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Sequins, Pasties, and Empowerment: A Look Inside the World of Burlesque

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Rogue Burlesque

Take all the glitter and lights, the nerves of a performance, the weeks of choreography rehearsals, and many women would shake in their boots before ever stepping onstage. But, shrug off your bra, shimmy into a g-string, and pop on a pair of pasties, and lady: You’re in the world of burlesque.

It makes for a very select group of dancers willing, and wanting, to work in the field. For one of Boston’s premier troupes, Rogue Burlesque, the cast roll call comes to just 10. The women, with the occasional help from a few men, bill themselves as Boston’s geekiest burlesque troupe.  They’re part of the rising tide of neo-burlesque: A new form of the classic striptease, which can be sexy, funny, gender-bending, nerdy, or a whole host of other labels.

“I would say that classic burlesque as it is defined today is about beauty, grace, and the tease part of striptease. Neo-burlesque can be about just about anything. And Rogue does just about anything,” said Rogue director Dixie Douya.

Like many burlesque dancers, modern or classic, Douya and her troupe usually decline to reveal their real names during interviews; think of Gypsy Rose Lee. “By keeping our burlesque and non-burlesque personas separate, we can have more control over who gets to know the ‘real’ us,” said troupe member Polly Surely. “Sure, my family and close friends know that I am Polly, but that doesn’t mean I want our audience or fans knowing my real name.” The names themselves can be just as much fun as the show: Malice in Wonderland, Busty Keaton and Kitty Spanks are a few of the other dancers — and example of the personalities — Douya corrals each week into a small rehearsal space in Cambridge, Mass.

But the women, and occasional guest-role men, who dance with the troupe are a tight-knit group. They start each rehearsal with a meeting, and take time to share the successes and trials of the last week, along with any news regarding their dance pieces. Many are friends outside of the troupe, and help each other with projects. During rehearsal, dancers talk about what they need done, or what they want to finish in time for the performance, like set pieces or costumes. Offers of help are quick. Need more sequins sewn onto your devil’s costume bra? Done. Need a backlit screen to do naughty things behind? She’s got one of those you can borrow.

Rogue is known for their boundary-pushing performances, which cater to any type of entertainment. Among the pieces rehearsed that night in January was a praying mantis finding her mate, a Temperance suffragette dying and going to hell, and a lunch lady seducing a janitor. Others included a female hobbit waxing her feet to entrap Orlando Bloom, a sexy tribute to The Big Lebowski and a strip-tease version of the catwalk scene from Zoolander.

“I was attracted to Rogue because of their approach — classic at their core, but with plenty of humor and experimentation on top of that,” said Surely, who has been dancing for two and a half years with Rogue, after winning their annual amateur contest. “We’re encouraged to do our own thing, to push our own limits and grow creatively.”

Douya said the troupe didn’t start out trying to do what she calls “nerdlesque.” It just kind of happened that way. “Our members are just inherently geeky. Most of us were the outcasts, losers, geeks, goths, and nerds when we were kids,” she said. “Burlesque has been an outlet for us to find the sexy powerful side of ourselves, but we have also been careful not to run from our geeky roots.”

In a recent rehearsal for Rogue’s February show, Surely practiced her latest routine, a burlesque tribute to Rosemary’s Baby, complete with bloody handprints and a flimsy nightdress, and Douya warned her to be careful of taboos: Surely is several months pregnant. “Pregnancy and sexuality are a weird combination for a lot of people, which is so strange to me,” she said. “I’m certainly not aiming to offend people by performing while pregnant.  But I am aiming to be just as sexy and subversive and weird as I was before I was pregnant.”

But the biggest taboo of all is simply the connotation the title “burlesque” implies. Most of the dancers don’t share their extracurricular activities with anyone outside of their immediate family. However, the performances provide an outlet for untapped talent.

“Burlesque is a pretty great collage of my favorite artistic pastimes: I can tell a story, create a character, use my body, and explore music — all in one 4-minute act,” said Brandy Wine, a Rogue performer currently working on a Lord of the Rings-themed performance.

In the end, it’s really about empowerment, and the opportunity to revel in your own sexuality, Wine said.

“I don’t care if thousands of people see my naked body — and they have — but the thought of sharing my original ideas with strangers terrifies me,” she said. “You don’t know how they’ll react, if they’ll get where you’re coming from.  The greatest compliment is an honest laugh, a knowing nod, or just someone coming up to you after a show and saying ‘I get what you’re trying to say.’”

Wine said she believes every adult has the right to “total sexual liberation” and “free expression of their sexual identity.” For her, burlesque celebrates sexuality in a “very healthy” way.

“The positivity and empowerment it breeds is infectious,” she said. “I find that, while a stripper’s fans love her because she makes them aroused, a burlesque dancer’s fans love her because she makes them empowered.”

Surely agrees: “If I titillate someone,” she said, “and that titillation makes them uncomfortable, then so be it.  If it makes someone think, then I’m happy.”

Rogue Burlesque’s Upcoming Shows: 

Monday, March 11
Lucky 13 Amateur Burlesque Competition
Middlesex Lounge, 8 p.m., $5

Monday, April 15
“Worse than Death!”
Middlesex Lounge, 8 p.m., $5

 

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Photo Credit: Courtesy of Rogue Burlesque


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