Burlesque

[Rapscallion]

Burlesque is currently a little like pole dancing - suddenly taken up as a legitimate art form by many people. Not sure if it's taken off over in the US as it has here.

Anyway, it's so popular I have two colleagues who have partaken as participants in this cultural fascination, and I know of one who helped erect a sign next to an advert for such an event describing it as middle class pole dancing.

I tend to the view that if I'm going to see strippers, it doesn't feel right unless it's really seedy, and I prefer my filth to be less legitimate.

You?

Rapscallion

[Ginger Tea]

There have been a few burlesque nights at the smaller off building to the 2nd largest concert venue here, thing is they stipulated the audience must be well dressed, or in some form of get up to enter.
So I've not been to one to see what it's like, I only dress up for RHPS and had to forgo a short lived rock/goth night a few years before that as they really wanted to keep it more about the clothes worn than the music played, least that's the vibe I got, granted when you have a niche market where some might dress in a mild fetish attire, they don't want anyone just walking in off the streets, but even if I was more involved with the local scene, I wouldn't bother as my days of 'dress up' are more or less long gone.

[telecom_goddess]

Burlesque is not pole dancing .....there is no pole involved at all, and it's a lot more .....enticing because it doesn't bare everything in your face. It's a little more subtle and less gross. And yeah a little more formal and old fashioned.

I like it in fact I have a dear friend who is a burlesque performer and will be moving out to my fine state at some point in the future.

[Ginger Tea]

Burlesque is not pole dancing.

I don't think he meant it was like pole dancing in that way, more there was a huge uptake in pole dancing in the UK, more specifically households than actual venues*, some even touted it as a new-fangled exercise regime.
It became a fad, one that people you would least expect to take it up took it up.

*Outside of Soho there are probably more adult themed venues in Vegas than the whole of the UK.

[Nekojin]

While burlesque is erotic art, it's not as tawdry as stripping (if done right, anyway), since there's more skill and talent being demonstrated than simply taking clothes off to music (or, in the case of a few strippers, in spite of the music). A burlesque show should first and foremost be a show, often of the variety entertainment type. A strip club has no sense of theme or continuity - it's just one girl after another, taking clothes off to her favorite music. There's some artistry to it, but it's very one-dimensional.

I'm bored by strip clubs, but I enjoy burlesque shows.

[Andrew B]

There is a good sized Burlesque community in Kansas City, with both parents friends with a number of them. There was a fight that came close to happening between the burlesque performers and the more standard strippers at a local bar over how both groups perform.

[violiav]

Oh, please tell me it was a dance off!

[Nyoibo]

Yeah, Burlesque isn't stripping a fair bit of skill goes into burlesque, stripping, not so much.

[Racket_Man]

IF you are refering to a burlesgue old school type fan dance (the old question was was she naked beneath those feather fans you could NEVER tell if the dancer was really good) YES it does involve skill and "slight of hand".

[Duelist925]

Yeah, Burlesque isn't stripping a fair bit of skill goes into burlesque, stripping, not so much.

Stripping, maybe. Poledancing? I have seen some damn athletic moves on that. (Not in a strip club, mind you, but still. ) Some of the muscle control for those moves is mind boggling.

[bex1218]

I know of a guy who does exercises with poles and some sort of fabric and hang off them. Shirtles. My god all those muscles at work.

[Andara Bledin]

Apparently, poles are becoming a new part of the aerialist's equipment, along with the ribbons and trapezes.

I, for one, love the fact that this sort of athletic artistry is gaining in popularity, and I suspect that Cirque du Soleil might be responsible for some small part of that.

[Nyoibo]

The fabric is called aerial silks or tissu my partner is an aerial performer and instructor and a couple of my friends are pole instructors, I know that stuff takes skill