Stepping off Chapel Street and into Red Bennies feels like stepping through a portal; the venue’s narrow entrance acts as some mild-seeming thoroughfare, marking exactly where one set of values applies, then doesn’t anymore.
Stepping off Chapel Street and into Red Bennies feels like stepping through a portal; the venue’s narrow entrance acts as some mild-seeming thoroughfare, marking exactly where one set of values applies, then doesn’t anymore.
Having weaved through the traffic of swinging biceps and SUV prams, now here lies dimly and quietly of one of South Yarra’s more unique venues – with art deco-inspired walls and red-carpeted floors dull in the daytime and an impish gleam that returns with the night.
Vesper White is in daytime mode as well, dressed down and amiably frank. A far cry from Vesper White The Dark Star Of The Alternative Burlesque Scene; and certainly a far cry from Satanico Pandemonium (both the name of a 1970s Mexican "nunsploitation" film and the title of Salma Hayek’s exotic and bloodthirsty character in the Tarantino/Rodriguez cult classic From Dusk Til Dawn.)
"Satanico Pandemonium comes out and dances with the snake and captivates the entire bikie/trucker bar and then pours tequila in to Quentin Tarantino’s mouth via her leg," White sums up. "So I’m doing a tribute to that."
The tribute is part of Red Bennies’ own Dusk Til Dawn event – a live music/burlesque show/costume party happening this Friday. "We’ve got go-go girls, we’ve got things spurring it along and clips to watch – so there’s this idea of it being immersive," White says. "People can come and disappear into this sleazy Mexican bar for a night, be dressed up and party and see some really amazing things. Then disappear again."
That being so, the highlights of the night will surely revolve around performances from three of Melbourne’s most celebrated alternative burlesque artists: Frankie Valentine, Miss Nic, and White herself. Which brings us to the snake.
"It’s a diamond-cross-carpet python, I think? So it’s a big snake," White says rather nonchalantly, "I mean, I’d love to get a giant albino Amazonian python like they do in the film but it’s just not viable."
White describes dancing with a snake as like "a living tableau. The snake will move around you. You don’t want to manipulate it too much because they’re very temperamental," Of course. Despite the obvious risks of pissing a snake off, however, White is looking forward to performing with one at the Dusk Til Dawn show. "It’s one of the most incredible experiences of my life, like the way the snake moves on your skin," she enthuses. "It’s strange having a reptile on you, and it feels amazing with the snake’s muscles contracting and expanding."
I venture to mention my own childhood experience with snake petting – how the paradox of it being both stone cold and also very obviously alive particularly stuck in my memory. "Yeah! Like living coldness," White replies. "But it makes a nice juxtaposition with the fact that you’ve got this naked, warm-blooded woman as well. You have to wear very little clothing because otherwise the snake will get trapped, or try and hide in your clothes."
If a massive live snake isn’t enough of a draw card, Frankie Valentine and Miss Nic are hauling in some serious props of their own. For Frankie Valentine’s act, "We’re going to get a motorcycle in the venue, which will be awesome. A big black Harley. She’s going to rev it," White grins, adding, "We’re a little bit wary about the fact that the motorbike might take off into the crowd. But it’ll be safe enough, so…" White pauses a split second, "It’ll be safe," she smiles.
As for Miss Nic, "She’s really made a name for herself with this act where she bathes in a coffin of blood. It was made especially for the act," White explains. "It’s her alternative tribute to Dita Von Teese. Her sponge is a severed head; it’s incredible to watch."
White likens her experience of performing burlesque to dreaming. Accordingly, in costume party circumstances like those accommodated by From Dusk Til Dawn, "We’re like the conductors of this other world. People come in their costumes and then we help fabricate their surroundings." It is a notion that, back in the sunny bustle of Chapel Street, seems even less like a metaphor.
The From Dusk Til Dawn party happens at Red Bennies this Friday February 25, starting at the hour of 9pm. Tickets are $20/$25 and available at redbennies.com.
BIANCO DELANEY
