Kitty Obsidian is a proud Australian First Nations performer specialising in sideshow and fetish burlesque. Voted LGBTQIA+ Person of the Year at the Victorian NAIDOC Awards 2022, Kitty is a public speaker and educational facilitator for queer and trans rights, disability and body acceptance, and the intersectionality with their indigenous culture. As well as teaching at Bottoms Up Pole and Burlesque School, Kitty is the founder of Haus of Obsidian, an all BIPOC, queer drag family dedicated to mentoring and uplifting fellow artists.
Here’s their 21.
1. How would you define yourself in three words?
Groundbreaking, defying, fAborigional.
2. Who would play you in a movie about your life?
Tess Holliday.
3. What is your biggest strength?
Spite! Being told I can’t do things makes me push to break those glass ceilings even harder.
4. What is your biggest weakness?
Being chronically ill with a deteriorating genetic condition in late stage capitalism. It changes the way I perform day to day depending on how my body is faring.
5. When are you most happy and inspired?
When I’m mentoring and teaching baby BIPOC and trans performers. Especially seeing my fellow blakfulla babes gain confidence and shine!
6. What is your favourite on-screen burlesque moment from film or TV?
I have two! Charlie’s Angels 2 when Lucy Liu whips the clothes off Cameron Diaz to be hidden behind feather fans, and Imogen Kelly doing her iconic Marie Antoinette cake act on a TV show hosted by Paul McDermott. Both of these happened when I was roughly ten years old and are core memories for me.
7. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Never stop learning. You’re never too big or too experienced to learn from those around you.
8. If you could switch lives with one person for a day, who would it be?
Cynthia Erivo, because then I could sing all my fave broadway songs and use my platform to highlight the important activism causes I believe in.
9. What’s the biggest myth or misconception about burlesque?
That if you’re talented and you work hard enough, you will ‘make it’ right away, regardless of the political factors that might, in fact, stop you. Some of us take longer than others to cook; it takes time to build skills and professionalism, and that’s okay. This is especially true when you have to fight white supremacy and colonial structures.
10. If you could only perform to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A Little Wicked by Valarie Broussand – slow, seductive and full of fire.
11. What surprisingly useful things do you have in your show case?
I keep individual packets of sticky heat patches (to help with my own body pain) and they have been so useful to other people in the green room at almost every show!
12. Do you have a backstage ritual?
Not really; I do like to arrive a little earlier then call time to set out all my costume bits, but otherwise no. I do, however, have a post-show ritual! I call it the 3 Cs: couch, cat, cup of tea.
13. What advice would you give to new performers starting out today?
Treat everybody you meet with respect and kindness because you never know who will give you help and advice just for being courteous.
14. What is your proudest achievement?
I’ve been lucky enough to have some incredible things happen over the years, but 2025 was full of serious highlights for me – including winning Miss First Nation Australia and Mx Rubber Melbourne, headlining the Burleskiwi International Festival in New Zealand, being the first Aboriginal performer to make it on The Burlesque TOP 50 list, and seeing both of my mentees from House of Obsidian winning various titles and accolades.
15. What is your biggest regret?
Listening to the people who told me I would never make it in burlesque because I was a fetish performer and too fat/weird. For years I tried to be a classic dancer rather then being myself and thriving as I am today.
16. What is the biggest challenge facing today’s burlesque scene?
The rise of facism promoting ultra conservative ideals and a huge backslide of diversity in performance (and everywhere), coupled with the current economic problems (cost of living crises and terrible value of the AUS dollar), means that fewer and fewer producers are able to afford running shows, and venues are closing down.
17. If you could go back and tell yourself one thing when you started out in burlesque, what would it be?
Let yourself cook, babe. Take your time, be true to yourself, and for god’s sake don’t date your fellow performers. It’s always messy.
18. What is a cause or issue that’s very important to you?
I am hugely passionate about getting our blak burlesque legends recognised for the work they did. I have a personal mission to see Aunty Veronica recognised as a blak burlesque legend world wide. Aboriginal Australians were here doing burlesque during the golden era but have been forgotten, ignored and dismissed as if they never existed. I also believe it is incredibly important to have the mob (that’s our word for tribe) recognised for the amazing cultural work they do as burlesque and drag performers.
19. What are you currently reading, watching, and listening to?
I am currently reading, for the 4th time, Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fatphobia by Sabrina Strings. I’m watching Taskmaster (it’s my feel good show) and listening to the audiobook of A Language of Limbs by Dylan Hardcastle.
20. If you could share a dressing room with one performer for the rest of your career, who would it be?
Diana Devine – a trans, nonbinary, disabled performer from Adelaide, and a good friend. I love them so much and they’re the same flavour of AuDHD as me as well as physically disabled, so we speak the same language on what our bodies need to perform at our best. They’re an amazing, hilarious performer who is overlooked so much; I’d love them to be able to come travelling with me.
21. What would you like your life and career to look like in 10 years time?
I would love to be travelling internationally more and sharing my culture with people globally. The strength of my ancestors is so powerful when I’m performing and educating on stage. I’d hope to be writing more (as I write articles for various publications) and watching more mob burlesque babies killing it on stage.
Visit kittyobsidian.com and follow Kitty Obsidian on Instagram.
COMING UP: Kitty Obsidian is proud to present – The Fetish Fantasy Ball! A fundraising gala event raising much needed money for BLAQ and Vixen. This black tie fetish gala has live music, performances, an art exhibition, flash tattoos, kink play space and equipment, mini market, prizes to be won and more!