The words “burlesque” and “vaudeville” conjure up images of slapstick comedy, women in pasties and over-the-top emcees in ruffled tuxedos. But some of today’s most clever and engaging acts are incorporating elements of these old forms in new ways.
Burlesque, in its classic sense, uses a mix of music, dance, and sketch comedy to keep audiences constantly engaged. Through imitation and parody, it sets out to mock and play with the status quo. The first burlesque performances in the 1860s took aim at the upper classes, spoofing their prim and proper social norms. They made comedies out of the operas, dramas, and ballets that were popular at the time, and poked fun at sexual norms, sometimes staging women in men’s roles, and almost always putting them in suggestive costumes. In response to popular demand, burlesque began to rely more and more on curvaceous women in scant costuming, and sexually suggestive skits and dance routines. By the 1930s, burlesque was centred around the strip-tease. It was around this time that burlesque houses were being legally shut down, lest they morally corrupt the masses.
So “burlesque” evolved into a word that many think of as synonymous with “strip show.” And, from what I can tell, “vaudeville” is a term that no one really thinks of at all anymore.
But recently, vaudeville and burlesque have been making a comeback-and not just in the form of strip teases or twirling tassels, though they’re in there too. New burlesque resurrects those elements of parody and critique, and what they’re playing with this time is often the concept of performance itself.
For some burlesque acts, the very act of performing traditional burlesque is a critique of mainstream ideas about beauty. Other new burlesque collectives, such as The Scandelles, take this critique even further, using their shows as venues for social commentary.
But there are other new burlesque acts out there that are having their way with the things we take for granted. Pontiac Quarterly is a “live magazine” that’s released three times a year in Toronto’s Drake Hotel, and comes complete with an advice column, classifieds, and illustrators that work while you watch. Toronto’s darling Trampoline Hall, now in its fourth year, is a lecture series and a variety show in one; it even comes with a brazen emcee in a rumpled suit to keep the audience engaged.
Beside one another on the stage, there are these scathingly self-conscious stagings of the meta-burlesque and a grand revival of the bawdy, body-centred classic. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s out there spinning its tassels, its microphones, or its politics in the neo-burlesque scenes of the nation:
Burlesque revamped:
The Scandelles
www.thescandelles.com
This multi-gender, multi-orientation burlesque collective presents highly expressive shows loaded with social commentary. Not limiting themselves to burlesque and cabaret, the Scandelles have also created and performed musicals that combine monologues, strip tease and rock and roll. (See interview with Scandelles’ Sasha von Bon Bon on page XXX.)
Skin Tight Outta Sight
www.skintightouttasight.com
This six member rebel burlesque troupe’s performances are inspired by everything from early burlesque to fetishism and punk rock. They are also the founders of the Toronto Burlesque and Vaudeville Alliance. (See article on page XXX.)
Genderfukt
[email protected]
Genderbending at its finest: an evening of drag kings, burlesque, and “everything in between”, held every so often in Toronto.
The Fluffgirl Burlesque Society
www.fluffgirlburlesque.com
This group is working to spread burlesque revival across the globe.
The Abzurbs
http://www.geocities.com/abzurbs
They are photographers, painters, musicians, dancers, writers and other categories. They are therefore currently indefinable but work on various projects. (Also, they are on the cover of the mag.)
The Coral Lees
www.corallees.com
This smart, hot group in Montreal swings its hips and its politics in a “wacky sexual pastiche.” (See How To Push Your Agenda Using Burlesque, page XXX.)
Vaudeville revisited:
Trampoline Hall
www.trampolinehall.net
Three speakers lecture on any subject they want, as long as they aren’t experts on it. A throwback moderator intervenes and entertains.
Pontiac Quarterly
www.pontiacquarterly.com
Magazine meets variety show: “Toronto’s preeminent live-action literary and arts journal”.
Perpetual Motion Roadshow
www.nomediakings.net
DIY artists, writers, and performers pile in a car and put on their lurid indie spectacle, pairing up with local acts at each stop.
57 Varieties
www.butchershop.ca/archive/57/
One part variety show, one part open-mic night. The more diverse, the better: this is a venue where anything goes. Puppeteers and cell-phone-orchestra conductors share the stage with singer/songwriters and poets.
Hubbub!
www.thepowerplant.org/panels.html
An avant-variety show brings creative people together in an almost-monthly evening of panel discussions, performances, and exhibitions.
Category-free:
Extra Action Marching Band
www.extra-action.com
This is a sweaty, freaky cacophony of drum corps, horn section, pep-squad, and flag team, most of whom are wearing hotpants. They’re staging invasions all over North America.
Found Magazine Tour
www.foundmagazine.com
The makers of Found Magazine display and perform their bizarre finds: love letters, to-do lists, poetry, threatening notes and the like.
Bridesmaidmania
http://cynthiagould.com/bridesmaidmania/
A pastel and chiffon spectacle! Girls and boys gallivant around town in their bridesmaid wear.
A roundup of resurrections