104 Marbles
A woman’s greatest asset is a man’s imagination.
Anne Corio (legendary burlesque performer)
While I’ve been writing the first draft of my script, Burlesque Palace, I’ve been thinking about the line between stripping and performing burlesque. There are many differences, but one of the basics is economics: strippers make pretty good money from their tips; burlesque performers aren’t tipped and usually need day jobs. Another major difference is historical - fifty years ago, Burly Q performers were the boundary-pushing strippers of their era. Times have changed as have the boundaries so neo-burlesque performers seem tame in relation to our current-day strippers.
Last night, I had the opportunity to experience strippers for the first time - a guy who I work with had his birthday and he wanted to go to the peelers after work. Being good work buddies, a few of us went along for the show. Luckily, he chose the high-end strip club so the experience wasn’t as seedy as it could have been.
While watching the strippers, I was struck by several other differences: Burlesque performers come in all shapes and sizes while the strippers I saw were thinner and had breast implants. The strippers performances seemed to be geared to the predominately male audience while burlesque audiences are mixed with generally more females than males. Strippers take it all off - and by all, I mean right down to their pubic hair. Burlesquers wear pasties and g-strings, leaving the rest up to the audience’s imagination. Burlesque dancers seem to be completely present when they are performing but most of the strippers last night were quite vacant, like they had left themselves somewhere backstage. The difference is one of being subject or object: who is central - the male audience or the performers themselves?
As I was pondering the contrasts between the two forms of stripping, one of the final peelers came on stage. She had short, dark hair and small breasts. She seemed to be thoroughly enlivened by being onstage. She was muscular and could do incredibly acrobatic feats with the pole (including a horizontal plank hold of her body). I turned to the birthday boy and said, “Now that woman is amazing.” “You think so?” he asked. “You don’t?” I questioned. “Not really,” he answered, “Part of the fun of going to strippers is feeling like you’re being catered to - like your fantasies and desires are central.” “So, it’s better to have a shell of a woman who is prancing for you than to have a whole woman who is performing for herself?” “Pretty much,” he answered as he took a swig of his beer. And there you have it, some men prefer to have their own power reflected off a woman over having a woman who shines by herself.
It’s great to get attention from other people but is it time to shine from the inside? Can you practice being the sun rather than the moon?
A woman’s greatest asset is a man’s imagination.
Anne Corio (legendary burlesque performer)
While I’ve been writing the first draft of my script, Burlesque Palace, I’ve been thinking about the line between stripping and performing burlesque. There are many differences, but one of the basics is economics: strippers make pretty good money from their tips; burlesque performers aren’t tipped and usually need day jobs. Another major difference is historical - fifty years ago, Burly Q performers were the boundary-pushing strippers of their era. Times have changed as have the boundaries so neo-burlesque performers seem tame in relation to our current-day strippers.
Last night, I had the opportunity to experience strippers for the first time - a guy who I work with had his birthday and he wanted to go to the peelers after work. Being good work buddies, a few of us went along for the show. Luckily, he chose the high-end strip club so the experience wasn’t as seedy as it could have been.
While watching the strippers, I was struck by several other differences: Burlesque performers come in all shapes and sizes while the strippers I saw were thinner and had breast implants. The strippers performances seemed to be geared to the predominately male audience while burlesque audiences are mixed with generally more females than males. Strippers take it all off - and by all, I mean right down to their pubic hair. Burlesquers wear pasties and g-strings, leaving the rest up to the audience’s imagination. Burlesque dancers seem to be completely present when they are performing but most of the strippers last night were quite vacant, like they had left themselves somewhere backstage. The difference is one of being subject or object: who is central - the male audience or the performers themselves?
As I was pondering the contrasts between the two forms of stripping, one of the final peelers came on stage. She had short, dark hair and small breasts. She seemed to be thoroughly enlivened by being onstage. She was muscular and could do incredibly acrobatic feats with the pole (including a horizontal plank hold of her body). I turned to the birthday boy and said, “Now that woman is amazing.” “You think so?” he asked. “You don’t?” I questioned. “Not really,” he answered, “Part of the fun of going to strippers is feeling like you’re being catered to - like your fantasies and desires are central.” “So, it’s better to have a shell of a woman who is prancing for you than to have a whole woman who is performing for herself?” “Pretty much,” he answered as he took a swig of his beer. And there you have it, some men prefer to have their own power reflected off a woman over having a woman who shines by herself.
It’s great to get attention from other people but is it time to shine from the inside? Can you practice being the sun rather than the moon?
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