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Photo courtesy of Bukutgirl on Flickr.

By Joseph Kouvelas

On Saturday, August 8th, put your inner freak on a leash and parade it down the prudish streets of Ottawa, to Babylon Nightclub for 9 p.m.  Sure you’ll stop people on the street in mid-conversation, leaving their jaws gaping, but once inside La Carnivale Minuit, you’ll be one more fish in the proverbial sea.

A joint venture between Ottawa’s Crystal Ball Productions and the performance troupe, Rockalily Burlesque, La Carnivale Minuit promises to be a night for the splendor and celebration of performance, curiosity, and well, in a word, the naughty.

“La Carnivale Minuit is all about atmosphere,” declares Veronica Michelle, who was approached by Crystal Balser (of Crystal Ball Productions) about the idea of putting on a macabre carnival theme party for adults.

Guests are in for a voyeuristic buffet unseen at most Ottawa happenings.  Including buskers and body painters, the event will also begin with a “surprise opening act,” and will showcase Michelle’s Rockalily Burlesque.   “Between the music, the sights, the smells and the tastes, everyone is guaranteed to have an unhealthy amount of fun,” Michelle promises.

Michelle and a friend established the Rockalily Burlesque troupe in December of 2007, because, as she says, “aside from the annual Heart-On Burlesque Show, there was no burlesque in Ottawa.”

“We wanted to bring something new and exciting to Ottawa’s art scene and offer a creative outlet for women,” she explains.  The troupe draws on a variety of talents, from a breadth of disciplines to entice the emotional involvement of their audience.  From vocalists, dancers trained in numerous styles, writers and poets, to actresses and comediennes, the ladies are perfectly willing to shock you from where ever you stand.  But what about the boys?  As Michelle explains, Rockalily shows also include “men who perform in drag, and men that don’t.”

“A Rockalily show is a spectacle of different artists coming together to express their take on human sexuality,” Michelle says.  “The only running theme is tongue-and-cheek sexuality!”

Other attractions at the dark carnival include body painting by Korareefi; fortune telling by Lady Kwagal; and the unique live music of The New Impressions of 2 Fans.  Guests will also be enticed by the flavour of classic carnival eats and treats like fresh popcorn, lollipops and candy.  On hand to reprimand with a firm hand, Ms. Sugar Snap will dole out the licks at her spanking booth, newly added to the festivities.

The interested and the curious can purchase tickets for a reduced price (hey, they know how economically challenged we are!) of $12, or $15 at the door.  You can find these access passes at a number of locations around Ottawa, including: End Hits, Compact Music (both the Centretown and Glebe locations), NEON, Classixx (Carling and Bells Corners locations), and of course through the promoters.

With over 150 confirmed guests, La Carnivale Minuit is poised to offer a door to the underground of Ottawa’s porcelain-white exterior, exposing all to a true “night of mayhem.”