How are burlesque and vaudeville or striptease related? Whats the family tree look like?
Burlesque evolved from vaudeville. Originally burlesque shows featured baggy pants comics and dancing girls with featured stripteasers. Traditional burlesque died after the sexual revolution and the age of stripclubs, but in 1998-9, the neo-burlesque revolution began! Now, neo-burlesque typically has a comedic host and the comedy, parody, dancing and stripping is all incorporated into the acts, with lots of inspiration from performance art, drag and popular culture. Sounds like fun. What makes for great burlesque? Performers who give 110%. It’s all about the performers’ energy for me, I want to see confidence, sexiness and attitude! I’ve read that you teach the “Four C’s” of burlesque – choreography, character, costuming, and charisma. I’d love to go into a bit of detail on each of those in terms of planning a new show. Choreography – how important is it, and where do you find inspiration? Inspiration can be found anywhere- from a body part to a bottle of champagne to a character from
