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burlesque review
Jul. 22nd, 2009 11:42 amWhen Patty and I were in Boston we went to see a performance by The Boston Babydolls, a burlesque troupe, entitled The Wrathskellar, with the conceit being that the numbers were all set in a club in Weinmar era Germany.
Before I review this I should preface that I'm not expert on burlesque and don't even have a particular love for it -- I often find it pointless. However, I do know a lot about performance, about the era and about the problems one runs into when addressing certain eras of history especially as they intersect with gender, as burlesque necessarily does, and race, as evoking Germany between the wars necessarily does.
I can't say I was bowled over, although there were things I did like very much.
The opening and closing of the show were a masterful collection of busywork -- dancers come out and start drawing ont eh chalkboard walls to create the set. Props are placed. At the end, this process is reversed, wigs come off, furniture is moved. It's an obvious choice, but it's snappy and engaging and the person who put it together knew what they were doing and absolutely understood traffic patterns. This shit is harder to do than it looks, and it was nice to see it done well.
More problematic was the MC, who was trying a schtick that involved a flat and creepy affect. As someone who often plays the straight-man (*snerk*) in things, I get the intent, but it failed. He lacked projection, charisma or any desire to convince us of everything. I was not seduced, amused or even repelled.
The first number, brought to us by Miss Mina, was also problematic. She looked tense and disturbed to be on stage and this in no way meshed with the fluid and gentle nature of the routine presented. I felt this way about her other work during the evening as well, but did at least think she was cast better in those dances. Overall, I found her extremely unpleasant to watch and so unappealing that I would never put her on stage in New York, at least not with those numbers. What's so depressing about this though, is that her tense and angular body language could have worked very well if one considers the aesthetic of the period. Did no one look at any art from that era? Has no one seen any of Martha Graham's early choreography? This dancer's flaws could have been used to excellent effect in this show and weren't. I couldn't wait for her to get off the stage.
Next up was a girl who did a number about someone waiting to be hanged. The number needed tighter choreography (I'd like to see someone else choreograph for her, and maybe make more use of the fact that she also has a very boyish figure to do some funny cross-dressing stuff), but she was a pleasure to watch because she looked like she was having the best time ever. Her body is loose and jangly and just fun! That said, the number started with her in an executioner's hood swinging a noose, but it didn't read that way; it read like someone doing blackface and getting lynched. When I mentioned this to a troupe member later they were shocked and embarrassed and I was sadly relieved in the ensuing discussion to discover I was not the only person in the audience that night to have the same reaction. Boston is a very, very white town, I was told, and people DO NOT discuss race, so it never even occurred to them this could be misread like this and they were very receptive to fixing these things, THANK GOD.
(Which brings me to a side note, for a show that's about Germany between the wars, the use of authentic American blues and jazz was constant, and while such music spread and was then appropriated by white people all over the world -- seriously, if you're going to use that stuff, respect it, or at least acknowledge your appropriation -- I thought the show fucked up on this in ways that read as racist repeatedly by treating things that I view as key to Harlem (where I live) identity as merely Fun! Costume! Tropes! That said, again, I was listened to on these points and people seemed to walk away understanding they needed to do more research and have these discussions with actual PoC).
Next up, was Honey, who did a BDSM-y sort of number. The number wasn't that interesting (and pulling off her boots seemed cumbersome), but this was another case of "I love this girl and her body!" Very short, very curvy and with seemingly no issues about it, she looked, to be crass, like the most fun in bed ever. I loved watching her, even if the number was nothing special, because I was immediately interested in who she was as a person. She seemed much happier and more confident in her later number, which was done to the, probably overused in burlesque, "If You're Good to Mama" song from Chicago.
Then, in perhaps the most intentionally bizarre moment of the evening, Ruby came out to dance to a Yma Sumac song. It was absurd, awkward, involved a giant feathered headdress and was just WEIRD. Here's the thing though: she had more charisma than anyone else on that stage. Her choreography was more precise and her facial expressions were all intentional. And, more than that, in the absurdity both of her performance and the music, her material was also in its way the most frank about sexuality, even as it was not designed to titillate. Sex is dorky, awkward and loud. So is Ruby. Genius.
Finally, we meet the Innocent (I forget the girl's burlesque name, that was just her character in the show). She got the most narrative of the evening and the most space to play with gender roles, because there's a long sequence in which, after singing sweetly, she's seduced into stripping, by a woman. It's sleezy and not fun -- there's thankfully no pass because it's same-gendered -- but it's interestingly creepy and really helped made the show cohesive. Later, in a very standard sort of burlesque number, the corrupted Innocent (and the dancer is tall and blond and in every way an ideal of the Germany that as not yet come in the show) reappears and captured probably most accurately of anyone the time and place the show was meant to be about. This second number was simple, but I loved it. If I go to vintage-inflect burlesque, I go to it as a man of the era, and I want to be titillated, amused, catered to and impressed. For me, burlesque is about my role too, and this dancer succeeded admirably there.
So tips, people:
- If you're setting something in Germany between the wars, don't use all American blues music.
- If you're setting something in Germany between the wars, will you quadrouple check your shit for RaceFail, PLEASE?
- If you want to present something "dark," you do actually have choices other than Germany between the wars! (and I like Germany between the wars as a motif, but people do it because they think it's easy, and I think it's actually really hard).
- Work with what you've got. You're tense and angular? Use it, don't try to a number in which you look like a butterfly. That butterfly would drop out of the air and die!
- Your MC in a burlesque show of this nature is often your only male presence. With so much about femininity on display, one should make choices about what the MC's character is saying about masculinity instead of throwing a guy up there to basically be like "I am a man, I offer you women." SNOOZE.
Before I review this I should preface that I'm not expert on burlesque and don't even have a particular love for it -- I often find it pointless. However, I do know a lot about performance, about the era and about the problems one runs into when addressing certain eras of history especially as they intersect with gender, as burlesque necessarily does, and race, as evoking Germany between the wars necessarily does.
I can't say I was bowled over, although there were things I did like very much.
The opening and closing of the show were a masterful collection of busywork -- dancers come out and start drawing ont eh chalkboard walls to create the set. Props are placed. At the end, this process is reversed, wigs come off, furniture is moved. It's an obvious choice, but it's snappy and engaging and the person who put it together knew what they were doing and absolutely understood traffic patterns. This shit is harder to do than it looks, and it was nice to see it done well.
More problematic was the MC, who was trying a schtick that involved a flat and creepy affect. As someone who often plays the straight-man (*snerk*) in things, I get the intent, but it failed. He lacked projection, charisma or any desire to convince us of everything. I was not seduced, amused or even repelled.
The first number, brought to us by Miss Mina, was also problematic. She looked tense and disturbed to be on stage and this in no way meshed with the fluid and gentle nature of the routine presented. I felt this way about her other work during the evening as well, but did at least think she was cast better in those dances. Overall, I found her extremely unpleasant to watch and so unappealing that I would never put her on stage in New York, at least not with those numbers. What's so depressing about this though, is that her tense and angular body language could have worked very well if one considers the aesthetic of the period. Did no one look at any art from that era? Has no one seen any of Martha Graham's early choreography? This dancer's flaws could have been used to excellent effect in this show and weren't. I couldn't wait for her to get off the stage.
Next up was a girl who did a number about someone waiting to be hanged. The number needed tighter choreography (I'd like to see someone else choreograph for her, and maybe make more use of the fact that she also has a very boyish figure to do some funny cross-dressing stuff), but she was a pleasure to watch because she looked like she was having the best time ever. Her body is loose and jangly and just fun! That said, the number started with her in an executioner's hood swinging a noose, but it didn't read that way; it read like someone doing blackface and getting lynched. When I mentioned this to a troupe member later they were shocked and embarrassed and I was sadly relieved in the ensuing discussion to discover I was not the only person in the audience that night to have the same reaction. Boston is a very, very white town, I was told, and people DO NOT discuss race, so it never even occurred to them this could be misread like this and they were very receptive to fixing these things, THANK GOD.
(Which brings me to a side note, for a show that's about Germany between the wars, the use of authentic American blues and jazz was constant, and while such music spread and was then appropriated by white people all over the world -- seriously, if you're going to use that stuff, respect it, or at least acknowledge your appropriation -- I thought the show fucked up on this in ways that read as racist repeatedly by treating things that I view as key to Harlem (where I live) identity as merely Fun! Costume! Tropes! That said, again, I was listened to on these points and people seemed to walk away understanding they needed to do more research and have these discussions with actual PoC).
Next up, was Honey, who did a BDSM-y sort of number. The number wasn't that interesting (and pulling off her boots seemed cumbersome), but this was another case of "I love this girl and her body!" Very short, very curvy and with seemingly no issues about it, she looked, to be crass, like the most fun in bed ever. I loved watching her, even if the number was nothing special, because I was immediately interested in who she was as a person. She seemed much happier and more confident in her later number, which was done to the, probably overused in burlesque, "If You're Good to Mama" song from Chicago.
Then, in perhaps the most intentionally bizarre moment of the evening, Ruby came out to dance to a Yma Sumac song. It was absurd, awkward, involved a giant feathered headdress and was just WEIRD. Here's the thing though: she had more charisma than anyone else on that stage. Her choreography was more precise and her facial expressions were all intentional. And, more than that, in the absurdity both of her performance and the music, her material was also in its way the most frank about sexuality, even as it was not designed to titillate. Sex is dorky, awkward and loud. So is Ruby. Genius.
Finally, we meet the Innocent (I forget the girl's burlesque name, that was just her character in the show). She got the most narrative of the evening and the most space to play with gender roles, because there's a long sequence in which, after singing sweetly, she's seduced into stripping, by a woman. It's sleezy and not fun -- there's thankfully no pass because it's same-gendered -- but it's interestingly creepy and really helped made the show cohesive. Later, in a very standard sort of burlesque number, the corrupted Innocent (and the dancer is tall and blond and in every way an ideal of the Germany that as not yet come in the show) reappears and captured probably most accurately of anyone the time and place the show was meant to be about. This second number was simple, but I loved it. If I go to vintage-inflect burlesque, I go to it as a man of the era, and I want to be titillated, amused, catered to and impressed. For me, burlesque is about my role too, and this dancer succeeded admirably there.
So tips, people:
- If you're setting something in Germany between the wars, don't use all American blues music.
- If you're setting something in Germany between the wars, will you quadrouple check your shit for RaceFail, PLEASE?
- If you want to present something "dark," you do actually have choices other than Germany between the wars! (and I like Germany between the wars as a motif, but people do it because they think it's easy, and I think it's actually really hard).
- Work with what you've got. You're tense and angular? Use it, don't try to a number in which you look like a butterfly. That butterfly would drop out of the air and die!
- Your MC in a burlesque show of this nature is often your only male presence. With so much about femininity on display, one should make choices about what the MC's character is saying about masculinity instead of throwing a guy up there to basically be like "I am a man, I offer you women." SNOOZE.
