Perhaps you think we've lost our minds. Perhaps, you think: Whatever happened to this "family" newspaper?
We're writing about burlesque? Oh, yes.
The Rockettes won't be the only sequined, semi-clad showgirls in Winston-Salem in the coming week. The Pretty Things Peepshow will heat up The Garage on Dec. 8 with its nostalgic va-va-voom vaudeville dancing and sideshow acts.
Yes, there will be strip tease. But co-founder, owner and performer go-go Amy -- who is "between last names" -- calls the Peepshow "a strip show that you could take your mother to." That is, heavy on the tease, light on the strip.
"We just did a big festival for Harley-Davidson and there were little, little kids there. We do show some skin but it's done in a very classy manner. Both of my parents have seen the show; my older brother has seen it, and they all loved it. It's very PG-13. All of the naughty bits are covered."
That's the show. What you do at home is your own business. "At our merchandise booth, we will have pasties. You want to take it to the next level, we will provide pasties."
Go-go Amy and her burlesque sidekick, Bettina May, are accompanied on their current tour by two sideshow acts: Heather Holliday, a sword-swallower, glass-and-fire eater; and Donny Vomit, the host, who also doubles as a juggler, whip-cracker and "human blockhead."
"You can put a lot of abnormal objects and a variety of other objects that shouldn't go in your face," go-go Amy said. "He puts a 6-inch nail in his nose and he has a wide variety of utensils. Which is why I often don't eat on the tour bus, because I don't know what's been involved in that act. I eat a lot of sandwiches.
"There's a lot of comedy involved in it. You end up cheering them on instead of gagging," Amy said.
The result of all these, uh, skills is a celebration of vaudeville's yesteryear -- pretty, curvy girls in vintage-looking under things, weird talents and slightly raunchy humor.
As for the burlesque -- yes, let's get back to that . go-go Amy and Bettina May each has her own style. Bettina May, who is from Canada, loves anything vintage and rockabilly. Amy, a native New Yorker who grew up working backstage at theaters, emphasizes showgirl drama -- fluffier, fuller, "way less practical," she said. The point is to come on stage wearing of lot of clothes, and come off wearing very little. In between, their sequins and sparkle, fringe and feathers magically, airily, whoops-oh-my drift to the floor.
Both women make their own costumes (the amount of time and money they spend on their clothes is the really obscene part of the show, Amy said). They add secret snaps, zippers and bows to help them slide off gracefully and easily.
"I think that adds to the fantasy. There are a lot of people who would love a beautiful woman to walk into a room and have her clothes disappear. We kind of keep that going. They have no idea how much work it takes to make it look that simple."
Go-go Amy can't quite pinpoint the moment she fell in love with burlesque, though she estimates that she's been doing it for about seven or eight years. She started dancing for money as a go-go dancer -- eye candy, basically, to get the party started -- in New York night clubs and at parties. She also had this fascination with drag queens, and working in theater, she met men who dressed as women, and women who sang cabaret. To her, it was fun and glamorous, and it was being on stage, but not in a traditional sense.
Once considered low-rent and relegated to the same company as freaks and circus acts, burlesque has made a recent comeback, especially in larger cities, where there are regular nostalgic entertainment and festivals dedicated to the craft. Entertainment is the key -- not having a model-thin body. And titillation is more important than just giving up the goods.
"Live performance is now a novelty to us," Amy said. "I think people are sick of just looking at computer screen and TV, and they want to see a live person on stage. They want to see someone with an actual skill."
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