No one can accuse Sasparilla Foxx of not having any skin in the game.
The burlesque dance instructor drives from her hometown of Quesnel up to Prince George on a semi-regular basis to spread the nudes - make that news - of this old-school brand of entertainment. She also drops in on Williams Lake, Fort St. James and other locations around the area because a grassroots burlesque movement calls her into action.
"There is so much demand for it, I can't keep up," she said on a recent visit to Prince George for a weekend class with some P.G. rookies. "You need an instructor here really badly. I've been trying to come up for classes, and some have come down to my studio in Quesnel for lessons, and I am trying to find a way to get here more regularly. I'm the mama hen of burlesque in the Central Interior, and there are more and more chicks getting into it."
She does her work on Prince George trips at Angel's Aerial Fitness Studio. It has been going so well that Saturday, when she hosts a full burlesque show at the P.G. Playhouse, it will be a mix of local dancers in amongst the veterans she brings from Quesnel for these events.
"They (the aspiring Prince George performers) are so newby," she laughed. "It keeps it fresh. I have a blast with them, and it's such a great feeling when you're backstage with dancers who've been with me for eight years and dancers who are about to do their first public performance.
"As you can imagine, anything goes in burlesque so that backstage mix of personalities is a lot of fun to be a part of, and feel that energy between people. And your audiences in Prince George are awesome. It's like half the audience is there to watch the thee-ahh-tahhh and half the audience thinks they're at a hockey game and that is just great. It's a great vibe. Everyone is there to appreciate it in their own way."
The Sasparilla Foxx group works under the troupe name Foxxie Follies. They are regularly on the Quesnel stage at The Occidental show club, a venue to which she gives her own personal ovation for their support and outreach.
And how could you not be supportive, she said somewhat facetiously. Due to the sexual innuendo, she knows there are populations of society that disapprove of burlesque but it is only innuendo.
No one actually strips to nothing, it is just, in her view and in the hearts of those who do it for recreation, simply a way to have some fun, build some body image, celebrate the fun side of the human form and our natural urges. In the local area, it is done by the full gender spectrum, all ages, all ethnicities, and certainly all body types with equal welcome.
In their visits to Prince George, they have held shows at a number of performance spaces and, as the audience embrace has grown wider, they took the step to move onto the P.G. Playhouse stage.
"It took the show up a notch just being in that room," she said. "The stage, the dressing rooms, the technical capabilities, the way the audience is situated, it's all great. I love P.G. You guys are blowing up. I have a really busy dance studio in Quesnel (she teaches ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap and modern classes), I'm like the Judy Russell there, but we are sure jealous of all the arts and entertainment and show spaces you have here in Prince George."
What Quesnel has that Prince George does not is an annual burlesque fest. Sasparilla Foxx is the impresario for the Itty Bitty Burlesque Festival set this year for April 25-27.
There are professional headliners who come to perform from all over Canada and the United States, plus a large number of local and provincial dancers who earn their way in by video application. Foxx said she was hopeful that Prince George dancers would enter and the application window is open on the festival's Facebook page.
Before the festival, though, are some all local showcases. The next Foxxie Follies event is Saturday at the Prince George Playhouse (there is another on March 16 for those marking calendars).
Tickets for the upcoming show can be purchased at the downtown location of Simply Beautiful or online at the Eventbrite website.
Look up the ValenTease Burlesque Variety Show.
