Marking 20 years
of bold journalism,
reader supported.
Entertainment

Doh! I Could Have Been a Fluffgirl!

Vancouver's latest export: retro sex kittens. Our new burlesque queens are winning converts across North America. Makes a nice feminist girl want to fish out those fishnets.

Chantal Eustace 12 Nov 2003TheTyee.ca

Chantal Eustace has written for Kiteboarding Magazine, The Prince Rupert Daily News and The Province. Her previous piece for The Tyee looked at Vancouver’s burlesque revival.

image atom

TheTyee.ca

"Cigars, cigarettes," The vixen moved table to table with her tray of smokes. In a red tutu, crushing black corset, striped knee-socks and trademark little round cap, she was poster gal for Vancouver's "neo-burlesque" scene: whimsical, bawdy, stylish.

"As the Cigarette Girl, I get to be part of the scene without stealing the scene.  I don't have to take anything off."  Charla smiled slyly, pulling at her red sequined bra-straps for emphasis. 

Onstage a "Fluffgirl" in corset and stockings began to toy with the audience with slow and deliberate movements.  Sixty pairs of eyes stared.  Mine too. Suddenly my jeans felt ridiculously dull, my sneakers sadly devoid of spikey heels, the neckline of my black t-shirt much too high.  When the dancer slipped out of her skirt and confidently strutted around the stage in her g-string and tasseled pasties, I was shocked to hear an inner voice saying "You go girl!" Hmmm. Just the right mix of naughty and nice. Maybe that's why this campy, milder version of strip tease made a modest girl like me want to invest in some fishnets.

That was a year ago, just before the Fluffgirl Burlesque led by Cecilia Bravo (a.k.a. The Blaze) set forth on a tour of North America. Their mission: evangelize Vancouver's brand of neo-burlesque far and wide.  For two previous years they had performed monthly at the Wise Hall in East Vancouver. Since last November, they have traveled to Minneapolis, Chicago, Iowa City, Pittsburgh and Orlando and this fall are performing in Ottawa and Toronto.

Until last summer, The Empire Burlesque Follies, formed in 2001 by performers Babette La Fave, Mz. Adrien and Evil Gus, appeared monthly at The Russian Hall in Kitsilano.  They too left town to spread the gospel, joining the Burlesquefest tour, an international mix of performers headlined by Catherine D'Lish and Kitty Crimson. 

"Touring is pretty grueling," says Bravo in a telephone interview from her current base in Toronto. "But the shows and the response from the audience make it all worth it." In Chicago, the crowd at "The Hideout" club swarmed for autographs. The Fluffgirls, says Bravo, felt "like real stars." 

The word was out as early as 2001 in New Orleans at the international burlesque extravaganza Tease-O-Rama. The "wild and woolly moves of Fluffgirls Burlesque," declared the Tease-o-rama webpage, "will change your opinion of Canada forever." 

Nowadays, wherever Bravo takes her Fluffgirls she finds lots of press coverage, sold out shows, and, in their wake, fresh neo-burlesque groups starting up. She brags, "We paved the way."

Fluff or serious stuff?

UBC professor Becki Ross studies striptease in Vancouver from the period between 1945 and 1980. She says the original Vancouver burlesque scene was the sight of "enormous police censorship battles" surrounding the State Theatre, a hall on Hastings street that was routinely busted because the "owners were seen to be staging lewd and obscene public exhibitions."

"It was often the dancers who were most vulnerable to that police censure. It was kind of institutionalized police intimidation because burlesque was staging the forbidden. Those taboos don't exist anymore," explains Ross.

Even in music videos aimed at the pre-teen crowd, playing at strip tease is standard fare for a lot of today's pop divas. Lil' Kim, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani and Madonna are examples of sexually confident women who have embraced burlesque style.

Film stars Charlize Theron, Carmen Electra and Christina Applegate have guest danced with the burlesque troupe "Pussycat Dolls" in Los Angeles. This spring, the 1959 musical Gypsy, about legendary vaudeville burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee, re-opened on Broadway.  And a recent New York Times Magazine story explored the appeal of neo-burlesque to both men and women. Tassels, sequins, fishnets and glitter - maybe that explains the success of the film Chicago, which pulled in six Oscars despite its predictable plot. 

So the new burlesque is really less about the dangers of risqué, more about the pleasures of retro. Charla, the cigarette girl, summed it up with a giggle and a snort: "It's a show to take your mom to!"

"What is fresh about neo-burlesque is that the dancers are kind of resuscitating classical burlesque but with a much more cheeky, self-conscious, humourous bent," Ross says. 

Some traits common to burlesque shows include: dancers do not take everything off, there is live musical accompaniment, performers have various talents from dance to stiltwalking to singing, costumes and props are ornate and original and the dancers embody a range in body types and styles. 

But if burlesque is sexy without being lewd, it definitely does feature women in an objectified manner. Yet that doesn't offend my feminist sensibilities the way professional strippers do. When I mention this to Ross, she warns against placing burlesque dancers on a pedestal above other more explicit erotic dancers.   It is destructive, says Ross, to play that old game of dividing women into "madonnas" and "whores." 

Cecilia Bravo, no madonna, nevertheless seems a very nice woman living burlesque 24/7.  When we met for the first time last year, she arrived at Starbucks on 5-inch black patent stilettos, wearing fishnets, a 1940s suit and perfectly curled long-black hair. 

 "I don't like when people try to be too academic about burlesque.  It is all about entertainment - plain and simple," Cecilia shot back when I began to tell her about Ross's study.  Cecilia, who is 32, said she could support herself as a burlesque diva and producer, but she continued to work part-time as a nurse because financial independence "allows me to maintain artistic integrity and authenticity". 

Take it off! Bag it up!

When Bravo and her Fluffgirls left on their North American tour last November, they plunged into a strange mania. The dedicated fan can purchase the worn stockings of the American burlesque star Dita Von Teese on her website for about $50 Canadian.  "Each of these pieces," explains the site, "is worn by Dita as one of her regular daily undergarments so supplies are limited. Some wear and tear may occur. Each piece or set will be sent to you in a sealed plastic bag with a 4" X 5 ½" personalized photo included."  The site also says you can email Dita if you would like to purchase "any other items of Dita's clothing."  Instead of doing laundry she can sell her dirty clothes on the Internet.

What must it be like to have the world wanting to buy your stockings by the baggie? 

I find myself now and then musing about an opportunity offered and declined. "Are you interested in dancing?" Bravo asked the day we met. She peered at me, inviting me to try on the life of a burlesque diva.  "With your blonde hair…"

"No!"  I interrupted her, highly flattered but giggling like a thirteen-year-old. 

Bravo and her queens, I told myself, are expanding women's freedom by pushing the boundaries of feminine erotica while asserting their own sexuality in an unapologetic manner. And doing it all while maintaining perfectly coiffed hairstyles. 

But if the stage beckons, I'm not ready to go on, with so little on.

So here's what I did instead. To get a jump-start on creating homemade Christmas crafts, I gathered some girlfriends for a pasty-making party.  Our Martha Stewart? 

Various Internet sites like womynsware, bluesandburlesque and twirlygirl that have popped up with simple step-by-step instructions to instant 'trampy' status. Amazing what you can do with do with some rhinestones, tassels, bells, marabou, Smarties and a glue gun. This season, I intend to spread a little burlesque cheer to the women in my life.

Chantal Eustace is a Vancouver-based writer who has written for Kiteboarding Magazine, The Ubyssey, The Thunderbird, The Martlet and The Prince Rupert Daily News.  [Tyee]

  • Share:

Facts matter. Get The Tyee's in-depth journalism delivered to your inbox for free

Tyee Commenting Guidelines

Comments that violate guidelines risk being deleted, and violations may result in a temporary or permanent user ban. Maintain the spirit of good conversation to stay in the discussion.
*Please note The Tyee is not a forum for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, denying its existence or minimizing its risk to public health.

Do:

  • Be thoughtful about how your words may affect the communities you are addressing. Language matters
  • Challenge arguments, not commenters
  • Flag trolls and guideline violations
  • Treat all with respect and curiosity, learn from differences of opinion
  • Verify facts, debunk rumours, point out logical fallacies
  • Add context and background
  • Note typos and reporting blind spots
  • Stay on topic

Do not:

  • Use sexist, classist, racist, homophobic or transphobic language
  • Ridicule, misgender, bully, threaten, name call, troll or wish harm on others
  • Personally attack authors or contributors
  • Spread misinformation or perpetuate conspiracies
  • Libel, defame or publish falsehoods
  • Attempt to guess other commenters’ real-life identities
  • Post links without providing context

LATEST STORIES

The Barometer

Do You Think Naheed Nenshi Will Win the Alberta NDP Leadership Race?

Take this week's poll