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| Jazida in "Music & Mayhem: Rebellion. |
Conceived, produced and directed by Jazida.
Louie, Louie – 14th February 2026. Reviewed by
BILL STEPHENS.
Canberra’s very own Queen of Burlesque, Jazida, has been steadily
building an international reputation for her work as both performer and
producer of shows featuring gender diverse performers.
Apart from being a headlining member of the Finucane and
Smith Collective, Jazida has performed at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las
Vegas in 2018, 2020 & 2021 and for three years in a row, been included among
the top 50 most influential burlesque figures globally in 21st
Century Burlesque Magazine.
She has headlined at the Perth International Burlesque
Festival, was a feature act at the Australian Burlesque Festival and headlined
and taught on the Australian Burlesque Cruise.
Her many accolades include a Canberra Critics Circle ACT
Arts Award in 2022 for her show “Exotic Hypnotica”; Outstanding Performing Arts
Award in the 2021 Canberra Local Business Awards; Best Dance in the 2020
Adelaide Fringe Festival for “Catch Jazida” and Entertainer of the Year in the Miss
Burlesque Australia Grand Final in 2016.
Jazida was nominated for ACT Woman of the Year in 2020 and currently
serves as a member of the ACT Minister for Arts Creative Council.
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| Jazida & Company - "Music & Mayhem: Rebellion". |
This latest show, Music and Mayhem – Rebellion, which drew a capacity audience to Canberra venue Louie, Louie, prior to performances at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, was created in 2023 with funding from the Office of LGBTQIA+Affairs. It was recently upgraded and redeveloped with funding from ArtsACT.
Accompanied by a three-piece band, Nonbinarycode, consisting
of The Hardman (lead guitar), Bass Guitar (Kiroy) and Drums (Rasco),and fronted
by lead singer, Ink Bits, who also shared compering duties with Jazida, the
show commenced with a rousing version of David Bowie’s “Rebel, Rebel” which
introduced the full cast resplendent in Vivienne Westwood inspired costumes which
set the tone for what was to follow.
Based around the theme of Rebellion, Ink Bits, reading from
a script, began a history of the rise of gay pride, commencing with an explanation of the evolution of the
LGBTQIA+ Pride flag, following which August Peach, a certified twerk
technician, performed an eyepopping demonstration of a skill for which there is
unlikely to be many competitors, to an original composition by Nonbinarycode
entitled “Gender Revolution”.
Another original song written and performed by
Nonbinarycode, “Hey Let’s Play”, was the accompaniment for a dazzling display by
Jazida’s Fabulous Fan Dancers (Jazida, Cherrybomb, Sara Martini and Artemis
Seven) manipulating rainbow silk veil fans. This quartet, in 2025, became the
original and only Australian troupe of performers to compete at the Burlesque
Hall of fame in Las Vegas.
Rocking a bright red outfit, thigh-high boots and moustache,
First Nations Drag artist, Tina Cox, the reigning Miss Photogenic 2025,
performed Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” backed by Jazida, Sara Martini and
Cherrybomb, carrying large pink triangles.
Following a riveting slow-motion entrance trailing a long
black train, Butoh artist, Icky, performing to a Moody Blues composition,
“Knights in White Satin”, offered a dramatic tribute to lesbians who supported
gay men dying of AIDS.
Jazida returned to the stage, for a nail-biting
demonstration of her extraordinary skill and professionalism with a fire-eating
act that threatened to set herself and the theatre alight, performing to the
Bangles composition “Eternal Flame”.
Not to worry, as the reigning Miss Burlesque ACT, 2024, was
there to quell the flames with her classy item, performed in a giant martini
glass to another original piece by Nonbinarycode, “Break Free”; following which
a former Miss Burlesque ACT, Artemis Seven, again raised the temperature with her
performance of a song by Garbage, “Queer”.
Icky returned to stage to terrify Cherrybomb with a
heart-stopping display of target whip-cracking to the Peaches epic “The Boys
Wanna be her”, before Ink Bits shared her personal story of addiction and
recovery in a heartfelt rendition of K Flay’s “High Enough”.
The entire cast returned to the stage to perform Nonbinarycode’s
original composition, “Shout out”, which despite the presence of Icky and
Cherrybomb with their angle-grinder guitars and Jazida’s breath of fire, felt a
bit of an anti-climax to an otherwise impressive presentation.
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| "Music & Mayhem: Rebellion" company. Cherrybomb - Jazida - Artemis Seven - Sara Martini - Tina Cox - Icky Photos by Tobias Price - Glasslens Photography |
