Christmas, Class and Questions

Things seem to be moving right along. My holiday anxiety, I mean spirit, is in full swing. My son had a positive conversation with Santa, I'm half wrapped and the tree is fully decorated as long as a particular two year old stops taking the ornaments off the tree. Next week we're gonna tackle the gingerbread house kit I purchased. That should be fun. In other news...

I managed to make it to my second class without a hitch. Maria developed a short, sweet and sassy pole routine for me. It's cute. I'll be able to pull it off at some point with some much needed practice. I'm a little bummed that there's no big vah-vah-voom trick in it. It's probably for the better since I am still getting tripped up on my hands and feet.  I'm the first one to admit that I am a beginner at best. My primary goal is to develop the strip tease routine first and then work the pole routine. By the way, Santa is supposed to bring me a pole--if I'm a good little Bunny. That should be lots of fun!!

  Maria and I had an interesting conversation about body hangs up and how our bodies have changed since we've had kids. Surprisingly, she has a lot more issues than I do when it comes to stripping. She never does it in her act, and let me just say, she doesn't need it to fall back on. Her pole routines are sexy, graceful and powerful in shorts and a t-shirt. I was a little taken aback, though, when she admitted that part of the reason she does not remove clothing while dancing is because she prefers her body shape in clothes. As I mentioned before she has a ballet dancer frame with legs that go for miles. I can't even be jealous of her; comparing us physically  is like comparing an apple to an orange pound cake. I'm the pound cake, in case you were wondering.

Pole dancing and strip tease are not directly related, cousins, maybe, at best. I wonder, though, is it necessary to take clothing off at all--ever--in performance? Is the strip an essential part of the strip tease or can you create a cabaret type dance number, scantily clad even, but not take anything off and accomplish the same level of sexiness? My initial thought is yes, most definitely. We've all seen someone walking down the street who exudes sexiness or is visually interesting at the least and they are completely clothed. Look at the popularity of Latin dance. Those couples drip with sex appeal and although the costuming is obviously meant to be suggestive they never need to get down to a g-string and pasties to do it.

There's also the beauty of implied nudity. On television, print and in movies we as an audience willingly suspend our disbelief and are often turned on by the suggestion of nudity--even though deep down we know better. Sally Rand, originator of the Fan Dance in burlesque is a prime example. I just finished watching the documentary Striptease: The Greatest Exotic Dancers of All Time which features Rand and a host of other legendary performers. Rand would perform her fan dance sometimes in the nude but many times in a flesh colored body suit. Both performances are gorgeous and you really can't tell the difference at all, in my opinion.

I just wonder--how did we get from showing our wrists and ankles to the Chicago World's Fair, where Ms. Rand's act debuted, to the Victoria's  Secret Fashion show, Lady Gaga and Neo-Burlesque? The obvious answer is the desires of a mostly male audience over the years must have influenced this. Along with the fact that most of the male comedians in burlesque moved on to successful careers on stage, screen and later television; while most, but not all, of the ladies were trying to find new ways to keep their acts going. I'm not sure that that is the whole story, though. Maybe as Europe's influence on American culture became stronger--since the Europeans have always been a little more bawdy and a little more open-minded than us.  Since it's our tradition as Americans to do everything bigger and better, we got more and more undressed. Interestingly,  burlesque went just about extinct at the dawn of the sexual revolution of the late 1950's and through the 1960's. I guess our tastes changed and our feelings about sexuality changed. So in response we created hard core pornography.......is that art? I don't think I'll even entertain that one right now. Can we go backward in time? Backward in thinking? Are we sexually aroused by Neo-Burlesque performers or are we taking a look into the nickelodeon? Does it matter..and if not, why do it?

As I said in an earlier post, I'm really trying to look at this as a new learning experience along with having some fun. One great educational resource is 21st Centruy Burlesque Magazine. I just read on of their featured columns by Beatrix Von Bourbon titled Striptease--Where is the Focus? . The article is what got me thinking of all this in the first place. In summation, the author asks what part of the tease informs the strip? In other words, she challenged her readers to think about the arc of their performances. Are they taking clothes off for the sake of the genre and why strip tease at all? It was really interesting for someone as green as myself.  I'm glad I read it now, so early in my adventure, because it will only help to inform anything I decide to do--or not do, for that matter.

Overwhelmingly I've discovered that performers past and present consider themselves true artists and pole dance, burlesque, strip tease--whatever label used--a valid art form. As do I. It's not so much in the strip but in the tease. The art of seduction, flirting, accentuating the female body, peaking the viewers interest, aesthetics--it's all there. Not to mention good general dance technique and stage presence. AND we haven't even touched on HUMOR. That's one of the things I love most about strip tease and one of the reasons I'm so interested to try it. It's a little ridiculous to get all dressed up and then take your clothes off in front of strangers. It borderlines on the absurd. We stopped performing our fertility dances a long, long time ago. I appreciate that the audience and performer are both in on the joke---it's silly and fun and to be enjoyed. It may be one of the only surviving aspects of burlesque in it's original form. Comedic or topical skits are not always featured in modern shows.

Anyway..I'm still not sure I answered my own questions--why remove clothing at all? Some performers choose to and some don't. Some peel a little, some take it as far as possible. I guess it's all a matter of personal choice and creative expression. With access to everything beautiful and grotesque on the internet you would think that no one would care to see a live show. That would obviously be a terrible, terrible shame. I'm glad to see that people still crave some of that live voyeuristic titillation and there is a vibrant community of artists bringing it to them in various forms.

By the way, my dress came today!!!! Early Christmas present as I was not expecting it for at least another week. It fits like a glove--which means I am not permitted to gain one--NOT ONE pound of holiday weight. I should actually lose four. No small task--remember, I'm the pound cake. It will be a good motivator. Besides, I'm gonna have to have something to take off, right??