Long time no post! Lots going on, including a new national PIn-Up Class tour! I'm in Vegas at the end of this month for Burlesque Hall of Fame, and then I go to the following cities spreading the glamour gospel:

June 4/5 - Ogden, UT
June 6 - Denver, CO
June 8 - Missoula, MT
June 10 - St Paul, MN
June 12 - Oklahoma City, OK
June 13 - St Louis, MO
June 15 - Atlanta,GA



In my classes, I teach women (and men in drag) how to do their hair and make-up in vintage 1940s-50s styles, and then they get a makeover and personal pin-up photoshoot! To find out more, click here!

I'm getting ready to enjoy a busy Thanksgiving week, filled with planning a big dinner, performing, and getting organized for my travels in December to South Florida and Canada. Before I tell you all about my exciting shows, let me ask you if you've had a chance to vote for your favourite performers and personalities in the burlesque community at 21 Century Burlesque yet? It's a fun way for the international burlesque scene to celebrate excellence, not just for fellow performers, but also those who make great burlesque happen - hosts, producers, variety artists.



Of course I'd love you to consider me, but also consider people in your local scene who are helping to spice up live entertainment! Click here to put in your vote, and spread the word too! I only wish we could vote for more than 10, because it's so hard to narrow it down!

After I received my green card in September, apparently word got out and for a couple weeks I was all over the news! My old hometown paper Monday Magazine did a piece titled Pin-Up Queen Conquers USA, and then the Toronto Star did a piece, which they syndicated across Canada. Here are a few of my fave headlines from that day:





About a week later, The New York Daily News contacted me to do an interview, and they not only gave me a little pic on the front page, but also a 2 full page feature! Pretty overwhelming, let me tell you!





As if all this wasn't enough, I got a call from the CBS morning show The Couch asking me to be on their show to talk about my new status! My US network daytime tv debut! Click here or on the image below to go to the video:




What a month that was! I'm glad the hubub has died down a bit, I'm a busy gal and have lots of work to do! I am very grateful to all the journalists and photographers who I met, for their fair and balanced coverage and they positive light they've cast on my beloved burlesque.

This week I have a few fun shows happening in New York City, if you happen to live in the area!

Wednesday, November 21st

Nuit Blanche at Beaumarchais, 409 W 13th St. Reserve a table for dinner between 8:30-11pm or enjoy the show from the bar. Reservations: 212-675-2400. 9-11pm.

Friday, November 23rd

Two fabulous shows this night, so there's no excuse to miss one of them!

9:30pm: Room 69, Hotel Chantelle, 92 Ludlow St. No cover!

11:30pm: The Sophisticates at The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd St. Hosted by Bastard Keith and starring Madame Rosebud, myself, Gal Friday and The Maine Attraction. Tickets $30. RSVP at 212-206-0440 or at MetropolitanRoom.com

To see the rest of my upcoming show schedule, click here!
xoxo

Bettina

My awesomely talented roommate is a designer, and is coming out with a gorgeous line of luxury men's suits that use recycled textiles from Japan and is getting them made in Italy. He has a kickstarter going to raise money for the textile shipping to get them finished, so if any of you want to contribute you can check it out here:

Brave Gentleman Vegan Suits

It's been a while since I've hit the road for a good old-fashioned burlesque tour, so I'm starting small with a short little weekender featuring an international cast of the world's best performers, I'm really thrilled to be sharing the stage with these folks! From Finland, I have my dear friend LouLou D'vil, who is without a doubt the embodiment of sex appeal. She won Best Debut at the Burlesque Hall of Fame competition last year, and was selected to compete for the main title of Miss Exotic World next month, the highest title in the world of burly-q! Check out this video I made of her in my pin-up studio last week!



All the tour dates are listed on the poster below, so if you happen to live somewhere between NYC and Washington, DC come out and say hi! You can find out more and buy advance tickets at Bettina.ca.



The other amazing burlesque performer in the show is Spanish siren Medianoche, which will also be competing for the title of Best Debut this year at Burlesque Hall of Fame! Check out the amazing pic I took of LouLou and Medianoche this month:



You can get a signed copy of this pic at the merch booth, only at our shows this weekend!

See you there!
xoxo
Bettina

It's been a while since my last update, I know! Lots going on! First, check out this video that I helped produce, and also appear it - in 80s workout gear no less! I did the fab 80s hair and makeup too:



I'm also one of the newest models for Secrets In Lace lingerie, who you might recognize as the supplier of the vintage reproduction girdles and bullet bras on Mad Men and Pan Am!



I just got back from a really successful tour with my Pin-Up Class, hitting the west coast and midwest, and will be staying put in Brooklyn for the next month before heading out to Las Vegas for Viva Las Vegas, bet I'll see a bunch of you out there!

Hope 2012 is treating you all well!

Long time, no update! Been busy busy! Since my successful Beauty Bar tour with my Pin-Up Class and Burlesque show back in April, I've been teaching monthly makeover classes at the NYC Beauty Bar!



My next class is August 21, and there is still space for any ladies wanting a pin-up makeover! Go to PinUpClass.com for more info or to register.

I was on the season finale of Real Housewives of NYC last month, performing at Sonya's burlesque party. You can read about it on Sonja from RHNY's blog or click here to watch the episode (it's not the best quality, bear with the buffering).



There are also a bunch of pictures of me on the Real Housewives website from the episode, almost all of which are just me in pasties, haha! Also NSFW, FYI!

I'm excited to announce that I'm going on a little tour in April! After the success of the NBC LXTV feature that aired nationally on my pin-up class (click here to see the video), Beauty Bar NYC is sending me on tour to 3 of their locations nationally to hold my pinup class during the afternoon, and then follow that up with a burlesque show that I'll star in, as well as all my favourite local performers in each town! It's really a dream come true! All my students signed up for the classes will get in free to the burlesque show, and even get a chance to get onstage if they want! I'm also offering special discounts to the class to anyone signed up for my newsletter, so sign up here and I'll send you info on how to register!

Here's the schedule for my tour:

Monday, April 4th: Denver, CO
Burlesque show lineup:
Bettina May
Miss Orchid Mei
hosted by Cora Vette
more tba


Tuesday, April 5th: Las Vegas, NV
Burlesque show lineup:
Bettina May
Cha Cha Velour
Renea' Le Roux
hosted by Vincent Drambuie
more tba


Wednesday, April 6th: Chicago, IL
Burlesque show lineup:
Bettina May
Lula Hoop-Garou
Deirdre Doll
Jeez Loueez
Scarlette DeVille
hosted by Jack Midnight


Looking forward to seeing you local kids out at my shows, and hope to get some of you in my class too!

xoxo
Bettina

Here's a fun Valentine's video for you all!

Me with the NY PIn-Up Club Valentine's photoshoot

If anyone knows how to embed a Vimeo video on here, let me know, sorry about the text link.

Here's a pic from the shoot!

I'm trying to make it to Viva Las Vegas this year for the burlesque competition, but I need your help getting into the top 4 and voting ends at the end of January, on Tuesday! I'd love your vote, and if you have a twitter or facebook I'd love it if you could get your friends to do the same!

Please click this button:



You'll need to scroll halfway down the page until you see this picture of me:



Click the vote button, and then - it's a hassle, I know - enter your email address and then confirm your vote by clicking the link they email you. I guess there's been a lot of cheating in the past so they gotta do it this way. You don't have to sign up for anything and they won't save your email address for annoying mailouts, I promise! But it would mean the world to me to get to compete in this contest and go to Vegas, so I really appreciate the extra effort!

Goodness, I can't believe I haven't updated since LAST YEAR!? Ok, so what is new since November? The big news, I suppose, is that I (or should I say my lawyer) filed my green card application in early December, so I should hear back sometime next month whether my application was successful or not. Think good thoughts for me! I'm going in tomorrow to get my biometrics taken as part of the application process, which means fingerprinting, retinal scans, all that good futuristic sounding stuff.

The approaching possibility of getting my green card also means the deadline to pay my very expensive lawyer is approaching faster than I'd like (though in all fairness, this guy was half the price of the other lawyers I approached in town, no wonder so few people sponsor themselves!). Now at this point, I'd like to remind all those people about to say "Why don't you just get married?" that yes, I know that was an option, but not one I could stand behind, nor would it be a guarantee of a green card. In an effort to raise the remaining money - just over $4,000 left to go - I'm offering huge discounts on my Pin-Up Class, and have lots of stuff for sale on my website, like t-shirts, 8x10s, and lots more, and you can also donate to the cause. I'll even send you a handwritten postcard of thanks in the mail for any donation over $10, who doesn't like fun mail? Anyways, click the link below to help out, it's GREATLY appreciated!

My Online Store

As anyone who lives (or has tried living) in New York City can attest to, making a go of it in this place isn't easy, and I've certainly had my share of hard times here, but I finally feel like I'm getting into the swing of things, hooray! It helps now that people finally realize I live here permanently now, and I'm not just passing through on tour, so I'm getting more bookings dancing, and my Pin-Up Classes are getting good notices now too, with this article in the Greenpoint Gazette about my last class at The Parlour Brooklyn, a beautiful Victorian style hair salon, and the New York Times is coming to my class this weekend in Manhattan at The Beauty Bar.

Here's a picture of me from the Greenpoint Gazette article:


This is the poster for my Beauty Bar class, which there is still space in if you want to take my class AND possibly be featured in the New York Times! Click here or on the poster to find out more about the class and register.


New York also has an amazing vegan community, and with that comes DELICIOUS food! I've been too busy eating to post as often as I'd like on my vegan food blog, but fortunately, almost ever good vegan I know has a blog on something cool and compassionate, and today I met up with James Koroni for the first time, who has a website called Enforced Arch that is specifically about dancers around the world who also happen to be vegan, so he's featured me a couple times. Look how adorable he is:



I felt like I was hanging out with a young and modern Gene Kelly, I love a man who can rock a bowtie and jeté when the mood strikes. Definitely check out his great website, starting here:

Foh Real? Faux Feathers!

I almost forgot! I'm trying to make it to Viva Las Vegas this year, which if you haven't heard, is the world's biggest gathering of rockabilly and mid-century vintage culture enthusiasts that happens every year, and so far, I've missed it every year, mostly because I've been touring or broke. So, while I'll still be broke this year after paying off my green card, I can't afford to miss it AGAIN! So I'm trying to get into the burlesque competition this year, because that will help offset the cost of getting there a bit, and so far I'm in the top 4, but I need your help staying there till the end of the month, so if you are bored at work, please click this button:



You'll need to scroll halfway down the page until you see this picture of me:



Click the vote button, and then - it's a hassle, I know - enter your email address and then confirm your vote by clicking the link they email you. I guess there's been a lot of cheating in the past so they gotta do it this way. You don't have to sign up for anything and they won't save your email address for annoying mailouts, I promise! But it would mean the world to me to get to compete in this contest and go to Vegas, so I really appreciate the extra effort!

Whew, marathon post today! Ok, I'll leave you with a recent live shot, more of which you can see on my facebook page.

facebook page