Building Les créatures du tease
We don't usually talk much about the process. But this show has been different from the start, so we wanted to let you in on some of it.
A full production is a different animal ( see what we did there lol).
Most nights, you know what to expect from us: a line up, a run of acts, a night that moves fast and its fun its entertaining but its sometimes a mixed bag. Les Créatures du Tease is not that. It's one continuous production, with its own arc, its own world, and a cast who are building something together rather while still performing their acts separately. That changes everything about how we rehearse, how we build, and what we ask of the people involved.
A line up asks a performer to bring their best act, A full production asks something bigger: a throughline, a character that has to hold across the whole night, transitions that carry weight instead of just filling space. It's a different kind of work, and it's been a genuinely different kind of process to put together.
The physical world of Les Creatures du Tease
We wanted to create a world that shifted you from the glamour into something that felt outlandish and like the pantomime and parody that burlesque can be.
Every piece on that stage has been made specifically for this production and direct from Domino’s brain. It's slow work, and it's the kind of work that doesn't show up in a ticket price but absolutely shows up on stage.
This idea had been core from the start and our promo photo shoot, where on the day Domino whipped up some panto grass out of a cardboard box. From years of teaching and talking about how burlesque is pantomime this was the show to bring that to life. This idea has been replicated into large scale set pieces but keeping the same idea.
The original grass in studio at House of Lane. Thanks to some poster paint, an old box from a desk and some determination.
The new pieces have been made by our props team out of MDF and a hell of a lot of paint. The flats come in many sizes and have accompanying foot lights for the show.
This has been the labour of love over the last 2 months to create, and yes they are getting rhinestones on them as well.
We really wanted to be able to create a world that was distinctly outside by wasnt utilising the fake grass or plants due to storage and longevity. Also the number we would need for such a large space was outside what we want to store.
Grass design on MDF
Props Master Danica hard at work
Our storage room currently
You will have to wait to see it on stage for the finished rhinestone version
How do you cast when so many people have incredible animal acts?
Les Créatures du Tease is a wild, surreal, and seductively untamed cabaret burlesque adventure. Guided by our curious explorer-MC, you'll travel through a strange land filled with creatures.
Loosely inspired by The Island of Dr Moreau, the show taps into our obsession with animal imagery in performance and the primal instincts lurking beneath our polished exteriors. We're bringing together a core cast award-winning artists and giving them total freedom to bring out their absolute weirdest acts, giving their strange, experimental side just as much spotlight as those classic, jaw-dropping glamour numbers.
We normally space out these animalistic numbers within a lineup show, what would happen if we put them all together. But bigger questions arised, why would they be together? How does this not just feel like another show? And with so many wonderful acts out there how do you narrow it down?
After development sessions it was decided that the best way to group the animals was to create the world, and if we have a world that is these creatures in their ‘ natural habitat’ the idea of animals and human intervention cant exist. This is where out host development came in and ensuring that the central focus was on the animals retaining power and ownership. This couldn't be a zoo and it couldn't be something that was encroaching on ownership. The animals must just exist and our host guides the audience in this observation.
We started brainstorming who was out there and realised that the animals could settle into archetypes and this allowed us to create a narrative structure for our host.
Draft brainstorming
The idea of booking a large number of award winning artists to come and play in this space was also important, we want to showcase high quality burlesque in its weird wonderful glory.
Theres so many people we wanted to book but it was a clash with availability or the archetypes doubled up but this show is created to evolve and grow. And that it will.
Our first season starts on 29 September and runs for 5 nights.
Featuring:
Domino de Jour, Egson Ham, Ruby Slippers, Imogen Kelly, Gia Saphique, Sham, Winter Greene, Jet Stir and more, hosted by Pip Stachio its ready to get wild.
So the question remains , are you ready to surrender to the strange and let the creatures in.?
Hire Burlesque Performers Melbourne: A 2026 Guide
The first in our Tassel guide for audiences and those who want a bit more sparkle in their lives, today we look how to book the right burlesque performer for your event.
Booking burlesque performers in Melbourne is not just picking a costume off a rack.
Get the right artist and you have an entertained audience through narrative and timing, built on real stagecraft behind every reveal. Get it wrong and you get a nervous amateur reading the room for the first time, on your dime.
Why hire a professional?
Melbourne isn’t ordinary and we don’t do ordinary burlesque. We are home to The Australian Burlesque Weekend, The Festival of Tease and Melbourne Fringe, all offering high quality productions full of established performers. We have the largest burlesque competitions and we are home to a good number of performers who are ranked on the Burlesque top 50. So the bar is set high by people who do this for a living.
That gap between a hobbyist and a professional shows the second the lights go up. A professional has built an act with a beginning, a build and a payoff. They know their own tech rider cold: music cues, lighting, floor type, entrance path. And in a city where most decent venues won't put an uninsured performer on stage, they carry their own public liability cover. It might seem a serious thing to start with, but a safe performance keeps your event safe.
None of that is optional if you're paying for burlesque performers Melbourne audiences will actually remember. It's the line between an act and an accident.
What makes a performer worth booking
The best burlesque isn't a striptease with better lighting. It's a game of anticipation: when to pause, when to smize, when to drop a glove. Musicality and timing separate a performer who holds a room from one who's just moving to a track. Its about understanding what the performer has been booked to do and making sure they bring the right energy to your event.
Costume tells you a lot before the act even starts. Professionals invest in custom Swarovski-encrusted pieces, ostrich feathers and hand-boned corsetry built to move under stage lights, not store-bought sequins. It's a visible signal of how seriously they take the work. Perhaps though you aren’t booking a showgirl, you have a crowd that wants something different and you have booked a performer who is about to deliver a comedy character act that will have your guests in stitches. Every detail of this costume will also be perfectly planned and thought out to ensure that you are getting the best possible act.
Titles help too. A Mx Burlesque Victoria win means an act has already been tested against the sharpest performers and judges in the country. If you're short on time to vet performers yourself, a title is a fast, reliable shortcut.
Choosing your style
Not every event calls for the same act, and this is where most first-time bookers get stuck. Here is your cheat sheet:
Classic burlesque is the golden-era version: feather fans, gloves, a slow reveal set to big-band sound. Good for a corporate gala or anything that wants polish over provocation.
Neo-burlesque is sharper and more political. Pop culture, social commentary, character, costumes that break the rulebook. Good for an audience that wants to be surprised, not soothed.
Boylesque/ Drag kings brings male performers into the mix, with more camp and athleticism, and it's grown fast on the local circuit. A solid way to diversify a line-up.
Cabaret and variety blends burlesque with circus, live vocals or comedy, useful when you need a longer program that doesn't lose energy halfway through.
A CBD corporate gala usually wants classic polish. A hens night in Fitzroy or St Kilda can handle neo-burlesque or boylesque without blinking. For a full night of entertainment, mixing styles keeps the room engaged from open to close.
Most performers will also adapt costume or music to a theme, from a Gatsby night to something stranger, so long as you flag it during booking, not the week of.
Also talk to your booker, we are the professionals and we know all different types of audiences and what does and doesn’t work. Let us do the heavy lifting for your.
Why book through Tassel Events
Plenty of agencies are just a directory. We're not.
We produce The Australian Burlesque Weekend, Mx Burlesque Victoria and The Apprentease Victoria, which means we're not guessing who's good. We're the ones running the stages where Melbourne's performers prove it. That gives us a direct line to the artists actually ready for your event, not just the ones with the best photos or the most instagram likes.
We love making sure that you are entertained and looked after, and we can handle all the requests. Hosting an old Hollywood 60th birthday and want something glamourous and beautiful, or maybe its your cousins x files themed hens party and you want something that will wow and shock the guests. We have it covered.
We also handle the parts most people find stressful: tech riders, run sheets, venue requirements. You get a night that runs the way it's supposed to, without learning any of that yourself.
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Yes. Classic, cabaret or variety acts read as polished and professional, and work well for CBD galas or brand launches. However, most burlesque will involve a level of tease. Make sure to discuss the level of saucy that is appropriate for your audience
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Some seasons are are busy, three to six months is recommended if you want a specific artists.
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Usually yes, with enough notice. Raise what you need early in the booking conversation so that there is time to prepare
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Yes. You'll need a private space for the performer to change and store their costume, plus safe flooring and enough room to move.
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A raised stage is ideal. If your venue doesn't have one, you need a clear, non-slip performance area, with room for props like feather fans. Check the performer's tech rider for exact dimensions.
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Around five to seven minutes for a solo act. For longer entertainment blocks, book multiple performers or a variety show instead of stretching one act.
If you are wanting performers to roam or serve drinks please discuss this with your booking.
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It depends on the artist's standing, set length, training and costume complexity. Title-holders generally cost more. If someone will do it for cheap, they most likely will not have the training and expertise to handle to the job correctly.
Contact a producer directly for a number that matches your event and budget.