Cleo Viper, a young retro-burlesque dancer from Italy, appeared as one of the opening acts for The Michael Des Barres Band (see LINK) on 8.6.11 at the Viper Room in Hollywood.
I accidentally got one of the best shots I've ever taken, above, of her "Butterfly Metamorphosis" act onstage replete with flapping wings action.It was the first and only photo I took of her: one glance told me I wasn't ever going to get better than this. It's uncropped and unretouched (just color-balanced from its RAWfile to restore accurate stage lighting look.) I'm proud of this one.
My live photograph as well as her own studied look do indeed harken back to the Belle Epoque era, as I'm a devotee of Art Nouveau from my art studies. It's what my late grandparents hypothetically might have encountered, which would have been themed exotic dancing with perhaps a moral --a nod to freedom and free love perchance within the butterfly's casting off her binding cocoon--accompanying the strip tease.
The glittering costume unfurled to an eight foot wingspan over her lithe dancer's mainly unclad physique festooned with tattoos of, amongst others, SpongeBob SquarePants. Her graceful act remained entirely enjoyable throughout, even to us Hooters-eschewing hetero females.
I accidentally got one of the best shots I've ever taken, above, of her "Butterfly Metamorphosis" act onstage replete with flapping wings action.It was the first and only photo I took of her: one glance told me I wasn't ever going to get better than this. It's uncropped and unretouched (just color-balanced from its RAWfile to restore accurate stage lighting look.) I'm proud of this one.
My live photograph as well as her own studied look do indeed harken back to the Belle Epoque era, as I'm a devotee of Art Nouveau from my art studies. It's what my late grandparents hypothetically might have encountered, which would have been themed exotic dancing with perhaps a moral --a nod to freedom and free love perchance within the butterfly's casting off her binding cocoon--accompanying the strip tease.
The glittering costume unfurled to an eight foot wingspan over her lithe dancer's mainly unclad physique festooned with tattoos of, amongst others, SpongeBob SquarePants. Her graceful act remained entirely enjoyable throughout, even to us Hooters-eschewing hetero females.
Cleo Viper also entertains penchants for other retro eras, such as the Roaring '20s, incorporating Charleston flapper dancing into some routines plus of course accurate costuming to be shed. Check out her act, biography and touring schedule at the Cleo Viper site here LINK.
13 comments:
Several articles w/photos by others have been posted/published with surprisingly pedestrian pics of this subject. The differences in the one that I took: I bought into the fantasy she portrayed because I like Art Nouveau, I waited until she was less clad, I didn't use flash, and I knew how to time the shutter to get her flapping wings unfurled. It is very rare that I take a perfect photo like that, so rare that I stopped taking pix of her altogether after I saw it. Lotsa good ones, some great ones, but I know the difference between great and perfect. The last live one I remember taking was the one at the top of this link, a long time ago now (and of course I didn't know it was perfect until the proof sheet came back from the lab:) http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-lost-trail-of-black-cactus-stampede.html
Offered herein are some comments on this photo of the exquisite Cleo Vipe from Facebook.
Stunning.I've ordered my wings for the next show.
-Michael Des Barres.
Amazing photo. Looks like an art deco painting.
-Frankie Favorito
WOW this is incredible! This is a real art pic. it's mesmerizing.
-Laya James
That's fabulous Heather. Looks like a painting. Great photo.
-Elizabeth Taylor
(not the late movie star, I know this Elizabeth! - Heather)
heather always captures beautiful interesting photos......waiting to see more.........e
Magnifique!
Olivier Vuille
Incroyable dicteu!
-Noe Gold
superb shot
-Richard Meade
( a high end photographer himself-Heather)
LOVE IT!
-Eric Predoel
Nice :o)
-Krista Wood
wow, what a photo! amazing.
-Maria Damon
and the last word from Ms. Viper herself:
thanx a lot!! it's amazing! ♥
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