We chat to Kelly Ann in the lead-up to her last Melbourne show (for now, anyway) performing as Miss Kelly Ann Doll. She shares a glimpse into her passion, dedication and discipline as a self-managing artist and as a performer, in whom she is both her own best friend and worst enemy.

CORKER: Who is Kelly Ann and who is Kelly Ann Doll? 

Kelly: I think Kelly Ann’s the dreamer and Kelly Ann Doll’s the doer. Kelly Ann Doll is the part of my personality that I keep under wraps when I’m out in public. But once I’m on stage and that music and lighting goes up, it’s almost like I black out and she consumes me. 

CORKER: Tell us how you got into burlesque…

Kelly: After nine years of graphic design, I took the option to go poor and give dancing a go.

My first swing dancing partner and I separated when I was 18. Soon after, I got picked up by an underground burlesque producer and he booked me in to be a filler-dancer in the middle of a few acts.

At that point I had no idea what burlesque was. All he explained was we had to dress in suspenders and stockings … I had been dancing in poodle skirts and bobby socks doing swing for the last 10 years!

Then I just walked into this world and [pauses] I blushed. I felt like I was the last person to know about this. It was the best night of my life.

So I was hooked from that moment on. It was almost like a Dirty Dancing moment.

CORKER: Oh yes, you had your Baby moment.

Kelly: [Laughs] I carried the watermelon and I’m totally in now.

CORKER: You’ve been in Melbourne for the past six years, where you’ve been quite successful. What are you hoping to achieve elsewhere? What’s the dream from here?

Well it all starts from here. This is where the head, Kelly Ann, had to take over and pull Kelly Ann Doll out of Melbourne so I can start working on myself.

I’ll be on tour doing workshops all around Australia. I really believe that the way this scene is going to stay alive is to teach girls how hard it is really is. It’s not a glove-peeling workshop and it’s not a boa workshop. It takes blood, sweat and tears, and a lot of sacrifice.

CORKER:  What do you mean by “this scene”? How would you describe your art form?

Kelly: This scene, which is the best thing about Australia, is really the only one to fuse artists together. There’s rock’n’roll, punk, gothic, classic. In contemporary burlesque, there’s a crossover where we meet in the middle and support one another’s styles.

I do burlesque if I’m booked for [a performance], but if I’m not I can create whatever I want. I love my burlesque but I think it’s a dirty word at this point and I wouldn’t want to be called a burlesque dancer.

I do circus, comedy, teaching, dancing, duo, acrobatics, aerial… and there is no genre for that yet.

CORKER: You just can’t be boxed in, can you?

Kelly: Certainly not [laughs].

Catch Kelly Ann Doll in action tonight at 7.30 August 10 at Red Bennies for her final Melbourne show Attack of the 5ft Woman. For details, go to http://on.fb.me/mP4Xov

For all Sydney-siders interested in seeing her upcoming shows, visit http://on.fb.me/qXiKXN

Interview by Charisse Serrano. Photography by Matchless Photographs.