Montreal Burlesque Damiana Dolce

Over at Burlesque Daily a couple of weeks ago, Jo was introduced to this inquiry

“Why do you think so many of todays Burlesque performers don’t take pride in keeping their body in shape? Is burlesque really just an excuse for some out of shape women to take their clothes off and try to feel good about themselves?”

to which she gave a sharp smart response.
Love her.

I find it heartbreaking that there are people even in burlesque who believe that only the “fittest” have the right to feel good about themselves (as though that’s all there were to be confident about in life anyway…) and that the rest are left to try and find an excuse to do the same.

This seems to be part of a theme these days that has really started to get me down.

In my eyes, Burlesque is a sexy, interactive, humourous and theatrical outlet for creative expression and self celebration. While drawn to the glamour and rhinestones like a crow to a tin pie pan, my favorite acts are still, more often than not, those that stay true to the vaudevillian tone of parody and theatrics; the acts that are acts.

Lately I’m starting to feel like burlesque is fighting a trend to lean away from it’s roots and morph into a Las Vegas showgirl pageant style competition. Performers seem to be under more and more pressure lately to look like Burlesque barbie dolls, with “perfect” bodies, eating disorders and implants.

Am I the only one who is worried that burlesque is going to get hijacked by society’s superficial standards, like almost everything else in North America?