Golden Age. Ms. Von Teese is sure to impress once again on Friendship.
