Exclusive: SuicideGirls x Inked

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Since 2003, the iconic brand of alternative pin-up models, SuicideGirls, has hosted a pop culture packed and nerd enticing burlesque tour known as Blackheart Burlesque. The show features high-energy burlesque performances to cult classics like Star Wars, A Clockwork Orange, The Fifth Element, Fifty Shades of Grey, Adventure Time and much more, proving once and for all that geeks can be sexy as hell. Blackheart Burlesque features the choreography of Manwe Sauls-Addison, who has choreographed for Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Michael Jackson and the original dance routines of the SuicideGirls themselves. For over ten years, Blackheart Burlesque has been seducing the audiences of sold-out performances across the country and around the globe and it’s about time that the ladies who made the fantasies of nerd culture come alive get to share their experiences from performing and what really goes down on their six week long tour.

This past weekend the performers of Blackheart Burlesque made their rounds in the big apple, giving us at Inked the chance to get to know America’s favorite tattooed burlesque dancers with captivating photo shoot and a behind-the-scenes look at what it is like to be a part of the Blackheart Burlesque family.

“Touring with SuicideGirls is such an adventure.” says Liryc Suicide, a performer on the burlesque tour. “Picture a big sleep over with a bunch of tattooed girls, who love exploring and having fun at every moment.” The bond between this group of beautiful tattooed women is undeniably strong and the love and respect that they have for each member of the tour (as seen through the countless compliments that they showered on each other throughout the day) makes it clear that these girls are a family.

“It’s amazing how my my personality has changed from the moment that I started doing burlesque,” says Whiskey Suicide, on how performing with this group of girls has changed her life. “Before I didn’t think I was pretty, I didn’t think I was sexy, I didn’t think I was that good of a dancer but then I started doing burlesque and it’s this community of women who just love on each other. You go on stage and you hear all these cheers and whistles and it’s coming from the girls on the side stage. They’re so supportive and I was hooked.” One would think that a group of beautiful women all working in the same field would be competitive and there would be drama, yet it is clear that the girls behind Blackheart Burlesque are anything but catty. Each performer brings something different to the show and the burlesque performers realize that they need to work as a unified team in order to have a successful tour. Blackheart Burlesque is a show that encourages diversity, not only in the backgrounds of its performers but also the styles and individualities of the girls’ dance routines. Each performer gets the chance to bring her personality on tour, with solos that showcase everything from ballet to pyrotechnics, and they even get to personally choreograph the solos they perform on stage.

“My favorite part about performing is the conception of all of the new acts.” says Katherine Suicide, a fan favorite of Blackheart Burlesque squad fresh off the plane from the UK. “When I’m back in England and Europe I perform with fire and sparks, so I always try to incorporate that into all of my acts.” What separates Blackheart Burlesque from more conventional burlesque acts is that they work hard at merging both the new and the old styles of burlesque. They embrace the weird, the crazy, the nerdy, and of course the sexy sides of each girl in the show and for those who have had the chance to perform with Blackheart Burlesque, they say it has been an amazing opportunity to show audiences that they’re much more than a pretty girl with tattoos.

“I went to see their show, I was a big fan of it, and Katherine actually pulled me up on stage at their 2013 show. I went and auditioned after that and got hired to MC and dance on the tour,” says Sunny Suicide, a host and dancer with the show. “I’ve met so many amazing and fierce women from all over the world, it’s like this giant and cool sorority.” So while, the girls of SuicideGirlsBlackheart Burlesque may be both beautiful and talented, the really allure of attending a performance is watching how passionate each girl is to be a part of the show. And it is because of this passion that each girl has for pop culture phenomenons, being true to an effortlessly original sense of self, and the commitment to spreading a message of unified girl power that SuicideGirls Blackheart Burlesque will go down as one of the most influential burlesque performances of all time.