Embodied Transformations in Neo-Burlesque Striptease

We stride forward, women on the edge of a nervous breakdown, stop dead, put on black thick-rimmed glasses and glare at the audience. Stooping down to pick up a pair of pink rubber cleaning gloves, we wriggle our fingers in, irritated by their failure to slip on obediently. Housewives in heels, pencil skirts, and soft woolen cardigans, we step hesitantly downstage toward five bright yellow “hazardous materials” bags, out of which we each pull a plastic baby doll by the ankle (see Photo 1). Repelled by these grubby specimens, we rock them abruptly, dangle them in disgust, toss them through the air, and wind them manically to the sound of an uneasy folk ditty, “What’ll We Do With the Baby-O.” Eventually, we ditch these infantile encumbrances on some poor male spectator and stand for a moment, hands on hips. A piece of raunchy bump-and-grind music kicks in and I cannot resist exuding an enormous smile before turning my back on the audience to wiggle my butt to the percussive instrumentation. We each collect a luscious feather boa and strut around the stage, hips undulating, feathers flying. With heavy seductive eyes, we pull off a rubber glove, spin it around and pop out the air filled fingers one at a time. The other we bite off, to cast it aside without a second glance. Slowly, cardigans are unbuttoned, skirts unzipped, and the slightest raise of an eyebrow or fleeting wink prompts the audience to whoop in encouragement. Down to black bra and sensible knickers, we command the stage space, twirling boas as we smile in collusion with one another. Inwardly counting the precise timing, I drop boa, turn to back, unclip bra, slip out each arm, drop bra, deep breath, and round I go. Flamboyantly twirling the shocking red tassels that briefly cover my breasts, a massive wave of audience applause washes over me in a suspended moment of pure performance pleasure. Again, I cannot help but smile in sheer delight.

This performance experience takes me back to my former British life, where I produced, choreographed, and performed in several neo-burlesque striptease shows. While I have since relocated to the United States, the number I describe was performed at the Korova Milk Bar in Guildford, Surrey, UK, on April 21, 2008.¹ In recounting this performance spectacle, it strikes me that discourses of transformation are inscribed both upon and in response to the neo-burlesque body. With the aid of false eyelashes, heated rollers, and other cosmetic applications, I was transmogrified from 40-year-old professor and mother of two from Guildford to Scarlett Korova, “burlesque artiste.” Gradually, through a deliberate tease, we removed layers of garments, shifting from a body masked by feathers, gloves, zippers, and buttons through to an overt display of soft flesh. In response to this act of disrobing, the audience–performer interface was also marked by a distinct process of change. Early in the performance, the crowd was relatively quiet, respectfully observing the mise-en-scène. As we slowly peeled away our clothes, with a cheeky wink or raise of an eyebrow, audience members began to whoop and whistle in encouragement. At the moment of the “big reveal” (a colloquialism in the neo-burlesque community for the exposure of the breasts), the spectators cheered wildly, galvanizing the performer to luxuriate in her spectacle of undress and celebrate her body as display. I therefore posit that neo-burlesque performance produces an accumulative spatio-temporal exchange, whereby spectators are encouraged to offer aural and kinetic feedback, which then prompt further revelations within the striptease act, only to create more intense and enthusiastic audience affirmation.

Photo 1.

“Scarlett Korova” in the “Desperate Housewives” number.

Photography by Alan Tan. Used with permission.

In this article, I set out to explore how notions of “transformation” are articulated in the production and reception of female neo-burlesque striptease and to reflect on the extent to which this paradigm offers opportunities for change beyond the site of performance.² In methodological terms, experiential, ethnographic, and critical perspectives...