See, here's the thing
The thing is, there's a lot I don't know. A helluvalot I don't know. And although being aware of this ignorance (as opposed to ignance) makes me marginally less likely to make a public total ass of myself, it's no guarantee. Something else keeping me from posting as much as I could, that.
Preliminaries aside, next week brings those of us in Chicago a choice. A choice of nights, Friday or Satuday, for Gurlesque Burlesque at The Abbey Pub.Which show is, if I'm reading the advert correctly (see first paragraph), a benefit for the making of Tara Tremmel's documentary, Gurlesque. Some details in the New City Chicago article, Girlie shows, from way back on November 20th, 2002:
Tara Tremmel, [One Bad-Ass Burlesque Show] co-producer, is currently working on her doctorate at U of C and producing and directing "Gurlesque," a two-hour documentary dedicated to the genre. She describes the art as "a playground where performers have conversations" about their sexuality and societal roles, and relates a recent performance in Seattle in which a drag king chased another performer ostensibly to touch her goodies, but it turned out he just wanted to try on the dancer's sexy clothes. So, while Tremmel notes the form traditionally sees "people playing with all different ways of being female," burlesque allows each generation to address their specific issues, from what it means to be a woman to queer identity roles.
Bit old, but at least the whole thing is available online. UR Chicago only offer a bit of the current cover story, Brava Burlesque!. And I'm not sure I should have a full stop at the end of that previous sentence, but it's outside the anchor tag, so whatever.
The full piece in the print edition includes a photo of two members of Hellcat Hussies, who were also featured in a piece in the Chicago Reader recently. Where "recently" means I'm not sure what date, and the article apparently isn't on their site. I mentioned that first paragraph, yes?
What all this is meant to indicate, other than the tendency of free papers to not offer all their material online so you pick up the damned paper copy and see the ads that pay for the thing, is that there is much about burlesque I do not know. Not just the local scene, but the national, and the history of it, and the gender/orientation politics, all of which would no doubt make for fascinating reading were it presented by someone with a clue. Or fascinating viewing, as there is that documentary, the current status of which I could not discover with a quick Google. There is more info in this November 15, 2002 entry at the not-recently-updated shortandsweaty, including contact info for the director, as well as an informative press release:
Burlesque is an entertainment form that was originally performed by men who used comedy to poke fun at conventional hierarchies and to critique those in authority who misused or abused their power, such as legislators. In the United States, in 1869, women transformed burlesque into a new entertainment form by taking the stage and using comedy to especially play with gendered and sexual hierarchies and conventions. Both dangerous and pleasurable, early female burlesque placed women and their sexuality at the center of theater, purposefully and insistently taking up public space. Women burlesque performers, unlike ballet dancers of the day, created meaning through winks, laughter, and wit. They held influence over audiences, addressing them with defiance, walking alone on stage with confidence, placing their female bodies in public and insisting that people pay attention to them. Women solicited laughter and desire by playing with meaning, critiquing legislators, and like traditional burlesque, making a mockery of hierarchies of the day. Early burlesque performers invoked female sexuality through language, innuendo, puns, double entendres, intonation and male drag, arousing a frenzy of desire and then eventually, censure.
More, as the real bloggers say, in the link. Compare and contrast with the capsule history in the UR Chicago piece, if you want.
Not sure knowing all that -- or at least, having read all that, not the same thing at all -- will allow me appreciate the show next week at some level other than the obvious.
Yes, I'm just typing again at this point.
Any other Chicago-area types going? And if so, which night?