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amela Stephenson in Stephenson’s (other, metaphorical) rushes into the bar at the Millennium THE FULL of the -born, New Hotel in Grosvenor Square, central London, semi- does can get complicated, and not incognito in dark BRAZILIAN sunglasses, a black Pamela Stephenson didn’t writes in her 2012 memoir, The leather jacket and a low-slung want the music to stop after Unvarnished Truth: “How shall Pbaseball cap, then dumps her a stint on a television I portray myself? Wife, mother, bag on the table and promptly show reignited her passion psychologist, writer, comedian, actor, sends my bowl of nuts and . dancer, diver, gypsy, dreamer, rich girl, and inspired herBrazouka new stage poor girl, beggar girl, thief … ?” “Let’s just pretend that didn’t spectacular, Stephenson is known, of course, happen,” she says in her breezy as the wife of Scottish comedian Billy mid-Atlantic tones, pulling up a chair to Story Jane Cornwell Connolly, about whom she has written two the faint sound of crunching and ordering bestselling biographies, Billy and Bravemouth, “I got sidetracked in this dancewear shop in an been married since 1989, and weathered personal upheavals on both sides; the secret to their Sequins and sparkles poke from a corner of her they won small lambada competitions and money bag: embellishments for the costumes worn by the passion for lambazouk is a case in point: “My poor 16-strong cast of Brazouka, the spectacular Brazilian the disapproval of their father, a priest in the husband would be asleep and these sounds dance-drama show that Stephenson, a remarkably Afro-Brazilian Candomblé religion, they took would come wafting up and he’d come downstairs youthful 65, wrote and co-created two years ago, by the catchy 1989 hit song, Lambada says Stephenson of Connolly, who ended up hit at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, and now in narrating Brazouka for part of its Edinburgh en route to a six-week season on the the help of renowned British choreographer Gold Coast, Brazouka tells the story of celebrated A wise move, perhaps, on the part of lambazouk dancer Braz Dos Santos, who also Harley Medcalf, of Burn the Floor fame, the story Stephenson, who is also a paid-up psychologist 2000s showcased her skills on the television show lambada as a teenager while working as “BULGING BICEPS, TAUT STOMACHS AND Shrink Rap, interviewing celebrities such as a whole [lot] of Brazilian booty,” wrote one , late comedian and Edinburgh reviewer of Brazouka, a show that Gene Simmons from rock band KISS using various cracks in the wall of a local bordello to watch this features such Afro-Brazilian as samba and forro as well as lambazouk, a lambada danced to the because Joan was so funny she’d just joke her way hips and chest-to-chest contact, lambada had high-energy rhythms of zouk music and including incensed the Catholic Church, which tried to have she was very articulate about the painful stuff,” it banned; Braz and his older brother, Didi, who “Lambazouk is this sensual, showy dance with all these dips and arching backs, with the girls’ hair As lambada grew in popularity, sashaying ’s National Institute of Dramatic Art, through the streets, beaches and ramshackle bars Stephenson arrived in London in the mid-1970s, dabbling in political theatre and making her name on the BBC topical comedy show Not the Nine O’Clock and with women queueing up to dance with them, Brazouka is another (colourful ostrich) feather NewsL

16 | L crime 18 | PHOTOGRAPHY: (THIS PAGE) JACK TRAN (OPENING PAGE) MICHAEL REBECCA Stephenson, a plastic surgery enthusiast whose fear giving ashitaboutcelluliteorwhatever,” says of all shapes and sizes in these teeny bikinis, not you couldwalkontothebeachand seewomen commissioned hertogoBrazilandwritean three different levelswerebeingtaughtinthe Connolly havelivedsincethe1990s–“where terrible experienceinNew York” –wheresheand I didn’t lovethescene;ifyou’renotyoungand around waitingforthementoaskthemdance, they marginalised womenbyforcingthem tosit disappointed inthe could bemything,butIendedupfeeling “I wentto Argentina becauseIthoughttango the lifeafter passion, astylethatshelovedenoughtowant FINDING ADANCESTYLEWITHHEART AND that includedalivetourofBritain,Stephenson demanding –afteraneight-monthcommitment sky-blue frockto and animbleshowdanceperformedinskimpy judges withdancesincludinga Viennese waltz on whichStephensonappearedin2010,wowing forerunner of Australia’s phenomenally popularBBCshow(andBritish We’re talkingabout even thoughIstoppeddancingkindofearly,” she Festival BalletCompanyinLondon,andhad attending balletclassesanddancingonstage parents, shegrewupinthesuburbsofSydney else; the eldest of three daughters born to academic Stephenson wasadancerbeforesheanything my latesthits/becausetheylikelatextits. vocals andboastedlinessuchas“ Bush thatfeaturedRowan Atkinson ondeepbass England, MyLeotard and donnedabodystockingtoperformthesong “I triedsalsabut,althoughIlovethedance, “I’ve beenindanceaudiencesmywholelife, I tell her that I thought her Bush-esque gyrating Strictly (I’ve Had)TheTime ofMyLife milongas Strictly ComeDancing , ahilariousparodyofKate Strictly Dancing With theStars Woman &Home Ifoundoutthat People bought , the , ”

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Dos SantosatFortitude Valley’s Judith Wright to expectwhenshedancedlambazoukwithBraz 2012 Brisbane Writers Festivalaglimpseofwhat Brazil’s topdancers–givingaudiencesatthe brazouka.info/index.html Brazouka to positionhimselfinthewaterasifhe’s lying andwesawashark;hehidbehindme “One ofmyearliestdivebuddieswasRobin occasionally, comedians – an activity she has since down in the deep with turtles and whale sharks and, A self-confessedadrenalinjunkie,Stephensonhas a poker-faced a impression, leaning sideways and “I adoreQueensland,”saysStephensonwith fabulous dancing and a moving story”, we stand everyone that , JupitersTheatre, GoldCoast,Dec4-Jan18. Brazouka ticketek.com.auor ph 132849. is a great night out with va voom performers G of