Asheville, NC
3 days, 4 shows, 12 workshops, Infinite Opportunity

“In the decade I have done burlesque, I have participated and attended many festivals, pageants, and competitions in the artform. I can say with absolute certainty that no other festival has the look or feel of ABSFest. It takes all the beauty of burlesque and spins it into a frenzy of variety and delight, flavors of which will tickle the fancy of any connoisseur.   This is no marathon of pasties and G-Strings: truly, it is a melting pot of the finest underground talent the world has to offer!” Talloolah Love

Seven years into bringing the Vaudeville Revival to Asheville, ABSfest offers a four day immersion that no lover of these arts can afford to miss. Savor our 7th year as we voyage the Seven Seas in a quest for the Seven Sins, with satin-sparkled starlets and fish-eyed zombie boys! Nominated for Best Show in the Mountain Xpress Readers Choice Awards, ABSfest has attracted renowned circus and burlesque artists from across the US, as well as Scotland, Germany, and Japan. Damn right. We search the world for talent, and lure them to Asheville with the promise of YOUR LOVE. Bring it!

In a world now brimming with Burlesque Festivals, from Vegas to Amsterdam, ABSfest embodies the true spirit of Vaudeville, offering driven artists a supportive environment to network, and for a community that nurtures raw, boundary-pushing creativity. The festival is one of several annual productions of Future of Tradition, a seminal force in the underground Asheville arts community since 1999. Producer Lauren ‘Onça’ O’Leary is also the force behind the all-new Virginia Burlesque & Sideshow Festival, in Richmond, VA, May 31-June 2, 2013.