Beltane, Birthdays & Bodies in Bloom

There is a certain kind of electricity in the air when April turns its face toward May. A sweetness. A restlessness. A pulse beneath the skin. The earth remembers herself in this season, and so do we.

For those of us who walk with intuition, ritual, sensuality, and old knowing, Beltane has long marked one of the most potent thresholds of the year. Falling on the eve of May 1st, Beltane is the fire festival of fertility, desire, abundance, and life-force unleashed. It is the midpoint between spring equinox and summer solstice—a doorway where blossoms open, passions rise, and what was dormant asks to dance again.

To the brujas, mystics, and lovers, the beginning of May marks a time of understanding that pleasure itself can be holy. It is the sacred union of body and spirit, shadow and bloom. Bonfires were lit across the hillsides. Lovers leapt flames for luck and blessing.

Bodies painted in moonlight moved together in ecstatic celebration through bacchanals, Dionysian revels, and candlelit gatherings where music dissolved inhibition, and the body became prayer. Perhaps that is why it feels so fitting that today is also International Dance Day. What better offering than dance? Before doctrine, before shame, before performance became product—there was the body moving in devotion, in ecstasy, in grief, in joy.

In honour of that spirit, I am sharing a glimpse of one of my favourite creations: The Bacchanal, a production I choreographed and brought to life by Love Letters Cabaret. It marked the first time I carried a fully immersive ritual to the stage through clown, circus, burlesque, and my own erotic fever-dream of Dionysian rites, the delicious inspiration from the ballet, The Rite of Spring. A theatre transformed into a temple.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8c4f0b_9cc30e079d2f453ca37c015e3fef821d/480p/mp4/file.mp4

Like all living things, this piece has evolved over the years. Shed skins. Grown teeth...

So let this be a little whisper on the wind: she may rise again.

As Beltane approaches—and as I circle another year around the sun—I feel immense gratitude for every season that shaped me, every collaborator who trusted the vision, every audience who entered the spell, and every beautiful soul who continues to walk beside my work.

And because birthdays are a beautiful excuse to support an artist you adore, you can always treat yourself to my Burlesque T-shirt. Consider it a wearable blessing for rebels, romantics, and those who know glamour is a sacred art.

Thank you for witnessing. Thank you for dancing. Thank you for helping keep the fire lit.