CLEO VIPER, retro-burlesque at The Viper Room

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.

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.