Neo-Burlesque: Striptease as Transformation

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They also have a very modern style, using lights to create the tease burlesque is known for. This has attracted celebrity guest performers like Carmen Electra, Pamela Anderson and, their very first, Dita Von Teese. April March was one of the innovators of the elegant striptease. After being discovered she soon moved to Dallas to train as a burlesque dancer. April March’s mix of innocence and sensuality instantly charmed audiences. After the criminalisation of burlesque shows in New York, the genre went further afield. The rise of other forms of entertainment, however, saw its slow decline. To keep clientelle much of burlesque evolved into what we know now as modern strip clubs. The uninhibited atmosphere of burlesque establishments owed much to the free flow of alcoholic liquor, and the enforcement of Prohibition was a serious blow. [35] In New York, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia clamped down on burlesque, effectively putting it out of business by the early 1940s. [36] It lingered on elsewhere in the US, increasingly neglected, and by the 1970s, with nudity commonplace in theatres, reached "its final shabby demise." [37] Both during its declining years and afterwards there have been films that sought to capture American burlesque, including Lady of Burlesque (1943), [38] Striporama (1953), [39] and The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968). [40] The "Stage Door Johnnies", Burlesque Hall of Fame, Las Vegas, 2011

a b Caldwell, Mark. "The Almost Naked City", The New York Times, 18 May 2008, accessed 19 September 2009 The Folies Bergère is a cabaret venue in Paris which reached the height of its popularity during the Belle Époque (1890s) to the twenties. It continues to be a landmark of the city’s cultural history today. This is our list of the best burlesque shows ever. They starred the biggest names in the biz, had the greatest impact on the genre and still have influence today. Best Burlesque Shows Ever Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-861459-4 McGregor, Andrew, "Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Concertos 1 & 2 Review", BBC Music, accessed 24 February 2011The Hurly Burly Show was a risqué musical revue that brought burlesque to the British mainstream, the first show of its kind seen in London. It combined cabaret, pop music and, of course, burlesque dancing. With her failing health in the late-1960s she recruited her friend Dixie Evans. Jennie Lee’s legacy has since been preserved by Dixie Evans and the burlesque resurgence into what we now know as the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. Petkovic, John (28 November 2010). "Burlesque: Then and now, a timeline of performers from Lili St. Cyr to Dita VonTeese". www.cleveland.com. The Plain Dealer . Retrieved 7 May 2015. According to her Facebook, this June she plans to launch T he Dixie Evans Burlesque Show. It will be, “Incorporating the roots of burlesque in comedy, variety, and sexy striptease.” See 20s Burlesque Dancers to Remember, 30s Burlesque Headline Honeys and 40s Burlesque Burly-Q Queens. Plus our answer to: what is burlesque?

DiNardo, Kelly. "Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique"; Archive of articles, video, pictures and interviews about neo-burlesque. The burlesque shows were soon sensationalised and their popularity saw the rise of a star, Gypsy Rose Lee. Watch our short films inspired by her astounding career and persona. Victorian burlesque related to and in part derived from traditional English pantomime "with the addition of gags and 'turns'." [25] In the early burlesques, following the example of ballad opera, the words of the songs were written to popular music; [26] later burlesques mixed the music of opera, operetta, music hall and revue, and some of the more ambitious shows had original music composed for them. This English style of burlesque was successfully introduced to New York in the 1840s. [27] Programme: Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué Blaze Starr was the queen of Baltimore burlesque for over 20 years. Though speaking of her first performance, she said she, “burned with embarrassment, not shame.”

This list wouldn’t be complete without the amazing living legend that is Dixie Evans. After her successful burlesque career, she moved out to the desert to care for the pioneering burlesque dancer Jennie Lee.

Moss, Harold Gene. "Popular Music and the Ballad Opera", Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Autumn, 1973), pp. 365–82, University of California Press, accessed 2 February 2011 (subscription required) Some of the most frequent subjects for burlesque were the plays of Shakespeare and grand opera. [28] [29] The dialogue was generally written in rhyming couplets, liberally peppered with bad puns. [25] A typical example from a burlesque of Macbeth: Macbeth and Banquo enter under an umbrella, and the witches greet them with "Hail! hail! hail!" Macbeth asks Banquo, "What mean these salutations, noble thane?" and is told, "These showers of 'Hail' anticipate your 'reign '". [29] A staple of burlesque was the display of attractive women in travesty roles, dressed in tights to show off their legs, but the plays themselves were seldom more than modestly risqué. [25] According to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "the various genre terms were always applied freely", and by the 1860s their use had become "arbitrary and capricious": see "Burlesque," Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, accessed 3 February 2011 (subscription required). In an 1896 article on Burlesque in The Theatre, the three terms are used interchangeably: see Adams, W. Davenport. "Burlesque: Old v. New", The Theatre, 1 March 1896, pp. 144–45Wilson, Frederic Woodbridge (1992), 'Burlesque' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7 Burlesque News – The Growth of Burlesque", New York Clipper, Vol. 62, No. 31, September 12, 1914, p. 18 (accessed February 28, 2017, via MyHeritage) The vivacious burlesque dancer, Blaze Starr, was known as ‘The Hottest Blaze in Burlesque’. Alongside Tempest Storm she was also known as one of the busty bad girls of burlesque. Originally the dance troupe members were chosen for uniformity in their height and shape. Though recent years have seen them become more diverse.