Thread: Defining Burlesque

Do you think burlesque is all about the strip tease? All the shows I have seen lately tend to focus only on the strip and not on how they do it. My rountines rarely focus on removing clothing but are purely entertaining by movement and dance wearing elaborate vintage style costumes. I use things like pointe work, trapeze or fire dancing for example to keep my audiences occupied. Do you think this is still considered burlesque? I'm worried as my style doesn't really fit into a category but burlesque seems to have the most appropriate feel...

Odile x

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Check out Kittie's article on the history of burlesque. From what I make of it, it seems to be classed as burlesque an act should involve some sort of comedy: wit, parody or satire. The striptease, as I understand it, was usually used to signify a transformation of some sort. The more glamorous striptease grew up in America, where audiences were different. I'm sure Kittie can clarify that if I'm mistaken!

As it is now, burlesque seems to be an umbrella term for anything from striptease to comedy to circus skills. Personally I will not define my acts as burlesque unless they incorporate some comedy or parody. Otherwise, they're just dances. I think you're stressing a little too much over how to categorise yourself. Just call yourself a performance artiste and you're covered - then when people ask you can tell them all the genres you can perform in ^_^

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