Torch With A Twist
Detroit, Michigan, United States
Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Lovely Leilani & Ms. Chantal in a duo sword/belly-dance in TORCH WITH A TWIST - "The Grace Menagerie" at The City Theatre - Chantal Dixon
Flec performs Fire Spinning for TORCH WITH A TWIST - "Cirque Fest" at The Majestic Theatre - Douglas Schell
See scenes from years 1 & 2 of TORCH WITH A TWIST! - Dan Land & Lily LaRue
....Torch with a Twist has been performing at Cliff Bell’s jazz club and other local venues, and will take to the stage at the Music Hall’s Fringe Festival this weekend.
Founded by producer and vocalist Grace Detroit, a native Detroiter, the goal of the group is to bring Rita Hayworth-style glamour, Billie Holiday-style strength and "freak-show" circus theatrics to audiences who are tired of the status quo.
"Torch with a Twist began as an experiment," Detroit said. "All of the original cast are actual friends (of the Nevada-based Burning Man arts event) who happen to be amazing, freak-show, circus fire performers in their own right."
The jazz singer said unlike other common performance troupes which focus on burlesque, this concept is based upon the Vaudevillian variety-style shows of old.
"All of our dancers perform their acts accompanied by the six-piece Jazz band Gracy the Guys. Our musical selections represent the 1930s, 40s, early 50s - and many of the performers create their own costumes." ............. - Observer & Eccentric FILTER Magazine
(Cover Story!) ....Before the night is over, the scores of people who've jammed the tables and stacked the bar two deep in the midsized club will have seen jugglers, enjoyed a vaudeville comedy act, and heard numerous jazz and R&B numbers performed by a live band, all amid an audience of masked and costumed revelers, including the staff. Torch with a Twist has shades of P.T. Barnum ... - Metro Times
In fall of 2006, Cliff Bell's general manager Andrew Gyorke was looking for something different to bring people in on Sunday nights. Chanteuse Grace Detroit, whose jazz combo Grace and the Guys had played a few gigs at the plush haunt, sold Gyorke on trying a burlesque- vaudeville-circus-sideshow she called Torch with a Twist. The one-of-a-kind event took off, with its combination of jugglers, vaudeville comedy, jazz and R&B numbers, a fullfigured belly dancer who walks on broken glass, a sinuous dancer whose routines include live snakes — and that's not to mention the talented troupe of gorgeous burlesque dancers doing fan dances, balloon striptease and risqué shadowplay. "Torch Night" snowballed into a smash hit that packs the mid-sized club once a month, except when they take the show to other venues, such as the creepy carnival midway of Theatre Bizarre, where the show includes fire-dancers amid an atmosphere of outdoor revelry. - Metro Times Best Of Detroit 2008
Torch with a Twist is one heck of a fun time... - Between The Lines
Living life in the rock 'em sock 'em razzle dazzle fire lane seems to agree with Grace Detroit, who wears her surname like a badge of honor for the city of her birth. She lives here still, spreading molten D-love with fiery talent wherever she goes. - Model D
At some point in history, between the “goat song” of ancient tragedy and NASCAR bread and circuses, there was a mode of entertainment in this country so utterly perfect that (naturally) it couldn’t last. It went by a number of names — cabaret, vaudeville, burlesque, review — and it gave us names that are found or remembered today only on wikipedia. At least in Detroit we have Torch With a Twist, an ongoing and reverential homage to these shadows of yesterday. Performing chiefly at Cliff Bell’s and other venues, the troupe is a collective time machine without noisy whirring or electrical overloads. Just the grace of romantic melodies, the splendid shimmying of superb bodies and the wry humor of an optimistic spirit.
- Real Detroit Weekly
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
"Torch With Twist"
The Original Detroit Follies
Est. 2006
We combine Classic Jazz Standards with a variety of Circus & Sideshow acts & depending on circumstances & availability we produce the show to suit each gig & particular venue.
Our Band includes:
Female Vocalist/Mistress Of Ceremony
Piano
Upright Bass
Drums, Tabla & Diggery-doo
In Addition we can provide:
Male Vocalist, Guitar
Accordion, Ukele, & Violin
Sax, Clarinet, Trombone & Flute
Circus & Sideshow Acts Available:
Fire Breather, Fire Hooper & Fire Spinners
Magick & Illusion
Sword Swallowing & Knife Juggling
Contact Juggling
Belly Dancing - Snake Charmer & Swords
Tap Dancing
Hoola Hooping
Stilt Walkers
Contortion & Arial Acrobatics - Silks & Hoop
Burlesque
In Cahoots with Specialty Performance Artists:
*Satori Circus
*Hob The Troll
*Joshua Wilde Magic
*Detroit Party Marching Band
*Weird Sisters Circus
Links