Cabaret Life, the "other side" of Bethany Alice Black
Posted by Cyrielle Blazikowski
During the week, she manages a theatre school for babies, and on the weekends she dresses-up as a singer on the stage of the London Cabaret Club. She will perform at the Halloween show this weekend, on October 28th and 30th.
Glitters, feathers, fabulous evenings and amazing shows: cabaret life is a dreaming place. In 2013, when she graduated, Bethany Alice Black realized her dream by becoming a professional singer. During the lockdown, in 2020, the entertainment world stopped its activity. So just came the idea of creating her own theatre school for babies. "I started a few online classes just to keep myself busy". And this is how BB Broadway was born: a school for children between three months and twelve years old. Sustainable, gender-neutral and all inclusive: "This is one of our keybrand values, we wanted to break gender stereotypes" says the 27 old artist. "We wanted to be representative of gender in a much better positive way".
"Represent families the way they look like in our day"
A way of thinking that she incorporates in her singing, dancing, drama or sensory music classes for children. Bethany wants to include parents too and "try to make a mom group and represent families the way they look like in our days", continues the singer. "Customers must feel comfortable to attend our classes and be who they want to be", she says.
Her school has four locations in London: Hackney, Crystal Palace, Battersea, and Bermondsey. In the future, the singer would like to continue to develop her business in other places next year. "Extracurricular activities are quite limited, so we wanted to offer in-school music classes". She is also planning to create partnerships with schools and clubs to offer features, and to develop her classes in SEN (Special Educational Needs) schools.
A song for a contract
"I am really happy with the balance I found now. My job is always about performance: by myself or teaching it, so I feel really lucky these days". In fact, before having her job in the London Cabaret Club, Bethany Alice Black did a lot of other jobs. "I worked as a teacher. I also worked for an insurance company for a while".
But in 2019, she decides to sing "I am a woman" in Smokey Joe's Café during her audition for the London Cabaret Club. A few weeks later, she was signing a contract with them. Since two years, after day work at BB Broadway, she quickly packs up and runs to the cabaret to put on a gorgeous costume, and she sing in front of an audience among the dancers. "This is the other side of myself, the glimmer side", she said. "What is lovely in the cabaret is that you are close to the audience, and you can interact with them. Every show is different. You never get bored because the audience has a different energy every single week and it make the show so much different. Anything can happen.", explains the singer. "It feels nice to be part of these special evening for customers".
Halloween show is coming !
Today, the singer feels "very lucky" of her situation. She keeps thinking of some special moments of her career like the West End Live in September or this year when she performed in her house town Maidstone. "My niece was just born, I was at home for Christmas and all my friends and family came to see the show. It was really nice." she reminds with emotion.
This year, at the London Cabaret Club, Bethany Alice Black works on the London Never Die show, inspired by the new James Bond movie. But, for the Halloween weekend, from October 28th to 30th, the 007's show will have a special twist, inspired of El Dia de Los Muertos, the famous Mexican fiesta.
Cyrielle Blazikowski
I am 21 and I come from France. I work for The Londoner since a few time and I am interested in sport, nature, art and especially meeting people ! I like writting but I also make videos.
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