ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Asheville’s annual burlesque showcase, the Land of the Sky Burlesque Festival, is back for its fourth year at the end of this month.
The 2025 festival will be held across three days and two venues.
This year, the schedule goes:
- “Geektastic,” Land of the Sky’s geek-friendly pop culture night, 8 p.m., Friday, June 27, The Grey Eagle, $30.75. Proceeds from Friday night door prize tickets will be donated to Pansy Collective, a local queer mutual-aid organization.
- “Just a Peak,” a burlesque performance featuring artists from all over the country, 8 p.m., Saturday, June 28, Wortham Center, $51.90
- “Burlesque Brunch,” a combination of “tacos and tassels,” noon, Sunday, June 29, The Grey Eagle, $30.75
For the uninitiated, burlesque is a theatrical combination of physicality, sensuality and a sense of humor brought to you by trained stage performers. The art form is historically associated with bucking expectations and subverting oppression.
“I feel like any person doing burlesque is like their way to push against those societal norms,” said Madison Jane, Land of the Sky co-producer and burlesque performer. “Those kind of things that are like, stay in this tiny box, and we’re like, no, we’ll be shiny!”
Each Land of the Sky show will have a different theme and dozens of performers to bring it to life. The festival attracts entertainers from all over.
“I think 17 states and Canada is how many different places,” said Rebel Vitale, burlesque performer and Land of the Sky founder and co-producer.
After sifting through hundreds of auditions, Jane and Vitale determined nearly 60 burlesque dancers who will be performing across the three nights.
Vitale herself will take the stage for “Geektastic” as Samara Morgan from “The Ring,” while Jane will perform Saturday night at “Just a Peak.”
A number of burlesque legends will also be featured among the selected entertainers.
“This is the first year we’ve brought a legend as a headliner. Shawna the Black Venus has been performing since the 70s. She’s a Black burlesque performer who now is retired and living in Hawaii,” Jane said. “Technically, she retired from burlesque in the 90s, but she’ll come and be a headliner or just be present at the Burlesque Hall of Fame and sign her beautiful old photos.”
Shawna and the other two headliners, Mr. Gorgeous and Fancy Feast, will feature during “Just a Peak” on Saturday night.
“It’s just so special to be able to represent or have somebody part of our festival that essentially paved the way for what we’re able to do today,” Jane said.
For a time, it was unclear if Jane and Vitale would be able to put on Land of the Sky this year at all. Burlesque was one of the many art forms impacted by Hurricane Helene when the storm hit Asheville last fall.
“The hurricane mentally shifted everyone. I feel like it was trauma, you know?” Vitale said. “So, at first we were like, do we do this? Do we even try to do this this year? Can we pull it off? Are we in the right mindset to pull it off? Because in the beginning, it was just, like, this is awful.”
After much deliberation, the producers eventually felt that they and the city were ready for the show to go on.
“There was a turning point where we were like, this city needs this. They need fun. They need tourism,” Vitale said. “And we need this. It’s a positive experience for us and makes us feel good.”
“It’s hard to remember that a lot of it is not our doing and out of our control, and that we deserve joy and we deserve community and coming together,” Jane agreed. “That’s really what has been fueling me. Just like, we deserve art, we deserve something where we can leave our s– at the door and come together and share what we love with other people.”
For more information about Land of the Sky, visit www.landoftheskyburlesque.com.
