This topic comes up all the time. Is there a difference between burlesque and stripping, and if so, what is it?
Something obvious is the sense of ‘camp’ you find in burlesque. The highly theatrical personae of contemporary burlesque performers are often over the top. At first glance, however, that appearance looks similar to that of the stripper.
But burlesque is deliberately self conscious and presents itself with a sense of irony. The cliche appearance of a bimbo stripper – a vacuous, doe-eyed girl with fake nails, fake tan, fake tits, fake hair – that’s actually an earnest pandering to the lowest common denominator of what men find attractive.
It’s an unintentional caricature.
The biggest difference between burlesque and contemporary strip tease isn’t in the dancers. It’s really in the audience.
Women are rare patrons in strip clubs, even gay or bi-sexual women rarely make an appearance. Strip clubs are geared towards the male gaze, and the abbreviated (or impoverished!) aesthetic reflects that reality.
In burlesque, the audience can be more women than men, and that broadens the options considerably.
Women have always danced for one other, even in the strip clubs. It’s just they’re your fellow dancers, in the club, not your patrons. I think there’s always been a culture of dancers watching and appreciating one another for their skills. That’s still how a newbie learns her trade.
Despite an intensely competitive environment, among dancers in every club I ever worked, there’s been sincere respect given for a dancer’s artistry. Ironically, the highest respect is often afforded to dancers who are not the most popular among the men.
Men simply don’t require their exotic dancers to be any good at dancing. While skill certainly doesn’t hurt, it’s a far distant second to the outward package, because men watch strippers for sexual titillation – not art.
If men really needed more personae or ‘back story’ with their sexual titillation they’d probably also read romance novels!
One of my greatest successes has been that in all the clubs I worked, I didn’t care so much about the men that didn’t watch me because the dancers always paid attention to what I was doing.
Over eleven years, in a dozen different clubs, I worked with dozens and dozens of women. And I worked with some dancers who were just plain amazing. The recollection still pleases me; the dancers I most admired watched me quite intently – often to the mild bewilderment of their patron companions!
In burlesque, the skills of dancing and showmanship; attention to costuming, nuanced musicality, storytelling, social commentary, and the use of humor or irony, all of these elements have come to be expected by the audience.
They were never required in stripping. That’s not to say those elements didn’t exist. They just weren’t a requirement.
I don’t think burlesque is better than stripping, but the range and quality of creative expression is more expansive because the audience has been expanded.
