Six years ago, I started watching burlesque at the Visual Arts Collective. The show I went to watch was called The Red Light Variety Show. I was amazed at the performances I saw there. The show included traditional ballet, pole dancing, hula hoops, comedy, strip tease, and so much more. I thought to myself, "Wow! Those women are so brave and beautiful! I wish I had that kind of confidence! One day, I want to be on that stage!"
In 2011, I started taking better care of my body. I started losing weight. I remember saying on Facebook that one day I was going to be part of the Red Light Variety Show. But I thought, "First I have to get to my perfect body weight and be fitter. No one wants to see my fat body on stage." I started belly dancing that year. I also started taking dance classes at Ophidia Dance Studio, where I knew the owners there were also part of The Red Light Variety Show. I would get to the studio early and watched the tail end of Kelly Green's Chair Dance and Burlesque class. She was one of my favorite performers for the Red Light. I was in awe. But I was still too self-conscious even to take her class. My body never got perfect, and I never joined the Red Light Variety Show. Instead, it took me another 3 years to take a workshop with Frankly Frankie (one of the founders of The Red Light Variety Show and the founder of Frankly Burlesque).
I stood in a room with about 4 other women. We were all nervous about what we might learn. In that few hours with Frankie, we performed acting and movement exercises that helped us become comfortable not with just ourselves but with the other participants in the room. We learned a choreographed dance. We also learned how to twirl tassels. Learning to twirl tassels meant (for many of us) getting completely topless and taping on pasties over our areolas. Getting to this state of undress in front of women you just met is a bit unnerving. At the same time, it is completely freeing and empowering. We laughed and giggled as we learned to twirl our tassels. Each one of us learned to love our bodies just the way they were in that moment. There was no judgment. It was pure acceptance. That night we agreed that we wanted to perform on stage at the next Frankly Burlesque and we made a second date to finish up costuming and choreography. However, when that date came, Frankie informed me that it was just me willing to go on stage, and asked if I would be comfortable performing a solo. My answer was a resounding, "Yes!"
For another week or so, I continued working on my costume. I spent hours looking through costume ideas on the computer. I spent hours in craft stores and at my kitchen counter putting together the perfect costume. Then I was informed that Idaho State Law says we have to keep our "underboob" covered at all times. This threw a kink into things. The art..the dance I had learned.. required tassel spinning. This requires the flesh of my breasts to move in such a way to give movement to the tassels. How was I going to do that with a full bra on? I am not the size of a woman that can buy a quarter cup bra and make it look cute. I am a full figured woman with breasts to match. I finally found a bra that I had 2 layers to it. One layer was a mesh layer. I was able to cut away the opaque thicker layer and leave the mesh sheer layer in tact. This, of course, cost more money. But I was able to do it.
Finally, performance night arrived. I slipped into my black fishnet stocking, my black sequined panties and my black sheer bra. I taped on my pasties over the black bra. Then I slipped on my beautiful feather and crystal bra that I created. I wrapped my white feather boa around me slipped into my heels and took place on the stage. On the other side of the curtain, I could hear Frankie introduce me. The curtain opened, the music started and I performed my dance. At the end of the dance, I slipped off that feathered bra and stood on the stage in my panties, black bra, and white pasties and spun my tassels to the roar of the crowed. It was the most empowering thing I have ever done!
My body is not perfect. Currently, I am a 47 year old mom and grandma with the body to show for it. I have stretch marks and c-section scars on my belly. My breasts have never been perky. I have cellulite on my legs. I have gray hair on my head. And I love burlesque! I love hearing a song and being inspired to create some silly performance to it. I love the creation of the costume and the creativity it takes to choreograph a performance. This is art. Every bit of it is art. From the choreography to the costume to the performance itself. Once it all comes together and I am on stage, there is a conversation with the audience. There is an authenticity that you can't get in any other performance form. When I am on stage, and peeling off my clothes, there is intention behind every movement. There is a story being told. And when I have to create an act around the laws that were created so long ago, the creative process is censored and hindered. The conversation I want to have with the audience loses it's authenticity. As a performer and an artist I become stifled.
Burlesque is not just stripping for stripping's sake. It is a powerful medium that can be political, funny, sad, absurd, and yes, sometimes even a bit raunchy. But this art form is performed in bars where the patrons are at the minimum 18 and up. Most of the time, it is performed in bars where the patrons need to be 21 and older. The patrons know what they are coming to see. They understand there will be stripping and suggestive dancing and material. They are consenting adults. The laws, as they stand, say that a woman can not show her underboob in a place that has a liquor license. Yet, it is perfectly acceptable for a man to get completely topless in the same bar with the same liquor license. Why? The law also states that where there is a liquor license involved and liquor being sold, no simulated sex acts may take place. If that is the case, then most dance bars in Boise need to have their licenses revoked. These laws are not just out-dated from ages gone by, but they are also sexist. Not only are they sexist and out dated, but they violate my first amendment to freedom of speech. The constitution protect my right to create art in the way I see fit. Burlesque is art. It is an important medium that allows both men and women to create art that reflects their views on politics, society, religion, relationships, and every emotion felt as a human being!
Please take a look at the link below and share this blog post. Let's let the world know how out-dated the Idaho Laws are and support those who are fighting for free speech and free art! #LegalizeIdahoArt #UncoverIdahoArt
