a look back at BurlyCon - part two

Now where was I... ah yes, Friday afternoon.

At 1pm I went to Dr. Lucky’s History of American Burlesque 1860 - 1930. At the beginning Dr. Lucky went around the room and had everyone state why they came to the session and then she broke it down from the beginning, talking about the moment in 1868 when literary burlesque was transformed to live performance by Lydia Thompson and the Blond Bombshells. These women were disrupting the gender hierarchies in the theater of their time. Dr. Lucky then took us through the 1870s when managers merged burlesque with the structure of minstrel shows.

Just writing the term "minstrel show" makes me cringe a little, but I know it's an area to study that I don't know enough about. In Baba Israel's book, Remixing the Ritual: Hip Hop Theatre Aesthetics and Practice, he quotes Eric Lott from his essay Black Face and Blackness: The Minstrel Show in American Culture.

"...James Weldon Johnson similarly remarked that minstrelsy... constituted the only 'completely original contribution' of America to the Theatre.... These judgments appear terribly misguided now, given that Black face minstrelsy's century long commercial regulation of Black cultural practices stalled the development of African-American public arts and generated an enduring narrative of racist ideology."

Baba then writes "How do we negotiate the authentic artistic contributions of minstrelsy origins and also challenge its racist and limiting legacy? In our current mainstream popular culture, race is being played to the extreme."

So yeah, I definitely want to learn more about minstrelsy and its influence on burlesque.

And back to the workshop, next Dr. Lucky talked about Vaudeville and burlesque, and how Vaudeville defined itself as the antithesis to burlesque, how vaudeville was "clean and orderly" and catered to women and "all classes".

Throughout the next hour I took 5 pages of notes. Dr. Lucky went on to cover the myth of Little Egypt and the 1893 World's Fair, the Cooch Spreads (which she admitted is her favorite thing to write on the board of an academic institution, Burlesque Wheels (touring circuits around the US,) Ziefield's Construction of the American Show Girl, Minsky's "Modern Burlesque" and more.

and that's all you get for now, stay tuned for part three, where I recount Tigger's Boylesque workshop and more...

peace,
Aurora

reflections in the rain part one - a look back a BurlyCon

It's Sunday November 30th and I'm sitting in my apartment trying to be productive. It's hard when this fluid filled cough won't go away and it's raining outside. And just as I finally sat down to type out this blog all about BurlyCon, when Missy Elliott's The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) comes on my itunes; shuffle is so my favorite way to listen my music.

How fitting. And suddenly I find myself calling this post "reflections in the rain" not at all what I had written in my journal. But I'm gonna go with it because I believe in trusting the process...

The road to BurlyCon started at the New York Burlesque Festival back in September. Friday night backstage I met Miss Indigo Blue and she told me about BurlyCon. That night I went home, checked out the website and got excited when I saw one of the panels was about cultural apropriation, racism and exoticism. When I saw Miss Indigo Blue the next night I asked if I could be on the panel and she said yes. Fast forward to my birthday in October, my husband gave me the idea of asking friends to make pledges to get me out to BurlyCon and it worked!

BurlyCon was awesome! I am so happy that I made it out to Seattle to take part in the first year. And I couldn’t have made it out there without the complete support of my strong community of friends and family who by giving $10,$15, $20, $50 and two $100 pledges, allowed me to buy the plane tickets and the BurlyCon admission ticket. So thank you to (in alphabetical order) Akynos, Alanna, Baba, Becky, Dame CuchiFrita, Desiree, exHOTic other, Fanya, Fem Appeal, Gale, Jeanine, Jeremy, Lady Luscious, Maya and Michael, Mo, Mtume, Pamela, Pamela and Steve, Paul and Ricky, Piper, Rebecca, Rozz, Sarah, and SunShine Fayalicious.

And let me say it one more time, BurlyCon was awesome! Congrats to Miss Indigo Blue, Dane Ballard, Dale Rio, Jo Boobs and all the volunteers and presenters and participants.

Okay, okay, I’ll get onto the meat of it…

BurlyCon was the silver lining in the rain cloud. Actually more like the wild glittered rainbow that comes out after the rain.

I arrived at the conference Friday just after noon, because I missed the welcome at 11am at first I felt a bit shy and unsure. Scheduled for the lunch hour were various meet and greets, one for new performers (0-3 years), one for new producers (1+years), another for POC (people of color), and a final one for new teachers (1+years) I was torn, a part of me wanted to go to each, but then I heard there was free food in the hospitality/vending room, so of course I practically ran there first and prepared myself a sandwich. Then I decided to head to the POC meet and greet. When I went to the room where it was scheduled I didn’t see anyone so I basically just sorta wandered around and introduced myself to Alotta Boutee (one of the founding members of the Harlem Shake) who I found chilling in the lobby. It was great to meet her, she was really down to earth and friendly, and I think I did of a pretty good job of not geeking out at her (warning, tangent upcoming)
See when BGB was just this small group of women sitting around Shimmy's living room in Brooklyn discussing what burlesque was to each of us, Harlem Shake, the first burlesque troupe of all Black women, was a huge inspiration to us.

Stay tuned for the next installment, where I talk about more of Friday afternoon's activities at BurlyCon.

peace,
Aurora

a quiet moment of reflection before I dive into BurlyCon

It’s Friday morning and I’m sitting on my friend’s couch in Seattle, excited and just a bit nervous about tomorrow. Tomorrow is Saturday. And Saturday is the day I get to participate in a panel on cultural appropriation, racism and exoticism within burlesque at BurlyCon. I’m excited because this is a topic I’m passionate about, and nervous - not about what I’m gonna say, but because I’m wondering who will feel motivated to come to this panel, and I’m hoping honest conversation and communication will spring forth. With all that has happened nationally this week, I'm feeling inspired to build connections and bridges...

Stay tuned for more updates from BurlyCon throughout the weekend. Now it’s time for me to get ready and head over to the first day.

peace and pasties,
Aurora

Why Burlesque? Especially as a woman of color

Taking my clothes off in public means something different because of my skin. Sometimes I wish it didn’t, but most of the time I embrace this difference, driven to communicate the complexity of my being as a brown woman expressing a sensuality that is multidimensional. I am not a primitive beauty wrapped in silence for the pleasure of the master. I create worlds with the sway and twirl of my limbs and radiate my own pleasure. I speak and dance and breathe, balancing all that the history of my skin means to me...


Last week I performed at a benefit for the LES institution ABC No Rio and it was a great night.
It began with a silent art auction, then the always incredibly funky Hungry Marching Band and then burlesque. Boobie Von Trapp, myself and Jezebel Express. It was wonderful to share the stage and dressing room with them.

I asked the host to announce me in the usual way – Miss AuroraBoobRealis, co-founder and artistic director of Brown Girls Burlesque, an all women of color burlesque troupe. Fast forward to after I performed, I was walking around talking to people and handing out my cards. I get in a conversation with this one woman and she admits that until she heard the host announce me and talk about BGB she’d never really thought about it but yeah, she hadn’t seen a lot of women of color doing burlesque. Exactly I said.

That is one of the reasons the idea of starting an all women of color troupe came to me. Because in the two years that I was going to see burlesque as an audience member, I had seen only one brown woman on the burlesque stage in NYC, one of the most diverse cities in the US. Why? I knew that they existed… Why wasn’t I seeing them? Maybe I just wasn't going to the right venues. Maybe I just wasn't in the know.

I wanted to do burlesque, but I didn’t’ want to be a token, constantly performing at venues where I was the only one, I wanted to create more of a presence of women of color on the burlesque stage. It’s ironic, I’ve often participated in conversations about the frustration of being seen as always representing our people, never being seen as an individual and suddenly I’ve found myself wanting to rep something larger then myself as a performer. Now when I perform at venues, even if I'm the only brown woman that night, when the host says I'm from BGB, it makes the audience think.

I like that.

welcome to amidst the glitter - a brown woman's perspective

I remember in high school, and later in undergrad passionately debating the issue of when a black writer would ever be able to drop the label of "black" and just be a pure writer.

As if one could separate and dissect the various aspects of oneself, [the human heart can beat outside of our chests without any help for only a few fleeting moments]

Every artform I practice has always been tied to my experience of this world as a woman of color, a Black woman with a white mother, a woman of mixed heritage...

and burlesque is no different.

This blog is about the beautiful sexy world of the bump and grind - from a brown woman's perspective.

My goal is to write a new blog at least once a week, but sometimes it might be more if I'm feeling inspired.

peace and pasties,
Miss AuroraBoobRealis