Bianca DuPreé

So a few months backs, when I was seriously toying with the whole burlesque idea, I dragged my husband to the Jim Thorpe "Boolesque" show---Halloween themed burlesque acts. Campy, spooky, sexy ladies performing in an old Victorian town, in a vaudeville theater, on Halloween weekend. It was a good time to say the least.

I can't say for certain but I'm pretty sure that I was among the few attending not only for entertainment but for research purposes. I decided right then and there that my goal was to make it into the spring show. When I casually passed the idea on to my husband in the car that night---yeah, I think maybe I could do that. yeah, I think I'm gonna do that---I'm also pretty certain he didn't take me very seriously and yet here I am.

One of the featured acts that night was Miss Bianca DuPreé--a burlesque/pole artist out of Baltimore, MD. I knew what pole dancing was (or at least I thought) and I knew what burlesque dancing was (or at least I thought) but this was the first time I saw them combined. The resulting art I found reminiscent of the circus tight rope walker meets Vargas girl meets dance hall queen. Watching her felt like watching a circus performer or a magicians assistant. You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when there is potential for danger? Could she fall? Is she really dangling by one arm? You see the act unfold before your eyes and yet you're not sure of what you're seeing. A woman can seriously shimmy up a pole and suspend her body like a like a lotus hovering on the tension of a pond.

She danced, and teased, and tasseled as well! She removed clothing way up there on the pole! It was refreshing. Different. Not too heavy handed on the sport end--I've learned that pole sport/fitness is different from polesque, which is different from club dancing. Quite an education I'm getting. There are also apparent differences of opinion between the "sects", if you will, on the prowess/validity of each "sect" respectively. Don't me wrong though, I couldn't help but think as she reached out into space high above the audiences' head--that is a strong ass woman, those thighs could crush cinder blocks! 

Shortly after "Boolesque" I found the strip tease class I wanted to take---which ended up becoming a private pole dancing class--not my original intention. Had I not seen Bianca perform I would not have been interested in learning to pole dance because I would have not made the connection between the two styles of performance. And if I hadn't seen it executed so well, I really wouldn't think they would work as a form unto itself. It does! And in my beginners opinion, those who feel that pole dancing does not have a place in burlesque have not had the opportunity to see is done well.

I get to go from spectator to performer/student--and I still consider myself very much a student. It's an amazing opportunity. I am so excited to learn. I am so excited to perform. I just don't know what else to say about it.

I will not be pole dancing in the spring show but Bianca DuPreé will be. She also has a blog. Check it out!