dance the wait away

Austin burlesque performer holds benefit to shake out donations — including a new kidney

The benefit at Elysium features other burlesque performers and more showing up for Amelie Ahmose.

Photo by Naomi Loghry

Amelie Ahmose has been shaking it off and out for months — “it” being kidney disease, specifically IgA nephropathy, also known as Berger's disease. The burlesque dancer is awaiting an immediate kidney transplant and keeping her dancing shoes on in the meantime, including for a benefit event on February 25 at Elysium, called “A Wake Up for Amelie.”

The goal is manyfold: to dance, celebrate, and raise funds to lessen the financial burden on the performer, whose health coverage is limited. Ticket proceeds and additional cash donations will go to her kidney fund. Although Ahmose was placed on a waitlist for a transplant from a deceased donor, living donors are strongly preferred, she shared on Instagram in October of 2022.

The “dance party, burlesque show, and living wake” will be hosted by burlesque artist Coco Lectric, with performances by burlesque dancers Ruby Lamb, Mistress Moon, Sado Moore, Cimmeria Steel, Ginger Snaps; drag performers Jack Rabid and Alexander Danger; and cabaret singer Stella Pipes.

DJs Crescendoll & Neph will be playing dark genres including funeral pop and post-punk, and go-go dancers will keep the party going throughout. Alongside the performances, there will be a blacklight dance party, a raffle, and local vendors.

Ahmose was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney failure due to hypertension and Berger's disease in 2022 at 34, having gone to the hospital with symptoms she had attributed to dehydration. There is no known cure for the disease, but it can be treated with medication and by performing a transplant.

She has been performing burlesque for 15 years, including some belly dance acts and a background in opera and acting. Her style is usually dark and gothic, and she prides herself on her “twisted sense of humor” according to her website.

Tickets ($10-100, 18 and older only) to “A Wake Up for Amelie” are available on Eventbrite, along with information on donating via Venmo. The party runs from 9:30 pm to 2 am, with a pre-party on Twitch from 7-9 pm. More information about donating a kidney, to Amelie or anyone else, is available at utclivingdonor.com or 210-567-5777.

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This week's hot headlines

Wurstfest waltzes into this week's 5 hottest Austin headlines

Photo courtesy of Wurstfest

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Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Find that list here.

1. New Braunfels sausage and beer extravaganza Wurstfest returns for 2024. German culture is on display in many subtle ways throughout Texas' historic towns; Wurstfest is not one of those ways. This oompah-driven, battered-and-fried, lederhosen-clad beer and sausage festival is coming back to New Braunfels for its annual festivities November 1-10.

2. Sixth Street icehouse branches out with posh, old-school sports club. There’s no shortage of spots to grab a drink in East Austin. But despite the area’s wide range of bar offerings — from cocktail lounges to dives — it comes up surprisingly short on sports bars. Enter Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (WTF) Sporting Club, which is taking over the giant East 7th space vacated earlier this year by Easy Tiger.

3. Austin's famous Katz's makes a comeback in the same location. There is good news this week for all Austinites pining for a simpler — and if you ask them, better — Austin of the past. The beloved West 6th Street eatery Katz's is making a comeback more than 10 years after it famously closed. Someone in the Katz family has re-purchased the original location and is hoping to bring back the good old days.

4. Popular Austin hospitality group stirs up sunny new daytime cafe. Since debuting in 2009, Jack Allen’s Kitchen’s weekend brunch has been a staple of Austin’s many best-of lists. Now, owners Jack Gilmore and Tom Kamm are upping the ante. The restaurateurs have founded a new concept, Day Maker Half Day Café, to bring that AM magic seven days a week.

5. Spectacular Austin Trail of Lights gets even more festive with weddings. Locals who feel sentimental about the 60-year-old Austin Trail of Lights now have a shimmering new way to make it part of their personal stories. Surely many have proposed to partners at the Christmas installation, but now they can get married there, too.