Thread: What does Burlesque mean to you as a performer/as an audience member....

I hope no one in this community finds this too intrusive of me...

Burlesque has recently entered the main in the small community in which I live. I've been to a few performances and find the shows fascinating and awe- inspiring. As a university student when the opportunity arose for me to pick a cultural practice or form of performance in which to briefly investigate audience and performer understanding and meaning Burlesque immediately sprung to mind. If any members would mind taking a few minutes to answer the following questions it would really help to direct my research, as well as further my own personal understanding and interest in/of burlesque .

I've written some questions below, in the form of a survey I guess. If you're interested in replying, feel free to answer one or two or all- even just make a comment or two on your perspective. It would be greatly appreciated. I'm curious and interested.

Again if this is at all intrusive and annoying or against the etiquette of this site please let me know and I'll remove the post... or the moderator can remove it and inform me.

Grateful in advance for any information you can provide me with.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Interested outsider seeking a more informed understanding.

1)Explain the practice of Burlesque as well as what it means to you. ( ex. Why do you do it? What meaning does it have in your life, is it just a fun pastime, or is it a significant and central aspect of your life?)

2)How did you first become involved in the Burlesque , what attracted you to it?

3)Do you have certain goals for your shows, what are you trying to convey to the audience?

4)Describe your audience base? (Who makes up the majority of your audience?)

5)In your opinion what attracts the audience to burlesque over other forms of erotic dance and shows?

6)Is there anything you would like to add about your experience as a burlesque performer, or the importance of burlesque as a cultural practice?

WARNING

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To me, burlesque today is giving people back some things that have been lost.

5) First, burlesque has a really fine attention to detail and glamour. In the movements, in the layers, in the costumes, in the facial expressions you offer to the audience. It's all fine detail and a glamour that is sadly lacking in the world today.

Second, teasing is not something that is done nowadays. What you want is just there in front of you. Skimpy clothes, overtly sexual video clips, full nudity in films, etc. But as Marilyn Monroe sang- "After you get what you want you don't want it".
I know guys who frequent strip clubs and are just bored with what they see.
Burlesque pushes, it offers, it teases, but it never totally gives the audience what they want. It should leave them begging for more.

How could you be expected to take your eyes of it?

2) I guess I was attracted to burlesque first when I saw Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. She was beautiful and I wanted to be her- I guess I still do! Since I was a kid at the time I didn't know what I was seeing or what too look for, so that sat with me for awhile until I saw Moulin Rouge, Cabaret and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was inspired, now I knew I wanted to do burlesque /cabaret but there was something not quite right about it. It wasn't what I wanted to be.
Then in 2007 on the messy bedroom floor of a friend I saw Dita von Teese . She was perfect. I fell in love with the pictures in "Burlesque and the Art of the Tease" and I knew that's where I wanted to go. She was beautiful, elegant, pale, glamourous. She was the epitome of everything I had been trying to pull together during my childhood.
Since then I've been delving deep into the world of burlesque and fetish. Broadening my knowledge. And now I hope to start performing my own routines.

Cheers,
Tigress