Kay Licious at the 2025 Atlantic Burlesque Festival with the PHAB NS booth
About PHAB NS
​Welcome to PHAB NS: The Society for Preserving the History & Art of Burlesque in Nova Scotia. The organization is volunteer-run and led by experienced neo-burlesque performers with backgrounds in performance, production, and mentorship within the province’s burlesque community.

PHAB NS focuses on documenting and preserving the history of burlesque in Nova Scotia. This includes performance traditions ranging from vaudeville-era theatre and wartime revues to contemporary burlesque. While burlesque has been present in the region across multiple periods, much of this history remains under-documented.

Our organization’s primary project, Preserving the Legacy: The History and Cultural Impact of Burlesque in Nova Scotia, examines the development of burlesque as both a theatrical practice and a form of popular entertainment. The project draws on archival research, performer histories, and documentation of changing performance contexts over time.
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PHAB NS is developing resources intended for public access and research use. These include digital archives, oral history collections, publications, and exhibits, with the aim of documenting burlesque performance and its historical presence in Nova Scotia.
Who We Are
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Photo Credit Melanie Titus 
Miss Cadence
Founder & Project Director
Miss Cadence, once hailed as the "Maritime Queen of Burlesque", is a trailblazing performer, producer, and instructor with over two decades of experience. 

A 2012 inductee to the Canadian Burlesque Hall of Fame, she founded Halifax's Pink Velvet Burlesque in 2006 and later the Hamilton Burlesque Society in 2018, playing a pivotal role in amending local bylaws to support burlesque arts. Her dynamic career spans hundreds of performances in Eastern Canada and the US, with appearances in film, television, and magazines, and a long-standing commitment to mentoring new talent.

​Miss Cadence continues to shape Canada's burlesque scene with passion and innovation and she's thrilled to be leading the PHAB NS project to help preserve our community's history for future generations. 
Kay Licious 
Director, Legend Liaison
Kay Licious embodies glamorous ridiculousness and confident weirdness, blending vintage showgirl elegance with tongue in cheek charm. A Halifax based performer, Kay has been captivating audiences since 2006, when she made her burlesque debut with Pink Velvet Burlesque. Since then, she's become a mainstay of the Maritime burlesque scene, known for her comedic themes, creative storytelling, and playful acts. 

Kay is the founder of Blue Lobster Burlesque, a troupe that celebrates the quirky spirit of its performers. She is also a passionate instructor, currently teaching at Rouge Studio of Dance, where she empowers her students to express themselves through the art of burlesque. 
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Madam Selenzi  
Director
​Owner of Serpentine Studios Entertainment, Madam Selenzi has over 25 years of performance experience, with a focus on bellydance, burlesque, and circus arts. 
In her role as dance instructor, studio owner, entertainment agent and event producer, she has been creating opportunities for performance artists in the Atlantic Canadian community since 2007.

Madam Selenzi is one of the original members of the Halifax Burlesque Society, the troupe that helped ignite the Nova Scotia burlesque revival in 2003. She performs actively in the Maritimes and beyond, making appearances with Atlantic Boylesque, Neo Novas,  Future Forest Festival, the Atlantic Burlesque Festival and more.  
Land Acknowledgement 
PHAB NS acknowledges that the work we undertake takes place on Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people. These lands hold histories and knowledge systems that extend beyond colonial records, including those maintained through language, oral tradition, and cultural practice. As we document and preserve the history of theatre in this region, we do so with recognition of the longstanding presence and contributions of Mi’kmaq communities. We recognize the importance of listening to and respecting Indigenous knowledge, and of acknowledging the broader historical context in which this work takes place.