Traveling queer burlesque troupe is taking over Denver

Four years ago, Viva Valezz started something sexy.

While living in Columbus, Ohio Viva slowly started falling in love with burlesque. At the time she was performing as a full time belly dancer, but she was ready for a change. So, she started traveling to Chicago and New York City to take classes and study the art form.

“Columbus didn’t have a thriving burlesque scene,” Viva said. “Burlesque has a huge following in the bigger cities and people who truly love burlesque have to travel to see good shows.”

As she grew more and more in love with burlesque, she decided that people all over the nation should have the access to enjoy a good, sexy show, starting with Columbus, Ohio. Viva pulled her resources together and planned the first ever Fierce! Queer Burlesque Festival, which was a huge success. Now, four years later, Viva is bringing the festival into our neck of the woods.

“I took these two things that really spoke to me, and made an entire festival out of it: being queer and burlesque,” she said. “Burlesque can mean so many things, and we have performers in Fierce! that show off a whole gamut of different styles.”

Fierce! is the first festival to honor the talents and uniqueness of burlesque performers across the globe who identify as queer, which celebrates a spectrum of age, race, ethnicity, class, body type, access/ability, and gender expressions. It is one of the only traveling burlesque troupes in the world, and the only one to highlight and celebrate queerness.

Fierce! brings in a range of performers from all over the nation, and 12 queers from Canada, who perform drag, classic burlesque, humor and comedy, and stripping. There are males, females, trans, gender non-binary, and even allies who command attention on the stage.

“There is no one way to describe a typical show,” Viva said. “Some are hilarious, some are really sexy, and some even get political. One of the performers this year will be doing something sexy with corn, which I’m really excited to see.”

Fierce! is not only about taking off clothes, however. When Viva started planning the first Fierce! festival, she did so in hopes of building a family. She wanted to create a network of people and performers who get to share ideas and connect through the love of burlesque. To say that she has succeeded is an understatement.

“All of the performers get along so well, and everyone is so open and accepting of one another,” she said. “Some of these people make life long friendships, but they only get to see each other once a year in some cases. It truly is a big naked party when we get together.”

As the festival continues to grow, as do the performers. This year, they had to expand and are hosting six shows in Denver rather than the usual four. But really, who is complaining about more naked queers?

Fierce! sashays its way into Denver on May 12, and will be sexing up our city until May 15. Check out the full schedule …

Fierce! Kick-off Party on Thursday, May 12 at at 10:00 p.m. at 3 King’s Tavern hosted by local king Onyx Steele, and featuring Denver headliner Kitty Crimson; tickets available at the door
Friday and Saturday night showcases at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret , shows at 8 and 11, featuring Faux Pas le Fae from NYC on Friday night, and Jeez Loueez from Chicago on Saturday night, along with almost 100 performers from around the country and Canada!; tickets now on sale at http://lannies.com/events/fierce-international-queer-burlesque-festival/
Fierce! Sunday Brunch at Ophelia’s, two shows during brunch at approximately 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., featuring Ace Phoenix from Pittsburgh (the 2017 host city) and emcee Crimson Kitty from NYC; admission free with brunch purchase

“I really want all the Denver queers to come out an show support,” Viva said. “It won’t be in your back yard again, so take advantage of it.”