Sugar Kane

"I started as a striptease artist in January in 1999 in Copenhagen. A friend of mine knew someone who worked there occasionally and told me to give it a go. So one cold and rainy January morning I packed my g-strings and flew from London to Copenhagen for a month. Finally my dream was coming true! I had wanted to be a stripper since I was 17 after I had seen a striptease act in a local bar back home in Finland. She made such a huge impact on me: she was so confident on stage and I loved the way she teased the audience of men with their eyes glued to this woman. She had fun with it and left the stage like a goddess. 

The club in Copenhagen had a small stage that you entered from behind a mirror door. You put on the music (CD's back then!) and off you went. I was very nervous when I first entered the stage and got my timing all messed up. This meant that the music stopped and I still had my clothes on! lol! I just did not know what to do and I apologised to the audience and exited the stage through the same mirror I had come in. Thinking about this now makes me chuckle! I built my confidence with each performance and learned how to move by watching the other girls and enjoying the music. My friend also gave me some tips which were incredibly valuable. Unfortunately, I was ganged upon by a group of nasty girls who for example, locked me out of our apartment in the middle of the night. I was out in the freezing January weather for a couple of hours constantly banging the door for them to let me in. Luckily a girl from the neighbouring apartment opened her door so that I could get in and use the phone to call the person who had booked me to work there. He came and let me in. The girls laughed as I finally stepped inside the apartment. The bullying did not stop but I did not feel comfortable breaking the 1 month contract. Once I did get back home to London, I NEVER wanted to have anything to do with striptease again. Until a couple of years later (2001/2002) when I saw an audition for a burlesque revue in Soho in the Stage magazine.

I auditioned for the Raymond Revue Bar showgirls for the burlesque revue directed and choreographed by Gerard Simi. The club had been made notorious by the "King of Soho", Paul Raymond. However, he had played a pivotal role in the making of the history of British burlesque and striptease. For example, in the 1950's he toured with a show featuring nudes that were presented as statues. He later opened a member's only club in Soho in Walker's Court featuring international striptease artists. (His life has been depicted in a film called the Look of Love.) The current show was made in such a way that the stage would have a performer on stage at all times. Even when the large props were wheeled out to make room for the next act, such as the massive golden safe (my prop), there was either one or a group of performers on stage doing an act that lead to the next main act. This meant very fast changes for all of the cast and being very aware of the props being moved in and out of the stage. I performed there as Gold Rush crawling out of a large golden safe twice a night, 6 days a week. I worked there until the show sadly closed their curtain for the final time in 2004. The new wave of burlesque had not hit UK yet and so most who came to see the show expected to see something completely different. I believe this was partly why the venue closed but also because the venue had come to financial difficulty. Ironically a couple of years later, the venue started as 2TooMuch and also featured burlesque on its historic stage. Sugar Kayne arrived in 2005. Sugar Cane was a name of a classic burlesque act featured in the show. In the act a girl jumps out of a cake and performs a classic tease with a boa, long gloves, long dress and stockings. It is almost as if I wanted to carry on something from the show with me which was so incredibly dear to me. I still have dreams about being on stage there and I feel extremely honoured to have been one of the very last showgirls to have performed on that stage.

In 2005 I saw Immodesty Blaize and Walters Burlesque Show in London. I was mesmerised and I sent Immodesty an email in which I gave her my burlesque "CV". After meeting up with her, we became friends and business partners. I worked and performed with Immodesty for a couple of years in various shows and corporate events. One of my most memorable experiences from these times is from 2006 when I got to share the stage with Julie Atlas Muz, Dirty Martini and Immodesty Blaize in central London. Around the same time, the new coming of burlesque was spreading the wave of glitter  all over in the UK. You could see plenty of clubs and events popping up all over London and in the rest of the UK too! The wave soon took over Europe and my first international gig as Sugar Kane was in Germany in 2007. My first shimmy across the Atlantic took place during the same year when I performed in Las Vegas at the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend opening party. It was such an exciting time for me! I just could not believe lil ol me was meeting burlesque legends such as Satan's Angel, Dixie Evans and Marinka. 

Another pivotal burlesque moment for me was to represent Finland in 2009 at the BHoF debut category. I was so overwhelmed but so happy for the opportunity! I was the first Finnish performer to take part in the competition which means so much to me.

Burlesque is a very special art form to me and apart from performing, I started teaching burlesque workshops in 2008. My latest workshop was held in Finland in June 2025.

I am still performing internationally and will keep going as long as my body lets me!"