Berlesker: Handcrafted Literary Journal vol II | Page 32

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ew York-based Kenwyn Dapo
performs as Mistress B, a comedy dominatrix who specializes
in twisting naughty balloons. For
the last seven years, she has done
walkaround at Lips Restaurant,
“The Ultimate in Drag Dining.”
Over the last few years, she has
also begun performing at burlesque shows, in gay and lesbian
clubs, and in a number of adult
variety and adult circus shows.

S

ays Dapo: “My character happens to fall into a variety of
different categories: comedy, sex,
burlesque, drag, adult circus,
cabaret. . . . I didn’t deliberately
design it that way, but it seems to
have evolved that way. Regarding
the genre of burlesque, I consider
myself to be the comedy/variety
slot in a burlesque show. Certainly not “pure” burlesque, because I
am not a dancer and I don’t take
my clothes off on stage. My costume as Mistress B is a leather
bullet-bra corset. Machinery is
encased in the cups of the bra,
and I inflate balloons with my
fake motorized boobs. Mistress
B has a trans-continental accent,
and uses The Dog Whisperer’s
training techniques on humans.
She has big hair, tall goth boots,
and her thigh-high boots hold
balloons. In the entire costume I
probably stand 6’3”. The clientele
at Lips is primarily comprised of
very excitable bachelorettes, and
I have learned a lot about crowd
control, audience participation,
and improv. At Lips I make a
whole lot of balloon penises. I
enjoy using sexiness to make
people uncomfortable, and then
laugh about it. So I guess when
I’m performing as Mistress B,
I’m using sex as a device to make
people laugh.”

KENYWYN
DAPO
A.K.A.

Mistress
B

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Sonya Rokes
Jamie Midley
Sonya Rokes