burlesque queen

I grew up in the Philippines where the word burlesk is part of the vernacular and has unpleasant connotations. To Filipinos, burlesk simply means taking off one's clothes in public, usually in a lurid strip club of some sort. An iconic movie filmed in the late 70s was called Burlesk Queen, and I originally thought it was just about plain old dancing in a stripclub. But from reading reviews and synopses online, I learned it's quite a cinematic masterpiece. Shame on me because I haven't seen it yet, but that'll definitely be on my Netflix list!

Burlesque has been on my mind for quite awhile now. I've been wanting to take classes just because they seem so fun and saucy. I don't know that I have the nerve to actually perform onstage but it seems like something fun to know for one's own personal pleasure. I've watched a few burlesque performances here in New York and have always been amazed at how alluring the women appear even when they're not necessarily everyman's definition of what is sexy. It's a celebration of a woman's body and sensuality, whatever their shape may be. Last Saturday, I was at Duane Park with Zoe and her swing dance friends celebrating Repeal Day, which had to be explained to my little expatriate self. If you're not American, Repeal Day is when the Prohibition ended (look it up on Wiki here). In Duane Park's Southern manor-esque space, we drank cocktails and watched sultry jazzy singers and daring burlesque performers and my interest was all stirred up again. Zoe's friend, who goes by the name Isabella Minx, does burlesque and we begged her all night for lessons. In our drunkenness there was some talk of burlesque lessons in the snow in Central Park with feathery fans. I hope that was a joke. In any case, I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get to channel Ms. Von Teese one day soon.

I've never seen an Asian-themed burlesque performance. Could I be sitting on a goldmine here? Stay tuned ...