Happy New Year, all! Last year’s ‘most popular burlesque articles’ post was so popular I’ve created one for 2015 for you to enjoy while you recover from last night’s festivities/gigs/denial.
1. LUCKY PIERRE’S DROPS BURLESQUE PERFORMER DUE TO HER SIZE. BURLESQUE COMMUNITY ERUPTS.
“Before I was fully awake this morning in London my inbox was filling up with reports from New Orleans about Lucky Pierre’s, which hosts The Blue Book Cabaret, produced by Burlesque TOP 50 ranking performer Bella Blue, who has invited such guest stars as Jo Weldon and Michelle L’amour to the venue. Ruby Rage, a cast member of Blue Book for the past year, has been banned from performing at the venue by the Lucky Pierre’s management specifically because of her size, which is not appropriate or desirable for the show, in their opinion. I spoke to Ruby Rage personally to discover what has happened first hand”
BURLESQUE ICON DIRTY MARTINI RESPONDS TO LUCKY PIERRE’S SIZE DISCRIMINATION INCIDENT
EXCLUSIVE: INTERVIEW WITH BELLA BLUE, LUCKY PIERRE’S BURLESQUE PRODUCER
2. JEEZ LOUEEZ “UPSET, CONFLICTED AND ANGRY” AFTER NEW ORLEANS BURLESQUE FESTIVAL
“Take ten minutes out of your evening to watch this brave video from Jeez Loueez, outlining some of her concerns after participating in the New Orleans Burlesque Festival. The following is an introduction to the clip, written by Jeez for 21st Century Burlesque Magazine readers.”
3. ON ‘THE BURLESQUE COMMUNITY’ (OR WHY ‘COMMUNITY’ DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN ‘HARMONY’)
“Burlesque is not Disneyland. You won’t pass through the gates to find a row of smiling, dancing princesses waiting to hug you and pose for you and guide you through a fairytale world. It’s more like a sparkly, E6000-scented high school, filled with the same class clowns, cool kids, seemingly perfect seniors, attention seekers, weirdos, outcasts and shit-stirrers you encountered the first time around. Except they’re naked. And largely awesome. But flawed, human and hella busy.”
4. BURLESQUE COSTUME TUTORIAL: TRICKS WITH TIGHTS
“In a new series on 21st Century Burlesque Magazine, fabulous costumer, blogger and performer Viv Clicquot shares valuable tips and tricks, continuing with Tricks With Tights!”
5. 10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO BE A BETTER BURLESQUE DANCER
“Sometimes we plateau and don’t know how to find inspiration or how to hone our skills; especially if we are not near hot-beds of burlesque shows and classes. Well, here is a list of 10 Things You Can do to be a Better Burlesque Dancer – very similar to the homework I give my students between the Advanced and Solo levels – to help guide you. Some of it may seem obvious, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important.”
“A little post about body modification, elective surgery and the joys of changing your body in the age of the Internet. This was spurred by comments I see on Instagram on people’s accounts, Facebook, society’s response to Bruce Jenner, body builders, the burlesque community, debates over black women’s hair, etc…”
7. SHAN DE LEERS: A HAIRY ADVENTURE IN SELF LOVE
“That’s me loving on my sparkly armpit hair onstage. This should not be a thing of significance to anyone other than me. My armpits have literally no effect on anyone other than me, so why do they have such a huge effect on people? Why has growing out these tiny patches of hair been such a profoundly affecting thing for me personally? It’s hair. HAIR. And not even always visible hair at that!”
8. A BHOF LETTER FROM IMOGEN KELLY, REIGNING QUEEN OF BURLESQUE 2012
“…think of the last time you were treated as being less than your worth as a performer – the last time you were underpaid, the last time you were spoken down to – and make a pinky promise to your soul that you will never let this happen to yourself again…”
9. SPECIAL FEATURE: SUPPORTING RECOVERY IN THE BURLESQUE COMMUNITY
“The burlesque community is driven and exuberant. We push ourselves to bring our fabulous visions to life. We entertain audiences well into the wee hours of the morning at bars, theatres and performance spaces around the world. We work hard and we’re known to party hard. Sometimes too hard. And sometimes, too often. And sometimes, for some of us, it’s out of control.”
10. BURLESQUE PERFORMERS: GET PAID. STOP WORKING FOR FREE!
“It all started when I received yet another message from a newer performer wanting to get out there in the scene, wanting to do festivals, wanting to headline. Then I wait for it: again they are performing for free because they want the stage time and they want to make friends and influence people. They just want to be a part of something – a sparkly something that makes our hearts feel good and allows us to shake and quake in front of (usually) appreciative people. I appreciate ambition and drive, I really do, but I desperately want all of these women to know that in order to make sure that headlining spots and paid spots are even available to them in the future, they need to STOP WORKING FOR FREE. Just stop it.”
And, of course:
