Neo-Burlesque

Michelle L'amour, 2005 winner of the Miss Exotic World Pageant dancing with fans, 2007

Neo-Burlesque, or New Burlesque, is the revival and updating of the traditional American burlesque performance. Though based on the traditional Burlesque art, the new form encompasses a wider range of performance styles; neo-burlesque acts can range from anything from classic striptease to modern dance to theatrical mini-dramas to comedic mayhem. ^[1] As with the earlier burlesque, neo-burlesque is more focused on the "tease" rather than the "strip" in "striptease".

Burlesque history

Marion Martin and Gloria Dickson in the film Lady of Burlesque

Burlesque as a sensation was brought to America from Britain in the late 1860s by Lydia Thompson and her British Blondes, a troupe who spoofed traditional theatrical productions and featured ladies performing men's roles, in costumes considered revealing for the time period. American burlesque soon assimilated music hall, minstrel shows, striptease, comedy and cabaret styles^[2] to evolve from the follies of the twenties and thirties to the girlie shows of the 40s and 50s, which eventually gave way to the modern strip club. The striptease element of burlesque became subject to extensive local legislation, leading to a theatrical form that titillated without falling foul of censors.^[2]

By the late 1930s, a social crackdown on burlesque shows began their gradual decline. The shows had slowly changed from ensemble ribald variety performances, to simple performances focusing mostly on the striptease.^[2] In New York, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia clamped down on burlesque, effectively putting it out of business by the early 1940s.^[3] Burlesque lingered on elsewhere in the U.S., increasingly neglected, and by the 1970s, with nudity commonplace in theatres, American burlesque reached "its final shabby demise".^[4]

During its declining years and afterwards, films sought to capture the spirit of American burlesque. For example, in I'm No Angel (1933), Mae West performed a burlesque act. The 1943 film Lady of Burlesque depicts the back-stage life of burlesque performers.^[5] Pin-up girl Bettie Page's most famous features included Striporama (1953).^[6] In such films, the girls wore revealing costumes, but there was never any nudity. The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) celebrates classic American burlesque.^[7]

Revival

Artists such as Lili St. Cyr inspired the revival of the Burlesque movement

Miss Dirty Martini at the 2009 Howl Festival in New York^[3]

A new generation nostalgic for the spectacle and glamour of the old times has been determined to bring burlesque back. The first neo-burlesque show in NYC was the Blue Angel Cabaret, 1994. Le Scandal Cabaret, founded in 2001, is an offshoot of the Blue Angel, and is still currently running in NYC, 2014. This revival was pioneered independently in the mid 1990s by Billie Madley (e.g., "Cinema", Tony Marando's "Dutch Weismanns' Follies" revue) in New York and Michelle Carr's "The Velvet Hammer Burlesque" (see French Wikipedia article "The_Velvet_Hammer_Burlesque") troupe in Los Angeles. In addition, and throughout the country, many individual performers were incorporating aspects of burlesque in their acts. These productions, inspired by Sally Rand, Tempest Storm, Gypsy Rose Lee, Dixie Evans and Lili St. Cyr among others have themselves gone on to inspire a new generation of performers.

Modern burlesque has taken on many forms, but it has the common trait of honoring one or more of burlesque's previous incarnations. The acts tend to put emphasis on style and are sexy rather than sexual. A typical burlesque act may include striptease, expensive or garish costumes, bawdy humor, cabaret and more; sensuality, performance, and humor are kept in balance.^[8] Unlike professional strippers, burlesque performers often perform for fun and spend more money on costumes, rehearsal, and props than they are compensated. Although performers may still strip down to pasties and g-string or merkin, the purpose is no longer solely sexual gratification for men but self-expression of the performer and, vicariously, the women in the audience;^[9] the DIY aspect is prominent,^[10] and furthermore the striptease may be used to challenge sexual objectification, orientation, and other social taboos.^[11]

Burlesque scenes

Dita von Teese, a well-known neo-burlesque artist

There are modern burlesque performers, shows and festivals in many countries throughout the world such as David Jahn's Prague Burlesque,^[12] as well as annual conventions such as the Miss Exotic World Pageant. Today's burlesque revival has found homes throughout the United States (with the largest communities located on its East and West Coasts) and in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany and Japan.

Boylesque

Neo-burlesque shows that feature male-body roles have been dubbed as boylesque.^[13][14] The introduction of boylesque elements can be seen as a key difference between neo-burlesque and earlier, exclusively female-body forms of burlesque, which sometimes incorporated drag-queen roles (i.e. male impersonators of female bodies) but did not directly represent masculinity.^[14]

Neo-Burlesque organizations

• Burlesque Hall of Fame (formerly the Exotic World Burlesque Museum), which hosts the annual Miss Exotic World Pageant.
• Coney Island USA

See also

• Behind the Burly Q, a 2010 documentary about the golden age of burlesque.
• List of Burlesque festivals

References

1. /2015/01/15/3593008_burlesque-troupe-thrives-in-boise
2. Humez, Nick. "Burlesque". St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Gale Virtual Reference Library, accessed 16 February 2011 (subscription required)
3. Caldwell, Mark (May 18, 2008). "The Almost Naked City". The New York Times. Retrieved Feb 14, 2016.
4. Allen, p. xi
5. "New Films In London", The Times, 2 August 1943, p. 8
6. Striporama. Internet Movie Database, accessed 17 February 2011
7. Slonimsky, Nicholas, "Burlesque show", Baker's Dictionary of Music, Schirmer Reference, New York, 1997, accessed 16 February 2010 (subscription required)
8. Mills, Keely. "Red Light Variety Show: Nostalgia | Friday-Saturday, Jan. 17-18 | Stage". Boise Weekly. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
9. Acocella, Joan. "Take It Off: The new-burlesque scene". The Critics. The New Yorker (May 13, 2013): 68–70 (subscription required). Retrieved May 29, 2013.
10. "12 Stunning Portraits Of New York's Neo-Burlesque Dancers (NSFW)". Huffington Post. 27 November 2013.
11. Sarah Eberspacher (2014-01-22). "The transformative beauty of burlesque". The Week. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
12. Johnston, R., "Cabaret-style shows takes the striptease back in time", Prague Post, Oct. 10, 2014.
13. Whitehead, Jay (April 2014). "Are You Staring at the Size of My Gimmick? Applying Burlesque Conventions to a Different Anatomy". Canadian Theatre Review 158: 27–32. doi:10.3138/ctr.158.006. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
14. Thorp, Jessica (2012). Fishnets & Desire: Performing the Neoburlesque (MA). Ryerson University. p. 13.

• Sohn, Amy. "Teasy Does It"; New York Magazine, 2004.
• Clodfelter, Tim. "This ain't your granddad's burlesque"; Winston-Salem Journal; Jan. 31, 2008

Further reading

• Allen, Robert Clyde (1991). Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 0-8078-1960-3.
• Baldwin, Michelle (2004). Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind. Speck Press. ISBN 978-0-9725776-2-5.
• Blaize, Immodesty (2009). Tease. Ebury Press, ISBN 978-0-09-193001-1.
• Porkpie, Jonny (2009). The Corpse Wore Pasties. Hard Case Crime, ISBN 978-0-8439-6123-2.
• Royal, Chaz (2009). Burlesque Poster Design. Korero, ISBN 978-0-9553398-2-0.
• Weldon, Jo (2010). The Burlesque Handbook. It Books. ISBN 978-0-06-178219-0.
• Willson, Jacki (January 8, 2008). The Happy Stripper: Pleasures and Politics of the New Burlesque; illustrated edition. I. B. Tauris, ISBN 978-1-84511-318-6.

External links

• A "high concept" neo-burlesque routine