Some of the finest burlesque performers in the world descend on various venues around the city as the Pittsburgh Burlesque Championship Weekend runs September 8-11.







The events kick-off Thursday with the 5th Annual Pin-Up Perfection at The Parkway Theater. The event is a the creation of Pittsburgh's Boom Boom Bridgette. Sunday features Gabriella Maze and other legends of the stage teaming newer performers at the Golden Legend Champion Challenge at the James Street Gastropub and Speakeasy.









At the center of the four-night event is the Burlypicks 2016 World Championships. After 14 regional events across the US, plus Canada and Spain, Friday is presented by The Smokin' Betties and features the Master Medal Games at The Smiling Moose, with a special appearance by Bana Banana of Berlin, Germany. Saturday sees The Rex Theater return to its vaudeville roots with Burlypicks' Night of Best Acts, with performances by Burlypicks 2015 Champion Mika Romantic and music from Electro Cult Circus.





Burlypicks organizer Crystal Swarovski has been performing burlesque for 15 year years, during which time, she has taken the stage in 20 countries.







“When I first started performing, it wasn't quite as large of a scene as it is today. I was living in New York and was doing a regular theater show. I was doing Shakespeare with another gal who was a burlesque performer,” said Swarovski. “She took me to a show that she was doing, and I just thought it was the most incredible thing. She kind of mentored me and got me into it, and we were partners for a while. She's in LA now, and I'm in Columbus.”







In addition to performing, producing shows and events, Swarovski is also the founder of the website Burlesque Bitch.







“At the time I created it, there wasn't any kind of burlesque enthusiast websites, now there are a few, and there's magazines. When I first came up with it, websites were still kind of made of cardboard. I thought it would just be a great tool to get burlesque out there, and a great way to connect performers from different cities, so they can meet and travel and work together.”







Burlypicks stands apart from some other competitions by celebrating the breadth of acts showcased at classic cabarets.







“I feel like the community involves all kind of different kinds of performance with burlesque. It kind of involves a lot other scenes as well, burlesque has always involved comedians, and non-striptease acts, and drag performances and all kinds of stuff. I wanted to create an event that was able to feature all of those elements.”







“Everyone likes to win prizes and titles, so I wanted to have all of those talents up for awards together on the same stage. We don't have a king and a queen, we have just a winner. So I really like that as well, because it's a gender-neutral arena.”







After three years of holding the Finals in Los Angeles, the event has moved across to Pittsburgh, a choice influenced in part by Swarovski's partner for the event.







“Kat De Lac, who's partnered with me on the Finals, she's done a lot of work helping me create the Burlypicks over the years, and setting up the regional event in Pittsburgh. She runs a few events at the Moose and the Rex, which are the venues were using Friday and Saturday. It made sense to go from all the way on the West Coat to somewhere Midwest or East Coast. We're trying to get the performers from Chicago, New York, Ohio and the parts of the country that may not be willing to go all the way to California.”







While the Burlypicks World Championship would be noteworthy on its own, the addition two other major events offers a wide variety of events for any burlesque enthusiast.







“Gabriella Maze is the legend that produces the Golden Legends Champion Challenge. She wanted to create an event that was more of a mentorship program where more seasoned performers could mentor up-and-coming performers. She's a really good friend of mine. We met at a festival a few years ago. Basically, Gabriella and Kat are my best friends, so it really easily fell into place because what she was doing seemed to really compliment what we were doing.”







“Boom Boom, I don't know her as well as Gabriella and Kat. She's a really nice girl, and I know she's put this festival up a few years for the community of Pittsburgh. I thought, 'Why have two separate festivals and fight over it? Why not just combine them and have her link into Pittsburgh connected right on?'”







“There's going to be after parties all weekend. There's going to be a ton of stuff to do all weekend. All day Saturday, we're going to be at the Moose having workshops, so you can learn from some of the winners of Burlypicks titles from the past how to twirl tassels, or how to work the stage like a queen, all kinds of stuff.”





