Dipali

Hello Everybody..
lately i am hearing a lot about this Burlesque dance, Vita von teese (famous Burlesque dancer from the 21st century) almost a red carpet movie star, i looked at many articles regarding Burlesque and some researchers and historians believe the dance has a common ground with Belly Dancing, I would love to hear from anybody who knows more about it,
thanks
a picture of Vita Von Teese

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Aniseteph

Oh this one is going to rattle some prams...

I think in the USA bellydance met burlesque thanks to Sol Bloom and Little Egypt and all that World's Fair stuff, and has been trying to disentangle itself for some time.

I'm no expert but my impression is that burlesque uses all sorts of musical/dance references but the point of the act is the teasy stuff. I don't think a traditional burlesque audience would have given two hoots about the performer's dance technique as long as it made her look good. "Bellydancer" is an good one - a fantasy of exotic mystical eastern promise conjured up with a pair of harem pants, some snakey movements and a bit of wobbling.*

But there might have been some crossover thanks to Hollywood... the Hollywood bellydancer image would have been influenced by the burlesque take on bellydance, however "incorrect", that was current in the US at the time. Then this Hollywood image got taken back to Egypt and influenced their cinema and dancers, hence, I believe, the cabaret costumes.

Whether this has had any effect on the dance itself rather than the costumes/image, I don't know. I suspect not much... Hollywood movies are not exactly showcases of dazzling bellydance technique.

* ooh, I forgot the navel jewel!!!!! (post Hays code)

Suhad

Yes, they ARE connected but only thanks to the puritanical sensibilities of the people who saw Sol Bloom's show at the World's Fair and assumed (naturally) that any 'bumpin and grindin' MUST be sexual in nature...and the American burlesque show was born out of American attempts to imitate what they had seen the ME women do in the show.

Sara

http://www.meddevi.com/gothicbellyda...ed/about6.html

On that site is says something about it relating to gothic belly dance.

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Aniseteph

or perhaps out of American showmen's attempts to imitate the box-office they had see Sol Bloom do

http://www.musicals101.com/burlesque2.htm#Strippin

Gabi

Belly Dance isn't stripping but strippers can definitely use belly dance (and any other kind of dance) - sometimes very good belly dance.

I have no problem with it at all :p

tim'ema

I think TribalDancer is the person to ask about this.

I believe she is very knowledgable on this subject.


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TribalDancer

Hello!

Yes, I know a bit about it, being that my career is bellydance, but I do burlesque as a hobby.

It's true that lot of "history of burlesque" stories read a lot like a US bellydance history lesson. The story goes that Sol Bloom was the one who kicked off each--not because he called what he put on stage burlesque, but because his Algerian entertainment was considered risque, and opened doors for other entertainments which pushed the elevelope of the day.

Burlesque has a very rich history, and it would not to it justice to try and sum it up here. Suffice to say that burlesque/vaudeville houses were the place to be to catch this entertainment, it did not start off as a performance art which involved removing clothes (though often clothes that were REVEALING for the age...like *gasp* SEEING ANKLES!), but instead was a challenge to current day ideals, politics, and social norms. The term burlesque covered music, theatricals, and more. And it included men and women.

The wide appeal of burlesque among women today is similar to why many women seek out bellydance--female empowerment; challenge of societal roles; and body acceptance for all shapes, sizes, and ages. Not to say these are the main elements to either art form, but that they are motivators they both share.

Here is an exerpt from an article on musicals101.com that I have always enjoyed steering people toward:
http://www.musicals101.com/burlesque.htm

"Most people think that "burlesque" means female strippers walking a runway to a bump and grind beat. But that only fits the form in its declining years. At its best, burlesque was a rich source of music and comedy that kept America, audiences laughing from 1840 through the 1960s.

Some sources try to wrap burlesque in a mantle of pseudo-intellectual respectability. Yes, it involved transgressive comedy and songs, but the primary attraction of burlesque was sex . . in the form of ribald humor and immodestly dressed women. Although many dismissed burlesque as the tail-end of show business, its influence reaches through the development of popular entertainment into the present.

Without question, however, burlesque's principal legacy as a cultural form was its establishment of patterns of gender representation that forever changed the role of the woman on the American stage and later influenced her role on the screen. . . The very sight of a female body not covered by the accepted costume of bourgeois respectability forcefully if playfully called attention to the entire question of the "place" of woman in American society.
- Robert G. Allen, Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture (Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1991), pp. 258-259.

In the 19th Century, the term "burlesque" was applied to a wide range of comic plays, including non-musicals. Beginning in the 1840s, these works entertained the lower and middle classes in Great Britain and the United States by making fun of (or "burlesquing") the operas, plays and social habits of the upper classes. These shows used comedy and music to challenge the established way of looking at things. Everything from Shakespearean drama to the craze for Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind could inspire a full-length burlesque spoof."


Burlesque of today revolves largely around comedy, spoof, and surprise...and of course sexy teasing. It is not just "bopping around and taking clothes off" (well, BAD burlesque is...sound familiar?). It involves intricate costuming and full stories or messages delivered through the use of the music, dance movement, props, and theatrics. Some "classic" burlesque, which I would place Dita Von Teese under, has more to do with the retro 50's costuming and music, elaborate props, and beautiful dancing--less message, less theatrical story. This is the style I prefer, personally.

A creative, complex routine will take months to assemble, and demands a great deal of skill, timing, musical interpretation, and acting/stage skills. If you think it takes lots of practice to hit those marks as a dancer, now imagine all the elements that can go wrong and throw you off--props falling or breaking, costumes getting snagged/stuck and not coming off at the right time or at all...the art of improvisation is hugely valuable in burlesque!

Some other great links:
Wikipedia, including a long list of links to famous performers (OP, just FYI, the woman you referred to is Dita Von Teese). Note that "Little Egypt" is among the related articles (and has related misinformation all over the web...):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlesque

Another one with great information (and more misinformation about Little Egypt):
http://www.clotheslinejournal.com/burlesque.html

Here is a new one for me--a burlesque timeline through history:
http://www.anatomyofburlesque.com/datesframe.htm

One final note. Once someone described the difference between burlesque and stripping to me. "In stripping the audience owns you. In burlesque, YOU own the AUDIENCE." I always liked that...

Freya

Dear Dipali,

It's funny you should ask this question. I came across Dita von Teese just the other day, and since I really like the 1940's and 50's look I was intrigued as well.

Dear Tribal Dancer,

Thank you for all the info and the links. I look forward to reading the articles.

I have always had a fondness for Burlesque although, unfortunately, I have not seen much of it. I happened to "fall into" a burlesque place in New York (The Slipper Room, on the corner of Orchard and Stanton), and it completely blew me away. It was such an unexpected and almost surreal experience. There were "circus dancers," for lack of a better word, and yes a good deal of nudity, but no BD at all actually. I went a couple of times but I actually never saw BD.

One of my favourite acts, and I hope I'm not offending anybody by saying this, was a strip tease that involved a military uniform, beret and all, and a machinegun. The look appeared to be somewhat inspired by Madonna's appearance in the Die an Other Day video/American Life cover. This was also around the time the war in Irak had just begun. The "piéce de resistance," so to speak, was the dancer/performer's underwear which read "Lick Bush."

Freya

Babylonia

I love burlesque and those old time strippers (Sherry Britton was a beauty and I adore Sally Rand and her fans and bubble). Back then you actually had to have an act and not just be a lap dancer. I don't even think they got nude back then and wore pasties and a g-string.
I like to practice a little "bump and grind" myself. I've found that belly dancing has really helped my style.
I would never use a belly dance costume in a routine as we try very hard to distinguish the two.

Tribal Dancer: Do you perform burlesque as part of a troupe? I'd love to get an act going but wouldn't know where to begin. Maybe you could help point me in the right direction. I love the quote about owning the audience.

Freya: Sounds like a fun time at the Slipper Room!