For 20 hot years of sweat and happy tears, The Cheesecake Burlesque Revue troupe has been blessing stages and audiences from Victoria to Europe. Longtime Cheesecake performer Champagne Sparkles has deep pride in their small beginnings, which built to who they are today.
“It started off as friends taking a workshop… [to performing] in a cramped living room…everybody’s jammed against the bay window and were just performing away,” she says.
The Cheesecakes have developed a reputation for being the campiest, hardest-working group in town, currently consisting of 14 people.
“Were planning a year to 18 months ahead when we’re doing shows,” says Sparkles. “We decide if it’s something we can take on… We’ve really developed a way of working together.”
Costuming, travelling out of town, and rehearsals can be intense with multiple schedules to work around. With shows such as Isle of Tease 2025 and, most recently, at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, it’s all hands on deck.
“[The previous] year we won so we got to do our step-down number [in Vegas],” says Sparkles. “We started planning before Christmas, deciding which act to do, ordering fabrics… and in January just hit the ground running.”
Sparkles says that some of the best parts of doing large-scale performances are the placements in the festival lineups that can offer a chance to sit back and relax.
“[The first day,] people are fresh, they’re super excited to be there, so the audience is just on fire [and] not exhausted after three days,” says Sparkles, “and then you’re done and you can enjoy the rest of the weekend.”
Community has always been a big source of support for the troupe, and they’ve found many ways to give back. Specifically, with a local organization that was established by, with, and for sex workers within Victoria. Peers Victoria has played a big part in lending a space for the Cheesecake crew to rehearse, and when it’s time to return the favour, they do it in style.
“We do a fundraiser show at the Belfry called Hot Pink,” says Sparkles. “I think we have done about 12 of them now. It’s been a really great connection… We’re happy to be able to support them.”
With more spaces in town closing, local performers have less places to perform and practice for larger opportunities and shows. Establishing connections and embracing diverse crowds has been a way to survive and support those who have had to pivot when it comes to producing and hosting events such as these.
“The Belfry is a great space. It’s not that easy to get in there and do a show, so we feel grateful that we get to be in that space once a year… We bring in a different type of audience so that [Peers] can connect to a different part of community,” says Sparkles.
The organic love for one another in this group has become a primary piece of comfort and offers the chance for vulnerability in a supportive way, whether that’s for solo or group performances.
“We have a feedback process that we use for our solo stuff,” says Sparkles, “and for one, two, or three people that really have that idea and are running with it… the technique actually comes from [burlesque performer] Indigo Blue and [burlesque conference] BurlyCon… making it actionable and useful.”
Sparkles says that the best parts of performing in this group and with others is when “we get to be crazy stupid on stage and be fully ourselves… and we present a full range of us.”
Watch out for the Cheesecake Burlesque Revue in 2026 with some fresh new acts and silliness.