Burlesque festival to take place in Athlone

Athlone native Michelle Jinks is set to bring a new burlesque festival to Athlone this weekend.

The Heart Of Ireland Burlesque Festival will take place in the Dark Horse Bar and Kitchen, Sean Costello Street, from Friday, September 22 until Sunday, September 24.

Organiser and burlesque performer Michelle, aka Miss Memphis Shell, stated: "I have always had a big passion to try and make burlesque even bigger in Athlone so this time I went bigger and hopefully better and I have created 'The Heart of Ireland Burlesque Festival.'

Michelle is extremely proud to be able to create such a festival in the town. “As an Athlone woman I want to empower others, no matter your passion, to push the boat out and aim for your dreams. This hopefully will be an annual festival for the town and one I'd like to see grow in time, this will take a lot of support and effort but I am up for the challenge.

The festival is aiming to incorporate as much of Irish culture and history as possible. Michelle has received sponsorship from local businesses such as The Dark Horse, Tanya Cannon of A1 Cleaning, CJ Maintenance, Tana Creative Studio, Love My Hair Salon, Inksane Tattoo studio, Evermore Tattoo studio, Arch House B&B.

The festival has been recognised by Westmeath County Council. "This is a massive bonus to have Westmeath County Council on board with funding to support," said Michelle. The festival will have performers from England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Finland and France with special guest performances.

Michelle has been performing burlesque for seven years and has travelled all over Ireland performing at burlesque and cabaret shows and festivals such as The Dirty Circus, Coochie Club, The peacock Parlour, Puca Festival, Dublin Burlesque Festival the Electric Picnic and Miss Burlesque Ireland.

Michelle said she started burlesque "because it was always something that stood out to me where I could express myself freely and feel empowered at the same time".

“I have no dance or drama training but I took it in my stride in 2016 and hit the ground running. After only being on the scene a year, I decided I wanted to bring burlesque to Athlone and open a space where performers and audiences could express themselves and feel good about doing it where there is no judgement so I created my show 'Only After Dark' which is based in the Dark Horse every few months."

Visit www.heartofirelandburlesquefestival.ie to purchase tickets for The Heart Of Ireland Burlesque Festival.