Workshops & Masterclasses

📆 Sunday 1st September 2024

Pastie Making Workshop
⏰ 2:45pm - 6:45pm

✨ Book Your Spot Here ✨

Learn to make your own super-spinny, super-sparkly nipple pasties with in-house fancy nipple jewellery designer, Winter Greene!

In this 4 hour workshop you will be provided with all the tools and know-how you need to create your very own pair of fully rhinestoned pasties with tassels.

Winter Greene is known worldwide for their elaborate, luxe and one-of-a-kind nipple tassels. From classic snowflakes to bananas shaped like dicks, to jellyfish, circus tents and even gorilla nipples - this designer has donned many top performers tatas in the most weird and wonderful designs.

What you'll learn:

• Discuss different methods and materials used for making pasties

• Construct your own pastie bases

• Learn how to add decorations and rhinestones

• Learn how to make your tassels super-spinny

What's included:

• Each participant will create and keep their own pair of crystal tasseled pasties

• Each participant will receive a take home DIY rhinestoning kit to keep including glue bottle, crystalled rhinestone picker and rhinestone tray.

• All materials, glues, tools, tassels, and high quality crystal rhinestones will be provided in a range of colours for you to choose from

All you need to bring is yourself!

✨ FULL EVENT ✨ Book Your Spot Here ✨

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Coming from a background of music, theatre and the unholy union of the two, Winter Greene is an overly dramatic nerd with a flair for the gothic. After a lifetime of over-the-top facial expressions and the tendency to break into song and dance at the drop of a hat, it's only natural that this punk-rock weirdo would end up back on the stage. From ghoulish to glamorous, Winter has it all, assuming all you need is a glamorous ghoul.

📆 Sunday 8th September 2024

Solo Society - Performance workshop & peer review
⏰ 2:30pm arrival for 3pm start

✨ Book Your Spot Here ✨

What is Solo Society?

Solo Society is a safe space for emerging and established performers to workshop their acts in a small group environment. All participants must perform their routine and also provide feedback and constructive critique to each other on their performances.

Each Solo Society session is guided by our experienced Burlesque Artists/Teachers.

We start with a welcome introduction and a glass of bubbles on arrival.

Each participant performs their chosen routine, with a short time for discussion after each act. Participants are also welcome to request written feedback if desired.

Requirements: Each participant must perform an act of no greater than 5 minutes length. The act does not need to be 100% polished, however the act must be well past early development stage including at least 50% of choreography and beginnings of a costume (can be a fully finished act also!). Full stage hair and makeup is not required. All participants are required to submit a description of their act and music choice upon booking.

Solo Society participants will also receive an invitation to an exclusive Solo Society Facebook group for ongoing peer support and mentoring.

What previous participants have said:

"I would like to thank Poppy from the bottom of my heart for organising Solo Society and giving me this wonderful opportunity. I cannot recommend it highly enough if you are a new performer, or a seasoned performer working on a new act. For me, being able to perform my first solo act in such a friendly, safe, supportive, and most importantly collaborative, environment was invaluable. I walked away feeling 1000 times more confident than when I walked in just 2 hours prior. I also want to thank Domino for the amazing guest talk she gave. Her shared insights and expertise was incredibly helpful and I learned a great deal which I can apply directly to my upcoming performance. I also want to thank Poppy, Domino and my fellow performers for the helpful and constructive feedback they all gave me on my performance. I am excited about applying what I learned and the feedback I received to my act." - Miss Doe Rae Me

"The teachers were supportive and concise with their criticism and suggested things that I didn't know my act was missing.
I highly recommend it for any act that you may have as it's a good environment to get constructive criticism." - Mr Frenchie

"So much support... and so valuable. Highly recommended! ♡" - Allora Lustra

✨ Book Your Spot Here✨

📆 Sunday 22nd September 2024

Willow J Masterclasses with Willow J

✨ BOOK BOTH & SAVE ✨

Join the immeasurable Willow J for two MASSIVE workshops, and SAVE $$ when you book both!

🌟  Dance Your Sensual Spirit 🌟 
⏰ 2:45pm - 4:15pm

Awaken your erotic expression and let your energy flow with this 1.5-hour workshop designed to get you into your sensual body.

Working in a safe and supportive environment, you will explore Tantric Yogic techniques, movements of the erotic arts and old school burlesque bump n grind to free your sensual spirit. Connect your body and heart through exploring sensual movement allowing you to dance your expression your way.

Please wear comfortable clothes you can move in.

All you need to bring is yourself!

Book 'Dance Your Sensual Spirit'

🌟  The Fun of Playfulness 🌟 
⏰ 4:30pm - 6pm

Ignite your sense of play and FUN! Through a series of playful exercises, physical games and improvisations, you will explore how to bring life, joy and physicality to characters. Drawing from physical theatre, clowning and bouffon, the workshop aims to get you out of your head and into your BURLY being!

With the word Burlesque meaning: "an absurd or comically exaggerated imitation of something, especially in a literary or dramatic work; a parody," this workshop encourages you to step out of your daily self and into a larger-than-life OTT version of you. Whether that is a sultry siren or the bawdy comical clown, the character that lies within you is waiting to get out! Exploring exaggerated (or grotesque!) movement combined with ‘play', you will enter the workshop as you and exit as someone new! Come and find out just who (or what!) it is inside you that is bursting to come out and play!

Please note: Idiocy, stupidity, big fails and ridiculousness are very welcome!!

Book 'The Fun of Playfulness'

✨ FULL EVENT ✨ BOOK BOTH & SAVE ✨

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Known for her innovative and provocative acts, Willow entered the world of burlesque in 2002 as a member of the notorious, award winning neo-burlesque troupe Voodoo Trash Dolls. With passion and commitment to exploring the art of eroticism, Willow has been bumpin' her butt off and sharing her bawdy, comical and sometimes dark and twisted tales with audiences around the globe ever since! A story teller with a background in acting and training in many different dance and movement forms including tango, bouffon, clowning, butoh, and martial arts, Willow J combines these skills to create highly physicalised, unique, and larger-than-life characters.

A "mover, shaker and innovator" Willow has performed in 100’s of theatre, film and Burlesque productions including prestigious event such as Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender – Las Vegas (BHoF, 2013 and 2018), The London Burlesque Festival, Green Room Award Winning production, DasSHOKU SHAKE! (Australia, Tokyo and Osaka), The Aussie Flim Flam Japanese Burlesque Revue and The Australian Burlesque Festival (touring headliner 2018) to name a few! With a love of wild, strong and provocative women in history who have paved the erotic way, Willow created and directed two successful sell-out seasons of The Living Museum of Erotic Women (2014, 2015). Keeping in line with wild, strong provocative women, she is now the front person of the post-punk, neo-pop, theatrical feminist group The BandShe.

With a passion for teaching and sharing skills and knowledge, Willow can’t wait to bring her specialised workshop intensives to Maison Burlesque!

📆 Sunday 6th October 2024

Enhance Your Belly Dance with Joanna

✨ BOOK BOTH & SAVE✨

Looking to take your belly dancing to the next level? Join our Belly Dance Deity Joanna for two HUGE workshops designed to further your technique and performance!

🌟 Level Up: Skills & Technique (Intermediate Level)🌟 
⏰ 2:45pm - 4:15pm

You’ve accomplished the basics - undulations, shimmies, isolations. But what more is there to learn beyond this? Prepare to take your belly dancing to the next level with this introductory intermediate-level workshop. We’ll be helping to deepen your skillset, widen your dance vocabulary and share tips on how to continuously refine your technique.

In this workshop, you will:

• Discover how to add complexity to your movements with new layering techniques, and using your entire body to convey emotion.

• Engage in balancing exercises that enhance your ability to isolate movements and maintain stillness.

• Learn and integrate fundamental Egyptian folkloric movements to enrich your repertoire, and why incorporating folkloric movements are crucial to modern day belly dance.

• Combine all the techniques learned in a Raqs Baladi styled combination, as an example on how to weave these various elements into a performance-based context.

What To Bring: A hard-cover book for the balancing exercise (if you can’t provide one, we have some available to borrow). A notepad and pen for optional note taking.

Book 'Level Up: Skills & Technique'

🌟  Performance Mastery (Advanced Level)🌟 
⏰ 4:30pm - 6pm

For those looking to dip their toe into soloist stage performances - this one is for you! What's so beautiful about belly dance is that no two performer styles are alike. Individuality is a key aspect in performance, and exploring different facets can lead you to finding out what sets you apart from the rest.

Building on the skills from intermediate-level, the aim of this workshop is to prepare you for stage performance, and assist you in creating your own professional belly dance choreography. We will refine your technique and stage presence beyond the intermediate level, and into the realm of authentic performance. Not for the faint hearted, as you will be working with improvisation, quick thinking, physical endurance and musicality to explore your stage identity.

In this workshop, you will:

• Dive deeper into the artistry of belly dance by learning how to use tempos, musicality and dynamics to your advantage, and how to use emotion & storytelling to captivate your audience.

• Understand the advantage of using the entire stage to enhance your performance.

• Develop your improvisational skills with confidence - which are a staple in authentic MENAHT dancing styles.

• Integrate all techniques learned into a Raqs Sharqi combination, along with an improvisational section.

What To Bring: Camera phone to film yourself. A notepad and pen for optional note taking.

Book 'Performance Mastery'

✨ FULL EVENT ✨ BOOK BOTH & SAVE ✨

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Described as the equivalent to a firework on New Years Eve, Joanna is Australia’s own internationally acclaimed belly dance performer, instructor and powerhouse entertainer.

For over 25 years, Joanna’s experience in the performing arts has lead her to achieve proficiency in numerous dance forms outside of belly dance - including ballet, jazz, and musical theatre. She holds a Bachelor in Entertainment Business Management, as well as Certificates across music theory, performance and sound engineering.

Joanna’s love of MENAHT (Middle Eastern, North African, Hellenic & Turkish) dance has thrusted her into the international realm, where she has performed on festival stages across France, Spain and Greece. Her belly dance style is described as Oriental/American Cabaret, however she is known in Australia for her strong influences in musical theatre, queer culture and cabaret. 

With her technique based, culturally accurate and history driven teaching style, Joanna aims to encourage her students to find their niche and distinctiveness in belly dance. Her priority is to advocate how welcoming this dance form is of all ages, sizes, experience levels, and gender identities.