I’ve watched the re-emergence of burlesque with a kind of awed bemusement. There appears to not only be a professional burlesque circuit, but also extensive amateur activities as well. It’s kind of like R-rated karaoke.
There’s no denying the trend–there’s a local festival, schools and 13,244 photos on Flickr (work-safeness may vary). I went looking for an article on this subject, and found this one:
Over the last 10 years, women have dusted off pasties and tassels in a rediscovery of classic burlesque, which ended its heyday in the early 1960s with the sexual revolution and increase of sex and nudity in other venues. Now, an over-sexed public is cheering for the sexy glamour of burlesque, which offers a glimpse but doesn’t bare it all.
Here’s something I suspected, and this article confirms it: “Today–amid the powerful influence of the multi-billion-dollar-a-year porn industry–the audience is more middle-class, urban and female.”
That’s interesting to me, as neo-burlesque (as it’s called) is obviously not about the titilation, but about the performance itself. Clearly, then burlesque isn’t the long tail of stripping, because it’s aimed at an entirely different audience.
I really don’t know what to make of this trend (there’s also a related, puzzling trend concerning roller derby). I guess I’m all for women taking ownership of their sexuality, and clearly there’s enough interest to make for a viable economy in which lots of different groups can participate.
I should note, however, that this is one of those trends whose visibility may betray the actual size of the burlesquing population. Sex sells, so I’m sure every media outlet has covered neo-burlesque some time in the past five years or so.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
The thing about this new burlesque trend is that I find a lot of people think there’s really “nothing to it”. I’ve seen a few shows here and there amoung other performance type events and I’m so not impressed. It’s been my experience to see no skill, talent or entertainment so I sort roll my eyes at it all and I’m patiently waiting for this trend to pass…
lol… yes!
Wow. Now THAT is a headline with some serious Google juice.
The prevalence of burlesque in Vancouver was kind of surprising to me when I moved here. I see it everywhere here.
In Montreal where I lived before there wasn’t really any burlesque, just a lot of regular strip clubs.
I saw my first burlesque show on the weekend and now consider myself a fan. I’d love to do it!
Just came across this interesting article about burlesque in Albuqurque (sp?). The referer thought the “q” aspect might be why they’re in love with it there. Maybe Vancouver will change it’s spelling to Vanqouver.
http://tinyurl.com/gvs6c
http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/special/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19878_4902188,00.html
Burlesque is basically stripping for girls who don’t want to admit they’re stripping: lots of women love the idea of getting up in front of an audience, and burlesque makes that seem sort of classy rather than, er, not classy. And the misgivings that a lot of girls have about going to a strip club is because of all those slimy guys sitting around gynecology row, and also because of a completely unrealistic model that looks nothing like most women up on stage.
So you’ll notice that 1. Many burlesque dancers don’t fit the traditional stripper “look,” which may be cause or effect, I’m not sure. And 2. it’s way more about the spectacle than the sex – it’s more like going to Cirque du Soleil rather than Le Club Supersexe.
(Also, women just love getting dressed up, even if that means getting dressed, er, down.)
I saw a Burlesque act on the weekend, at the Odd Ball at W.I.S.E. hall in East Van.
This is sort of an alternative pride dance that anyone, gay or straight can go to ( no one throwing any ‘tude ). To make the proverbial long story short, there was this woman there who did a Burlesque act that combined elements of both Burlesque and Hip Hop. This was quite original and good. At the end of the act, she spun her boobs so fast that one of her pasties flew off! I take it that she wished to avoid a possible unbalanced situation, so she ripped of her other pastie, and threw it into the appreciative crowd!
I run the largest club in Atlanta,Ga. It is called the Pink Pony. I have been there 10years. We do burlesque with strippers. We have features from all over and I have floor girls who imitate the old 50’s way of stripping. You are invited if you ever come to Atlanta. I am also looking for a writer to start my book for as 10years in a stip club I have seen alot.
Actually I think it is the long tail of stripping. Modern day stripping and poledancing which is an art form in itself and personally I think poledancing is a lot more impressive than a betty page wiggle is descended from american burlesque which was all about the strip tease in the 1930s.
It irratates me that housewives are so quick to differentiate the two on some moral level ‘oh burlesque is classier’ as if it is somehow better than stripping. I have admiration for both burlesque and stripping they are just different art forms for taking your clothes off. As for those who say they’re burlesque dancers who don’t take anything off. Well they’re frustrated housewives trying to make burlesque more socially acceptable so they can do something naughty but not too naughty. It’s up to someone whether they want to incorporate a full striptease in their performance but to have an opinion on those who do, well that’s just middle class hypocrisy.