A different kind of culture
Jun. 28th, 2009 09:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mojosmomThere's a prosecutor I occasionally deal with who is more than a bit sexist. He also has a bit of an attitude about my cultural activities. So it was with a good deal of amusement that I responded to his question on Friday, "what are you doing cultured this weekend?", with "I'm going to a burlesque show." He looked rather like a fish, mouth open and nothing coming out.
The occasion was a screening of Dierdre Timmons' film, A Wink and a Smile, at the Gene Siskel Film Center. She follows a class at Miss Indigo Blue's Academy of Burlesque in Seattle, as they learn the fundamentals of the art, develop their own acts and perform them at graduation. These are not professional performers, but women of a variety of ages, sizes and careers (don't miss the taxidermist discussing the contents of her freezer!), taking the classes for a variety of reasons - getting comfortable with their bodies, their sexuality, with performance, or just because it's a fun thing to do. The film does also include some professional performances, but the crux of it is the journey made by the non-professionals. There's a lot of discussion of the history of burlesque, of cultural norms and expectations, a good deal of serious analysis of the art form and its place in our culture today.
The screening was followed by the graduation performance of the Basic Burlesque class from Chicago's Studio L'Amour, which also included a variety of ages, sizes, etc.
I was fascinated by the sheer variety and creativity of the acts. In the film, there is one killer act in which the performer literally paints herself. And in the live performance, one woman really turned domesticity on its head. With a pink oven onstage, she stripped from underneath a sheer apron, removed a cream pie from the oven, and, rather than pasties, adorned her nipples with the pie filling! So clever!
And burlesque is not just for women! Both the film and the graduation performance included men, who do what is called "boy-lesque".
I venture to say that, by the end of the evening, there wasn't a woman in the audience who wasn't thinking, "I could do that!" (Me included.)
Do see this if you have the chance.
_________
Last night, I improvised the best dessert! I had some strawberries that had been sitting around for a while, and were going soft. So I mashed them up a bit with a fork, and added some fig balsamic vinegar. Then I stirred in some whipped cream and a bit of sour cream, and threw it in the freezer until it was not quite frozen. Yummers.
The occasion was a screening of Dierdre Timmons' film, A Wink and a Smile, at the Gene Siskel Film Center. She follows a class at Miss Indigo Blue's Academy of Burlesque in Seattle, as they learn the fundamentals of the art, develop their own acts and perform them at graduation. These are not professional performers, but women of a variety of ages, sizes and careers (don't miss the taxidermist discussing the contents of her freezer!), taking the classes for a variety of reasons - getting comfortable with their bodies, their sexuality, with performance, or just because it's a fun thing to do. The film does also include some professional performances, but the crux of it is the journey made by the non-professionals. There's a lot of discussion of the history of burlesque, of cultural norms and expectations, a good deal of serious analysis of the art form and its place in our culture today.
The screening was followed by the graduation performance of the Basic Burlesque class from Chicago's Studio L'Amour, which also included a variety of ages, sizes, etc.
I was fascinated by the sheer variety and creativity of the acts. In the film, there is one killer act in which the performer literally paints herself. And in the live performance, one woman really turned domesticity on its head. With a pink oven onstage, she stripped from underneath a sheer apron, removed a cream pie from the oven, and, rather than pasties, adorned her nipples with the pie filling! So clever!
And burlesque is not just for women! Both the film and the graduation performance included men, who do what is called "boy-lesque".
I venture to say that, by the end of the evening, there wasn't a woman in the audience who wasn't thinking, "I could do that!" (Me included.)
Do see this if you have the chance.
_________
Last night, I improvised the best dessert! I had some strawberries that had been sitting around for a while, and were going soft. So I mashed them up a bit with a fork, and added some fig balsamic vinegar. Then I stirred in some whipped cream and a bit of sour cream, and threw it in the freezer until it was not quite frozen. Yummers.
