Deanna Sophia, “the Artistic Mystic formerly known as Danger...”

 

...Is an award-winning, veteran performance artist hailing from the east coast where they were COO of Boom Boom Basics Burlesque & Performing Arts Studio from 2010-2019. They are a lifelong, classically trained dancer & student of media, with a Bachelors of Communications: Media Production from Virginia Tech, a producer of culture, an instructor of movement & intuition, a weaver of rituals and an all around Neo-Bohemian Art Witch. Since 2009, their elixir of high concept burlesque, folkloric storytelling sensibilities, and penchant for the twisted & taboo have mystified professional stages grand & intimate, from New York, to Toronto, Chicago, Dallas, Portland, St. Louis, New Orleans, Miami, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and their hometown, Orlando. Deanna is the 2012 “Crystal Corset Award” Winner of the Pennsylvania Burlesque Festival, the reigning voted #1 “Best Burlesque Performer” in Style Weekly's annual "Best of Richmond" poll, and Richmond’s 2016 “Entertainer of the Year”. Deanna is the only performance artist to hold two Richmond titles in striptease.

 

Deanna Sophia Danger has performed around the American burlesque festival circuit consistently since their festival debut in the 2010 “New York Burlesque Festival.” Other festival highlights include their performances in the 2013 - 2022 “Show Me Burlesque & Vaudeville Festival” in St. Louis and their International debut in the 2014 “Toronto Burlesque Festival.” Deanna has a deep passion for burlesque and vaudeville history, which manifested in a penchant for producing in historic theatres and venues across the mid-Atlantic region, as well as adapting vaudeville & early Americana history into show themes. In 2012, they produced “Byrlesque At The Byrd,” the first burlesque show in history held in the Richmond deco movie palace and 1928 landmark, “Byrd Theatre.” In 2013, their large-scale show series expanded to include the historic 1912 landmark, “Jefferson Theater” in Charlottesville, VA, which was produced to a sold out crowd in December of 2014, and the 1936 landmark, “State Theatre” in Falls Church, VA in 2015.

 

Deanna was also executive producer of the “RVA Cabaret,” a community-driven, benefit show series which raised over $19,000 in its 4-year run, for the upkeep of non-profit arts venue and Richmond historic relic, “Gallery 5.” In 2016 they debuted the “Butchertown Burlesque” series to Richmond, Charlottesville and Winchester, Virginia: a vintage-classic, speakeasy style, production performed alongside many of the mid-Atlantic region’s best jazz, blues, ragtime and Americana musicians including Blair Crimmins and the Hookers, The Judy Chops, and house-band the Butchertown Cats Orchestra. Also a diehard fan of classic literature and ballet, Deanna debuted two successful, full-scale, theatrical touring productions derived from classic works and reinterpreted with a modern vaudeville edge in the fall of 2015. Their co-production of “The Haunting of Poe” reworked the writings and fated life of Richmond godfather of horror, Edgar Allan Poe, starring in the leading role as Poe himself. Deanna’s solo-produced, “KnucklesCracker: A Roaring, Ragtime, Retelling” was a take on “The Nutcracker Ballet” with original live music from The Judy Chops. Both productions toured the Virginia, DC and Maryland regions. Upon realizing a noticeable gap in the Richmond nightlife scene for LGBTQIA+ identities, Deanna curated “PurpleLife RVA” a queer, immersive, performance art + danceparty featuring underground Richmond DJs and performers. The production ran two years at longstanding Gay owned & operated, drag, nightclub Godfrey’s.

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In their decade of tenure cultivating a thriving, independent, performing arts community Deanna Sophia Danger operated Virginia’s only full-service burlesque studio, which offered a full educational and community support program, with classes in Richmond, as well as weekend workshops in many East Coast cities. Deanna was director and lead choreographer of “The Boomettes,” the company dance troupe of “Boom Boom Basics,” which performed in several of Virginia's finest theaters: the Altria Theater (formerly the Mosque Theater), the Byrd Theatre and CenterStage in Richmond; the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, and the State Theater in Falls Church. Founded in 2012, The Boomettes appeared in the 2014 Virginia Burlesque & Sideshow Festival, the 2017 Smoky Mountain Burlesque Festival, and the 2017 Elbys Awards presented by Richmond Magazine. Deanna founded the Miss Pinup RVA Competition in 2016, producing three, successful events to celebrate femme pinup artists and to empower body-positivity through poise, positivity, charisma and retro-pinup aesthetic. The competition was the only of it’s kind in the region to be open to all-genders and center diversity in vintage pinup culture over vintage values. Deanna was also the producer of “Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School,” Richmond, VA branch from 2010-2014.

 

In 2020, Deanna Sophia Danger began subtly, but not so quietly transitioning from professional performer to “Professional Catalyst,” undergoing a two-year certification from U.C. Berkeley to teach survivor-led, Vipassana Meditation from a trauma-sensitive, anti-oppressive foundation as a means to cultivate sustainable, community wellBEing. Deanna is currently the Lead House Manager and chairperson of the DEIA Core Team at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, a serious bookworm, DIY vegetable gardener, avid hiker, nature nerd and Trekkie and can be found either reading books in parks or compassionately dismantling the whitecisheteronormativeablebodied patriarchy. Visit the Meditation page on this website for more info, upcoming beginner courses and accessible drop-in practices in meditation, and visit Deanna’s blog where you can subscribe to receive FREE tools & techniques for self and interdependent community wellBEing.