upcoming events

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past events

Ongoing: Russian Banya Parties 12.31.14 - The Court of the Snow Queen 10.25.14 - Masquerade Macabre 07.12.14 - The Lost Circus 05.03.14 - Cantina at the End of the Universe 02.15.14 - Meet Me in Paris 12.31.13 - The Bootleggers' Ball 10.26.13 - Masquerade Macabre 08.09-11.13 - G&S 10th Anniversary (First-ever NYC Steampunk Weekend) 10.27.12 - Masquerade Macabre 12.31.12 - Black & White Masked Ball 08.11.12 - The Lost Circus 04.12.12 - The Drowned Ball 02.11.12 - Meet Me in Paris 12.31.11 - The Glitter Ball 10.31.11 - Speakeasy Dollhouse 10.29.11 - Masquerade Macabre 08.21.11 - Black & White & Red All Over Ball (Coilhouse Magazine BDay party) 07.16.11 - The Lost Circus 07.14.11 - Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing 2011 - Swing House 12.31.10 - The Bootleggers' Ball 10.30.10 - Masquerade Macabre 07.31.10 - The Lost Circus 04.24.10 - Swing House 2-Year Anniversary 03.07 & 21.10 - JaNk! 02.14.10 - The Vault of Golden Vapors 12.31.09 - The Bootleggers' Ball 10.31.09 - Masquerade Macabre 07.17.09 - Nouvelle Époque Cabaret-Salon 06.27.09 - Hobos & Mermaids on the High Seas 04.03-05.09 - Luminous Flux NYC - video art weekend 03.15.09 - Swing House 1-Year Anniversary 11.01.08 - Halloween Vintage Masquerade Ball 10.31.08 - Voodoo Culture Clash 2008 - Swing House vintage dance monthly 02.14.08 - Get Off...Line VI: Roaring 20th 08.18.07 - Radiate Fire! 10.31.06 - Halloween Parade Afterparty II: Devils n Dolls 10.31.05 - Halloween Parade Afterparty: Mardi Gras 06.21.05 - Exotica: Tiki Lounge Shindig 02.14.05 - Get Off...Line III: Say Cheese (and Chocolate) 02.14.04 - Get Off...Line II: Code Red

10.29.11: Masquerade Macabre Halloween Bash

Irondale Center, 85 S Oxford, Fort Greene, BK | Event on Facebook

A marvellous and mysterious event...a Halloween celebration of the extravagant and the grotesque...an all-night spectacle of atmosphere, costumery and diverse entertainments...an explosion of live music, dancing, dark arts, fire and late-night revelry, snake-charmed into an absinthe-fueled early-morning speakeasy.

Live entertainment: Everyone's favorite brass mayhem makers The Hungry March Band...Dark, danceable anthems of mischief by Shayfer James & his gentlemen band...Expressionist puppet ballet by the Royal Baritarian Players...Blasphemous burlesque by Fox Trotsky, Lewd Alfred Douglas, and Anja Keister...Aerial artistry by Summer Lacy...Feats of fire by Emily Season...Ukelele-meets-Shakespeare by Stav Meishar...Mad Weimar poet Gregor of Berlin...Victorian troubadour accordionista Karen Yair...Erratic opera theater by Begemot's Players...A demonic dance floor by DJ Joro Boro, Barney Iller & Sophybot...Villainous visual projections by Fictive.

Exciting diversions: Fantastical face & body painting by Painteresse Elyzabeth...Mystifying silver film likenesses produced in front your very eyes by Tsirkus Fotografika...Minuet with dead Marie Antoinettes by Modern Dance Awareness Society...Live party painting by Yao Xiao...Frighteningly accurate fortunes told by practitioners of the occult arts...Absinthe and other mind-altering potions by The House of St Eve (yes, t.h.o.s.e. cocktails...).

Bone-chilling collections in the cabinet of curiosities: Torture chamber dollhouse diorama by Cynthia von Buhler...Prints from the Cabinet collection by Madeline von Foerster...Arcane tarot paintings by the Mistress of Magic Katelan V. Foisy...Frightening finery by Gilding Primal Instinct...Haunting dream paintings of the self-tattooed lady Elisaveta.

VIP tea salon: 8-9:30pm - Join us for unlimited tea, cakes and sweets, and first access to art & diversions, while being entertained by special acts. Perfect your costume with an elaborate face or body paint design; get photographed while the look is still fresh; and marvel at the Cabinet of Curiosities, all before the crowds get there. An additional $20 gets you a commemorative Masquerade Macabre hip flask engraved with the monster hybrid Victorian couple from the event flyer.

Press: "Late-night absinthe-fueled revelry, with dancing, circus arts, and a Victorian-inspired dress code." - The Village Voice. "Denizens of the night should head to the Masquerade Macabre, put on by baroque party planners Gemini & Scorpio. Down absinthe until the sun rises." - TimeOut New York. "Absinthe-fueled debauchery." - Paper. "Vintage-inspired spectacle." - New York Press. "...collection of artists who revel in all things exotic, sensual and creative." - Examiner.

Costumes required. Inspiration: macabre carnival, aberrations of nature, cabinet of curiosities, dark Victoriana, evil funhouse, steampunk, Jan Svankmaier & Brothers Quay films, Freaks, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Think dark & creepy. Or dark & funny. Or whatever your Halloween costume happens to be. But if we have to ask, it's not a costume.

More on our artists below:


 

More on our artists:

Live musical acts!

Madcamp brass: Hungry March Band

As if they needed an introduction, Hungry March Band is a 15-piece brass marching band rolling out the sounds of New Orleans, gypsy/roma, India, jazz, latin, klezmer, punk and hip hop. They are a legendary NYC street brass march band, roaring out of Brooklyn in the anarchic style that has become their trademark. Put on your dancing shoes and break out the fancy threads because they've got a party going on - a blazing parade of flesh, blood, steel, brass and wood. They are the music of the people!

"This is a crazy, sexy, hip and fun incarnation of the brass band." - Public Radio Exchange. "Mardi gras beads swing, saxes buck, trombones extend. There's a cabaret feel, with wigs, goggles, pigtails, spinning bass drum mallets, fedoras; spoons rattle a washboard; there are epaulettes, a hula hoop, marching hats and a frilly red crinoline. The playing is tight and immaculate." - The London Times

Dark, danceable anthems of mischief: Shayfer James

Mr. James and his band are devilishly captivating and deliciously unusual. James himself is a man of bewitching grace, grisly humor, and whiskey-flavored wit, and his band is a miscreant consortium of pulsing grooves and rattling bones. A musical tightrope spun from guts and gin, strung above a pit of contagious melodies and grandiose arrangements.

Victorian accordionista: Miss Almira Lynch

Miss Almira is brought to the Masquerade by Karen Y. A talented multi-instrumentalist, Karen has performed with London gypsy punksters Drunken Balordi and tango act Tanto Tiempe, as well as with Bristol dub / reggae heroes Dappa Don and alt cabaret band Miss Cecily. Karen's performance credits include Shambala Festival (UK), Bristol Harbourside and Acoustic Festivals, and the Rocket Festival (Spain).

Ukelele meets Shakespeare: Stav Meishar

Stav Meishar is what happened when Tim Burton and David Bowie had a baby. A true renaissance woman, she's determined to leave no performance skill unexplored. A born Israeli, Stav moved to NYC to pursue her Musical Theatre education, and since graduating she's been working as a performer all over America. Though Stav's a traditional Thespian by training, she's been experimenting with different performance arts including ukulele playing, aerial dancing and poi spinning.

Demonic dance floor!

Irresistible ethno-mesh: Joro Boro

Former resident of the legendary Mehanata Bulgarian Bar in New York, Joro-Boro plays and promotes etnoteck - the dirty and uninhibited side of globalization as a forced feed back into a party without borders, a three-day Balkan wedding in a post-national state where noise, bass and desire detonate the conglomerate monoculture. He is a monthly host of MoGlo (Modern Global) on Radio New York, has toured with Balkan Beat Box, and has performed with artists ranging from Bassnectar to Tinariwen.

Eclectic beats: DJ Barney Iller

DJ Barney Iller is a stylistic jack-of-all-trades...and master of most! This "ridiculous collectro" flows flawlessly through Bmore beats, tropical bass, dubstep, jungle, showtunes, classic rock and hip hop, for a seriously effective, ultra party combo move. "Barney Iller has been makin peeps do dances they've never done before for many many years now...his sense of humor only serves to reinforce his sense of how to make you dance like you're feelin the holy spirit." - Whomptronica.

Eccentric sounds: Sophybot

Blending Cambodian psychedelic and Yugoslavian new wave with gypsy swing and classic oldies, DJ Sophybot throws down a massive concoction that harmonizes into an inexplicable hip-shaking madness. It's the sound of a good time, vibing across cultures and diving through languages, exploring eras in time and space with just one aim in mind: having a blast. A steadily growing 50,000-track collection keeps the mix fresh and the beats tight, whatever the country and whatever the style. Brace yourself for the refreshingly eccentric sounds of a music lover gone wild.

Wondrous entertainments!

Expressionist puppet ballet: Royal Baritarian Players

Lewd Alfred Douglas (Lawrence Gullo) and Fox Trotsky (Fyodor Pavlov) are puppeteers, artists, decadents and perverts extraordinaire. Together, they are the Royal Baritarian Players - a pair of stately inverts spreading patriotic and LGBT friendly art of their homeland, Baritaria, to the West.

Blasphemous burlesque: Anja Keister

Drawing from her background in performance art and stage productions, Anja Keister sets out to create original burlesque acts that explore the ideas of beauty, femininity, gender roles and the cult of pop culture. Combining spectacular theatricality with the bizarre, Anja thrives in the New York neo-burlesque scene, pushing audiences to question their own definitions of what is beautiful, what is sexy, and what makes them uncomfortable. Always a fan of the beauty of decay and deconstruction, Anja Keister hopes to change herself and the world with every garment she removes.

Aerial artistry: Summer Lacy

Strong and graceful, with a background in aerial dance & tribal fusion belly dance New York native, Summer Lacy has worked as a professional circus aerialist for over 5 years. Alongside teaching aerial acrobatics at Circus Warehouse, she's performed throughout the metro area, including performances at Webster Hall, NY Dance Parade, Galapagos Art Space, NY Hall of Science, Baruch PAC, Rakkasah Spring Caravan, The Bell House and Gotham Hall.

Exciting diversions!

Fantastical face painting: Painteresse Elyzabeth

Painteresse Elyzabeth will be offering her exquisite freehand Face & Body Artistry. From small sexy embellishments to ornate masks, from tribal to victorian, in black and white or vivid color, with glittery tattoos and special long-lasting phosphorescent Glowing makeup. Dare to become Illuminated! (You can reach the fabulous Elyzabeth at Painteresse*at*yahoo)

Silver film magic: Tsirkus Fotografika

RA Friedman's Tsirkus Fotografika is art, fantasy, time travel and alchemical wizardry. Tsirkus reinvents the modern portrait invoking the spirit of the itinerant tintype artists of old while mixing in retro-futurism a la Jules Verne and a bit of Dr. Caligari-esque mystery. It's instant art made on real silver film, an experience of collaborative creation, an encounter with the dark and perilous science of photography, and a chance to swim in the fiery waters of mad genius...All this is topped off by a sitting fee that belongs in the 19th century. "Steampunk Photography!" - Egophobia Magazine, Romania. "Friedman's frozen photos have the look of splashy oxidation - sometimes sexy and wasted, sometimes gloriously wretched, always stately." - Philadelphia City Paper

Live party painting: Yao Xiao

Fascinated by the energy and creativity bursting from partying crowds, Yao Xiao finds herself drawing in costumes at all sorts of exotic underground gatherings. Yao has sketched at Dances of Vice, Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art school, The Mermaid Parade, Pillow Fight NYC and Shanghai Mermaid. Her inspirations are among Toulouce-Lautrec and Al Hirschfeld: the observing artist in the show room. The process of her drawing becomes part of the show: people watch the act unfolding on her page as it unfolds on the stage. Originally from China, previously residing in Seattle, Chicago and Memphis, the 21-year-old artist is currently attending the School of Visual Arts for illustration.

Fabulous art!

Frightening finery: Gilding Primal Instinct

Gilding Primal Instinct lives in a macabre surrealist dreamscape nestled between the worlds of fashion and fine art. Headed by SoHo based metalsmith, Danielle Nicole Hills, the line challenges its wearers to step outside themselves and look at our fundamental nature as a species. Each collection examines different visceral human behaviors that remain constant, despite how highly evolved we become, and translates them into iconic archetypes that inspire a sense of sublime horror. A heavy focus on traditional metalsmithing techniques and a dedication to handmade craftsmanship ensures that every piece is individual and unique. Gilding Primal Instinct brings this all together in an exciting and unsettling combination of elegant forms, theatrical flair, and just a touch of brutality.

Tarot paintings: Katelan Foisy

Katelan V. Foisy is a visual artist, pin-up model, writer, and tarot reader living in NYC. Her fine art pieces have been displayed at The Worcester Art Museum, Ohio History Museum, Mae West Fest, MODA, Museum of Contemporary Art DC, as well as the A&D gallery in London. Her illustrations have graced the pages of the Grammy Awards, Scholastic Books, as well as appearing on the stage of Ensemble Studio Theater. She is the art director for Constellation, an astrology-based arts magazine, and last year released her memoir Blood and Pudding.

Haunting dream paintings: Elisaveta

Elisaveta's creations are often based on dreams, whether her own or her customers'. She has been drawing creatures that most people cannot see since the age of three. Today she brings these creatures to life on canvas and on skin. In her exclusive tattoo parlor Last Aid she takes on a small number of individually selected clients who remain in her hands for years to come. Her gift is extracting peoples deepest thoughts and desires and bringing them to life in a visual form.

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