Cheek of It! Founder Zoe Charles
From the age of 5 I took ballet and drama lessons and throughout my youth I spent as much time on stage as I possibly could, when I wasn’t on stage I was making up show’s with my Brother and four Sisters, dressing up as Elvis to impress my Dad and stealing Mother’s makeup to create exciting grown up lady characters. I dreamed of wearing high heels and red lipstick and would steal these too and prance around the lounge to the sound of Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ (it was the 80’s after all) A defining moment of my childhood was when my Mother took me to buy my first court shoes at age 9, a fabulous pair of white slip on heels, they transformed me instantly into a Diva and it took about a week before my Long Suffering Mother slung them to the bottom of the garden in protest of my Madamish behavior!! But this did little to hinder my showgirl spirit.
I studied Theatre and Visual Arts at Brighton University and graduated with a BA hons in 2000 I then packed my bags and set off for London in search of glitter and good times.
I have been in London for the last 12 years and what an adventure it has been! I set up the Theatre company ‘Charles and Cook’ with a fellow graduate in 2001. We were both Enthralled by the glamour and style of the 1940’s and created theatre inspired by this era. We delighted our audiences with cheeky themes and old school charm and whether it was enticing an audience member down a candle lit corridor with the promise of ripe peaches or strutting in seamed stockings and heels we never failed to tease and tantalize anyone who dared to watch.
Along side this I trained as a Performing Arts teacher and specialized in teaching16-19s and adults, both in colleges and private workshops. I did this for 7 years and am still called upon to teach specialist classes in devised theatre and movement. I also had the opportunity as a performer to work with many exciting companies and events – The People Show, Ragroof Theatre, London International Festival of Theatre, The South Bank , The Brighton Festival, to name but a few.
As Charles and Cook our work was well loved and always talked about but didn’t really seem to have found it’s home, then in 2005 I went to a Burlesque Club which just happened to open up next to the theatre I worked in. Finally it all made sense and I realized Burlesque was the perfect place to express femininity, humour, cheekiness, glamour, tease and all round fabulousness. Having found my true home, I recreated myself as the Burlesque Star ‘Lady Cheek’ and have been wowing audiences all over the UK, Europe and the USA ever since.
2 years after visiting this club I decided to combine my performing and teaching skills and so the The Cheek of It! School of Burlesque was born. We now train over 700 women every year in the Art of feeling Fabulous both for fun and professionally, Yes, Professional Fabulousness!!! 90% of all our graduates entering UK Burlesque Competitions win 1st/2nd or 3rd place, We won the London Burlesque Week 2011 and have been quoted as the best Burlesque School in London by a number of sources. We are regularly featured on TV and the media for our unique style of training and the quality of our performers and we are now training women internationally including Italy, Serbia, USA, Croatia, Spain, Italy and Jersey.
Last year we also launched World Femininity Day on the 24/06/11 to acknowledge and celebrate femininity. The event was celebrated in NYC, London, Copenhagen, Zagreb and Rio De ’Jeniro and attracted the interest of 3032 people from over 73 countries on the day.
This year WFD we will be supporting The Orchid Project who are committed to ending Female Genital Cutting.”