Sydni Devereaux - Gold Beads

 


I've stated more than once in these mini-essays that my taste tends to run to neo burlesque. It's just the way I'm wired. But sometimes a classic act comes along and absolutely entrances me.  Since I'm writing about it, Sydni Devereaux's "Gold Beads" routine is obviously one of them.

I'll once again note the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend stage itself. The Orleans Casino showroom is where I saw this act, and that stage is HUGE, easily the biggest platform on which I've seen burlesque. I've heard performers discuss how it can swallow up even the most seasoned dancers who aren't used to its dimensions.  I don't believe it's possible for a stage to minimize Sydni's charisma, especially with an act this shiny and radiant.

Sydni has loads of stage presence, and in "Gold Beads" she knows when to take her time and when to move.  She sells moments of both motion and pause with ease. And THAT COSTUME.  It's simple in concept but its execution and use here are next-level.  Any shimmy, any shake, any twirl or transition across the stage, and it reads in the beads.  It's fringe that has evolved to its highest level of consciousness and has accessed the collective overmind. It becomes powerfully hypnotic the more you watch it.

Put all that together with a crowd loving every moment, and you get magic, alchemy, nirvana, whatever term for "damn good" you care to use. I'll just say it's golden.
 

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