Dirty Martini | |
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Born | Linda Marraccini New Jersey, United States |
Occupation(s) | Burlesque dancer, pin-up model, dance teacher |
Website | missdirtymartini |
Dirty Martini (born Linda Marraccini) is an American burlesque dancer, pin-up model and dance teacher.
She is best known for her over-the-top performance acts, which mostly incorporate various classic burlesque styles such as the fan dance, balloon striptease, and shadow stripping.
Martini lives and performs in New York City, but tours extensively throughout North America and Europe. She has performed on stages that range from weekly burlesque venues, gay leather bars, the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. [1]
In 2004, Dirty Martini was crowned Miss Exotic World.
Born to an opera singer/visual artist mother and a band director father, she was raised in New Jersey, [2] where she studied dance since the age of six. Martini later honed her choreography skills at SUNY-Purchase, where she graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance. [3]
Martini moved to New York City and started out working in collaborative theater and modern dance groups. [2] [3] She viewed some old burlesque reels when she was searching for a style that was conducive to performing solo and showcasing her voluptuous figure, and started developing and performing a fan dancing act. [2] Among Martini's notable acts are her homage to Mae West, Jennie Lee, Zorita and Sally Rand.
In May 2001, Martini performed in the first new burlesque convention, "Tease-o-rama", in New Orleans. Later that year, at the Miss Exotic World 2001, she won the Sally Rand Award for Fan Dance. In 2004, she was awarded the main title and the Jennie Lee award for tassel twirling at Miss Exotic World.
Martini has worked with comedian and drag king personality Murray Hill, playwright/performer Taylor Mac in Red Tide Blooming, fellow burlesque performer Julie Atlas Muz, and Penny Arcade in Bad Reputation and New York Values. [2] She also performed in Margaret Cho's 2007 burlesque-style variety show, The Sensuous Woman.
On December 6, 2017, Dirty Martini opened at the off-Broadway Playhouse Theater of the Henry Street Settlement in Jack and the Beanstalk , the first large-scale pantomime to be presented in New York for over a century. Adapted from the fairy tale of the same title by Mat Fraser and directed by Julie Atlas Muz, the production also starred David Ilku, Michael Johnnie Lynch, Matt Roper, and a cast of downtown performers. Awarded the New York Times' Critic's Pick, the production closed on December 23, 2017 and enjoyed a revival the following year at the same theater, running for three weeks during the 2018 holiday season. Martini played the role of the Good Fairy.
She has toured theaters and opera houses across the world with Dita Von Teese.[ citation needed ]
She has appeared on the AMC TV series, Into Character, in the 2004 documentary The Velvet Hammer Burlesque, in John Cameron Mitchell's 2006 film Shortbus , and in Mitchell's video for "Filthy/Gorgeous" by the Scissor Sisters.
She has been the featured subject in two documentaries. One is the 2009 short film Dirty Martini by Iban Del Campo, which won the best documentary film award at the 2010 FreeNetWorld International Film Fest held in Serbia. The other is the 2010 feature length Dirty Martini and the New Burlesque by Gary Beeber, which is about Martini and her colleagues in the Neo-Burlesque scene.
Martini also appears in the Burlesque Undressed documentary with Immodesty Blaize, Catherine D'lish, Satan's Angel, and Michelle L'amour, and in Exotic World & the Burlesque Revival, which focuses on the history of Dixie Evans' Burlesque Hall of Fame Museum (formerly The Exotic World Museum). [4]
Martini, alongside burlesque performers including Mimi Le Meaux, Kitten on the Keys, Julie Atlas Muz, Evie Lovelle and Roky Roulette, were featured in Mathieu Amalric's 2010 Cannes-award winning film, Tournee . A drawing of her is used for the film's promotional poster.
Martini has been featured in the books, Striptease, from Gaslight to Spotlight by Jessica Glasscock, Burlesque, The New Bump and Grind by Michelle Baldwin and Katherina Bosse's New Burlesque. Martini is also featured in Neo-Burlesque: Striptease As Transformation by Lynn Sally, released in October 2021.
For the spring 2010 edition of V Magazine , she was featured in a fashion spread shot by Karl Lagerfeld at the House of Chanel.
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exotic" or "burlesque" dancer.
A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events.
Sally Rand was an American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress, famous for her ostrich-feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck. Rand got her start as a chorus girl before working as an acrobat and traveling theater performer. Her career spanned more than forty years, appearing on stage, screen and in television. Through her career she worked alongside Humphrey Bogart, Karl Malden, and Cecil B. De Mille. She was a trained pilot and briefly dated Charles Lindbergh.
The Burlesque Hall of Fame (BHOF) is the world's only museum dedicated to the history, preservation, and future of the art of burlesque. Located in the Las Vegas Arts district at 1027 S Main st. #110, BHOF is a tourist destination and non-profit 501 (c)(3) educational organization offering tours of its vast Collection of costumes, memorabilia, props and ephemera from burlesque's heyday through contemporary practice; classes for individuals and groups at all levels including beginner; movie screenings; research access for students and journalists; and a gift shop.
Tempest Storm, also dubbed "The Queen Of Exotic Dancers," was an American burlesque star and motion picture actress. Along with Lili St. Cyr, Sally Rand and Blaze Starr, she was one of the best-known burlesque performers of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Her career as an exotic dancer spanned more than 60 years and she was still performing in the early 21st century.
Mara Gaye, born Marjorie Helen Ginsberg in The Bronx, New York, was a professional showgirl, dancer with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes (1938–1943), and exotic burlesque striptease dancer of the 1940s through the 1960s. She also performed under the name Marjorie Gaye.
The Miss Exotic World Pageant is an annual neo-burlesque pageant and convention, and is the annual showcase event the Burlesque Hall of Fame. The pageant, sometimes referred to as the "Miss America of Burlesque", attracts former burlesque queens from past decades, as well as current participants of the neo-burlesque scene. The pageant consists of burlesque performances spanning a weekend, culminating with the competition to crown a single performer as Miss Exotic World. Because of the significance of the Exotic World Burlesque Museum to the burlesque community, winning the pageant is considered a top honor for a burlesque performer.
Neo-burlesque, or new burlesque, is the revival and updating of the traditional American burlesque performance. Though based on the traditional burlesque art, the new form encompasses a wider range of performance styles; neo-burlesque can include anything ranging from classic striptease to modern dance to theatrical mini-dramas to comedic mayhem.
Immodesty Blaize is an English burlesque dancer who performs internationally. She was crowned Reigning Queen of Burlesque in June 2007 at the Las Vegas Burlesque Hall of Fame formerly known as Exotic World.
Julie Atlas Muz is a New York City-based performance artist, dancer, burlesque artist, stage director, and actress. In 2012, she married English actor Mat Fraser.
Angie Pontani born 6. november 1976 is a contemporary burlesque dancer, choreographer, producer, and blogger based in Brooklyn, New York. She was crowned Miss Exotic World in 2008.
Theresa Jean Bell, better known as Pillow, also known as The She-Beast, was a United States bodybuilder in the early 1980s. While competing in bodybuilding, she was also an exotic dancer in Alaska. She was crowned Miss Exotic World 1995. "Pillow" is her legal name.
Angel Cecelia Helene Walker was an American exotic dancer specializing in stripping and burlesque under her stage name Satan's Angel.
On Tour is a 2010 internationally co-produced comedy-drama film directed by Mathieu Amalric. It stars Amalric himself as a producer who brings an American Neo-Burlesque troupe to France, played by genuine performers Mimi Le Meaux, Kitten on the Keys, Dirty Martini, Julie Atlas Muz, Evie Lovelle and Roky Roulette. In a road movie narrative, the plot follows the troupe as they tour French port cities with their show, which was performed for actual audiences during the production. The inspiration for the film was a book by Colette about her experience from music halls in the early 20th century, and a part of Amalric's aim was to translate the sentiment of the book to a modern setting.
Roxi D'Lite is a Canadian burlesque performer, model and photographer and producer from Windsor, Ontario. She is the current World Champion of Exotic Dance, the Exotic Dancer Invitational Showgirl Champion and was crowned Reigning Queen of Burlesque and Miss Exotic World 2010 at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. She is known as the Bad Girl of Burlesque
American burlesque is a genre of variety show derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall, and minstrel shows. Burlesque became popular in the United States in the late 1860s and slowly evolved to feature ribald comedy and female nudity. By the late 1920s, the striptease element overshadowed the comedy and subjected burlesque to extensive local legislation. Burlesque gradually lost its popularity, beginning in the 1940s. A number of producers sought to capitalize on nostalgia for the entertainment by recreating burlesque on the stage and in Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1960s. There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s.
The New York Burlesque Festival is an annual four-day event that takes place in New York City each fall, where performers from all over the world appear on stages for musical acts, burlesque shows, and other performances.
A vedette is the main female artist of a show derived from cabaret and its subcategories of revue, vaudeville, music hall or burlesque. The purpose of the vedette is to entertain and captivate the public. Vedettes are expected to sing, dance and act on stage. Particularly accomplished artistes are considered super vedettes or first vedettes. Vedettes often appear alongside groups of dancers, flashy and revealing costumes, magicians, comedians, jugglers, or even performing animals. Vedettes specializing in burlesque generally do striptease and may also perform nude on stage.
Jennie Lee was an American stripper, burlesque entertainer, pin-up model, union activist, and a minor role movie actress, who performed several striptease acts in nightclubs during the 1950s and 1960s. She was also known as "the Bazoom Girl", "the Burlesque Version of Jayne Mansfield", and "Miss 44 and Plenty More".
Trixie Minx is a burlesque dancer, producer, healthcare advocate, and cultural ambassador based in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a performer she is best known for her unique style of striptease combining comedy with classic burlesque. She is well known for her collaborations with musicians and charitable organizations as well as her devotion to preservation and growth of New Orleans arts and culture. She produces multiple New Orleans–based circus art and burlesque shows and designs custom entertainment for both public and private events.