as well. My idols are women like Josephine Baker, Eleanor Powell, Sally Rand, Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford, Rita Haywor th, Jewel McGowan, Jean Veloz, Sandra Gibson, Marilyn Monroe, Gypsy Rose Lee, Cyd Charisse and Vera Ellen. I adore fashion designers from the period like Poiret, Vionnet and Schiaparelli. I draw inspiration from f ilms, photographs, illustrations and ar tworks from the jazz age.
What is your favourite performance accessory? Feathers! Ostrich feather fans are def initely my prop of choice. They're so popular in burlesque, but so few burly-girls really dance with their fans. When I see girls crudely f lapping their fans around, it breaks my hear t a little. An ostrich sacrif iced his feathers for us! The least we could do is make beautiful ar t with them.
Are there any hints to your Antipodean heritage in your act? Corks hanging from your top hat for instance? Oh my, I've never seen an Aussie-themed burlesque act! I'll have to think about that one. I think my angle for the WBG performance is just to do my best to show the London audiences how good Australian burlesque can be! Since it's my f irst performance in London, I thought I would do one of my classic acts, instead of a novelty number, to show the London audiences what I'm really all about. It will be a bluesy dance piece with my feather fans, and plenty of sparkle.
Seeing as you’re a swing dance champion we bet that you look good on the dancef loor – what will we see you dancing to? I love hot jazz and blues with a New Orleans sound, big band swing with a 1930’s vibe, and small combos from the 1940s. I DJ for dancers around the world, so I have a huge collection. I listen to a lot of vintage jazz, and some of my favourite ar tists are Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Fats Waller, Chick Webb, Jimmie Lunceford, Wingy Manone, Fletcher Henderson, Willie Bryant, Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Sidney Bechet and so on.
I'm also really keen to suppor t the musicians making a living from playing the music I love. Some of my favourite jazz bands playing around the world today are Jonathan Stout & His Campus Five, The Boilermaker Jazz Band, Meschiya Lake & The Little Big Horns, Gordon Webster, Cassidy & The Orleans Kids, Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks, Ondrej Havelka & His Melody Makers, The Bratislava Hot Serenaders, The Chicago Stompers, Gentlemen & Gangsters, The Rhythm Junkies, Home Jazz Five, The Palmetto Bug Stompers, Smoking Time Jazz Club, The Cangelosi Cards, Tuba Skinny, Baby Soda...I could go on all day! I have a website called
OhSoSwing.com where I promote jazz musicians and dancers, and you can buy their CDs and DVDs.
www.sharondavis.com.au
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