NEO BURLESQUE THE GENUINE FEMININE POWER

Many of us have heard of this mythical dance full of color, seduction, and feminism. Today in Petite Fashion Atelier we will discover what burlesque communicates as a staging where women are empowered.

Staging, corsets, make-up, red lips ...high hills, and extraordinary choreographies are part of the burlesque universe where the power of dance becomes a feminine language.

From the literary Burlesque, a series of theatrical currents emerged in Europe and also in the United States. The varieties of the Victorian Era, the American Vaudeville, the cabaret in France, the music hall, or the pantomime in Great Britain, were theatrical styles that gathered the main characteristics of the original literary Burlesque. Usually, these types of shows were theatrical adaptations of Burlesque plays.

Burlesque was born as an underworld show, but a few decades later the genre began to re-emerge as a show with erotic overtones, aimed at male audiences, and with a little more artistic content, such as music and various performances. Gradually it became what we know today as Neo-Burlesque.

The visual component is a form of communication that sought in its origins (1840s) to ridicule society and the division and structure of gender in Europe and the United States.

The heels, symbol of power, would become the perfect partner of the corsets that were an icon of feminine beauty to form the perfect outfit for dancers and burlesque performers. According to Summer Strevens, in her book Fashionably Fatal, the use of the corset and its meaning for society even gave rise to the expressions "strait-laced", which literally translates as a woman tied very tightly but is used as a synonym for "puritan" and "loose women" to refer to "easy" women. This highlights the importance of the tightness of the corset in that society. This, the author of the book explains, gave rise to the phenomenon of the panting bosom of the Victorian era, in which all "respectable" women were short of breath.

Part of the appeal of burlesque and neo-burlesque is its promotion of female autonomy, sexuality, and acceptance of women of all shapes and sizes.

Real women inspired by female icons such as Marilyn Monroe or Sophia Loren, brought to the bars a new way of discovering and communicating with their bodies through art. There is also the idea that burlesque plays with and modifies the "male gaze": although women can be objectified and sexualized, it is a form that women find especially sexy, not men. The body of a burlesque star is not just for sex, it is a vessel for art, culture, and debate, as an article in the vine points out.

Neo-burlesque capitalizes on the striptease as performance art. As mentioned in the documentary “Dirty Martini and the New Burlesque” by Gary Beeber, many burlesque performers, crew members, and venue hosts state that neo-burlesque is a combination of sex and comedy, as well as being all-inclusive to men, drag queens, and transgender people.

This form of artistic expression has reached the big stages of the world represented by famous actresses and singers. For example "Lady Marmalade" an icon of female empowerment.

Choreographies by the shaking of the hips and the high heels show a woman's way of expressing her strength and empowerment through dance. The treatment of womanhood is taken to its maximum expression.

Stigmatization is still natural in some societies around the world where this kind of dance is considered shameful. Burlesque is an art like ballet, belly dancing, and even Tango. The enjoyment of dance as a form of body communication is what made many famous dancers become icons in history such as Dita Von Teese, Sally Rand, and Faith Bacon.

And who hasn't wanted to enjoy a Moulin Rouge show?