Per Matt
Your best bet for finding an enchanted evening on Friday night is to Dance with the Devil!
Taking place on All Hallow’s Eve, the Third Annual Witches’ Ball will be performing a unique, Halloween-themed variety show at Logue’s Black Raven Emporium. The night’s event is subtitled Dance With the Devil, featuring the dance troupe Burlesque Off Broadway.
The performance will showcase two entertainment sets, with a special movie shown during the intermission that was filmed locally. There will be costumed characters, mayhem and more on Halloween night, so make sure to check it out. This performance runs for one night only.
Burlesque Off Broadway performs monthly in the greater Nashville area. Previewing the burlesque show, I got a quick interview with Shannon Million to discuss the Witches’ Ball, uncover the costume contest details and get the inside scoop on the speakeasy building where her group will be performing.
Please tell me a little about Burlesque Off Broadway.
– “Well, our troupe has been performing around Nashville for a little over a year, now. The principals are the same people and we have lots of guests who appear with us, at different shows. At this one, in particular, the guests are going to be a contortionist-artist, a fire-breather, a grinder-girl and bellydancer, a hoop-aerialist and a burlesque dancer.”
How many dancers regularly perform for your troupe?
– “We probably have a troupe of about 40 people who dance with us, but I try to keep my numbers under 10, because that gives everybody a chance to perform two or three routines of their own and that rounds out the evening well. I think we have eight performing with us at Black Raven Emporium on Halloween and that’s not counting the dominatrix and the fortune teller.”
Sounds like there’s quite a variety of entertainment options.
– “We’re also going to have a fortune teller on hand and a professional dominatrix. She will be delivering spankings in her spanking booth.”
What can we expect from the Third Annual Witches’ Ball?
– “Every single show we do is a unique, new show. I actually theme them all very differently. Every month is a different experience. We’ll rehearse the show all month, leading up to the day of the event, then perform the show that one time.”
“Some of the most recent ones in the past have been for St. Patrick’s Day, we did Erin Go Braless. We did James Bond burlesque. We did Elvis Presley burlesque. We did comic-sideshow burlesque, so the girls did really funny, goofy routines in a carnival atmosphere.”
You’re a very busy person. How many roles do you have with this production?
– “I host, perform and organize. I’m going to be doing a little Shakespearian Macbeth, as I MC the evening, for all the girls. It’s going to be super fun.”
Tell me a little about the costume contest.
– “There will be a costume contest, which is very important. There will be three different categories, in which people can win. We’re looking for the most wicked costume, the best witchy costume and we’re looking for the sexiest costume.”
Can you tell me a little about the building where you’ll be performing?
– “For anyone who hasn’t been to the Black Raven Emporium, it’s a speakeasy. It’s located underneath. It’s on the back and bottom side of Black Raven Emporium and you have to enter through the back. It’s one of the old houses in East Nashville that’s been converted into a shop, so you have to know to go in through the back. There’s a little theater and a cool speakeasy lounge.”
Is there a particular place for attendees to park?
– “There’s a big gravel lot behind the shop and the fence, around the back of the house.”
Please tell me a little about the movie that’ll be shown during intermission.
“We are also going to have some really interesting, witchy-inspired film clips that will be running during intermission. We will also have the people from the short film that was made here, in Nashville, recently, called Race with the Devil. It showed at Comic-Con in California and got picked up by HorrorFlix and we’ve since added to the film, a little bit. Those guys are going to be there and they’re dedicating the film to our missing pin-up friend and model from Hermitage. She’s the mother of two and she’s been missing since May 23rd. Her name is Nikki Burgess.”
For More Information:
– Burlesque Off Broadway Facebook
– Burlesque Off Broadway Twiter
– Burlesque Off Broadway Website
– Burlesque Off Broadway Instagram
– Shannon Million’s Fan Page
– Shannon Million’s Twitter