Though my time as PR Director with the amazing FreesideAtlanta is over, that doesn’t mean my passion and dedication for the message portrayed is any less. I’ve been in Dallas for two months now, and almost immediately I was struck at the segregation between the arts and technology. Dallas is a hub for both, with the Dallas Arts District being full of incredible work, and the constant funding from Texas Instruments. That being said, I’ve yet to see the two worlds intermingle here. Thus, the Dallas Collaborative (name t.b.d) was born. As our mission explains:

Dallas Collaborative is a non-profit group dedicated to community collaboration and the creation of intersections between the arts, sciences, and technology. We are in the process of finding a physical space to support our infrastructure of passionate members in their artistic development and experimentation. It seeks to blur the definition of “art” in a modern age by encouraging participation between the traditional “arts” and technology. Furthermore, the organization gives back to the Dallas community by providing a number of events, workshops, classes, and site-specific gallery shows.

You will hear me discussing this a lot in the next upcoming months as I iron out details. Once we get a more concrete name and logo, I’ll be asking for participation and support from anyone who is willing to give it. We’re looking for members, donations and ultimately a space for members to use in Deep Ellum. For more clarity for those who are not familiar at all with this movement as a whole, I’ll be doing some spotlights on the hackerspace/makerspace movement that I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.

Look out, Dallas.

As some of you may or may not know, my life has taken an interesting turn of events. I am no longer located in Atlanta, nor am I attending school there anymore. Constantly frustrated by tuition hikes, the technology gap, poor job market and the constant tingling sensation that I was learning little, if at all, made me rethink if I was actually getting towards my goals. So I made a drastic turn to better embrace my curiosity about technological advancement and media, and acknowledged a smaller pocketbook. I packed up my bitty two-door Ford with all my worldly possessions (a.k.a my library), resigned as PR Director for Freeside, said goodbye to the life I’d built and came to Dallas Texas (in the heat of summer).

That being said, expect some musings on the building and rebuilding of life sometime in the future.

I am now finishing my studies at University of Texas at Dallas in Emerging Media and Communications. I’ll be doing at least another year, but I do believe that I’ll have a lot more to offer the world when I’m done.

Other projects at the moment include starting a non-profit arts and technology collective along the grain of Freeside Atlanta, trying to get published more, and working a much better (and better paying) technology related job than working IT at Agnes Scott College.

Thus, I expect some changes to the tone of this blog, perhaps shifting to achievement attempts and experiments rather than just philosophical musings. Expect more content on emerging media. Expect more stark reviews, a la “On the Grave of Dollhouse”.

Similarly, I now have a sister blog focused more on technological advancements and my obsession with social media, deemed Media Circus. They may merge again at some point, but that is to be determined at a later time.

Hope you enjoy the new direction!

Photo of Dallas Texas from Flickr user Schlüsselbein2007. Used under Creative Commons License.

*All rights reserved. This does not belong to you. Do not take it.*

Introduction

My introduction to modern burlesque came one summer day in 2009 at Whole Foods Market in Dallas, Texas; me sans makeup or any decently not-frumpy clothing. A woman who I later learned to be a burlesque dancer herself approached me and asked if I was a burlesque performer. I remember stuttering some excuse for “no” and she smiled friendly enough and offered me a card for a dance studio that taught burlesque. I fought with the decision for over a month; whether I had the self-esteem, whether it was a worthy expedition, would it conflict with family values, etc. I finally signed up, and much to my dismay I found I was the only student in the 6-week course. The teacher was warm and inviting and slowly taught me the basic history of burlesque and the beginnings of becoming a performer. What I didn’t realize until very late in the course was that in the process of teaching me how to be a dancer and a performer again, she had given me more than I had ever expected. Not only had I become dancer-fit like I used to be when I was younger, but I stood up straight, smiled more, and for once, I demanded attention when I came into a room rather than hiding in the shadows. Glamour became an aspect of my daily life; I could finally justify taking the time on my appearance if it boosted my confidence in everyday world. My wardrobe changed, my mood changed and for once I had began to realize who I was.

When I returned to Agnes Scott College in the fall of 2009, I chose to pursue burlesque in any way I could. As I began to introduce myself to performers, to create connections into that world and hear the stories, I realized that the transformation that had occurred in my life was not a singular experience. Modern burlesque is deeply rooted in the history of feminism and female sexual identity and proves more than an entertainment art form: it is a way of life, a personal identity.

I will present to you the immense impact this art form has had on the individuals that live the life of burlesque. I will show similarities in the individual identity to create a collective and powerful group notion of self, sexuality and femininity. I will share the stories and experiences of artists from many different backgrounds and their understanding of what it means to be a burlesque dancer. I will address the basic history about burlesque that is integral to understanding the art form, the accessories that make it possible, the connect (or disconnect) between family life and performing, and the communal experiences that make it worthwhile and important to this cultural group.

My research is an accumulation of formal, written interviews with performers from Texas and Georgia, two of the rising larger populations of burlesque performers, coming up quickly to the cities of Chicago and New York where the art began. These interviews are intermingled with historical research, photography, videos and personal recollections of events and experiences.

History

While every dancer has a different level of knowledge about how modern burlesque came to be, most have a basic understanding of the background to understand the importance of burlesque as an art form. The simplest yet solid understanding of the history was given by Austin performer Sin O’Rita, who said, “I know it all started from Little Egypt here in the U.S. then grew from Chicago and New York with Ziegler’s Follies. Then Vegas” (Email interview. March 25, 2010). More detailed is a description from Brigitte Noir, who said:

Burlesque is a relatively general term…it thrived as a risqué form of entertainment focusing on the tease of striptease. WWII popularized the pinup girl, and this culture swirled and grew into the mid-century when women like Tempest Storm and Bettie Page popularized the art. By the sixties, nude performers focused more on the sexuality of the performance edged out the aging burlesque star. Clearly the affinity for retro culture has re-popularized this form of entertainment and it’s enjoying a large comeback in multiple different incarnations (Email interview. March 24, 2010).

Robert C. Allen has written perhaps the most prolific text on the history of burlesque, Horrible Prettiness: The History of Burlesque in America. His interpretation of the history starts much before where most performers tend to mark the beginning. His most common dates are between 1890 and WWII in America, and began with Lydia Thompson bringing her troupe of “British Blondes” to New York City. The term “burlesque” was used to represent performances that were making fun of classic plays that were popular at the time. There was a shocking lack of political correctness in the acts that appealed to many, and they often flipped gender roles with women particularly playing men and dressing out of proper attire. Lydia Thompsons poem in ode to her troupe published in Allen’s book makes light of her recognition of the sexuality implicit nature in their acts and her intention to profit on it:

And way down in front by the footlights glow,
The bald-headed men sat in the front row.
They had big glasses to see all the sights
Including the blondes who danced in silk tights.
-Lydia Thompson (23)

For as much popularity as burlesque was gaining at this time, it also caused much uproar and unrest. Allen quotes newspaper writer Richard Grant White, who wrote:

It means something, this outbreak of burlesque acting all over the world. No mere accident has made so monstrous a kind of entertainment equally acceptable to three publics so different as those of Paris, London, and New York. And by monstrous I do not mean wicked, disgusting or hateful, but monstrously incongruous and unnatural. The peculiar trait of burlesque is the defiance of the natural and the conventional. Rather, it forces the conventional and the natural together just at the points where they are most remote, and the result is absurdity, monstrosity. Its system is a defiance of the system. It is out of all keeping… [Burlesque] casts down the gods from their pedestals (25).

The movement from theatrical burlesque to stripping, or early known as the “cooch-dance” or “cooch-show” is where most modern performers begin their history, but that is not to say that modern performers do not acknowledge and take part in the theatrical and humorous aspects of past burlesque. Performer Crystal Pistols addresses the working-class nature of burlesque then (and now), “I always liked the fact that it was the entertainment for the ‘poor to middle class’ of society. I feel like that is a large part of why it pokes fun at a lot of taboo subjects that higher society would consider quite improper” (Email interview. March 31, 2010).

Beyond the old roots of burlesque, many dancers take their inspiration from the notorious names of burlesque long after Lydia Thompson, such as Gypsy Rose Lee, Tempest Storm, Lili St. Cyr, and Bettie Page. They are the most often mentioned as the performers that integrated the humor of theatrical burlesque with the striptease. Unfortunately, these performers were also at the decline of burlesque, as performers moved into Hollywood, or into more sexual roles that no longer qualified as art. But these women were, and still are iconic for all performers in that they represent an important ideal in burlesque of the “spectacular female”, creating an identity for women onstage that is different than what would be expected for a woman offstage. He writes:

That first season of modern burlesque in America was disturbing – and threatening – because it presented a world without limits, a world turned upside down and inside out in which nothing was above being brought down to earth. In that world, things that should be kept separate were united in grotesque hybrids. Meaning refused to stay put (28-9).

This meaning has stayed with modern burlesque performers as they attempt to redefine what it means to turn femininity and sexuality “upside down and inside out” in a different era of female power. As Talloolah Love, part of Atlanta’s Syrens of the South burlesque troupe explained, “Though there are valid arguments on both sides of the fence as to whether Burlesque is feminist of if it’s just a cry for love and attention from the masses, I can only speak for me in that it has done more as a woman for me that I ever did before” (Email interview. April 5, 2010).

Beauty

I’ve always had some rebellious, theatrical streak that never quite came to fruition until my trysts into burlesque. As a child I lived a dual life of tomboy with glamorous tendencies rooting through strands of pearls, shimmery dresses and oversized heels (not to mention too much obnoxious red lipstick). I lost touch with this aspect of my femininity until learning burlesque. When reading the responses from other performers, there is a general sentiment and admiration for the glamour of it all: the hair, the makeup, and the costumes. Talloolah Love, one half of the Atlanta Burlesque duo Syrens of the South had a similar sentiment to mine, “I have always loved glamour. I always asked for dress up clothes before I ever asked for dolls or ponies as a little girl,” (Email interview. April 5, 2010) and discussed how burlesque changed her outward appearance as well, “I learned how to style my hair, do my makeup, and really care for my appearance and value my sexuality rather than hide it” (Email interview. April 5, 2010). Humorously, Black Mariah from Dallas TX wrote, “I’ve never been one to go through lipstick particularly fast. I blow through a tube of Rimmel “Temptation” red lipstick every couple months” (Email interview. March 25, 2010).

There is a higher respect for performers who create their own costumes rather than buy readymade attire. Performers like The Lady Miss Vagina Jenkins and Katherine Lashe of Syrens of the South receive much appreciation from the audience and other dancers for their elaborately handcrafted costumes. Even among fledgling performers, even if working off of a low budget is it considered better to create a costume than buy one. It is in this vein that Burlesque “schools” such as Ms. Indigo Blue’s Burlesque Academy and the Syrens of the South’s 123s and ABCs courses have several points of emphasis on costume-creation for the not domestically-inclined. Talloolah Love explained the beginnings of her passion for the costumes, “I had the good fortune to be surrounded by incredible visionaries and artists who really understood the beauty and glamour of yesteryear. It was like a reawakening of sorts to me and it came completely natural that I take the first step to performing on its stage” (Email interview. April 5, 2010).

Thrift is another crucial element to burlesque. As it is in art form, it is also paid as one. Though there are the select few who make good money on performing alone, often travel costs and supplies leave most burlesque performers with a small profit or they break even. Dallas performer Black Mariah added about the disconnect between pay and cost, “People think rhinestones grow on trees I suppose…” (Email interview. March 25, 2010).
The crucial aspects of burlesque costumes, whether glitter, rhinestones, fringe, or feathers – anything that helps draw attention to your presence – they infiltrate all aspects of a burlesque performer’s life. I find myself setting my hair with rollers, or buying items of clothing that I wouldn’t have dared before, with the hope that I might use it in a costume someday. Dallas performer Brigitte Noir wrote, “At home, I’m surrounded in the costume of the moment, what looks like the remnants of an exotic bird ranch, and leftover scraps and sequins and beads from the last costume I made” (Email interview. March 25, 2010).

When I first began my fieldwork, I chose to attend the Atlanta Burlesque and Cabaret Meetup at the James Joyce Pub in Avondale Estates, GA.  Despite my expanded knowledge about the proper hair, makeup and style typical for this type of group event, finding the perfect medium between dressed-up and over-dressed is a blurry line at best. My outfit was deemed acceptable, as I was immediately showered with praise about my hair, my earrings, and my dress. A woman with long black hair and painted eyebrows took interest in me immediately, she later became known to me as a Syrens of the South performer Ursula Undress. Her recognition of me, from somewhere neither of us could pinpoint seemed to put the rest of the group at ease. Two of the ladies were obviously dancers, in pin-up regalia, and they were soon introduced as the two founders of Syrens of the South, Katherine Lashe and Talloolah Love. I found out later that two of the men were husbands; one was a tech for all of their shows and the other was a photographer. Another smaller woman in the corner I found out towards the end happened to be another Syren, Rosie Palms. The initial reaction just based on appearance alone shows the use of costume (in varying degrees) as an identifying factor for the group. Had I been over-dressed or underdressed that initial recognition that put the group at ease about my presence, as part of the in-group would not have existed.

The spring before my infamous introduction to burlesque, a semester into college I got seriously ill. Due to the illness, I gained a good deal of weight and had both the makings of an eating disorder and depression. My summer in Dallas was meant as a recovery, and burlesque made that more than possible. Though I did lose weight thanks to the rigorous workout of training to be a performer, I learned more about being comfortable in my own skin, regardless of the weight. When talking to performers, I realized that this had been the case for many of the seasoned dancers. Sin O’Rita had a particularly poignant comment, “[With burlesque] I grew confidence I never had. I love my body as a size 14. Back in the day I was a size 5 and hated myself. If made me a stronger, more confidant person” (Email interview. March 25, 2010). Black Mariah seconded that opinion, “I really embraced the fact that I am a curvy woman. I realized there is a huge need for curvy female role models in America. Every show I had, women thanked me for performing as I proved to them that sexy is not size relevant. I have no desire to be thin ever again” (Email interview. March 25, 2010).

I remember the first burlesque show I attended in Atlanta was the solo debut of The Lady Miss Vagina Jenkins at Eyedrum Gallery. Her stage presence was astounding: she is large and boisterous, with handmade costumes with such attention to detail they make your eyes hurt to look at them. Everyone in attendance was on the edge of their seat as she took off multiple layers of gloves, gowns and stockings, going through one costume change and doing it all again to a compilation of classic Burlesque tunes, Beatles, Prince and some more modern songs. It wasn’t until after the show that I realized her proclivity in the Burlesque scene, the awards she’d won, the interviews she’d done. Her style immediately appealed to me because it was classic, sexy and riveting all at the same time. She openly recognized her body wasn’t the modern expectation of beauty, and she embraced every curve of it. It set in me a passion to know more about these women, to try to fill their shoes. As Ruby Manhattan described her experience:

“…I felt so proud watching these women that I didn’t know who didn’t have ‘perfect bodies’. They seemed so confident and boisterous. I wanted to feel that way about myself…. [Burlesque has made me love myself more. I’m a plus sized girl and always have been, but I never through I was a “sex symbol” until I started doing burlesque…I hold my head higher and walk with a little bit more of a strut” (Email interview. March 27, 2010).

Community
To be a burlesque dancer, there is both a deep connection with other performers and audience, and often a lack of family acceptance as well. This proves bittersweet for performers – to gain one bond, they often lose another. Both my parents knew about burlesque before I started pursuing it, and we went to shows both together and separately. They were very supportive of me taking the class, thinking it would bring back some of my confidence, but they didn’t realize to what extent. When I told them I was going to consider performing, my father was surprisingly quite pleased, with little problem viewing it as an art form. My mother, who has since started taking burlesque courses herself, is much more of the belief that with all of the benefits burlesque provides to the individual, it should not leave the private sphere.

I’ve hit on the middle ground of the burlesque performer, and I realize that I have it better than most. Brigitte Noir simply stated, “We don’t talk about it…” (Email interview. March 25, 2010). Sin O’Rita lives a precarious balance with her Pentecostal Preacher father, choosing to withhold some information about how exactly she performs (Email interview. March 25, 2010). Black Mariah has a similar situation, saying, “My mom has always been supportive of me in whatever I want to do. I think she hoped for a career she could gush about to her church friends, but things don’t always work out like our parents hoped for, right?” (Email interview. March 25, 2010). At the Atlanta Burlesque and Cabaret Meetup, the performers gushed over Talloolah Love’s young girl, who had made frequent attendance to her mother’s shows. They laughed about a rockabilly festival performance where baby got on stage with mom during the routine and proceeded to dance as mom’s clothes went flying. Though this is an experience neither other performers nor Talloolah wanted a repeat of, it made a point that as a mother Talloolah wants her daughter to know what her mother does, and that it is okay.

Ruby Manhattan has a split family life because of her choice to perform:

My mother doesn’t understand why a married woman with kids wants to take her clothes off for a bunch of strangers. She thinks I’m too old and too fat but I don’t pay too much attention to what she says, I just smile and nod and let her have her two cents. My husband on the other hand…he was a little wary of it at first until he saw me perform and one, had a little bit more of an understanding that it’s an art form, it’s not just “stripping” ; and two, saw how the audience reacted to my routine. Now he’s my biggest fan (Email interview. March 25, 2010).

But ultimately, many of the performers who have lost connections with their family often find solace in the massive amounts of audience adoration and participation at shows. Ruby Manhattan shared her debut story:

I remember feeling nervous, but not too much. I was mostly excited. During the show I felt almost high. I was proud and felt sexy and untouchable and on top of the world. Afterwards I had never been so proud of myself. The audience was so welcoming and just showered me with praise. Outside, after the show a group of women came up to me and said, “Okay, we’ve taken a vote and we love you!” It was one of the best nights of my life (Email interview. March 25, 2010).

So many of the performers shared similar thrilling debut stories, and overall the most satisfying part of burlesque was in fact the performance. That concept is what distinguishes burlesque from stripping. Tulsa of Belladonna De Lux wrote in The Age article “Confessions of a burlesque ingénue” (Huston, 2007), “Stripping is about what the audience wants to see…Burlesque is all about what the performer wants to show you. It has a sense of humor; it’s a joke, a dance, a circus.”

This aspect was apparent in my time at the 1st Annual Windy City Burlesque Festival in Chicago, IL. On a particularly cold night in April, throngs of people huddled into the Greenhouse Theatre to see dozens of performers bare it all in 5 different shows. Our particular show had 15 different acts, from burlesque to vaudeville to “boy-lesque” (men dressed in drag who still consider themselves male), and comedy. The house was completely full, with people sitting on stairs. Our hostess for the evening, dancer Ms. Pixy enters, welcoming everyone warmly to the festival with her martini glass and full length gold lame gown. Chuckling, her first address is “Ladies and Gentlemen! We’re going to play a game. The game is - if your ticket does not say Cabaret Stage, you win, because you’re on the wrong room. Would the winners please stand up?” A few people shuffle out of the theatre to the applause of the audience and the relief of the members who were sitting uncomfortably on the stairs.

Immediately, it is apparent that Ms. Pixy knows how to work the crowd, to get them riled up and excited for each performance. She stumbles and giggles, telling the story of her lover, “Mr. Martini” as she sips the drink delicately. This is an act that precedes almost all of her introductions of the performers, and with ample audience participation, it doesn’t get old. The sound system is fading out and she speaks with the microphone even though it isn’t working, not making the distinction until three-quarters of the way through the show.

As a piece of advice to any burlesque enthusiast, Brigitte Noir offered this, “When we’re on the stage, make noise. Hoot, holler, whistle – this is supposed to be fun, and the fun is the pastiche, not the sex, so when we’re offstage, hands to yourself, gentlemen!” (Email interview. March 25, 2010). This is exactly the environment that was created in Chicago. The most notable performer by far was a Miss Orchid Mei from Denver Colorado, an Asian performer in a gorgeous green gown and long, wavy black hair. She is the epitome of what classic burlesque is supposed to be, and she strips slowly and sensually. Her act also takes an oriental flair when she breaks our ribbon fans that match her outfit, creating waves around her form. The room is silent for the most part, with “oohs” and “ahhs” often. We are all mesmerized, and she smiles knowingly. As performer Ella Adorabelle from Baldwin Missouri who is known for mixing burlesque and classic ballet, the sound system gets worse, and the music is barely audible. The audience as if by instinct cheers and whistles louder as she bounds and leaps. Despite the musical pitfalls, thanks to the interaction and encouragement of the audience she can continue to smile radiantly and finish smoothly. This audience attentiveness continues as several more performers dance through the sound mishaps. Roxy Red Rockets from St. Louis does a science-fiction routine with blinking LEDS on her panties and pasties. Mimi Le Yu, also from St. Louis does a naughty bookworm routine, and Gia Nova, Playboy model from Atlanta did an Alice in Wonderland routine in a teacup, reminiscent of Dita Von Teese’s Martini Glass routine performed for Heff.

Black Mariah gave this insight on how she came to perform:

Before [my debut] show began, I was nervous. I think that’s the first time in my life I had been nervous about going on stage. All the nerves went away as soon as I began the number. I was very confident in what I was doing. I knew as soon as I began that this was what I was meant to be (Email interview. March 25, 2010).

This sentiment is echoed in many of the interviews, and was always apparent in the shows.  Backstage before the Syrens of the South student showcase, everyone is nervous. It is in the air when you walk in, though everyone smiles and laughs. The only two in the room that aren’t nervous were the two seasoned professionals, Talloolah Love and Katherine Lashe. Makeup is being painted on and wigs are being combed. There are snags in fishnets and rhinestones falling off, but that is the last thing on people’s minds. Katherine interviews each of the fledgling performers before they go on stage, asking them about their fears and worries. Their costumes and personas are varied; in a matter of hours I’ve watched them transform from man to woman, housewife to home-wrecker, business woman to vamp. Each performance goes without a hitch and as they come back stage scantily clad I sense that same sense of pride and accomplishment echoed in each of the interviews.

Courtney Crave shared her elaborate debut story:

The first solo burlesque routine I did was for Angela Ryan [burlesque performer]’s birthday party. I popped out of a giant cake and did a Marilyn [Monroe] styled “Happy Birthday Mr. President” bit for her, then I broke through the cake and did a strip to the song “Angela” by Motley Crue with her sitting in a chair on stage. I remember before the show feeling like I was going to vomit and wet myself at the same time…I remember not wanting to do my routine, but I was already onstage sitting inside this giant fake cake, waiting for the music to start so I could pop out of the top. Afterward I was so high and proud of myself that I couldn’t wait to go do it again (Email interview. March 25, 2010).

For Courtney, it is apparent that her community was already built before she decided to perform, leaving her more room to explore, to be as daring as she was with her debut, but it did not stop her from being as equally nervous as the other performers I interviewed. At the student showcase for Syrens of the South, it is apparent that these women who came from such different walks of life had obviously created a bond, not only with each other as new performers, but to their teachers, their mentors, and the audience that was so supportive of their debut. Regardless whether these students choose to continue a burlesque career, they have created a social and emotional bond with a unique group of individuals that will not be severed.

Identity

Self-identifying as a burlesque dancer seeps into all aspects of a performer’s life, from the physical and communal nature of identity expressed above, and into their emotional responses to their life as a whole. Many of these women have day jobs, from legal assistants to beauticians to seamstresses to stay-at-home moms. Regardless if they are splitting themselves from day to night, it is clear that there is a line. For some, like Brigitte Noir, it is a more definitive difference:

“[Burlesque gave me two [identities]. I have “friends” that come to most all of the shows and they don’t know my real name. They don’t know that I’m a graduate student and that I was once a news reporter and hope to be again soon. Brigitte gets away with whatever she wants. Shannon doesn’t ask for anything. It’s a fantasy that I recognize readily (Email interview. March 27, 2010).

For many other performers, however, the line between “real life” and the life of a performer is blurred. There are those like dancer Ginger Valentine who is successful living a life full of burlesque, as the creator of Ginger Valentine’s Burlesque Charm School in Dallas, TX who has fully claimed that identity, “I’ve had an unwavering need to perform since I arrived on this planet. [Burlesque] hasn’t changed my identity, I’m always here. I don’t wear a mask on stage” (Facebook interview. April 7, 2010). Courtney Crave has a similar sentiment, though burlesque is not her primary vocation, “Luckily for me, my alter ego happens to be who I am all the time. I didn’t need to create an alternate personality style to be a performer, I was that all along” (Email interview. March 27, 2010).  Ruby Manhattan said, “Ruby is part of who I am. I love her and I let a little bit of her come out every day, whether it is while I’m rehearsing of while I’m walking down the supermarket isle swinging my hips” (Email interview. March 25, 2010).

Conclusion

According to Erving Goffman’s Performance Theory, burlesque can serve several functions for the individual and community at large. In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, he argues,
“…the social front can be divided into traditional parts, such as setting, appearance, and manner and that (since different routines may be presented from behind the same front) we may not find a perfect fit between the specific character of a performance and the general socialized guise in which is appears to us (Goffman, 29).

Though I doubt he ever thought his theories would be applied to burlesque performers, he holds an important point that ties all aspects addressed. Historically as we’ve seen, Burlesque was created to poke fun and make statements about the state of politics and female sexuality. As we have progressed as women and as feminist thinkers over the century, burlesque has progressed with it. The revival of modern burlesque from the depths of the overtly sexualized pornography industry makes a statement about reviving femininity and sensuality.

Though this is by no means a complete representation of how burlesque identity is cultivated and nurtured, it is a view into a lifestyle that has been lacking in representation. As the revival of burlesque grows larger, the media will pay more attention to the impact it has begun to have on female sexual identity as a whole. The beginning of understanding the overarching social implication of a new feminine identity through burlesque performance starts with the stories of those experiencing the change. As Talloolah Love summed up:

We are the carnies of the modern age, traveling the road on shekels we squirreled for months, to get on a plane if we are lucky, or in to our SUV’s to tote our feather fans, and hand sewn costumes, and homemade props, or in our tour vans that have no AC and no shocks, with scarce enough to buy pretzels and a bottle of water on the way home. All in hopes to spread our names or our vision to the masses. All to make fifty to a hundred dollars to rush home to be back at the day job in order to do it all over again in the next weekend. It’s a labor of love and then some, but we do it all for the sake of art and the roar of a crowd (Email interview. March 27, 2010).

I don’t know where I’m going with this compilation, but I know that it certainly has changed me, and I hope it has given you a better understanding of a rising popular folklore with grand social implications for the future of the woman, and all that term entails.

Sources

A Wink and a Smile: The Art of Burlesque. Deirdre Timmons. Golden Echo Films, 2008.

Allen, Robert C. (1991). Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Burlesque Magazine. (2010, April 12). Retrieved from http://www.burlesquemag.com/

Bastian, S. Learning Curves: A Conversation with Burlesque Documentarian Deidre Timmons. Retrieved April 12, 2010 from On Screen Magazine website: http://www.onscreenmag.com/feature-articles/learning-curves/

Deidre, Timmons. “A Wink and a Smile Trailer” 24 March 2009. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed on 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjDNZJYuQAY&feature=player_embedded>

Deven, M. (2009, April 16). Deidre Does Burlesque. Retrieved April 12, 2010 from Bitch Magazine Website: http://bitchmagazine.org/post/deirdre-does-burlesque-an-interview-and-a-smile

Doughton, KJ. (2008, July 29). “A Wink and A Smile”: Interview with Director Deidre Timmons. Retrieved April 12, 2010 from Film Threat Website: http://www.filmthreat.com/interviews/1206/

Gray, Francine. (2005, February 28). Dirty Dancing: The Rise and Fall of the American Striptease. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from The New Yorker Archives: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/02/28/050228crbo_books

Queens of Vintage. (2010, April 4). Burlesque: A Short History. Retrieved from http://www.queensofvintage.com/burlesque-a-short-history

On Burlesque Festivals

Belmont Burlesque Revue. (2010, April 12). Retrieved from http://www.belmontburlesque.com/press.php

Burlesque Hall of Fame. (2010, April 12). Retrieved from http://www.burlesquehall.com/

Dallas Observer. (2010, April 12). Picture Show: Dallas Burlesque Festival at the Texas Theater. Retrieved from http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2010/02/picture_show_dallas_burlesque.php

New Orleans Burlesque Festival. (2010, April 12). Retrieved from http://itsburlesque.com/

Pincurl Magazine. (2010, April 12). Dallas Burlesque Fest Recap. Retrieved from http://pincurlmag.com/tag/dallas-burlesque-festival

Windy City Burlesque Festival. (2010, April 12). Retrieved from http://www.windycityburlesquefest.com/

On Burlesque Academies
Ginger Valentine’s Burlesque Charm School. (2010, April 13). Retrieved from http://www.gingerv.com/burlesque-charm-school/

London Academy of Burlesque. (2010, April 13). Retrieved from http://www.londonacademyofburlesque.com/

Miss Indigo Blue’s Academy of Burlesque. (2010, April 13). Retrieved from http://www.academyofburlesque.com/

New York School of Burlesque. (2010, April 13). Retrieved from http://www.schoolofburlesque.com/

Studio l’Amour. (2010, April 13). Retrieved from http://studiolamour.com/

On Video Clips
Belmont Burlesque. “Ms. Pixy – Save You” 13 October 2007. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqF5jvjI1AQ&feature=player_embedded>

“Catherine D’lish with the World’s Largest Feather Fans” 4 October 2009. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVHm30o91cA&feature=related>

“Dita Von Teese – Martini Glass Dance (Pussycat Dolls Show)” 7 October 2007. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu55N302lJk>

“Elle Adorabelle as Betty Boop” 15 November 2009. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJT_tlsCqDg>

“Ginger Valentine – The 1st Annual New Orleans Burlesque Festival” 6 November 2009. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGExMS-jyNo>

“Hot Talloolah Pie” 8 February 2010.  Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFWySRE6y4>

Kristen Cherise. “Dallas Observer Party 2009 – Black Mariah” 4 March 2010. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTMfwItSjbc>

“Michelle L’Amour – The 1st Annual New Orleans Burlesque Festival” 5 October 2009. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU2y_XVgd_A&feature=related>

“Miss Indigo Blue’s Triple Fan Dance” 14 November 2007. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9nwOaYt7JI>

“Orchid Mei – The 1st Annual New Orleans Burlesque Festival” 4 October 2009. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUe_s5vm9U>

Ruby Revue. “Dallas Burlesque Festival” 25 March 2009. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGAGjxITa0Q>

“Sin O’Rita Classic Burlesque” 29 July 2009. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyAkNsd2J_0>

“Trapeze Disrobing Act.” 30 September 1902. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed on 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdxoZcHG9BY>

“Ursula Undress performs at ‘Vegas or Bust’” 13 March 2010. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hfCU9VrboA>

“Vagina Jenkins Covered in Sex, Wine and Chocolate” 2 October 2008. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 4 April 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O6QM1mo5_g

Theory
Goffman, Erving. (1990). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York, NY: Doubleday.

One of the fundamental questions that keeps reappearing in my head is what makes a poem yours? As I feel poetry to be one of the most emotionally volatile of art forms, particularly in writing, this question always leads me to wonder how personal to make it as a writer. Too much emotion, and the piece becomes so much a pat of you that you cannot share it without fear of rejection, of ever able to edit to find the poem’s full potential. However, with not enough emotion, readers cannot find a connection with the piece and the poet can easily lose the passion to work with it until the end. So how much is right? I’ve been writing for long enough not to take criticism personally anymore, so poetry has been a good outlet for me to discuss issues very personal to me. That being said, I’d like to try some pieces that were more abstract, but it’s difficult to work with personal pieces in a small college setting when most of the people know you on some personal level and would rather focus on how non-fictional or fictional the pieces are rather than their artistic merit. I think it is definitely up the discretion of the poet to decide how much is just enough emotion, but it is important for any artist to get a bit of a thick skin when working with emotional topics, but without the ability to open up, art will never become art.

Does it even have to be your story to make it good? When I write poetry, I always feel like I’m giving it away to the audience when it is complete, and thus it no longer holds the same personal connection with me that it once did. Maybe this is one of the reasons I like to write about ugly situations – once I can make them beautiful I can let them go. Strangely, I could never do this with long works of fiction; I get so connected to my characters, I have a hard time letting go. So maybe that’s simply it? What makes a poem yours is the ability to make something ugly, or even just real, into something beautiful to a mass audience. I think it’s very important to distinguish that claiming a piece of art as your own is not the same as not making it connectible for a wider audience. Because ultimately art is meant to evokes some sort of emotion, or create beauty where there was none before.

Let me preface this event posting by giving a bit of my background with this organization. Dodekapus is an art collective in Atlanta that came to Freeside in its infancy asking for any help we could provide. They have done much of the hard work for this event in our space, and have since decked our space out with some superb artwork. They have since continued to grow exponentially in members and fans and are doing a wonderful job of creating something wonderful. If you stand for artistic expression in any form (as I do, obviously) you need to be at this event.

This Friday at 8pm is the accumulation of many months of hard work on the part of these members, and what I believe to be the beginning of something wonderful in Atlanta. When I moved here almost two years ago I was thoroughly disappointed in the lack of organization of creativity in this city (or what I thought then, the lack of creativity, period). Between Freeside and Dodekapus, something is beginning to change in this city. We are finally uniting, above-ground if you will.

This will be an event lasting into the early hours of the morning, so prepare to be there for a while, admire all of their hard work, and revel in what Atlanta is becoming.

More information on Dodekapus happenings here, and for other Facebook stalkers, there is an event page.

Hope to see you Atlanta folks there!

Home sticks in clods between the ridges of motorcycle wheels,
But our faithful ride is tired, worn from our escapist fantasies,
We are quiet,
Laying side by side in an abandoned gas station
Under flickering city light,
Gravel digging into our shoulders and our backs and our knees.
We smell like rain and gasoline,
Comforting in it’s simplicity.

You are new to me, yet you are peace to me,
A piece of me, a slice of what if feels like to be warm and safe
If even for a moment.
You are worn leather
Every crack like the creases of a rough, callused hand,
Each telling a story.

So I tell you a story:
How lies and deceit can be triumphed over the smell of coffee in the morning,
The view of snow-tipped velvet mountains can make you feel pure again,
I tell you about our city,
How the lake is a vast, dark ocean, surrounded by the rush of street-life.
How the Ferris Wheel turns like the gears in your head,
even as icicles drape every spoke.
I tell you how similar they are,
Those mountains and this city,
And that when you listen just right,
In that moment before the dawn breaking,
For a second everything is absolutely
Still.

So we say a prayer for our faithful ride,
Let the gravel in our skin feel alive.
And, if even for just this day,
The city is ours.

All rights reserved. This is not yours.

(Published in All Rights Reserved Literary Magazine, 2007)

Come find me when the sun has set and the stars faintly dust the skies. As the bustle of everyday chaos and the mulling of voices dies down – slowly, to a faint whisper, then disappears, leaving nothing but nature and the simplicity of darkness. I emerge, crouching between the purity of the empty page, waiting eagerly for the drip of ink. I am invincible, invisible, in an inverted world of a white darkness and black stars. With nightfall, I can only exist in this space, accompanied by words and imagination and dreams and memories.

The hours turn slowly; allowing my time to watch, listen to your dreams – mixed thoroughly with your desires and recollections – as you whisper to me. Rain begins to fall on my blank page, slowly at first, black drops splashing and running around me in designs of words and sentences. The rain is more violent now; it pounds my head in the rhythm of my rapid heartbeat. Then onto my shoulders and outstretched arms. No longer black and white, colors emerge from the cloud of ideas above me. Iridescent, they drip from my hair, trickling down my forehead, stinging my eyes, and tracing a shimmering line down my neck to pool in the hollow of my collarbone. Soaking my clothes. Radiant blues and hues of green contrast with the bright yellow of the midmorning sun. The page is transformed into a tranquil ocean. Away from people. See them? They are far off, unimportant to this story. Your story. There you are, in the water now, bathing gracefully in the salty shades of the page. Swimming, swimming, invisible.

Feel the waves on your shoulders. An electrifying sensation that will linger long after the moment has passed. In a fleeting second, you sensed a connection. You became part of the water – part of something larger, deeper than your mind could comprehend. I feel it too, brushing my fingers over another completed page. Knowing when I return again to the chaos of the sun that the satisfaction will follow me. It will fade eventually, when you had to stop and exhale. Your breath shakes the page, remodels words in new forms. Some will disappear, evaporate, chased away by the wind of reason. They’ll try to creep back in at later times, silent and unnoticed. As you drift away again, that charge reemerges. The ritual will repeat itself, as history so often does.

I laugh, exhilarated, careful not to wake you, peaceful and unknowing to my frenzied exuberance in the immersion of words. The sound echoes, reverberating in the empty spaces of the paper, hungry to be filled with more words. It harmonizes with a constant heartbeat, the rise and fall of your chest, and the scrawl of pen on paper. The music is rough, simple, and yet elegant. It compliments the colors in different fashioning of beats. There is no score, no tempo, no refrain. Only pure sound. Beauty. It keeps me from losing my grounding completely, from disappearing into passion and imagination, wrapped snug in a velvet blanket of memories.

I taste the words as they fall. Sour, like a ripe lemon pleading to be plucked from a tree, then chuckling at your naïve confusion as you take a bite. The next drop is sweet, but fait, like a memory of cotton candy at a fair last attended many years passed. You won a contest that year, didn’t you? A youth’s poem – vague, incomplete and unpolished but nonetheless your poem. You don’t even like cotton candy, but on this particular year, it tasted particularly sweet. The scent of pride and victory stuck to your fingers long after the synthetic sugar had disappeared.

I can smell the wet ink as it dries. Like overnight summer rain and the succeeding morning mist that saturates everything, making the grass cool and inviting in the warmth of the rising sun. Soothing as you watch and listen as the world awakens, yawning and shaking and begging for its several more minutes of solitude. But you are well awake, and you study each aspect of the dawn. Like coffee, too hot to drink but tantalizing you with its aroma. Drank in musty, dim-lit coffee shops at midnight, with friends, poetry reading, guitars, and card games. Like the scent of his cologne – all of them you’ve ever known – and dulled into the universal scent of men. Like pine trees, the crunch of twigs and a thin layer of ice under a clear February night. The crackle of a roaring fire that warms beyond aching limb and muscle and bone. Deeper into your core than you ever thought possible. As I write, this is the scent of history.

The sun is beginning to rise, and the clouds begin to dissipate. The last words are hurried, outrunning the impending sunshine that seeps into the windows and under the door. My heart slows and my breathing deepens. And you awaken. Take my place in the world; manage the maze of city streets and watch emotion, politics and destruction. Race against pressure. When you have had your fill, return to me by night. Let passion reign. Watch me sing and dance on a blank page, fulfilled with your memories and dreams and hopes and despair. Watch your history, my history, unfold on the empty page as the process repeats again.

From Tor.com