How much do burlesque dancers make a night

Burlesque is not as bad as stripping. It's far worse

Magazine: 13 July 2013

Magazine
Issue: 13 July 2013
Features

People enjoying a lifestyle are choking and denigrating people trying to build a life

From magazine issue

13 July 2013

Before it was ironic: Kalantan, The 500 Club, New Orleans, c. 1956. Getty Images | Shutterstock | iStock | Alamy

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A female friend asked me to a burlesque night she had organised. She honestly thought I would enjoy it. ‘Come and see naked women who aren’t being exploited,’ she said.

My friend said this because I sometimes hide from the world in the dark caves of Hackney, where ladies collect pounds in a pint glass and then turn around a pole with all the joie de vivre of a rusty weathervane in a light gale. On a wet weekday afternoon there are typically six or seven punters in these stews, who half-watch the show while drinking lager, munching crisps and thumbing through Loot or watching the cricket on the screen in the corner. I like these places. Flesh, alcohol, crisps, cricket, literature — the five pillars of civilised manhood, all accessible from one bar stool. Sometimes there’s even a working loo. It’s so much better than burlesque.

I shouldn’t have to see burlesque. Dita Von Teese, the American queen of the genre, has made it clear that it’s really just for women. Seventy per cent of her audience are women, apparently; the rest are gay men and boyfriends dragged along. So I ought to be able to leave this type of nudity to the people who understand it, but I am a stand-up comedian, so sadly it’s unavoidable in my line of work.

If I play a ‘variety’ night, there’s burlesque. At every taster show or chat show at the Edinburgh Fringe, there’s burlesque. I went to a fundraiser for International Women’s Day; there was burlesque. At every summer festival there’ll be a cabaret tent, and for cabaret you can pretty much read ‘burlesque’. Burlesque, it seems, has become the curry powder of light entertainment.

But my friend wanted company so I faced it again, with its camiknickers and sequins and women doing that ubiquitous ‘Aren’t I cheeky?’ face while taking an awfully long time to get undressed. Once again I found myself confronted with the fact that I must be some gross specimen of a man because I was still trying to find it erotic. Two hundred other men were, apparently, seeing art, beauty, postmodernism and ‘a power-play possession of the voyeuristic gaze’, just like it said in the brochure. I could just see tits; tits that had been desexualised by choreography and rehearsal. She takes this off, she winks at him, she shuffles to the side, she performs a sleight of hand that takes her bra off. The armour of familiarity — boredom, even — is so thick that none of the women seemed to exist in the moment of disrobing, and so trying to enjoy their nakedness was like trying to enjoy aircraft food. It was a tasteless encounter. I found myself thinking what it must be like to gaze upon a beautiful corpse.

This analogy delighted my friend. ‘I’m organising gore-lesque next,’ she said. Gore-lesque, she explained, further desexualises itself by having the performers pretending to slash each other’s wrists in a frenzy of stage blood. By showing how objectified women end up, she explained, it makes objectification impossible. ‘You would literally have to be a psychopath to enjoy it sexually.’ I felt sad. Had my humble little skin-pit on Old Street driven women to this?

Well, we needn’t worry. The sort of place I like will disappear soon. My burlesque--loving friend is a vocal member of the campaign to have strip clubs abolished in Hackney. ‘Women control burlesque,’ she says. ‘Men control lapdancing.’

She railed against Camden council, too, when it tried to have burlesque licensed along with traditional nudity back in 2009. While I appreciate that burlesque has a different purpose to a strip club, the two are not heaven and hell. The burlesque artist Gwendoline Lamour wrote in Time Out of the ‘unsophisticated brutishness’ of the men who frequent strip clubs, adding that to license burlesque would disenfranchise venues and performers, ‘leaving yet more room for the yob culture to thrive and flourish’. Even as an unsophisticated brute, I wondered at the idea that, without the synthetic antivenin of burlesque, we would all be poisoned by testosterone. Sex for money is bad: we must overwhelm it with ironic sex for money. We must fumigate every corner with irony.

In the end Camden gave in. Now licensed pole-dancing is pretty much dead, while unlicensed burlesque is a feathery, corseted plague. The idea that it’s good for women is taken as received wisdom; in 2010 Gok Wan made an overweight, fragile lady perform burlesque on television in order to empower her, and it seemed oddly normal, as if burlesque were occupational therapy for the timid.

Last year when Beatrix Von Bourbon made it to the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent, I felt that all was lost. Meta-nudity had broken out of the middle-class laboratory and was infecting the people. Soon every village would have a burlesque club where the Post Office used to be. Yet it was a revelation. The format prevented Beatrix from slithering away under a blackout as most performers do. She had to stand there — naked, sweating, anxious; suddenly human, asking two men and two women for their approval. I’ve taken all my clothes off. Is that good enough? Amanda Holden told her that her knickers were the wrong colour.

Of course it’s not good enough. It’s not supposed to be. The argument that most performers do it for fun rather than money should madden, not soothe us. Stripping should be the preserve of students, immigrants, single mothers and other hardworking people who are trying to get to the next rung where, we hope, they can do something else. The people enjoying a lifestyle are choking and denigrating those who are trying to have a life.

And so I find myself in an unholy alliance with second-wave feminists and anyone else who isn’t convinced that burlesque is the pill for every ill of patriarchy. People like the radical feminist Laurie Penny, who tried burlesque as a subversive jape and didn’t like it. ‘Smile! You’ve got to smile until your face hurts,’ she recalled her director saying. ‘There followed a year of making eyes and flashing my knickers, until my body felt even less my own.’

She should have tried Brown’s, or the White Horse. There the women — more socially, physically and ethnically diverse than you will find at most burlesque nights — never feel obliged to smile. There’s no whooping or cheering. Last Wednesday a man whistled, but we all gave him a stern look, so he stopped. As always there was cricket-clapping at the end of each turn. The women didn’t care. They were not looking for approval. Nobody was looking for anything. Well, the man next to me was looking for a camper van with less than 80K on the clock; the women were looking for their next pound.

‘The dog’s been on the internet again.’People enjoying a lifestyle are choking and denigrating those who are trying to have a life

Liam Mullone is a comedian. His latest show, Game Over, will be at the Caves in Edinburgh from 1 to 25 August.

Watch How This 30-Year-Old Burlesque Dancer Living In NYC Spends Her $50K Income | Honest Accounts

I'm 30 years old, living in New York City,

I work as a burlesque dancer, and I make $50,000 a year.

I have about $14,000 in savings.

After taxes, my take home is $3,333 a month.

$1,495 a month goes to rent, $270 goes to motorcycle

payments and insurance, $150 on average on utilities,

$20 a month on monthly subscriptions.

That leaves about $1,398 a month to spend.

I have zero dollars in credit card debt,

and $45,000 in student loans.

I've been performing and producing

for about four and a half years.

So burlesque is a classic striptease.

It's very glamorous, there are a lot of rhinestones

and feathers but it's more about the tease

than just taking your clothes off,

it's more of a performance.

I have a background in ballroom and Latin dancing,

I'd been doing that since high school,

and I happened to take a burlesque class

with my sister, just an intro class

and it kind of was everything that I loved.

It included costuming which I've always done,

sewing and I've always been crafty,

and dancing and performance.

So the payment I receive per night varies

from $100 to $500.

If I'm producing the show then I make the profits

from the ticket sales after I pay everyone,

but if I'm just hired as a burlesque performer

for someone else's event, it's like a flat rate

and then you'll get tips on top of that.

If you split them from like a tip bucket,

it's like $30 but if I dance in like a go go set

where you dance in between acts of a show,

then people come to you and tip,

so I've had people that tipped $100

during like a few songs just from one person.

You get paid more if it's a corporate event

rather than just like a show in a bar,

and for those you'll have to leave on your bra

and wear like a full underwear and it's funny

because it's like, is this even really what you want

[laughs] to have here?

Here's my last statement.

Venmo payment, $77.

I believe that is for a new costume I'm commissioning.

Other designers take Venmo or PayPal deposits at least

to start work on a custom costume piece.

I have about 15 costumes.

I'd say a costume costs on average about $500 to $800?

This one came from the song I'm going to use,

the song is called The Girl on Death Row

so I wanted to do kind of like an avant garde,

vintage prisoner gown [laughs]

so it'll be black and white, horizontal stripes

and then black undergarments.

My guilty pleasure when it comes to spending

is definitely costumes.

The funny thing about burlesque is that you spend

so much on each costume that you have to do

so many shows to pay that costume off,

but at the same time that's how you're booked

and your reputation as a professional

is also linked to like your costumes

and how versatile they are for all different

kinds of gigs.

It's a lot of performers that also design on the side

so they know what zippers need to be where

to easily take things off.

Remote online deposit, $250.

My family owns a couple of restaurants in Wilmington,

North Carolina, I do their social media.

Square, $241, Square $204,

Square, $154, those are all tickets for shows.

I have been producing a show in Memphis

for the last six months that just ended.

I was splitting my time between Memphis and New York

so the show that took place there

was every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

and then I would come back and spend Sunday,

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning in New York.

People would pay at the door and use my Square reader

so that goes directly into my account each week.

Venmo cashout, $165, those are tips from the show.

Instead of just taking cash in a tip bucket,

I started putting my Venmo account on tip envelopes

so people could pay cash or use Venmo

if they didn't have cash on them,

just another way to get tips.

Harley Davidson bill pay, $204,

so that is paying off my motorcycle that I bought in 2016.

I worked there for one summer so I had

the employee rate.

I think it was like a $13,000 motorcycle

and I got it for $11,000.

I had never been on a motorcycle,

just on the back maybe twice in my life.

So I took the course in order to get my license

to see if I would like it and in that time,

it became part of my whole identity.

Last summer I went from New York to San Francisco

and I booked shows all along the way,

so it's like a way for me to tour now

and I put two costumes in my saddlebags

and like just go for thousands of miles.

[laughs]

26 Stars, bill.com, $200, that is a payment

for performing at Lavo New York.

Groupon, $118, I set up a Groupon deal for my show

in Memphis and those are cash outs from that.

PayPal transfer, $300.

In my PayPal account the ticket sales

through Eventbrite are just kept in that balance

and that was payment to a performer.

PayPal Instant Transfer Vonesper Studios, $150

so that is a videographer here in New York

that I work with a lot to make promotional videos.

Lydia Fashion of New York, $205.

That is a gown that I bought to wear in a wedding.

Knifebird Wine Bar, $48, that is a wine bar in Memphis.

I went there and paid the tab when my mom came to visit.

Not everyone has a supportive family in burlesque,

but my parents are like really proud.

My mom is very much like a stage mom

and she helps make many of my costumes.

My mom made this actually, it was a larger dress

that she resized and then put a zipper

so it's easy to take off onstage,

and my dad has seen several shows too,

he's a performer also.

So they love it.

PayPal transfer, New York Burlesque Festival for $15.

I applied to be in the New York Burlesque Festival

so that was like an application fee.

I didn't get in this year [chuckles].

Western Stage Props, $94.

So that is a prop that I'm learning a new skill,

it's the bullwhip cracking,

so I'll be learning how to do that as like

a little gimmicky talent in my shows.

The Cove, $12, that's one of my favorite bars in Memphis.

Venmo cashout $140, that is tips from shows

and then also I book go go dancers for a bar,

Pinks, here in Manhattan, so they pay me

via Venmo for that.

Lyft $13, Lyft $11, Lyft $13.

I hate to see how many Lyft and Uber rides I take.

The next is Dairyland for $61,

that's my motorcycle insurance monthly payment.

Change Point Laundry, that's two dollars,

Change Point Laundry, one dollar,

so that was my laundry machine in my building in Memphis.

I wanted to make a show that was like something

that didn't exist in Memphis before with the live band,

with local musicians and then nationally known

burlesque performers, so I had to house

the burlesque performers that were coming in

from all over the country as part of their arrangement

for performing in the show.

I had an apartment where the other performers

from out of town would come and stay,

so I did so much laundry of all the sheets

in the apartment, so there are a lot

of laundry charges.

General Nutrition Center, $44.

So I eat a lot of Quest Bars for breakfast

and dinner sometimes.

I don't like to eat a lot before a show

because there's nowhere to hide

when you take all your clothes off,

so yeah, I have a recurring payment

where they send two boxes of s'mores Quest Bars

to my house.

Planet Fitness, $20, that's my gym membership.

It was great because it's a national membership

if you pay a little more so it's $20

and there are locations in Memphis where I was

and in New York where I split my time.

Venmo payment, $100, Venmo payment $75,

so those Venmo payments are paying musicians

that play live music during our burlesque show

that we will dance to.

It's kind of like hot jazz and swing.

Amazon Marketplace, $13, that was for pasty tape.

I get double-sided tape that you use

for like garments to use for my pasties

to make sure they stay on, so I go through

a lot of that and I have it delivered on Amazon.

Okay, Duane Reed, $63.

I think I was just stocking up on shampoo

and conditioner and convenience store things.

Seamless Loving Hut, $49, that's a place in Brooklyn.

In the last five months I didn't have the day off,

I would arrive in New York and get Seamless lunch somewhere

and then have shows each night and then taking

a late flight back to Memphis so there wasn't

a lot of cooking, it was, you know, just eating out.

Venmo payment, $215.

So during this time, I had a substitute host

at the show in Memphis and she wanted to be paid via Venmo,

so that's what that is.

Kroger $53, they have a big, nice grocery store in Memphis.

I bought food for the week,

I would keep snacks in the apartment

for the other performers and myself.

I mostly get produce, vegetables and hummus

and fruit and just kind of put it on a plate.

I don't usually cook.

Old Navy $37, I bought a dress and a couple tee shirts

because it was really hot in Memphis this summer.

Charles Miller, MD, $100.

Charles Miller, hmm.

Oh, okay, yes.

I was considering getting LASIK eye surgery

and that was a deposit for that.

You know, the funny thing about that is

I really want to do it, it's such a hassle

with glasses and contacts, but the requirement

for surgery was for two weeks after you're operated on,

you can't wear makeup, so as silly as it sounds,

that was like a dealbreaker for me

because that means two weeks off of work.

Wearing heavy makeup and eyelash glue

and everything on my eyes is job requirement

[laughs] for me, so I wasn't able to get LASIK

because I couldn't wear makeup for two weeks.

And the people in the office thought it was so funny

that that would be what kept me from getting it

but it is certainly a job requirement,

so I have to really figure out when I can

take two weeks off.

I would say my advice for women looking

to get into burlesque is to go to shows

and introduce yourself to producers.

Take classes at the New York School of Burlesque,

that's how I started, and just go to shows

and support burlesque that's already happening.

I think people are surprised to hear that there's such

a business side of burlesque, especially

as a full-time burlesque performer.

You have to really hustle and it's not just

a hobby for me and a lot of people it is

and that's fine but if you're trying

to make it a full-time job, you have to really

utilize your business sense to make any money from it..

90,000 Strippers choose to work in OVERSEAS strip clubs - Why? StripTalk.ru keep stripwalking

Striptease is a dance that captivates with its beauty. He gives, perhaps, the most pleasant thing for a man - the opportunity to fantasize.

Most often, striptease clubs are closed establishments where each visitor can feel significant and relax while watching the smooth movements of the girl on the stage. A frequent attribute of a strip dance is a pylon, around which the dancers move, languidly taking off their clothes. However, "not with a single pylon ..." Modern strip clubs use various "decorations" of the scene - swings, spinning rings, canvases on which girls dance in the air. Those who observe the beauty of the body and the gracefulness of the dance open the boundaries of the imagination and get maximum pleasure.

Strippers are not just girls who can get naked. Moving to the music, they fascinate visitors to the establishment. Every man in a strip bar is at the mercy of the dancers. Moreover, the stripper appreciates and respects the management of the clubs. Is always! After all, girls attract visitors to the institution more than a luxurious interior or delicious cuisine.

Work in a strip club abroad and its advantages

More and more girls who worked in the post-Soviet space as striptease dancers prefer foreign contracts. We are our at least 5 reasons why our beauties go to conquer "overseas" countries:

Payment. This is the first and probably the main advantage. If work, for example, in strip club St. Petersburg is estimated at a maximum of $ 2,000, then working in a strip club in the USA , a girl earns an average of $ 6,000 - 10,000 per month.
High security. In the work of a stripper, it is very important to come to the club and be sure that no one will offend. In the CIS countries, security guards often turn a blind eye to the bad behavior of men who have drunk, and dancers try to resolve the conflict situation on their own. Working in strip club is safer abroad. Here the interests of girls are put above the interests of clients. After all, there are more wealthy people. And it makes no sense to please everyone who comes to the club. There are a large number of surveillance cameras in foreign establishments, and security takes care of employees. Here it is forbidden to touch the girls with your hands, if the client allows himself such liberties, he will simply be kicked out. Do domestic strip clubs adhere to such rules? Hardly. Our striptease bars often look like dens where they openly sell sex. Therefore, touching the girls here is as normal as smiling at them.
Work as a dancer abroad is morally easier. It is inherent in the Slavic mentality to condemn girls for dancing at the pole. We tend to think about the availability of strippers, and local strip bars confirm this. After all, in the Russian Federation or Ukraine you can often find establishments where dancers successfully earn extra money by prostitution. Abroad, striptease is on a completely different level. Here the girls feel like high-class artists. Strippers do not feel any condemnation from others.
Financial situation of clients. Abroad, men without money rarely go to strip clubs. They just can't afford it. Everything is too expensive - booze, food, company of dancers. Therefore, 90% of visitors are wealthy men. This is good for girls. More earnings. Yes, and morally good. The dancer works much better, knowing that her skills will be appreciated, and for a private dance they will give not one or two dollars, but $ 20-100.
Travel opportunities. Greece, Macau, Italy, USA, Thailand - in these countries, girls can earn a lot of money, and on their day off go to the azure beach or visit the world-famous gallery.

Work for striptease dancers in different countries - terms of contracts.

Working as a dancer abroad - which countries are the most profitable?

Consider the top job options abroad:

USA is a country where strippers are highly valued, both materially and morally. The striptease culture is very well developed here. Clubs are always glad to see girls who will be able to attract maximum visitors with their presence. Good strippers are respected here and treated like real stars. At the same time, the earnings of girls range from 300 to 1000 dollars per night. The convenience of the contract lies in the fact that the girl can work only 4 nights a week. The rest of the days she can walk or ride around the country. And if her goal is big money, she just goes to work and earns even more.

The US has the highest security for strippers. Club owners and security guards are worried about the girls, because it is the dancers who are the main source of income for the establishments and attract visitors.

In the USA, a girl always wears underwear. But for this, a trick is used. Before entering the stage, the dancer puts on 2 pairs of panties. One she removes, and the second remains.

Thailand is a country with heavenly living conditions, ideal beaches and nature. Here, girls are provided with pole dancing training, and in some places they even offer free English courses. The earnings of strippers in Thailand consist of more than just a bet. There is an additional reward here - girls receive for consummation, table dancing, lep dancing. Earnings range from $ 2,500, while it takes only about $ 100 a month to pay for housing. Food in Thailand is very varied and very inexpensive. In general, working in a strip club in Thailand is a very profitable option for girls, which brings both money and pleasure.

Work in a strip club in Greece - suitable for both new strippers for the first contract and experienced dancers. The largest number of clubs is located in Athens. Their clients are wealthy tourists and local rich men who love luxury and want to enjoy dancing naked beauties. The girls who, with the help of good agencies, went to work in Greece were very pleased: chic architecture, the flavor of local establishments and azure beaches - you must admit, very cool conditions for living and working. The minimum income for girls in Greece is 2500 Euros per month.

Malta is a hospitable peninsula with a pleasant climate, yacht trips, beautiful sunsets, chic architecture and a lot of wealthy men around. The duties of the dancers here include consummation and work on promo near the club. Slavic girls are very popular in Malta. Men in striptease bars in Malta are always generous and appreciate the efforts of dancers. Earnings here are about 2500 dollars a month.

Macau is the second Las Vegas where men from all over China go for fun and parties, there are no people without money. The cost of air tickets to Macau is paid by employers at the end of the contract, so for girls, working as a dancer in Macau is the most desirable. Here, undressing completely, the girl gets twice as much as the topless dancer. But the stripper decides for herself whether to work as naked as possible, dance topless or even stay in underwear on stage. Visitors behave very cultured, and the security works perfectly, providing a high degree of security to the club workers. Feedback on the work in the strip clubs of Macau from the girls is only positive. 90% of girls come here for a second contract. Working in Macau, dancers can earn from $4,000 per month.

Italy is one of the most popular places to work in a strip club abroad. A trip for a girl will be very inexpensive, because the proximity of Italy allows you to save on flights and get to your destination by bus. There are vacancies both on mainland Italy and on the island of Sardinia. It is possible to work only on weekends, from Friday to Sunday, this option is suitable for girls living in the country. It is possible for Ukrainian women to enter Italy with a biometric passport, and for citizens of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation, you just need to apply for a Schengen visa.

Read more about working in foreign strip clubs in the article

Who can work as a stripper abroad?

Different countries and clubs have different requirements. Employment agencies abroad for girls help to find the right vacancy for everyone. But, of course, there are uniform requirements: age - 18 years; the presence of a foreign passport; lack of overweight.

If a girl has never danced before, but is confident in her abilities, she will always be picked up by a club and a country where experience is not the main thing. Indeed, in striptease, charisma and confidence that you are desirable and beautiful are valued higher. It is to self-confident girls that men leave the maximum tip. They are the ones that get the most attention.

For those who find it unacceptable to undress completely, there are contracts where you need to be in beautiful outfits - special stage costumes. Also, in most contracts, it is possible to undress only to the waist - topless. This is generally the most popular type of striptease in the world. Therefore, work in a strip club is suitable for many young girls. Almost everyone can find for themselves a suitable format of work, an ideal country and “their” club.

To avoid any problems, work safely and avoid brothels, it is better to use the services of an employment agency for girls abroad. EGO agency is a top agency that offers girls contracts in various countries. Hundreds of dancers use the services of this agency, even if they go to the contract not for the first time. After all, safety is paramount.

EGO agency has state licenses, the agency signs official documents with each girl. This is the basis of the safety of every girl. If the agency hides its documents or even declares that they are not needed, you cannot trust such people. They are not responsible for their clients before the law.

EGO agency is really responsible for every dancer or hostess who goes abroad from the agency.

How to secure your contract?

So, in order to work in a strip club abroad, we recommend contacting an agency with a state license in order to avoid trouble. In addition, each country has its own pitfalls that private scouts do not know about. Yes, even girls working on a contract may not be aware of some nuances. For example, in Italy there are a lot of clubs and there are very different reviews about each institution. One girl thinks that working in Italy is a dream because she got into a good club. Another thinks Italy is hell on earth. Because of working in a bad club. By the way, the Ego agency accompanies the girls at all stages of the contract and will be able to arrange a transfer from one bar to another, if necessary. In Macau, for example, it is not easy to get visas, and if one is immediately given permission to enter the country, then the second may have to wait months and then receive an insulting refusal. In general, the nuances of work in each country can be listed for a long time. But it’s better not to talk superficially about the features of the work, but to go to the official website and look for complete information there.

Reviews about work in strip clubs - what are they like?

Among the reviews about working in striptease clubs there are a lot of interviews with the owners of these establishments. Girls trustingly read these interviews and believe in their "fairy tale". After all, every leader praises his institution and says that for girls, working in his strip bar is a paradise. In fact, such information is just PR. After all, no one will say "we have a brothel here and the girls sleep with clients."

Girls who want to go to work abroad often look for testimonials about work in a strip club and come across screenshots of correspondence. Scouts post screenshots of their interactions in various messengers, with allegedly satisfied employed dancers. Looks convincing. But you must admit that by renaming your girlfriend to "Manager" you can write perfect reviews about working as a dancer in any country. It won't take much time or energy.

Do you want real testimonials about working as a striptease dancer abroad? Read STORIES FROM THE LIFE OF STRIPPERS

If you are to believe any reviews about working in strip clubs, then these must be reviews of real girls. Such, on which, without hiding their faces, girls talk about work or even give advice. Yes, there are not many such reviews, but if you find an agency that collects just such feedback from its girls, you can safely cooperate with this agency. Such firms exhibit real photos and video reviews of work in strip clubs. In such reviews, the girls do not hide their faces, the photos or videos show which country they are in. It's good when the girls hold a sign with the name of the company in their hands. Thus, it is immediately clear from whom and where the girl flew. Such reviews about the work of a dancer can be trusted.

Work in a strip club is considered elite and highly paid among dancers, girls should be able not only to undress, but to excite the imagination of visitors with their erotic movements. Strippers are the highest class of dancers in clubs. Visitors highly appreciate that the most gorgeous beauties pay attention to each visitor. Therefore, men are ready to pay inflated prices for alcohol, food and private parties in strip bars.

Author: EGO agency 05/17/201912:06

Burlesque and its queens. - soullaway — LiveJournal

The word "burlesque" has several meanings. Naturally, I'm not going to talk about poetry; as usual, I was attracted by the visual side of this story. Actually, the story began at the beginning of the last century, and oddly enough, this phenomenon has successfully survived to this day. However, it has undergone a number of changes. Initially, burlesque combined the reading of poetry, some humorous monologues and performances by beautiful ladies. But the focus was not initially on them. Beautiful girls were rather an addition to the main program. The rules changed with the Great Depression. Around that time, the girls gradually began to force out the rest of the artists from this genre. And, in general, in the end, by the 60s, they were finally forced out.

Probably, someone, opening this collection, expected to see here a lot of photos with young ladies. And they will, but it is always worth remembering that before someone appears on the stage, he works hard. The easiest way would be to select such cards, since they are widely represented on the Internet.

But we are considering the phenomenon first of all. And the phenomenon consists of boring behind-the-scenes work. Here, apparently, the dance director examines the legs of candidates for such a show. He feels nothing at all at this moment except the desire to do his job. He knows what the viewer wants and his task is to give it to the viewer. Perhaps, looking at the legs of the beauties, he generally thinks about how he will come home and sit down to read the newspaper. Now he is at work, which, as you know, you get used to.

The training of girls obviously took an enormous amount of time. In general, dancing, and even more so synchronized, is one of the most incomprehensible things for me. And to make a beautiful show, in my opinion, is the greatest work. Both the directors and the girls themselves who go on stage. Behind all this result, pleasing to the eyes, lie long hours of rehearsals.

And only after many hours of training do the artists go out to the audience. Yes, I write obvious things, but the public regularly forgets about them. And this applies not only to dancers, but in general to any work on stage. A musician, before going out to the crowd, spends more than one hundred boring hours with an instrument, an actor endlessly rehearses, and so on.

I am writing these seemingly understandable things because I know how people react to dancers. I worked in a club and saw the reaction of the public. Men do not look at the dance, but where there is something to be seen, while women seriously begin to say that they can do it too. And they are ready to show, but then, another time, today there is no mood. I love these ridiculous conversations, after which clarity immediately comes.

Well, okay, we are here to look at the moments of the past, right? And of course these moments should be beautiful. Moreover, the topic primarily concerns the female sex, but how can women not be beautiful? There are, of course, individuals who prefer some non-standard and unnatural things, but we will not talk about them.

By the way, don't think that Western society is homogeneous and fully approves of what is happening in the respective institutions. There, too, there was always enough protest mass. And against what to walk with posters is the tenth thing. In general, it seems to me that for some citizens this is such a form of self-expression. Someone does not like the expansion of roads, someone does not like the power, someone did not like the performances of charming girls.

But let's move on, however, to the girls. For example, a lady like Sally Rand did a lot to popularize burlesque. One of her performances was at the Chicago World's Fair, by the way. And it should be noted that her dances were peculiar. She was even repeatedly arrested for indecent behavior.

A charming woman like Sherry Britton was once said to have a waist to die for. It is also interesting here that after the ban on performances in clubs in New York in 1940, the lady moved to work in the theater. By the way, she was banned from attending the 1964 World's Fair, but not because of dancing, by that time she had stopped doing them, but because of her eloquence. She was sharp on the tongue. At the same time, during the Second World War, she regularly spoke to the soldiers and seemed to even meet with the president.

In the selection, I did not try to build some kind of chronology, it was more interesting for me to cast a glance at the female types that were popular in this phenomenon. And in general, burlesque ultimately boils down to dancing girls. Here, for example, is a lady named Ann Corio. At one time she was very famous as a dancer.

One of the most famous dancers of her era is Gypsy Rose Lee. Unlike most dancers, she undressed on stage, as if by accident and did not focus on it. She is credited with the fact that her performances were filled with jokes and humor.

Speaking of this lady, the film "Gypsy" was later shot, where one of the roles was played by Natalie Wood. That is, burlesque was not just some kind of niche in clubs, but a phenomenon that has firmly entered world culture. Although this phenomenon was concentrated, of course, within the borders of America.

Look what a beautiful photo. This is a shot from Lili St. Cyr. A very interesting woman, in addition to dancing, she was also distinguished by sharp statements. For example, in the 50s she said that she prefers to live for her own pleasure, and she does not need children. For that America, this was a shocking statement. However, she died alone in a modest apartment. Youth is not eternal, and in old age, the public usually does not need former stars.

Dixie Evans became famous as a person who skillfully parodied Marilyn Monroe. That is, it becomes obvious here that it was not enough to be just a beautiful girl who knows how to dance. It was necessary to somehow differ from hundreds of other dancers of the same kind.

At the same time, it is obvious that, even having some kind of fame in the middle of the last century, most of the stars have been forgotten by our time. Does the name Evelyn West say something to someone?

Or take a woman like Tempest Storm. It is also unlikely that any of you know her. Like it or not, the glory of a dancer is not the same as the glory of an actress. Although that's exactly what Tempest Storm danced throughout her life and performed at the beginning of this century. Given that this lady was born in 1928, I wouldn't want to see her show in 2010.

Although burlesque is generally an American phenomenon, it includes not only dancers, but also actresses from the same Europe. For example, that era cannot be imagined without the charming Laya Raki. She is German and noted precisely as an actress. Well, she danced, yes, not without it.

Dancing is the basis of the heyday of burlesque. The blonde in the photo is called Candy Barr, but she became famous not only for them, but also for drug arrests. However, the matter was hushed up and later she was hired by film studios to train actresses.

In these photos, she is teaching actress Joan Collins her skills.

By the way, Gypsy Rose Lee, who was mentioned above, also choreographed dances and advised young girls on how to behave on stage. In general, normal practice, as in any other profession.

Another burlesque star that has also been made into a movie is Blaze Starr. The film is called Blaze. Came out in 1989.

Of course, burlesque closely intersected with such a thing as pin-up. And, for example, Bettie Page is known both in one genre and in another.

However, not all girls who even had some kind of zest became famous. For example, a certain Zorita performed with a snake on stage, but the Internet does not really know anything about her.

Or Dorian Dennis. You can find the parameters of her figure, but this information is almost exhausted.

But you can find something about such a lady as Lilly Christine on the net. They called her cat girl. And judging by the number of surviving photographs, she enjoyed success.

Let's look at the girls who performed more than 50 years ago.

How do you like this number? In my opinion, their costumes look at least funny.

And here's a solo performance by Lilly Christine. Probably, it would look good on the video, but it can be difficult for a photographer to catch a good shot.

In general, it is interesting that for the public all this was just a background during dinner.

Although perhaps everything depended on the particular artist. It was not interesting for the viewer to look at someone, but tickets were purposefully bought for someone.

As far as I understand, the competition in this industry was quite high, and not every girl managed to earn something. At the same time, a number of young ladies who became stars emphasized that they liked their work. And that's exactly what they wanted to do.

That is, one cannot say that they entered the industry solely for the sake of money. Moreover, even despite some free morals in general, society did not approve of such activities for girls. And few of them shone after dancing in clubs to become a cinema actress.

I would also note that the figure of a woman at that time should have been somewhat more feminine than now. In the picture of Tura Satana and today, probably, she would be considered either not fat enough or thin enough.