CONTENT INVENTORY
1. Context
Beginning in the early 2000s, a resurgence in burlesque performance began in cities across the United States. A distinctly American genre of erotic dance, involving strip-tease, retro-inspired pin up desires and performances became embraced by an underground community of women who saw much more than stripping for the male gaze.
Much of what was considered low brow culture, burlesque was often ignored as an artform. However, in cities like Seattle, New York, Boston and San Francisco not only has it become a staple of everyday nightlife, artists are offering classes and workshops to inspire a new generation of burlesque performers, often called “Neo-burlesque”. Neo-burlesque has been embraced by queer nightlife culture, often mixed within the likes of drag queen and drag king performances and spaces.
In 2001, the festival coined “Tease-O-Rama” began as “America’s first convention dedicated to the foxy, fabulous and all-around over-the-top world of burlesque”[1]. Similar pageants, workshops, and festivals have sprouted with similar enthusiasm and attendance, such as the annual Miss Exotic World Pageant[2], the annual BurlyCon festival in Seattle [3], the New York Burlesque Festival [4], and the Great Boston Burlesque Expo [5].
The price for attendance and classes often reflects the kind of invested interest one needs to handle, travel, lodging and expenses, not inclusive of the kinds of work that go into costuming and appearance. While most schools and festivals offer scholarships for folks who have economic or other hardships, the niche of the genre is further reduced into non-mainstream access simply due to the high costs associated with it.
Exposure to burlesque is also another barrier to a wide audience. Of the twenty persons surveyed on Facebook, only about half had seen or heard of the artform’s resurgence. Of those who attended, most said it was a result of word of mouth or stumbled upon. Of those who saw a performance, both first-timers and veterans, claimed interest in going again, but most cited financial or barriers based on lack of promotional materials. This barrier to burlesque has kept the genre within a niche audience of extreme enthusiasts and occassional supporters.
By bringing burlesque education and workshops online, via webisode format, through various outlets like YouTube, Howto.com, and other online instructional video hosting sites, burlesque can further create a personal impact on the lives of persons interested in the performance.
Why is this important or even necessary?
Neo-burlesque as a cultural phenomena has the potential for becoming a trend of the 2000s, a side-note to the resurgent trend in vintage and retro style femme fashions of the early 21st Century. But, the potential of burlesque as a serious form of dance, gender expression, and entertainment is possible with an increased audience and increased base of new performers.
With artists like Dita Von Teese appearing in the mainstream and Cristina Aguilera shooting a film about burlesque due for release in 2010, burlesque is at a crucial moment of being acculturated and either accepted or rejected by mainstream audiences. The more it can be seen as a serious and inspiring form of American expression, unique to the current times and not just a retro-fad of the past, the more potential it has to be a thriving business for a primarily female work force.
Who would participate in this project? How would it be distributed?
Luckily, online digital media distribution of large file sizes are becoming more and more easy to access both as a producer and media consumer. Such content sharing sites such as YouTube have been a way for performers to promote themselves as well as the venues and management with which they’re involved.
I have pitched my concept to the NY School of Burlesque to be a partner in collaboration with my project, in order to promote the form as well as support their business efforts to attract students and performers.
My proposal the the NY School of Burlesque is the following:
I’m interested in supporting the promotion of education of burlesque in the public sphere, through formats like instructional webisodes. These introductory videos would accomplish a few things:
1) Bring a much wider access to burlesque to folks either financially or geologically unable to commit to a class
2) Promote the NY School of Burlesque by featuring instructors, logos, contact information, and schedules
3) Attract a more diverse audience of novice-burlesque enthusiasts
Of course, I understand the financial needs of any business (working in a non-profit myself) and want to address how instructional videos can actually help, rather than take away from, your business.
1) The videos would be under five minutes, and would be enough instruction to begin folks on their journey into burlesque.
2) Each video would end with a teaser, where the school workshops are featured.
3) Potential for online secured classses via PayPal and SSL access is an option for non-NYC based enthusiasts.
How can I support this being done?
1) As a student, I have access to A/V resources, including HD Panasonic cameras, lighting equipment, skilled crew and post-production materials.
2) Depending on your level of interest and my own schedule, I am willing to work on this as a pro-bono project.
3) The series would be a collaborative effort between myself and the school.
Sources for your content
Tease-O-Rama: An annual event held in Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA & Portland, OR, combining workshops, performance, and networking events
http://www.teaseorama.com/
The New York Burlesque Festival: An annual event bringing international performances to the mainstages of burlesque venues throughout New York City, competing for the coveted “Golden Pasties” award.
http://www.thenewyorkburlesquefestival.com/
The BurlyCon Festival: In its second annual year, BurlyCon showcases everything about burlesque, minus the stresses of performance, and is meant to be a space for both experienced and newbie performers, scholars, and enthusiasts to gather, network, and learn. Takes place in Seattle, WA.
http://www.burlyconseattle.com/
What’s out there?
There’s already a vast catalog of classes and workshops being offered at these festivals. But the classes and workshops have been limited to high-cost attendance which relies primarily on not just class admission fee, but often travel and lodging expenses, or even venue attendance fees.
The following list are classes being offered at various festivals and venues by performers with expansive resumes on each. Online venues for these workshops are possible and can be used as promotional media for events and workshops:
- stocking & glove removal
- press kits & self-promotion
- pastie making
- pin up photos
- boylesque
- bellydance
- beginner/intermediate
- strip tease
- bump n’ grind
- walking in heels
- make-up
- fans
- tassell twirling
- stage presence (attracting your audience)
- boas and parasols
- creating your persona
- Hula Hooping
- Stripping out of Street Clothes
Features/ideas from your audience research
Not enough people have been exposed to burlesque. This is likely due to lack of access, and ways in which it has been reduced to a niche or trendy cultural artform. Similarly, the taboo of strip-tease as an empowering versus objectifying form is still a source of contention, even among a younger female audience.
Do you have or need each content item?
– bring examples of existing content
Currently, Jo Weldon, also known as “Jo Boobs” has DVDs for sale and also a promotional video.
DREAM TEAM
Ideally, I would want to work with Jo who I have some contact with through colleagues. However, the project would want to keep the focus away from doing the same of the old and bring to the table better quality content than the amateur video or promotional interview.
Jo Boobs, aka Jo Weldon, is the Headmistress at the New York School of Burlesque. She has her own DVD’s, called “Honey & Spice: Sensual and Fierce Burlesque” for sale on Amazon.com as well as another featuring using Fans during a performance.
Hopefully, the goal of the project, to promote NY School of Burlesque through well-designed promotional content that would both attract online and other students. The instructors would be, as an example, Miss Saturn, and her Hula Hoop workshops – that would promote both the artists and the workshops offered at the school.
