Thread: Burlesque & Feminism - How does performance affect you?

Hello!
I'm currently writing my dissertation on Burlesque and its relationship with feminst theory and body as spectacle.
There are loads of books out there relating to this subject, but I want to hear from you - the performers, audiences and fans of burlesque!
If you could answer ANY of these questions, you would be a fantastic help to me - answer as many or as few as you can!

I am also looking to speak in more depth to some artistes who feel their performances have a strong political or feminist message - If you feel you can help, please get in touch!

Hoping you're all having a gorgeous christmas xxx

If you are a burlesque artist, please describe your style:

• As a performer, How do you feel when on stage?
• Have you ever felt objectified, uncomfortable or out of control when on stage?
• Do you write and create your own burlesque acts?
• How important do you feel it is to be involved in the creative process when devising a new act? How would you feel if your acts were choreographed for you and you had no say in the message of a piece?
• How do you think current affairs in politics, culture and society affect your work as a burlesque artist?
• How have you been affected, if at all, by the Camden council rulings? Has this changed your attitude to burlesque?
• Do you consider yourself a feminist? How does this, if at all, affect your work?
• What do you feel sets neo-burlesque artists apart from modern strippers?

Questions for everyone:

• How successful do you feel traditional burlesque was/could be in portraying political messages, if any?
• How successful do you feel neo-burlesque can be in portraying political messages? Do you feel at ease to approach political subjects within your performance?
• What are, for you the biggest differences in traditional and neo-burlesque - both in performance style and attitude?

For audience members of burlesque:

• Are you male or female?
• Do you feel your sex affects your experience with burlesque? If so, How do you feel it affects it?
• How regularly do you watch burlesque performances and shows?
• How did it make you feel when you first saw a live burlesque act? Has this changed consequently?
• What, do you feel, are the differences in burlesque acts and strip shows in a traditional strip club?
• Have you been affected by the Camden council rulings? Has this changed your attitude toward burlesque?
• Have you ever seen a burlesque act with a very obvious political message? Please describe.
• How did this make you feel?
  

These are really just some guidelines for me to guage your opinion and thoughts on the relating subjects - if I have missed anything you feel strongly affects burlesque and the perception of the modern woman, please include it!!
Thankyou so much to anyone who can help me out with this! It really will be very much appreciated!!
Or you can email the answers to laura_gill_202@hotmail.com if its easier!

WARNING

Warning: This is an Old Thread This discussion is older than 60 days. information contained in it may no longer be current

• As a performer, How do you feel when on stage?

At Home.

• Have you ever felt objectified, uncomfortable or out of control when on stage?

No, There are occasions where either sex may heckle a performer or
performers and it's useually down to drunken behaviour so water off
a ducks back. I dont see burlesque as being purly sexual i think of it as provactive art.

• Do you write and create your own burlesque acts?

Yes and every performer should do the same or they dont deserve to
be called a performer. Unless the artist is a tribute act like carrie anne in which case thats an art all of it's own.

• How important do you feel it is to be involved in the creative process when devising a new act? How would you feel if your acts were choreographed for you and you had no say in the message of a piece?

Immencly important, my friend and i saw a show recently which was incredibly choreographed and the natural charm and essance of the
performer was just lost behind the smoke and mirror effects.
I dislike formular acts, housewives,office workers,brides, what maybe
"traditional" roles. Unless the act tells a different story then there's
no investment.

• How do you think current affairs in politics, culture and society affect your work as a burlesque artist?

Echonomically work in any sector suffers in these times but the arts
suffer the most as it's what people see as a luxury,
Where as an artists thinks of it as life blood.
Everything can effect the body of a performers work geographically
performers revert to whichever type of burlesque is acceptable to
an audience, where in new york full nudity is encouraged and the
more outrageous the performer the better in italy boston burlesque
is the norm.

Culture shapes burlesque, and current affairs and politics fire the
inspiration for acts. I have two acts based on global affairs so
anything can shape an act.

Eg, Joe Black - Britney Boylesque.
Ditzy Diamond - Credit Crunch Blues
Diva Hollywood - Evolution of Women
Misty Vine - The V-stume

These Acts stretch across the boad in the topic they cover but
they are all rich in satire.

After all burlesque means to parody.

• How have you been affected, if at all, by the Camden council rulings? Has this changed your attitude to burlesque?

No, Sod 'em. Noone can change my attitude towards burlesque you
cant control burlesque it is it's own master, and if a venue cant or
wont hoast, simply find another venue.

We are lucky we live in a free country during WW2 cabaret
performers and promoters were executed for singing the wrong song
or dancing at what was a jewish/gay venue.

I will always fight for what i love and believe in and even a night in
the cells or a bump on the noggin wont change my passion for
performance.

• Do you consider yourself a feminist? How does this, if at all, affect your work?

Yes i do. It effects my work because i am aware of the struggles
of women threwout history and im immencly proud to be a women
I like having breasts, I like having curves, I love the power of
feminin charm and brains. And knowing that my worth lies in the
person i am and what i accomplish. My great grandmother was forced
into a corset to hide her shape as under garments.
I wear one on a night out to celebrate mine.

• What do you feel sets neo-burlesque artists apart from modern strippers?

Strippers make money, burlesque performers spend it on there
next costumes.

thankyou so very much!!

What an interesting thread. Here goes!

• As a performer, How do you feel when on stage?

Generally I feel exhilirated and alive. There have been rare occasions where I have felt a bit of a wally but this has always been when there have been technical hitches or other mishaps outside of my control.

• Have you ever felt objectified, uncomfortable or out of control when on stage?

I think on very, very rare occasions a burlesque performer can be used as cannon fodder for the odd insecure woman. Usually this happens at events where the audience are there to see the band (or whoever) instead of you. I think a tiny minority of women feel a little threatened or uncomfortable and their only way to handle it is to be rude. This can make me feel objectified (even if the negativity is directed at another performer) as the comments almost always come down to physicality (too fat, too thin, too ugly ect) and one gets the feeling of being disected by the negative person who is just searching for something to critisise you for rather than saying simply that this is not their cup of tea and is making them feel uncomfortable. The most disgusting thing I heard was a woman in the audience when a fellow burlesquer was on saying how she hoped this person didn't take any more clothes off as her body was 'gross'. Generally though, this sort of unpleasantness comes not from usual burlesque audiences but from people who are new to the genre and expected to see Dita, or people who didn't want to see the burlesque portion of a show at all.

• Do you write and create your own burlesque acts?

Yes. For me it's the most important part. If I performed acts someone else had created it would feel a little pointless. Burlesque for me is so much about dreaming up interesting characters and scenarios that are personally based around the things I love, am obsessed with or find funny. Most perfomers work this way although with troupes it can be different, with some acts being a joint effort or perhaps one member creating the whole piece and another member working on another. As Heather mentioned, tribute acts are different but then that's the nature of the thing.

• How important do you feel it is to be involved in the creative process when devising a new act? How would you feel if your acts were choreographed for you and you had no say in the message of a piece?

I don't think I would be as interested in being involved in burlesque if there were some svengali creating all my acts for me. It's so important that the performers are projecting themselves in their acts. That's why it's so boring to see performers (usually just getting into burlesque) who strive to make all their acts stereotypically burlesque-y instead of just doing what comes more naturally to their own interests.

• How do you think current affairs in politics, culture and society affect your work as a burlesque artist?

For me it doesn't hugely. A lot of amazing performances have undertones based in current affairs and 'the big world' but that has never been a large element of my acts. I prefer more to take my audience to imaginary worlds peopled with strange and silly oddballs to produce interesting character pieces.
I would never rule out creating an act based on current affairs but at the moment it has not been something I have felt passionate enough about to do.

• How have you been affected, if at all, by the Camden council rulings? Has this changed your attitude to burlesque?

It hasn't affected me directly, although of course, I was aware of it and concerned as to where it might lead. It hasn't changed my attitude to burlesque though. I am proud to be part of this artform and the more people try to malign the genre and drag it into the gutter the more staunch I become in my assertion that yes, it is art and no, I don't feel it's something to be shy about. I am proud to be a burlesquer.

• Do you consider yourself a feminist? How does this, if at all, affect your work?

Yes. I don't consider myself as active or aware as perhaps I ought to be but I do feel I am a feminist and I would be very confused by a woman (or a man) who said they weren't. It's not about being militant, it's only about wanting things to be fair and balanced. As a performer, my acts aren't necessarily feminist per se but they are created with a female audience in mind (I don't intend to exclude men in any way but I can't deny, my mind's eye audience member is always a woman).
I also feel that in a lot of my acts I am not playing a character who is demure, sexy or glamorous but one who is silly and clownish and this has always been something close to my heart. As a teen it always annoyed me that, in entertainment, if someone got to be an idiot, a joker, a drunk, a blaggard, cad or bounder, a wally or a bell-end it was almost always a man. Women got to be pretty, sexy, or at a push feisty but never goofy or goonish (unless they were portrayed as an almost genderless ugly-sister character with no real female qualities at all). Now entertainment has changed and there is more scope of women to fit different roles (especially in burlesque) and I feel that some of my acts are me living out some of the fantasies I had about what would happen if women were allowed to be feminine but still silly.

• What do you feel sets neo-burlesque artists apart from modern strippers?

Obviously the money thing Heather mentioned is a biggie. I would also like to add that I think the audiences come expecting different things. Your average burlesque audience member is not looking for material for the spank-bank (if you'll pardon the expression) but is coming to be entertained, to laugh, to drool over the costumes more than the bodies and to be sociable.
Also, I read an amazing interview about burlesque (unfortunately I can't remember who with) who said that the difference between strippers and burlesquers is this: Strippers play out the fantasies of the men in the audience but burlesquers play out their own fantasies. I think this sums it up quite neatly.

Hiya,
I'm doing my dissertation on a similar topic. How are you finding it, found many good books/sources? I think ive found the quote that was mentioned above Grrrly Talk: Is Modernesque Burlesque Feminist? - Miami Music - Crossfade - Miami it's right at the bottom of the article. Hope this helps and best of luck!
x

Re: Questions to Everyone.

Two rather opposing thoughts sprang immediately to mind.

The first was a quote from Catherine d'lish, which has always struck me as the most honest and sensible thing ever written about burlesque as regards self-empowerment:


"I absolutely feel that it is each performer’s responsibility to entertain the audience. That somebody being on stage makes them feel good about themselves, or empowered, or that they are sending an important message to educate someone should take a back seat (in my opinion) to holding the interest of the spectators. I’m not saying that every act should be frivolous fluff, just that the individuals sitting (or standing) out there in the dark must be presented with something that doesn’t leave them feeling left out."

( This is from an interview with Pin-Up Magazine in 2008)

The second was Dirty Martini's act 'Proud To Be An American'.

I don't know if this is traditional burlesque, or neo-burlesque, or post-modern-ironic burlesque, nor do I care.
I just know it was the funniest, most entertaining, most shocking and thought-provoking thing I have ever seen, and should never be watched by anyone with weak pelvic floor muscles.

Viva

Originally Posted by Viva La Belvoir

Re: Questions to Everyone.

Two rather opposing thoughts sprang immediately to mind.

The first was a quote from Catherine d'lish, which has always struck me as the most honest and sensible thing ever written about burlesque as regards self-empowerment:


"I absolutely feel that it is each performer’s responsibility to entertain the audience. That somebody being on stage makes them feel good about themselves, or empowered, or that they are sending an important message to educate someone should take a back seat (in my opinion) to holding the interest of the spectators. I’m not saying that every act should be frivolous fluff, just that the individuals sitting (or standing) out there in the dark must be presented with something that doesn’t leave them feeling left out."

( This is from an interview with Pin-Up Magazine in 2008)

Sorry to be picky But that quote is from our interview, and from 2009 (21st Century Burlesque / 21st Century Pinups) x

21st Century Burlesque: Catherine D’Lish

Ooops! Sorry, didn't mean to get it wrong or infringe copyright laws. It's a brilliant interview, and I reccommend it to everyone.

Vx

Originally Posted by Viva La Belvoir

Ooops! Sorry, didn't mean to get it wrong or infringe copyright laws. It's a brilliant interview, and I reccommend it to everyone.

Vx

No problem at all - glad you have enjoyed it

Well I am not a performer yet, but am hoping one day to be and am working on some routines.

I have only been involved in the real scene sine 2008 prior to that I had seen Dita Von Tease at erotica and while I thought it was very glamorous I thought it was not for me to enter into as I am not that shape etc etc, plus I am quite religious and so had that hang up and quandary to deal with. However then I met a man who is a burlesque photographer and a lot of fun and also religious in fact he was training to be a minister. He convinced me that there was a place for people like me, short, dark, plump etc in burlesque and he opened my eyes and encouraged me to look deeper. Then I found the true burlesque that I know. fun, parody, liberating etc.

In exact respond to the questions

• Are you male or female?

I am a women who in fact had to persuade my husband to come with me to our first real show and since then it has become a thing that we jointly love.

• Do you feel your sex affects your experience with burlesque? If so, How do you feel it affects it?

yes I do think it affects it as I not only see the lovely ladies and gentlemen on stage, but I also see the courage it has taken to get up there, especially if they are not the standard media image of the ideal body and then I find it encouraging. Also as a lady that loves her breasts but would love them to be bigger at time I find myself thinking what a wonderful bust someone has and how I envy them.

• How regularly do you watch burlesque performances and shows?

I go to a show not roughly once a month, sometimes more if I can

• How did it make you feel when you first saw a live burlesque act?

I loved it, I thought how it was so much wider in styles and scope than I had expected. Has this changed consequently? not that much but I have learned the main types of routeens I like. But am always willing to watch types i'm not so used to as I may then get surprised again.

• What, do you feel, are the differences in burlesque acts and strip shows in a traditional strip club?
• burlesque is tasteful, you don't have to take your kit off at all to be involved, in fact I have seen some great acts where most or all of the performers costume stayed on and they were fabulous. Most routeens I have seen have been with a story line or plot and the performer takes the audience on a journey. Some like some fan dances I have seen have no plot but the grace and style is breathtaking. Stripping in a normal club to me is more about arousing men if your are a women or women if you are a man and grinding your pelvic area about. Burlesque is about connecting with the people entertaining them and celebrating many things including the female and male form in all their wonderful diversity.
• Have you been affected by the Camden council rulings?

Only in the sense that I attended the Immodesty show at the KoKo in Camden last year just after it was announced and I was sorry that they had so misunderstood things and were so closed minded.

• Has this changed your attitude toward burlesque?

No, but it has made me have a different view of Camden. But it also makes me concerned about the wider future of burlesque if they (Camden) can get it that wrong.

• Have you ever seen a burlesque act with a very obvious political message? Please describe.

Yes, I have seen one regarding fox hunting where in the end the fox turned the gun on the hunter after being chased around the stage. I loved it as I am anti hunting (and I grew up on a farm) and so would have loved to see this happen in real life.

• How did this make you feel?

I wanted more.... I could not stop myself laughing! I am desperate to see the performers again on stage as I thought their work was so clever .


I hope these views help a little ladies.

Ohhh I should say that yes I am a feminist but only to the point of equality as I am in reality an egalitarian in the truest sense of the word. I want people to be judged on what they can offer to a particular thing not what they do or don't have between their legs, what colour they are, who they love, or if they are pink with purple pokadots people in my mind should be treat with the same dignity irrespective. However I do not think that women are treated equally in many circles at the moment and so I am a feminist until that is not the case.

I more view myself as a liberated women in the sense that if I wish to look sexy or ware a corset I can that is my choice.