Saturday Night Fan Dancer Zen with Nasty Canasta

Via Jo Weldon‘s fascinating Formspring page comes this lo-fi snippet of Dada neo-burlesque, courtesy of the cheekily brilliant “reigning Cheese Queen of Coney Island” a.k.a. “The Girl With The 44DD Brain”, Miz Nasty Canasta:


(NSFW, and if hysterical cackling and/or car alarms set your teeth on edge, better skip it.)

The Brooklyn-based Canasta, who’s an inveterate pop culture geek, first came to my attention when io9 covered one of her gigs as a co-producer and performer in the whip-smart Pinchbottom Burlesque, which regularly features theatrical nudie shows based on sci fi to Biblical to classical literary references from Doctor Who to Dickens to Star Trek. Whenever she takes the stage, Canasta strives to “create a dazzling spectacle of perplexing proportions.”

Perplexing to say the least! And irreverent, and sexy, and hilarious. If you think the car alarm steez is outre, wait until you get a load of her signature Groucho routine! (For the sake of our darling worker bee readers, it’s after the jump.)

7 Responses to “Saturday Night Fan Dancer Zen with Nasty Canasta”

  1. Andreas Fuchs Says:

    This is just incredibly brilliant. It has always been my theory that car alarms are, in fact, the mating songs of some hidden, man-made bird species. To see their mating dance performed on stage is absolutely thrilling.

  2. Aitch Says:

    A little history of the alarm dance in Britain

    http://www.eatock.com/project/alarm-dance/

  3. Mer Says:

    Aitch! That’s the most adorable thing I’ve seen in a while. Love the wee granny who bustles past, too.
    My main musical collaborator and I used to busk outside of downtown bars a lot when we were kids looking to make a bit of pocket money, and we did a “car alarm tango for accordion and violin” that never failed to get us showered with dollar bills and catcalls.

  4. whittles Says:

    That gave me such giggly glee. She reminds me of a burlesque performer I see around SF called Honey Lawless. Her cookie monster number kills me every time!

  5. Nils Says:

    That was truly brilliant, I love these kind of performances!

  6. Vivacious_G Says:

    Very talented and clever!

  7. Jerem Morrow Says:

    I never tire of burlesque. Even bad burlesque. But it brings me great joy to see someone do it so well. Captivating and perfect.