High Tease

Published: Marie Claire Australia, ELLE, Canada, India

Anyone for High Tease?

Published: ELLE, Canda, Marie Claire, Australia, India

As the lights dim in the theatre, burlesque dancer Satan’s Angel builds to her explosive finale. Shimmying to the front of the stage, she dips her nipple tassels in a bowl of petrol, holds up a match, strikes it, and whoosh – they burst into flames. At that moment, she starts bumping and grinding to music by Santana. “Oh my God!” shouts one shocked audience member, mesmerised by the two swirling beacons on the darkened stage. The crowd goes wild. Even in the anything-goes atmosphere of modern-day burlesque, flaming nipple tassels are still pretty spectacular.

Satan’s Angel is one of more than 120 performers taking part in Exotic World Weekend in Las Vegas. And tonight, the 12 finalists in the Miss Exotic World 2007 Pageant are pulling out all the stops in a bid to be crowned queen of burlesque. Best described as the “art of striptease”, it’s a titillating, saucy and sexy performance that takes care not to tip into straight stripping.

In the days leading up to this year’s pageant, sweeping hot-pink tail feathers, trapeze swings and suitcases stuffed to the brim full of elaborate costumes have been trundling around Sin City’s airport baggage carousels. For burlesque dancers, the pageant is their night of nights. “We were looking for a way to let people know we are here, as well as celebrating what burlesque is all about,” points out Laura Herbert of the Burlesque Hall of Fame, which organises the event. “These days, people tend to think the term applies to just about every form of adult entertainment, but that’s a misnomer. Sure, most burlesque is a little risqué, but it’s also sassy, surprising and even a bit silly.”

Burlesque’s roots can be traced back to the early 19th century, at the height of the stuffy Victorian era, when dance troupes of women wearing flesh-coloured tights titillated (mostly male) audiences. Slowly growing in popularity, performances peaked in Europe in the transgressive period between World Wars I and II, when beautiful showgirls kicked up their legs at Paris’s Le Moulin Rouge and the Les Folies Bergere, creating a firecracker atmosphere of sexual tension and licentiousness.

In recent years, contemporary stars such as Dita Von Teese and the Pussycat Dolls have taken burlesque back into the mainstream. From an inauspicious start in a goat shed in the Mojave Desert, Nevada, the Miss Exotic World has grown over the past 17 years to become a three-day spectacle, where performers like Dixie Evans mix with lithe newcomers. “Miss Exotic World is really important in preserving the art of burlesque,” explains Dixie. “In 1990, we held a burlesque reunion at my ranch in the desert and five girls showed up. I said, ‘Why don’t we hold a contest? That way, we’ll get new girls.’” The highlight of the weekend is the pageant at the Krave nightclub, where women from around the world (there are no Australians) vie for titles including Best Debut, Best Duo, and Miss Exotic World 2007. The whole event ends in suitably glamorous style with a rooftop pool party.

One of the contestants, Ophelia Flame – aka Laura Libby, 38, a full-time mother – performs with the Lili’s Burlesque Revue, a sell-out cabaret club in her hometown of Minneapolis. At 4.30pm, on the night of the pageant, she’s crammed into room 615 at the Golden Nugget Hotel with other glamorous girls from Lili’s, who are helping her prepare for her big performance. “I have a traditional dance background, but when I was 22, I took up dancing in topless bars,” she reveals, as the other girls fuss around her. “When I came to Miss Exotic World in 1999, I realised I had found my tribe.”

The Lili’s costumier, Heidi Wheeler, is on hand to help Ophelia into her jeweled matador costume for her Spanish-influenced performance. Rather than focusing on keeping Ophelia in her dress, Heidi works hard to produce the kind of wardrobe malfunction that got Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson into so much trouble at their 2004 Super Bowl performance. “We actually look for wardrobe malfunction,” laughs Ophelia.

While a make-up artist creates a dramatic Spanish look, Ophelia draws on her experience as a topless dancer to explain the distinction between stripping and burlesque. “That’s the million-dollar question,” she muses. “The girls don’t want to be thought of as sex workers; they’re performers. [Issues around] sex and sexuality are always evolving, and it’s empowering to see women in control of their bodies and sexuality. Women generally run burlesque clubs, and men generally run strip clubs.”

As she slides into her first costume for the evening – a strapless, orange, full-length gown – Ophelia confesses to feeling a little nervous. “I know it sounds a bit worthy but I’m not thinking about winning – it’s the taking part that counts,” she smiles, before announcing to the other women in the room: “But if I do win, you guys are all going to be carrying all my crap back home!” Meanwhile, outside Krave nightclub a red carpet has been rolled out ready for tonight’s stellar performance. Emerging goggle-eyed from the famous Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino across the road, tourists stare at the glamazons starting to emerge from sleek limousines. Inside, the club is packed.

The look is overwhelmingly old-school glamour, with everyone in the audience dressed to impress. Impossibly tight-looking corsets elevate cleavages to exaggerated voluptuousness. The men are attired in impeccable suits. “Let’s get this show started,” announces one of the comperes, Miss Astrid, in her fake and deadpan German accent. Retro bump-and-grind music starts thumping from the loudspeakers, the crowd cheers, and Renea Le Roux, the Southern Belle from Hell, bursts on to the stage. In a pink and black Louisiana-style dress, complete with parasol, Renea is an immediate hit. Teasing the audience, she peels off layer after layer of clothing with impeccable timing until there’s nothing left but her pasties (nipple covers) and briefs. At this point, she turns, winks at the crowd, swings her parasol over her left shoulder and sashays off stage – to a standing ovation.

However, burlesque isn’t just about the tease, although that’s definitely a significant part of it; entertainment and glamour, with a touch of comedy, are equally important. With names like Harvest Moon, Desiré D’Amour and Jailbait Jenny, each performer has just four minutes to tantalise and entertain the judges and audience.

An impressive 250 girls have applied for 12 places in the final, so competition is fierce and everyone wants to up the ante. “It doesn’t matter if you’re tall, thin, short, or fat, burlesque is for everybody,” shouts Miss Astrid. Backstage, British contestant Amber Topaz, 33, is similarly inclusive. “You can be whoever you want to be,” she explains. “When I discovered burlesque, I felt for the first time that I fitted
in. In the mainstream, you have to be a size zero or a size eight and have this bag or that bag … how boring is that?  Burlesque is a real celebration of women. Where else do women get to be sexy, funny, powerful and intelligent on stage, and be loved for it?”

This evening certainly has it all: striptease on a hoop lowered from the ceiling, a hilarious homage to the film Titanic, and showers of glitter and diamanté. But excitement really reaches fever pitch with the arrival of Immodesty Blaize, 29, from London, the performer tipped to take the crown. She steps onto the stage in a dazzling full-length, fake-fur coat; a white, widebrimmed pompom hat; and a corset that frames her hourglass figure. With every thump of the drumbeat or clash of the
cymbal, she teases off another piece of clothing with immaculate timing.

Judging by the ecstatic response of the crowd, her performance is a standout. For the next few minutes a low, excited buzz fills the room as the audience speculates on the winner. Then, silence descends as comperes Miss Astrid and El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, take to the stage to announce the result. “And the winner is … Immodesty Blaize!” they roar. In the backstage chaos after the show, Immodesty is flushed and breathless. “I was performing as soon as I could shimmy my tits and ass,” she grins. “I blossomed at the time of the super-waif and I didn’t fit into that mould, in any shape or form. So it suited me to adopt the style of the ’50s bombshell.

Then, about 10 years ago, I decided burlesque was something I wanted to try.” Having opened shows for the late James Brown, performed for Dior and headlined a burlesque show in London’s West End, Immodesty has ridden burlesque’s new
wave of popularity. Like Ophelia, she believes it’s empowering for women. “The whole theatre of burlesque appeals to me – and, obviously, the erotic undertone – in that it’s an expression of my female sexuality. These days, we’re all given the impression that we have a look a certain way. But burlesque embraces the fact that we’re all different.”

Photographs courtesy ©Dan Hallman