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I didn’t know that Seattle has a big burlesque scene until my sister, Vi, did one of her college projects on it. There are a number of groups and solo performers such as Jet City Burlesque, Sinner Saint Burlesque, Lucky Penny, and the newest group in town Tempest Burlesque.

I’m going to have my sister tell you about the Seattle scene and burlesque in general. Vi Entila is senior at the Evergreen State College, an uber liberal hippyville college located in the middle of Olympia, WA forest. Everyone from this college gets a Liberal Arts degree and Vi’s concentration is around literature and writing. She works as a barista
in the town’s Barnes and Noble, writes mainly poetry, and is an activist for many causes such as queer rights, environmental issues, and animal rights.

So, Vi……..

What is the name of your program? What was it about?

The name of my program is Gender and Sexuality: History, Culture, and Politics.  The program is generally related to queer studies, and the influences of sexuality around it.  We discussed everything from passing as a different race, to passing as the opposite gender, to the culture of porn, to capitalism and queer theories.

For those of you who don’t know Evergreen’s, they’re structure is not like a traditional school where you go to one class at a time. Most of the “classes” are organized in something called a “program” that has a theme as what Vi has described about her program “Gender and Sexuality.” Basically, if one wants to see what single subject one is going to study and get credit in this program it would be gender studies, politics, literature, and writing.
Why did you decide to take it?

Naturally I decided to take it because I wanted to learn more about politics, and that it would be fun to take a queer studies class as well.

What has motivated you to learn about politics?

I was really tired of not knowing enough about it, and I was also really scared about the learning environment about politics.  For example, on how people are so touchy with the subject.  I had a really great group of friends who helped me understand the politics revolving around gender and sexuality by personal experiences.  Being scared gave me the challenge to learn politics.

So I know your main project was on burlesque for this class, what is burlesque?

By standard definition, it’s mimicking a specific time in history.  However, from what I gathered by burlesque performers and learning the history of it, my definition of burlesque is mainly a form of art expressed by performing dances, songs, music, acting, teasing, and stripping that mimic a time in history or a specific time in life that can be comical, sexy, or both at the same time. 

How does your burlesque project relate to what you learn in your program?

Burlesque has ties around the queer culture, presenting gender and sexuality with it.  Burlesque performers play with drag, use sex and empowerment that can lead to political issues and/or achievement.  Also, burlesque is also a form of sexual “playfulness”, which we touched a little about in class.

Why did you decide to do your project on this?

I was intrigued on how controversial burlesque is with it being about sex or not about sex.  I also wanted to challenge a culture that people I know don’t understand, and a culture they believe it should be shameful or awkward.

Why is burlesque viewed as controversial? What about it people do not understand?

Here are the questions I cannot answer sometimes:  What is the purpose of burlesque?  So, is burlesque basically just going to a strip club?  Me: No.  Then why don’t they just strip if they don’t take all their clothes off?  What’s the purpose of not taking all your clothes off?  Why is it art? 

Burlesque is controversial simply because people don’t understand it.  I still don’t understand it.  I only believe that performers can fully grasp the comprehension of it because they are the one making a statement.  Some people also don’t understand why it does and doesn’t revolve around sex.  Sexuality of it can be controversial because some people may think it’s degrading of one’s body, or presenting themselves as a sex slave to the audience.

What kinds of points did you touch on in this project?

I wanted to learn how burlesque formed in history since burlesque has no definition of what kind of “performing arts” burlesque performers do.  I learned about the negative and positive changes throughout time since the mid 1800’s.  I learned everything from why individuals perform it, whether it’s because of queer culture, body acceptance, a creative outlet, or woman’s empowerment.

What can you tell me about Seattle’s burlesque scene?

You can get a taste of different performers.  Each individual performer has a unique, creative expression.  It’s like going to different countries and tasting new food, seeing new cultures.

Can you give an example/description of their style?

Fuchsia Foxxx of the Fabuluxe troupe did belly dancing, and not at all stripped.  Waxie Moon does gender bending performances and most of the time dresses as a drag queen.  However, he know he’s a man, but what we don’t know is whether or not he’s actually trying to be presented as a woman.  In his interview, that’s one of the reasons why he picked his name, “Waxie Moon”.  You don’t know what you’re going to get.  Another boylesque performer is Ben DeleCreme.  Although I have only seen one performance, he’s a silly performer and he likes to attract the audience by performing funny acts.  One performer will striptease to ballet, or one will striptease to tap.  That’s the beauty of performing arts in burlesque.

Any recommendations of performers and/or shows to see?

See each performer once, which I will continue to do after I get my diploma from school.  I recommend seeing The Atomic Bombshells, who plays at The Triple Door in Seattle, and see some boylesque shows!  Boys do burlesque too!

Awesome!!

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