00:00 Montage of Berlin club shots Music
00:22 Train going over bridge Music
00:28 Couple kissing Music
00:35 CU photos of Burlesque performer Music
00:47 Dana riding bike along street at night
DANA: This is a city that I felt I could accomplish things in, that would be supportive and nurturing for a creative spirit.
01:02 Shots Berlin at night
Berlin is probably the most affordable city in Western Europe and its a mecca for artists, musicians and everything because you come here and you can afford to be a burlesque dancer and make one or two shows a month.
01:18 Burlesque show and Int of Burlesque club Music
01:34 Dana behind bar
01:40 MAHER: Meet Dana Tucker, also know as Tallulah Freeway. Dana performing on stage
01:46 MAHER: A Canadian, when shes not working her bar job, Danas a burlesque dancer.
01:54 DANA: If you approach somebody and ask. What do you do? and they say, Im a guitar player or a painter or a photographer
02:01 SUPER;Tallulah FreewayDancer
In Canada the automatic response would be, No, what do you really do? What do you do to afford this? But in Berlin its just completely accepted.
02:15 Burlesque dancers performing
02:30 MAHER: Old style burlesque is back and Dana is part of a revival which is putting the tease back into stripping.Nine months ago she packed up her Wild Rose Revue in Edmonton for the bright lights of Berlin.
02:52 Photos of burlesque performers Glamorised in films like Cabaret, it was in the 1920s and 30s that Berlin gained its reputation as a city where anything goes.
03:04 CU Otto Dix painting
In these anarchic and economically desperate times leading to the rise of Hitler, artistic and sexual freedom exploded before the black curtain of Nazism fell.
Shot of Swing Band on stage
03:36 Today Berlin is showing plenty of its old form and for performers like Dana its a natural home.
03:52 SUPER:Wolfgang SinhartClub Manager: Berlin has a big tradition in cabaret and showgirls so Im sure its been around forever actually.
04:01 MAHER: And do Berliners still like that style of performance?
04:04 WOLFGANG: Yeah, totally, yeah for sure. I mean, who wouldnt?
Int Club, Wolfgang on stageDana performing
04:10 WOLFGANG: And now ladies and gentlemen the fabulous Tallulah Freeway from Canada.
04:16 MAHER: Wolfgang Sinhart is the manger of White Trash Fast Food, one of the citys most popular clubs and one of the venues Dana performs in
04:32 MCU Wolfgang WOLFGANG: Oh, its incredibly glamorous. In any art form people develop a certain style and I think she as her natural style, when she appears on stage its really like youve got to watch her.
04:57 Rockabilly band at flea markets, montage of flea market crowd
Dana walking through flea market
05:13 MAHER: Dana is performing at the White Trash again tonight and is out and about looking for a prop for the show. 05:26 DANA: Its one of the great things about this neighbourhood is the Mauer Park Flea Market that happens every Sunday. You just run into all sorts of friends. Its a gathering place to have a lazy Sunday afternoon, drink coffee, to catch up.
05:43 MAHER: In amongst the Bric-a-brac Dana discovers some opera gloves, the sort that take a long time to take off.To the uninitiated, and there are many of us out there, the word burlesque is often associated with strippers. Is that what its all about?
05:58 DANA: Its definitely not what its all about.
06:10 Dana riding on bike
06:15 Its a style of entertainment which we have wort of forgotten in this society and in this generation where everything is so accessible and so immediate. This is an entertainment with an element of surprise, with the unknown, with a little bit of whats going to happen next or what you want you may not be able to get all of.
06:39 Dana and Jewels on their bikes
MAHER: In keeping with Danas version of her Wild Rose Revue as a part striptease, part vaudeville, part carnival affair, shes teamed up with The Beautiful Jewels, a Russian sword swallower from St Petersburg.
06:59 Jewels on stage
JEWELS: It works in a very funny way where you try it and you try it and you try it, and then you try with feather and you try with toothbrush and you do this for weeks and months on end and then
07:09 SUPER:The Beautiful JewelsSword Swallower you start trying with a sword and then it only goes until about here but then one day all of a sudden, it goes. And you get so shocked.
07:24 Jewels on stage
MAHER: Tell me, is it true that you are one of only three women sword swallowers in the world?
07:29 MCU Jewels
JEWELS: I swear. Yeah, its true.
07:33 MAHER: How do you know that?
07:36 JEWELS: Because we killed the other five.
07:45 Jewels swallowing sword Its fuckin sharp.
07:47 MAHER: But as we discovered during rehearsals, sword swallowing is no laughing matter. While Jewels went off to blunt her sword
08:00 Lalavox on stage singing
MCU Lalavox
Lalavox, the Singing Mermaid, ran through her number for tonights show.
08:14 LALAVOX: I thing I fit well within the framework of burlesque. When is first performed as the Mermaid I made a point never to speak English. So I had a mermaid speak on stage.
08:25 MAHER: Whats mermaid speak?
08:27 LALAVOX: Mermaid speak. - Its sort of like TRRRR, TREEEEE, OOOP
08:32 Lalavox on stage singing
08:46 Montage shots Berlin at night and Burlesque performer
09:02 Int shots of Danas apartment.
09:15 DANA: Can you close the front door if it isnt closed? Just for the neighbours.
09:17 MAHER: Its a few hours before showtime and Dana is in her apartment putting the finishing touches to her makeup.
Dana putting makeup on
09:20 MAHER: Ready to go on stage?
09:22 DANA: Yeah, getting there. MAHER: Are you nervous?DANA: No. Not nervous anymore.
Now, Tallulahs come out. Burlesque performers on stage
09:35 MAHER: And finally, after all the preparation, the band strikes up and the show begins.
10:01 JEWELS: Its sort of an awareness of female sexuality that were trying to bring out there, an acceptance of women in every state and form.
10:34 Dana on stage. Sexuality doesnt have to be something thats sleazy or dirty but that it can be enjoyed and it can be empowering and fun and playful.
11:03 MCU DanaSUPER:Tallulah FreewayDancer
11:26 DANA: Berlin is definitely a piece of my life. Its a piece of my history and all the experiences that shape people. This is something that I can look back on when Im old and say I was young I had a burlesque career in Berlin, the most glamorous city in the world.
Dana on stage
00:22 Train going over bridge Music
00:28 Couple kissing Music
00:35 CU photos of Burlesque performer Music
00:47 Dana riding bike along street at night
DANA: This is a city that I felt I could accomplish things in, that would be supportive and nurturing for a creative spirit.
01:02 Shots Berlin at night
Berlin is probably the most affordable city in Western Europe and its a mecca for artists, musicians and everything because you come here and you can afford to be a burlesque dancer and make one or two shows a month.
01:18 Burlesque show and Int of Burlesque club Music
01:34 Dana behind bar
01:40 MAHER: Meet Dana Tucker, also know as Tallulah Freeway. Dana performing on stage
01:46 MAHER: A Canadian, when shes not working her bar job, Danas a burlesque dancer.
01:54 DANA: If you approach somebody and ask. What do you do? and they say, Im a guitar player or a painter or a photographer
02:01 SUPER;Tallulah FreewayDancer
In Canada the automatic response would be, No, what do you really do? What do you do to afford this? But in Berlin its just completely accepted.
02:15 Burlesque dancers performing
02:30 MAHER: Old style burlesque is back and Dana is part of a revival which is putting the tease back into stripping.Nine months ago she packed up her Wild Rose Revue in Edmonton for the bright lights of Berlin.
02:52 Photos of burlesque performers Glamorised in films like Cabaret, it was in the 1920s and 30s that Berlin gained its reputation as a city where anything goes.
03:04 CU Otto Dix painting
In these anarchic and economically desperate times leading to the rise of Hitler, artistic and sexual freedom exploded before the black curtain of Nazism fell.
Shot of Swing Band on stage
03:36 Today Berlin is showing plenty of its old form and for performers like Dana its a natural home.
03:52 SUPER:Wolfgang SinhartClub Manager: Berlin has a big tradition in cabaret and showgirls so Im sure its been around forever actually.
04:01 MAHER: And do Berliners still like that style of performance?
04:04 WOLFGANG: Yeah, totally, yeah for sure. I mean, who wouldnt?
Int Club, Wolfgang on stageDana performing
04:10 WOLFGANG: And now ladies and gentlemen the fabulous Tallulah Freeway from Canada.
04:16 MAHER: Wolfgang Sinhart is the manger of White Trash Fast Food, one of the citys most popular clubs and one of the venues Dana performs in
04:32 MCU Wolfgang WOLFGANG: Oh, its incredibly glamorous. In any art form people develop a certain style and I think she as her natural style, when she appears on stage its really like youve got to watch her.
04:57 Rockabilly band at flea markets, montage of flea market crowd
Dana walking through flea market
05:13 MAHER: Dana is performing at the White Trash again tonight and is out and about looking for a prop for the show. 05:26 DANA: Its one of the great things about this neighbourhood is the Mauer Park Flea Market that happens every Sunday. You just run into all sorts of friends. Its a gathering place to have a lazy Sunday afternoon, drink coffee, to catch up.
05:43 MAHER: In amongst the Bric-a-brac Dana discovers some opera gloves, the sort that take a long time to take off.To the uninitiated, and there are many of us out there, the word burlesque is often associated with strippers. Is that what its all about?
05:58 DANA: Its definitely not what its all about.
06:10 Dana riding on bike
06:15 Its a style of entertainment which we have wort of forgotten in this society and in this generation where everything is so accessible and so immediate. This is an entertainment with an element of surprise, with the unknown, with a little bit of whats going to happen next or what you want you may not be able to get all of.
06:39 Dana and Jewels on their bikes
MAHER: In keeping with Danas version of her Wild Rose Revue as a part striptease, part vaudeville, part carnival affair, shes teamed up with The Beautiful Jewels, a Russian sword swallower from St Petersburg.
06:59 Jewels on stage
JEWELS: It works in a very funny way where you try it and you try it and you try it, and then you try with feather and you try with toothbrush and you do this for weeks and months on end and then
07:09 SUPER:The Beautiful JewelsSword Swallower you start trying with a sword and then it only goes until about here but then one day all of a sudden, it goes. And you get so shocked.
07:24 Jewels on stage
MAHER: Tell me, is it true that you are one of only three women sword swallowers in the world?
07:29 MCU Jewels
JEWELS: I swear. Yeah, its true.
07:33 MAHER: How do you know that?
07:36 JEWELS: Because we killed the other five.
07:45 Jewels swallowing sword Its fuckin sharp.
07:47 MAHER: But as we discovered during rehearsals, sword swallowing is no laughing matter. While Jewels went off to blunt her sword
08:00 Lalavox on stage singing
MCU Lalavox
Lalavox, the Singing Mermaid, ran through her number for tonights show.
08:14 LALAVOX: I thing I fit well within the framework of burlesque. When is first performed as the Mermaid I made a point never to speak English. So I had a mermaid speak on stage.
08:25 MAHER: Whats mermaid speak?
08:27 LALAVOX: Mermaid speak. - Its sort of like TRRRR, TREEEEE, OOOP
08:32 Lalavox on stage singing
08:46 Montage shots Berlin at night and Burlesque performer
09:02 Int shots of Danas apartment.
09:15 DANA: Can you close the front door if it isnt closed? Just for the neighbours.
09:17 MAHER: Its a few hours before showtime and Dana is in her apartment putting the finishing touches to her makeup.
Dana putting makeup on
09:20 MAHER: Ready to go on stage?
09:22 DANA: Yeah, getting there. MAHER: Are you nervous?DANA: No. Not nervous anymore.
Now, Tallulahs come out. Burlesque performers on stage
09:35 MAHER: And finally, after all the preparation, the band strikes up and the show begins.
10:01 JEWELS: Its sort of an awareness of female sexuality that were trying to bring out there, an acceptance of women in every state and form.
10:34 Dana on stage. Sexuality doesnt have to be something thats sleazy or dirty but that it can be enjoyed and it can be empowering and fun and playful.
11:03 MCU DanaSUPER:Tallulah FreewayDancer
11:26 DANA: Berlin is definitely a piece of my life. Its a piece of my history and all the experiences that shape people. This is something that I can look back on when Im old and say I was young I had a burlesque career in Berlin, the most glamorous city in the world.
Dana on stage