…the beautiful flame-haired events organiser-turned burlesque dancer.
‘ Miss Strawberry Siren’ seems like a fitting name for this beautiful redhead events organiser-turned burlesque dancer. She’s been in the game for just over four years now, but in the last year and a half, has decided to pursue burlesque full-time and has since been crowned Miss Burlesque Victoria 2010.
Her style of burlesque has been described as “hypnotic” and “peculiar” in the same breath, mostly attributed to her penchant to integrate circus acts into her unique form of striptease.
“I’m a circus performer as well, so I’m able to use my acrobatic and flexibility skills to make things a little bit different, and putting little tricks here and there that standard performers wouldn’t get to do,” says Miss Strawberry Siren, who is also known by her real name, Nyree Camden. The performer, who also produces her own burlesque events, has spent a large part of her life performing in circus troupes including the Flying Fruit Fly circus and touring as an aerialist in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe production. Her speciality includes the aerial ring, or the lyra, which Camden performs with great seductive effect mostly at Red Bennies as well as a slew of other venues.
Her burlesque career began with The Burlesque Quest, run by the renowned Hi Ball Burlesque. Then after a 12-month stint performing in New Zealand, Camden returned to Australia to run her own burlesque company, Cirlesque Enterprises, which not only offers classes but also produces events and will soon be a burlesque agency also.
“I’m trademarking ‘cirlesque’ and I’m teaching cirlesque classes, which is a bit of burlesque and a bit of circus, and showing how to incorporate tricks into your choreography,” explains Camdem, whose performing name, ‘Miss Strawberry Siren’ was derived from her childhood love of strawberry shortcake.
“You have to have a point of difference. Every burlesque show that’s happening has a theme, or has something and not just, ‘Hey come and watch some burlesque performers!’ because there is plenty of that around. But if you’re putting on an event and forking out the dollars and everything to put on an event, you want to make sure that people are going to really enjoy themselves and have a different experience.”
True to her word, Camden has produced two upcoming events that will surely forge a mark on your memory. First off is the Bare-Knuckled Burlesque And Bands event, which as the name suggests, has a rock-style feel to it.
“Bare-Knuckle is a bit of a rockier, edgier burlesque night. Hence [it’s] at the Tote with some good rock bands. It will be myself and Foxtrot India and Lux St. Sin,” says Camden. The event will launch on Halloween Day, and will run three times a year. “For the Bare-Knuckle Burlesque, my routines are set to good rock music like Queens of the Stone Age and Danko Jones,” she explains.
On the other side of the spectrum is Strawberry Sundays, which interestingly enough, was born out of pure chance. “I’ve always liked the name ‘Strawberry Sundays’ and I was writing it down one day and I accidentally wrote, ‘sundae’ as in the ice-cream instead of ‘Sunday’. And I thought, ‘that could work!’ making it a food-themed event,” explains Camden.
Strawberry Sundays will be held at Red Bennies in November and is, indeed, the only food-themed burlesque event in Melbourne. “It is like a three-course buffet of burlesque with a few little treats in there. It should be really fun and lots of mess.” It is also worth noting that Red Bennies is one of the only venues in town that has a shower backstage, which is why messier shows such as gorelesque are held there.
Where Bare-Knuckled Burlesque is edgier, Strawberry Sundays will bring out more of the lighter, tongue-in-cheek side of burlesque. And whilst licking olives and toying with fruit is a bit of an old school oral fixation form of seduction, Miss Strawberry Siren’s routine begs the differ: “I’m going to be doing an act called Strawberry Wine, and I am literally going to climb into a big bucket with a bunch of strawberries and press the strawberries with my feet, and then have red wine poured all over my body.” To go along with the theme, the other performers on the night have food names too, like Poppy Cherry, Honey B. Goode and Peachy Dream. They will be doing some acts with candy, and having candy hidden in some mysterious places.
To end, “Strawberry Sundays will be a bit more of a high-class dress up event, whereas Bare-Knuckle is jeans and T-shirts, have a beer, see some boobs and some dance.”
Bare-Knuckled Burlesque And Bands happens at The Tote on Halloween, and features The Strawberry Siren, Foxtrot India, Lux St Sin, Money For Rope, Stabbie Stabbie Kill Kill and Knave Knixx. It’s $20 on the door, 7pm. Strawberry Sundays launches on Sunday November 14 at Red Bennies and features Miss Poppy Cherry and Honey B. Goode. Cirlesque Classes are at The Burlesque Bar on Thursday evenings from October 14 – December 16, and are $15 if you do six or more classes or $20 casual.
