The litmus test for me, is being comfortable, and enjoying the show with my hubby, and neither of us feeling the embarrassment (hubby more so) that you get, with a straight forward, strip down to the raw, stripper. I got hooked on Burlesque, after seeing it at what I interpreted to be a forties night. I just loved it, the tease, the variety and the 50/50 mix of the sexes that was the audience. We have since seen a couple of big theatrical style burlesque shows, where the audience mix has never been predominantly male. I joined this forum because I had to register to look at the galleries section of past events. I wanted to check that the audiences were the same as previously described. The meat market that is a strip show, with men baying at the stage just leaves me cold. Elektra Lush is worried about the Burlesque style of strip tease becoming highbrow, I don't know about that, but I am happy to tell friends ( and Mum) that we are off to see a Burlesque show, without having to qualify it.

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What is the difference between men and women? A woman wants one man to satisfy her every need. A man wants every woman to satisfy his one need.

I think the main crux of the 'is striptease really burlesque' debate is about boredom.

There is nothing more boring than a night full of generic striptease and this is why people need to be educated that burlesque encompases so much more.

If people are not educated then in twelve months time, the whole thing will die out. People will regard it as a fad - been there, done that, got the tassels.

If people know that a burlesque show will be different each time, there's much more chance of the genre surviving and growing stronger.

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Castlist - One Site To Rule Them All!

I'm still kind of new to the world of burlesque, but having been to a few lap dancing/ strip clubs too I think the difference is simply the intent. In a strip cub the main point of the act is to arouse the (mainly male)audience, by showing as much as possible and relating to sexuality in a typical "male" way. In a burlesque act the intent seems to be more of a celebration of femininity, combined with the comedic/ dramatic element. Burlesque performers seems to have a hell of a lot more fun than any strippers I've seen.

SugarLouise
x

Bit new to the scene but I did notice something different about burlesque the other night. During a burlesque performance I laughed, was impressed because I could never come up with that / do that, screamed for more and was jaw droppingly amazed by the end. I just don't think you can easily get all that from a striptease.

oh I dunno, I can think of more boring things to do that watch beautiful sparkly ladies have fun on stage in front of me.! : D
I don't if there IS a generic striptease- there's A LOT you can do with it. It's more to do with how well it's done. I could watch someone who really looks fabulous and moves beautifully doing loads of routines without getting bored. But loads of below average stripping gets dull very fast due to lack of imagination.We've seen Diana Prince strip into Wonder Woman( then into tassel twirling) and Red Riding Hood into the Wolf; the Wau Wau strip each other while doing acrobatic flips...and then some just lovely dancing and basic strip behind fans. I rarely get tired of fan-dancing when it's done well- I think it's just breath-takingly beautiful! All striptease, all lovely. A bit of variety/cabaret/circus whatever you want to call it, is certainly nice to break it up, but I do feel Burlesque should be at least 70% striptease of some description.

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" If I ever bore you, it'll be with a knife."
Louise Brooks

Thanks Sarah. I think these sentiments are felt by many people.

It often undermines the hard work that many performers put in to have their genre mislabelled in any fashion and in any direction. I know that if I performed a classic Strtp Tease, I'd be perplexed to have it described as a burlesque - it would mean that my attempt at sexual prowess came across as a piss take.

Strip Tease is a glorious genre in it's own right, why people want rename it 'burlesque' seems strange. Strip Tease and Burlesque do often go hand in hand and have a rich history together but are not the same thing and not necessarily even relevant to one another - it's all about the individual act and ity's satirical/comedic components.

As I keep saying strip tease is neither necessary nor sufficient to create a burlesque. There must be elements of satire or parody for a routine to be by definition, a burlesque act regardless of whether any clothes are shed or not.

Changing the meaning of the word or redefining the genre to fit a personal style is not helpful. So many clubs and individuals do indeed appear to be doing exactly this and this is prolonging the confusion.

Whether this is being done out of ignornace, a desperation to fit in with a 'trendy image', deliberate branding to sell a product or even to validate a personal belief is never exactly clear but it is still frustrating and unhelpful to others to be misrepresenting their craft.

It's a bit like confusing a hat with a handbag. One is aesthetically based and is worn as a fashion statement to be admired, the other is loaded with function and personal content. The relationship between the two is in their matching effect and complimentary statement - i.e. many handbags are designed and chosen to go with a lovely hat and gloves. Personal taste and style dictates what combination an individual will adorn whether it suits them or not is anotehr thing entirely...

More and more people are starting to see the differences and similarities between the S.T and B and are choosing to specialise, seek out one over the other or embrace the difference.

It's all good. Lets just keep it accurate for everyone's benefit. There is room for everyone and room for different styles within the new burlesque industry. As long as everyone is being honest about what they are doing, and enjoying their chosen artform we can all work together.

I'm no French street mime, but if i was, I'd refrain from calling myself a Living Statue as that would just confuse my agents, clients and audiences.

Gypsy Charms is without doubt THE authority on the Strip Tease in the UK and is a real unsung heroe - Gypsy, it would be good to get your views on here? maybe a link to an article or something?

(Gypsy has experience as a stripper, a strip tease artiste AND a burlesque act never mind being a qualified coach, founder of the ASBS Scotland, LTD and is also completeing a PhD on the history of erotic dance.)

Go Gypsy!

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Kittie Klaw - The Ministry Of Burlesque
"Together We CanCan".

Find out more at.
www.kittieklaw.com
www.ministryofburlesque.com

As we're on this topic I would like to ask a question that I'm sure one of you will be able to answer accurately for me.
I get the whole burlesque/parody thing, makes perfect sense, but how do the pretty routines with feather fans etc fit into this? Is there a history of how this is a parody of something way back? I think these routines are lovely and fit beautifully into the shows, I was just interested to how they fit in with the 'British Burlesque' that has been discussed on this thread and others.

I think that the whole thing is that burlesque ENCOMPASSES all of these genres.

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Castlist - One Site To Rule Them All!

i think what we are trying to say is that there are many different catagories in burlesque and that it is not solely the art of removing ones clothes.

when you say circus do you immediately think of clowns ?
not necessarily
trapeze
acrobatics
clowning
tight wire
horses
etc.

Burlesque = many different things in the same way
balloon popping / fan dancing / comedy /striptease/ nipple tasseling / magic / and so on.... with a narative, a setting, props, character and surprises.

not just a strip !!

x x x
red

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Winner "Best Female Performer 2007" MOB Awards
Mistress of Make Believe
Veteran of Circus and British Burlesque
http://www.redsarah.com
http://www.myspace.com/cherrybombola

I agree with Red Sarah, burlesque as a performance genre is actually very broad and I'm very happy that more and more people out there are coming to realise that as they attend more and more events. People have realised that you can't sum up in one sentence the answer to 'what is burlesque?' Personally, I am trying to move away from stripping in my routines, not because I think htere's anything wrong with striptease at all, but just because I want to explore the other aspects of burlesque.

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Castlist - One Site To Rule Them All