Contact & Staff

“Every last person I spoke with was genuine, unique and full of talent, and I immediately felt as though I wanted to bring them back to my hometown for performances. I made a large number of contacts and more than a handful of friends. Everyone was truly inspiring and made me work harder to put together a bigger, better routine for this year! I felt like I was home and did not want the weekend to end.” ~Maria Bella, Baltimore, MD

Press releases & social media by Gary of G Social Media

Twitter: twitter.com/absfest
Facebook: Americana Sideshow & Burlesque Fest
Contact: LaMadameOnca@gmail.com
Press Only Contact: Onça O’Leary (828) 232-2980

OUR STAFF:

Madame Onça O’Leary is a career entertainer, event producer, internationally touring performer, and internationally published author and artist.

She stages several major festivals annually, as well as myriad other events. Staged in Asheville, NC, her award-winning ABSfest: the Americana Burlesque & Sideshow Festival, is now is in its sixth year of bringing together artists from around the world to perform, study and network.

Onça’s annual festival TribOriginal: Tribal Dance, Music & Culture Camp has been nominated for Best Event, and her dance company Baraka Mundi as been nominated likewise for both Best Kept Secret and Best Dance Company. Onça currently travels the country teaching and performing song, dance and sultry antics of Luscious Cabaret & Balkan Ruckus with the Mezmer Society, and with the Accidental Circus, directed by Jester of England, Paolo Garbanzo. She illustrated and co-authored The World Spirit Tarot, an instant classic, which has been translated into Spanish.

It is her stalwart belief is that “The greatest expression of Rebellion is Joy.” www.hardestworkingwomaninshowbusiness.com.

Kisa Van Teasa – Mistress of Vending is an Ecdysiast Extraordinaire, Vaudeville Vixen, and quite the little humorist. Since she started in 2005 she has had the oportunity to shake her proverbial “thang” from one coast to the other. Kisa is the Adminastratrix and Co-Founder of Salome Cabaret, based in Knoville, TN. She is hell bent on spreading the Burlesque Gospel in the South. …and the only way you can have her handmade rhinestone shoes is if you pry them off her cold dead feet. This year she will be your Mistress of Vending for ABSFest 2012. You can contact her at kisavonteasa@gmail.com, or peruse her and the troupe at www.salomecabaret.com

Talloolah Love – Friday Creative Consultant on the Classics Talloolah Love known as the Queen of the subtle-T’s flies by the seat of her fringe all over the US, and as of March, The world!  She is the co-founder of The Artifice Club, and the moderator of the Atlanta Burlesque and Cabaret Society.  A group that meets once a month to hob nob with the glittery and fabulous of Atlanta!  www.talloolah.com

April LeQueen – Music Coordinator & Asheville Street Team Our go-to girl for issues of sound and street, she is at admin@queen-april.com. An old hand in the Asheville BQ scene, Queen April the Naughty Sovereign has been delighting audiences around Asheville, NC since the Spring of 2008 with a fetishy mixture of performance art, DJ antics, modeling, dancing, and comedy. Sometimes silly, sometimes serious, always naughty, she works with Theatre De Fetishe, Forty Fingers and a Missing Tooth and was a member of Bootstraps Burlesque. www.queen-april.com

Khalima – Assistant Producer, Sponsorship & Advertising, Volunteer Coordination The fiery, Richmond-based pistol-packin’ right hand lady to Onça, found at futureoftradition@gmail.com. She organizes most anything, wrangles loose ends, and is charged with helping create the epic we all came here for! Her own career as a performer, dance studio owner, and event producer has brushed her well for this, and she is prepared to help you have an exceptional experience, whether you’re in the front or back of the house. Khalima has also been known to do cartwheels to boost morale, forage for obscure delicacies to ensure everyone is well-fed, and chirp Patsy Cline tunes when the going gets rough. www.khalimadance.com

Cat Diesal – Stage Manager I has a whole lot of stage managing experience, most of which stems from her extensive training herding cats with, among others, the Peek A Boo Revue in Philadelphia, PA. A DC native, Cat Diesel is currently working on a PhD in Visual Studies at the University at Buffalo, and is beside herself with glee that she gets to come back for another ABSFest!

Nikki Martin – Stage Manger II An itinerant sound designer and stage manager from the Pacific Northwest who is currently based in the DC metro region. Her recent design work has been featured at American University, Baltimore’s Black Cherry Puppet Slam and the DC Capital Fringe Festival. She moonlights as a stage manager and audio engineer for the DC Puppet Underground and the National Council for Traditional Arts. Nikki is glad to be considered a frequent flyer at the Trapeze School NY-DC and she is about to quit her day job in order to become a rich and famous freelancer this summer.