Root Magazine

This Bump's for You

Root Magazine is pleased to welcome guest writer and Burlesque dancer, Kellita of Hot Pink Feathers:

 

This Bump's For You

I entered burlesque through the back door.  I wasn't aware I was doing it until I saw my first burlesque show in New Orleans in May, 2001.  That was more than 6 months after going public with my dance company, Hot Pink Feathers.

How did I find myself bumping and grinding, shimmying and shaking before I had a context for it? Here’s how. A mover from the get go, I was satisfied at first with my own movement explorations in the living room and the backyard. Eventually I found myself traveling through the world of ballet (too masochistic) and then modern dance (too serious). My floodgates of enthusiasm were thrown open only when I encountered samba and Brazilian dance. I couldn’t believe a whole culture actually moved so exuberantly and sensually outside of my imagination! I danced in my first Carnaval San Francicso Grand Parade in 1997 and then expressed a desire to parade every weekend. The grand spirit of abandon that Carnaval evokes struck me as my physical mantra. I had now heard my calling.

 

When it came time to start Hot Pink Feathers, I was aware that preservation of culture was not its mission. Rather, my interest was honing in on the wild joy that samba catalyzed in me and following where that led. This allowed me to create numbers from that font of joy to share with the dancers I gathered, and ultimately our audiences. There is a tangible vicarious thrill that an audience member experiences when a performer is channeling their full charge, in every cell. And it cycles right back to the performer, too. I hadn’t encountered such a life-giving exchange in any other medium. This, too, is what I found in New Orleans that May.

A fateful little flyer beckoned me to travel to New Orleans to immerse in what would become my primary community in the next years. I found the same spark I knew from Carnaval in the glamourous, fearless, and oh, so witty burlesque artists performing there. Their use of humor and painfully great timing had us all captivated. As the artists teased us with their routines and their saucy removal of select items of their sparkly costumes (often leaving much to the imagination), both performer and witness became amplified. We were all called to be more. More of ourselves. We were invited to integrate.  Not intellectually, not by some grand design of a committee, but by the bold movements and revelations of a dancing woman (and sometimes a man!). As the clothes came off, not only more skin was bared, but concurrently, more spirit. This was truly hot.

I learned from that first shot of burlesque, that Hot Pink Feathers performed at the crossroads of carnaval and cabaret, and began to refer to us as a samba burlesque troupe. Our numbers were dance heavy, often peppered with striptease. Since then, we have branched out to include music from around the world, and no longer limit ourselves to our signature retro Brazilian music. We now count narrative rich numbers in our repertoire, including a bawdy Bollywood routine, and have acts set to latin gypsy horns, New Orleans jazz, French can can, and an ever expanding list of world music. In fact, we have now coined the term World Cabaret to express our new fusions. Our aesthetic is ethnic dance through a showgirl lense. In the words of Theatre Bay Area magazine, “Leaders on the scantily clad front, the Hot Pink Feathers are a samba-based troupe who shake it to anything from bossa nova to Klezmer music.”

The most salient link between our two primary forms of influence, samba and burlesque, is not the obvious aesthetic of shiny sequins, beads, feathers, glitter and ruffles. Nor is it the emphasis on hip gyrations and shimmy-shakes. It’s the common thread of a no-holds-barred embracing of life, as focused through physical performance. It’s the generous gift of a bump, and a wink and a smile, that is just as much for the performer as it for the audience.

See you at the show!

Kellita

Head Feather

 

 

Photo credits top to bottom: Don Spiro, Billy Hustace, Dave Golden

To connect with more of the burlesque community at large, visit both
www.teaseorama.com and www.burlesquehall.com

To learn more about Hot Pink Feathers, and to stay abreast of our shows and Showgirl Academy
classes and workshops (session beginning 7/24!), please visit www.hotpinkfeathers.com

 

 

 

The Feminist Question

The conflict some of us gals may have when just hearing the word 'burlesque' is understandable considering some of the visual triggers of past imagery.  But I suggest this is a knee-jerk reaction by some who haven't seen a proper performance.  Yes, I've read Female Chauvinist Pigs, and some may lump this art into that, but I invite you all to delve deeper.  Take it from feminist, I love burlesque!

Your Editor,

Marcy Mendelson

Women's News tackles the issue:

It's burlesque and it's back.

Over the last 10 years, women have dusted off pasties and tassels in a rediscovery of classic burlesque, which ended its heyday in the early 1960s with the sexual revolution and increase of sex and nudity in other venues. Now, an over-sexed public is cheering for the sexy glamour of burlesque, which offers a glimpse but doesn't bare it all.

..........

"Feminism is not just about sex and sexual politics," says Shteir. "It's about more than that. But I do think a powerful female performer who's drawing on these archetypal striptease images can wield a lot of power by compelling all eyes to be on her. Is it a feminist thing? It's not like 67 cents on the dollar or re-imagining the power structure or getting a woman into the White House. I don't think there's any confusion about that. But still there's something very interesting going on there. The idea that the female body can command is powerful."

Read the full article here:

Burlesque Comeback Tries to Dance with Feminism

More on Vivenne VaVoom:  Burlesque as it Was

The Art of Performance: The Art of Burlesque

~BURLESQUE~

I've gone back and forth over this topic.  I wonder, is it dance?  Is it girls-only (answer: no)?  Is it just theater or something else entirely?  Why is it rising in popularity?

I've witnessed some classic Burlesque performers who can (pardon the pun) knock the socks off modern-day strippers and bring the house down with a simple glance, posture, the right costume...

A lot of dancers are now exploring the world of burlesque and creating side troupes or encorporating it into their routines.  Troupes such as Hot Pink Feathers and Fleur de Tease have members whose roots began in ethnic dance.

We'll be hearing from some of these performers as well as exploring the history and different genres of burlesque.

Image: Sally Rand (fan dance)

Vacation!

Hello Lovelies...

As you read this, Root Mag Staff is on a little technology vacay...  Yes, over the mountains and into the desert heat we go....

We will return with some saucy new material in a few days... stay tuned, keep dancin'.....

Photo of the Month

July's Photo of the Month is of Lloyd Knight of the Martha Graham Dance Company, shot by Mark Andrew, resident photographer of the National Museum of Dance. 

Copyright Mark Andrew Photography