Biography

Josephine Shaker was born in 1917 but wasn’t impressed by the food so she went back and did it again in 1978.

The food had improved and by this time the Bedazzler was invented, a product which has given her many happy years of committing heinous crimes against polyester.

Her early ambition was to be the largest collector of unwashed clothes and lint until her parents told her to tidy up her room.

Searching for a new pathway to forge, she embarked on a series of short-lived careers including underwater chess, lego demolition and gumleaf origami. A severe lack of peers in each field forced her to broaden her amibitions. Also, gumleaf papercuts sting quite a bit. No wonder koalas are grumpy.

The simultaneous discovery of a pair of tap shoes and a love of drag caused her to swerve into the path of cabaret. She was hit head on and received terminal injuries to her ability to continue a normal life.

Escaping to Provincetown in Cape Cod for a summer, she was adopted by the Chicago Drag Kings and taught how to tie a proper bow tie and to swagger with intent. She picked up a collapsible hat in Boston, joined a burlesque troupe in Canada and, after cocktails and a brief love affair in New Zealand she returned to Australian shores with lots of ideas, clothes and cheap props.

Josephine founded ‘Baby take a Bow!’ burlesque troupe which produced amazingly irreverent shows between 2004 and 2006. The two highlights were ‘Amazing Disgrace’ – an irreligious burlesque sermon involved hula hoops and breakdancing reverends and ‘Burlesque Idol 2006’ which received a 5 star review and was the sleeper hit of the 2006 Melbourne Comedy Festival.

Since sailing from the shores of Melbourne in 2007, she has performed around the UK and Europe and is producer of ‘The Aviator Club’ – a really wrong cabaret show that debuted at the 2009 Brighton Festival and will be resurrected at a theatre near you in 2010.

You may have seen Josephine Shaker at:

- Europe -

  • Linz Pflasterspektakel, Austria
  • La Ghironda Festival, Italy

- USA -

  • The New York City Tap Festival
  • The St Louis Tap Festival

- Australia -

  • Melbourne International Comedy Festival
  • Melbourne International Tap Festival
  • The Famous Spiegeltent, Melbourne
  • The Butterfly Club, Melbourne

- UK -

  • Parlure Spiegeltent, Brighton Fringe Festival
  • The Old Duke Jazz Festival, Bristol
  • The Bongo Club, Edinburgh
  • The Pigalle Club, London
  • Boom Boom Club, London
  • Le Quecumbar, London
  • Last Days of Decadence, London
  • Café de Paris, London
  • Volupte, London

…and at any number of bars serving cheap liquor.

Josephine is currently teaching tap dance at the Shim Sham Tap Jam in London.