Morning folks. How are we all doing? This week I had a unusually free afternoon so I was faced with the following choices:
- Putting up the Christmas decorations
- Writing a blog post
- Clipping the cats claws
Luckily for the cat, those Christmas purists amongst you and ultimately my own sanity, I went for option 2.
So next up in my ‘Creative and Marvellous’ blog series – like the name? I literally just came up with that! I would like to present Jem Ayres of the Burlesque Jems
What does she do?
Jem is the wonderfully feathered facilitator of the Burlesque Jems – weekly dance classes for ladies who enjoy a wiggle and a giggle.
Blog readers meet Jem……Jem meet blog readers.
Jem Ayres- pink and fabulous!
You definitely don’t have to be Dita Von Tease or Darcy Bussell to take part. I should know because this is me at one of her classes and dancing at the annual charity cabaret!
Jem runs classes in 5 locations across Essex and Hertfordshire, these are weekly dance classes which amongst other things are great for gaining confidence and light exercise. The ladies spent 8 weeks learning burlesque techniques and a routine normally with a fabulous props like a fan or a boa. There is no graduation ceremony at the end of the 8 weeks. So once you finished one routine you move onto the next one. Suddenly instead of your Wednesday exercise class being about jumping around in a sweaty room trying to look at what the Zumba instructor is doing whilst at the same time trying not to get clonked by the person next to you; it’s about getting dressed up (although not compulsory) and spending an hour with your fabulous self!
Facts and figures
Established: 2011
Website: http://burlesquejems.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurlesqueJems/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BurlesqueJems?lang=en-gb
You tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqPoPlZlEHYKoZD3DFnkSHg
Email: info@bulresquejems.co.uk
Famous for: Hosting the only residential Burlesque weekend in the country
I am her VA and this is what I do:
- Managing new enquiries from all the ladies who are taking the first fabulous step into the world of Burlesque
- Organise the one off workshops and other events – the Burlesque Jems is so much more than a weekly dance class!
- Paying invoices and manage finances
- Sending out the weekly mailings and newsletters – honestly I think my career high was sending out an email entitled ‘Nipple Tassel workshop – still places available!’ Bet that was a first for the mailchimp subject lines……..
- Assisting to manage the annual student charity cabaret night, this year the Jems raised over £600 for the Little Havens charity, involving over 100 woman dancing . Believe me that is a lot of frilly knickers and boas!
- I also teach a weekly class myself in my home town of Colchester.
I am so proud to be introducing you to the Burlesque Jems, it not only has changed my life and body confidence for the better but it has helped lots of other ladies do the same. That is definitely something to get excited about right?? I will leave you with some photos of some fabulous ladies that I have had the pleasure of dancing with since my time with the Burlesque Jems.
Carry on creating (and dancing) folks…….