Tuesday 30 June 2015

Booty-full burlesque

An Evening Of Burlesque



Years ago women showcasing their bodies and moving around in underwear would likely conjur up very negative opinions and bring to mind terms such as stripper, tart and easy.

 

Suggest a woman would go to see such things and admire the female form and you would cause insult and embarrassment.

 

When you think of burlesque what comes to mind?

 

According to some family members when I spoke to them recently their impression would be a sleazy strip show and an altogether dirty affair.

 

So, well aware I am very late to this party I should add, I recently experienced burlesque.


I’d never really thought about it until a few years ago when a colleague told me they were going to see Burlesque with some girl friends and there was talk of something called the Hurly Burly show. 


I’ve also obviously heard of the likes of Dita Von Teesebut  that is as far as my knowledge goes. 

 

The work colleague didn’t go into too much detail, but suggested they’d had a really good and fun night, ever since I’ve been meaning to try out a burlesque show but it’s never really come about.

 

Cut to the ever wonderful little local theatre where I live in Hornchurch, the Queens Theatre.

 

Recently I received one of their regular emails as to what’s on or coming up at the venue.

 

And what did I see? An Evening of Burlesque.

 

Reasonably priced and with seats left, I decided to ask my Mum and Auntie if they fancied a visit. Something different, quite last minute, shall we give it a try?

 

They agreed and we bought our tickets.

 

Well, I was not expecting what we experienced, mostly in how varied it was.

 

Yes of course the ladies are in underwear, corsets, stockings and glamour girl makeup (old school glamour I should add here, not Page 3/Essex Girl style!) The women were in all shapes and sizes which I loved, I knew burlesque tends to be relatively curvy girls, but each performer was different.

 

Whether the show we picked was a good introduction maybe I don’t know, but it was great.

 

We had a group of dancers, The Folly Mixtures, a compere Ms Ivy Paige, a showgirl in the traditional champagne glass, a hilarious comic ‘ballerina’ (a big guy dressed up pretending to be a Russian ballerina who helped embarrass many of the male audience members), burlesque stripping and dancing and lots and lots of laughs. Along with very high heels and beautiful costumes.

 

It was a real good way to spend an evening and I’ve since suggested to my other half we go see a show in London together.

 

Have any of you seen burlesque before? What was your experience like?

 

Do you think it’s cheesy and derogatory to women? 

 

Or do you think, as I currently do, it’s great fun and helps celebrate the female form and women’s confidence and beauty in all shapes, sizes and styles?

 

 

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