2016’s Queen of Burlesque and star boylesque performer headline this year’s Vancouver Int’l Burlesque Fest!

Reigning Queen of Burlesque, Miss Exotic World 2016 Poison Ivory performs at this years VIBF.

It’s festival time in Vancouver. And perhaps no festival is more hotly anticipated than the tassel-touting Vancouver International Burlesque Festival.

This year, the festival is bringing in two top-tier headliners: Reigning Queen of Burlesque Poison Ivory and boylesque dancer Bazuka Joe. But that’s not all, as Canada’s longest-running burlesque festival hosts two nights, The International Cabaret (March 31) and Vancouver Uncovered (April 1), that feature visiting and local performers.

Local talent includes Cherry Ontop, Ginger Avenue, and Ariel Helvetica, among many others. Out-of-towners include Nadi A’Marena, Sugar Vixen and Valerie Veils. And those are just a few of the dozens of performers, solo and in groups, who will be strutting their stuff at the Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton St.).

Here’s a little more info on the headliners:

Poison Ivory – This New York City-based performer has a background in theatre and dance, according to misspoisonivory.com. Her titles include Miss Starlet Burlesque at the 2013 Hollywood Burlesque Festival, the Crystal Corset Award at the 2014 Pennsylvania Burlesque Festival, and Most Classic at the 2015 International Burly Picks Finals.

Reviewing a 2016 Poison Ivory performance, Tas DeVille wrote: “… Poison was able to electrify the entire audience, from far house left to far house right, hitting every mark with incredible sizzling, sultry energy. There is no mistaking her mastery of ability to connect with an audience, even in such a vast showroom. Poison Ivory had every person in that audience on the edge of their seat, waiting and waiting for that tassel twirl she kept teasing us with, so much so that when she ended her number in a fantastic display of twirling, the audience leapt to its feet to give her a well-deserved standing ovation. Nothing less than the best for Poison Ivory: my Queen, our Queen, the Reigning Queen of Burlesque 2016.”

Bazuka Joe – Bazuka Joe has headlined both as a soloist and with Chicago-based troupe the Stage Door Johnnies (the 2011 Hall of Fame’s World’s Best Group, The Burlesque Innovation Guild’s Artists of the Year, 2010) throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. “Trained in contemporary dance, theatre, and vault staff, he creates nostalgic, witty, and lively acts that are immediately accessible to every audience,” according to a write-up. “With a retro-masculine, ‘boy-next-door’ persona, Bazuka takes everyday fantasy and childhood memories as inspiration for his repertoire.”