Today we’d like to introduce you to Lady Mekaella Demure
Hi Lady Mekaella, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As Cliche as it sounds, I was a rebellious little feminist in the making despite a VERY Conservative British upbringing. A childhood love of old films like “Lady Of Burlesque,” “G*spy” “Zeigfeld Girl” & “Funny Girl” led to me becoming a theatre student (and later four-year theatre major) but was constantly met with “You’re a talented and fantastic actress but you need to lose weight and get a nose job” far too many times than I could count.
I cosplayed as a teen and worked at renaissance festivals, theatres & Pirate faires in summers, even picked up other nightlife entertainment skills along the way, as performers do, like fire eating/performing, stilt walking, and gogo dancing. Then I stumbled onto burlesque gigs around ‘09 or ‘10.
The transition away from the theatre as easy as it was still the flash & storytelling, with the by-women-for-women industry and a rich feminist history plus the vaudeville roots I was yearning for. I combined all of my skills from 15+ years of being on stage and backstage, with my cosplay hobby skills for costuming I just fell into this pleasant niche of Nerdlesque.
It all really just fell into place once I realized I had a purpose in this industry. The first time a woman came up to me after a show, braving the smell of fuel and soot my fire pasties give off, and thanked me, saying “I saw my body on stage, in you, I saw myself, that made me feel good. Like, sexy. Thank you”
IT JUST CLICKED.
I cried. I ugly cried all the way home. And this kept happening more and more and it really fueled my fire, pun fully intended. In every art except burlesque, I had never seen women who looked like me be empowered and sexy, unless it was the punchline of a man’s joke or a display of villainizing women as “wicked beings”.
I had never seen myself as attractive and here was the opportunity to not only be a storyteller, reclaiming my bodily agency & gaining confidence without compromise in the process, but to do my part in representation for audiences who needed to see openly Queer, fat, non-conforming, neaurospicy, nerdy women onstage doing things only reserved for those who didn’t upset the status quo. Then when I started producing, I took the next step.
In small towns that, for the most part, had never heard of “Burlesque” or had forgotten what “Vaudeville” was, I was putting on shows that featured every race, gender, and body type I could book on my stages, some performers with the same stretchmarks as me. I then also became more open about my journey in Sex Work, which is heavily stigmatized even by colleagues in burlesque who try to distance themselves from burlesque Sex worker historical roots.
To make a long story short; Producing & Stripping/S.W. helped me grow as a performer tenfold on and offstage whereas gaining a bigger platform as an entertainer helped me do more good as a small-time activist using my privilege to help others. Whether it’s for artists getting paid properly, or sex workers’ rights or LGBTQ+ rights, and so on and so on.
I just keep trying to grow as an artist, while still trying to make a difference, learning to find that balance. Now I travel as far as LA, New Orleans, and as far south as Miami doing my craft and being unapologetically authentic for those that can’t be. This was in the Before Times, pre-pandemic where the arts in FL were put on hold for a mere year & before a local government environment got heated around queer arts.
Now as nightlife showbiz comes back, & in a conservative State where Queer, Fat & Femme art is frowned upon it’s important we maintain visibility, and i do so by producing inclusive and diverse cast shows and even continue performing myself, for continued representation in vaudeville & nightlife entertainment with Danger Dames Productions. we’ll be seen and loud monthly & continue quarterly to yearly non profit fundraiser shows for various non profits/causes we align with ethically and morally, like our recent Banned Book Burlesque show, and Strike on Strip off union burlesque show here in Jacksonville. I often like to donate my tips to nonprofits like Equality FL, Black Lives Matter, Red Umbrella Org, & Food Not Bombs.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A little bumpy to go with that Bump & Grind! I always love encouraging new talent but I also have to be realistic; To be honest, I paid a price to be who I am where I am today and I haven’t even reached my final form yet, so to speak. There is a huge stigma about women being sexual, sensual, openly queer, and our authentic selves. And how dare we profit from it! The scandal!
And the societal misogyny runs truly deep; frankly, I know first hand. When I was outed to my family as the Queer Stripper, there was a lot of contempt, slurs, and slut-shaming thrown at me before being disowned for disgracing the “good family name.” I’ve lost jobs/opportunities, friends, and relationships. I had to defend both my burlesque shows and the Vagina Monologues at Ocala City Hall from sexism silencing women’s artistic expression. That was when some of the worst hatemail started.
Don’t even get me started on the general unwelcome online harassment & cyberbullying you experience regularly… and on top of that, it’s still hard work. It’s not all glam & glitter; it’s blisters, blood, sweat, tears, fire fuel & even fake bloodstains. The first thing I tell newbies of any gender when they come into our industry is that it’s not going to be easy. If you don’t look or behave or think within a certain criteria we have to work twice as hard and twice as much effort as some of our colleagues.
No one will hold your hand through everything as showbiz is indeed a business, and be prepared to have angry old men force you to fight them at city hall because they want to shut you down (True Story, and yes, darlings you CAN win!).
You will fight a lot of battles, but don’t forget self-care, kindness, and grace to yourself, and that you’re a warrior baddie!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I guess I am called “The Fangirl With Fangirls” and introduced often as Florida’s Naked Nerd because my most well-known acts are nerdlesque based. It is still mind-boggling to me that I even have fangirls and it is notable enough to be a tagline.
It is also so unreal still that my two most fun acts both won awards/titles: My Mad King George act (Inspired by Johnathan Groff’s performance in Hamilton that parodies my British heritage) and my Connie the Hormone Monstress parody act (a body and sex-positive act in the form of the Big Mouth character giving a sex-ed lesson).
I also have fans on social media thanks to my Anastasia Movie parody act, where I recreated the “Once Upon a December” transformation dress effect with an onstage quick-change before I turn into Rasputin that went a little smidge viral, as I am told. I love traditional vaudeville too since I love recreating history with my own neo twist, like with my fire-eating stripteases and bed of nails acts.
I love paying homage to the amazing history of showgirls that came before me, that paid far worse prices than I, and keeping that history moving forward with our generation. I even wrote a book about preserving some oral histories of showgirls (Especially Queer & BIPOC) who paved paths before this current neo-era revival to make sure they’d be remembered by newer performers who didn’t know how contemporary burlesque and nerdlesque got here today.
One thing I’ve been told that sets me apart from within my industry is I’m planting seeds for trees I know I’ll never sit under, I don’t want future performers to lose their grasp and love for the past in some ways.
But I think Nerdlesque is what I’m known for most with audiences, besides fire burlesque. I earned five medals in award winning competitions for live burlesque and my nerdlesque one I’m most proud of. And I am so grateful I can use that to keep pushing the envelope as a feminist artist, whether it’s burlesque, bed of nails, human blockhead or stilt walking with fire props. my latest tagline ties into my fearlessness of stigma and danger, for when you see me in sideshow the emcee announces me as “220 lbs. of F*ck around & Find Out” for a reason.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Seeing art in museums & live shows as a threatre student, and learning skills in community theatre, dance training, and from retired carnies & sideshow folk backstage at the Renn-faires & Pirate Festivals I acted in as a teen doing street theatre & Stage Combat. I learned so much while experiencing joy. I absorbed art, devoured it when I was younger.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ladymekaellademure.com & www.DangerDamesFl.com
- Instagram: @LadyMekaella
- Facebook: @LadyMekaellaDeMure
- Twitter: @Lady_Mekaella
- Other: TikTok: @LadyMekaella
Image Credits
Justin Drain Photography, Vermillion Visions, Stephanie Sperber, Swampwitch Photography, Mike Bell ^ Gary Whiley Photoes
