(no subject)
Just got the Varietease photos of our epic sci fi burlesque act from BCJphotography.com. Unfortunately there are only a few, but they're great. Still, I wish there were more... these only tell a fraction of the story. I don't think it was filmed, either. But we're remounting it later this month and hope to get more shots of the other scenes.
Gussy Up Gertie and Coo d'Twat... I'm to their right, just out of frame. :( Mid-japanese schoolgirl pop song striptease.
Oh no! Robots attack!
Whatever shall I do?
Clearly, become a hoop ninja.
Eek! Evil robot succubi! (They had giant screwdrivers and wrenches that they used to take off their robot parts. Also, those boxes in the front opened up to reveal robot cone boobs with twirling tassels, and brillo pad robot vajayjays.)
And then I kicked their asses and then we all got naked.
Also, check out this fantastic interview with my friend and burly-q collaborator, Coo d'Twat!
this week's feature
Inside the Liberating World of Burlesque
Cheeky Gets Nosy with Emily Tamblyn
by ali weiss
It seems that burlesque shows have sprung up everywhere within the past few years. When my boyfriend invited me to my first show last fall, I admit that my mind flashed to the ill-fated date scene in The Graduate. Not even close. I found myself cheering for the ladies on stage along with a rowdy crowd of both women and men. Similar to roller derby, contemporary burlesque has a whole bad-ass-chick subculture all its own.
When I decided to investigate burlesque, I knew exactly who to turn to for the candid, no-nonsense scoop. My friend Emily Tamblyn, stage name Coo d’Twat, started doing burlesque just last year and hasn’t looked back. Emily’s one of those crafty, vintage-fabulous women who always seems to be creating something immensely cool. Once for a sketch show, she turned my 8th-grade Converse sneaker into a hand puppet named Chuck; his companion was a talking pair of panties.
Emily’s also an improviser, and she incorporates both humor and costume-making skills into her act. Recently at Variatease she performed in an “epic, faux-Japanese horror film” act complete with robot private parts. In a Christmas show, her own aggressive sock puppet undressed her to “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” On May 9th at the Viaduct, she’ll perform scenes from both Carrie and The Exorcist to death metal at a burlesque tribute to horror films.
I sat down with Emily after a Thursday night show at Blue Bayou. She had performed in femme-bullfighter regalia, which she made herself.
Cheeky: You’ve mentioned getting into burlesque partly because you wanted to make your own costumes. Tell us the whole story about how you got involved.
Emily Tamblyn: It was kind of counter-intuitive. I feel like a jerk for saying this, because everyone does, but I have [mock-seriously] “body issues.” You know, because all women, and most men, have “body issues.” But it was getting to a point where it was kind of pathological. And I was actually going to see someone and it wasn’t helping. And I thought, what can I do to love my body? And [burlesque has] actually really helped, as bizarre and counter-intuitive as it is.
I know I’m not perfectly built, but I’m so much happier with how I look now that I’m taking my clothes off in front of strangers.
Cheeky: That’s amazing. That’s awesome. Do you hear a lot of stories like that from your fellow performers?
ET: Yeah, a lot of people got into it either because they were dancers or they had a friend who did it, but a lot of us are a lot happier with our bodies now. You learn to accentuate the good and hide the bad and be happy with whatever else is there.
Cheeky: It seems like in the past two or three years these shows have sprouted up all over town. And I’m wondering why. I don’t know if theaters have realized boobs are a good way to bring in audiences, or if it’s part of the retro culture. Do you have thoughts on that?
ET: I think that, for a lot of the shows that I’ve been involved in, it isn’t theaters putting them on; it’s the burlesque performers putting them on. It’s been the drive of the burlesque performer, of women who are taking charge and leading each other.
I think it’s a direct throwback from third-wave feminism and all the sex-positive messages that we’re getting now. That you’re OK, you can go out, you can enjoy sex, you can enjoy being a woman. That whole sex-positive, queer-positive - although there’s not a lot of - I wish there were more male burlesque performers and transgender performers. There isn’t a lot of that. But there are a lot of women, and there are a lot of women of all different sizes. In the last year that I’ve been doing this, the number of burlesque performers in Chicago has doubled.
Cheeky: You perform with a lot of different companies. Can you give us a rundown on the lay of the land, and the different kinds of companies?
ET: You know, there’s theme shows, and there’s bar burlesque and there’s theater burlesque and there’s bigger shows and smaller shows.
I think I’ve noticed, looking at YouTube videos and Vimeo, there’s a bigger difference between cities than between companies.
Cheeky: So what’s the Chicago scene like, if you had to distinguish it from other cities?
ET: Wild. [laughs] There are a lot of really good dancers in the Chicago scene, but I don’t think dance is one of the things they’re necessarily pushing. I think Chicago pushes, true to our roots, a lot of humor behind things. Heavy on costuming.
Cheeky: And you have an improv background. Do a lot of burlesque performers in Chicago have a theater background?
ET: I think a lot of Burlesque performers have a dance background. Some have theater backgrounds too, but I think the dance background is the big driving force. Everyone I know who wants to do burlesque and hasn’t done it, it’s because they don’t have a dance background and so they feel a little intimidated.
Cheeky: And that brings up my next question, which is about training. What did you do to prepare for this?
ET: I took a class at Early to Bed that I thought was a strip class. Cause I was like, hey, that’d be fun. I’m uncomfortable with that. Let’s go try it. And it turned out it was a burlesque class from Miss Behavin. And then she ended up doing another series of classes that I took there, and I’ve done some belly-dance workshops and that sort of thing, and it’s a blast.
Cheeky: It seems like the workshops are springing up everywhere too. And sometimes it’s bachelorette parties, but do serious performers go to train there too?
ET: I can only speak for myself on that. It depends - the last workshop I went to was belly dance for burlesque. And about half the class was really rockin old ladies. Like leopard print pants and Charo hair. And the other half was, like, regular performers. You know, good, talented, long-term performers. Hopefully everybody brushes up from time to time. We all have stuff we can use.
Cheeky: What about the camaraderie among your fellow performers? Do you sort of know everyone on the circuit?
ET: It’s so funny how many people’s first names I don’t know - I only know them by their stage names. But yeah, I think there’s definitely . . . quabbles? Quibbles? Quarrels? But any time you’ve got a bunch of performers together there will be. Mostly I’ve found almost everyone is really, really nice. It’s sort of sisterly in the way that sisters can love each other and hate each other, I guess.
Cheeky: I’ve been to about three or four burlesque shows and I’ve noticed it’s tons of couples - it was not a bunch of men. A ton of women, a ton of men. I don’t know what my question is; I’m just observing that women love this. Why do you think so?
ET: This is something I think a lot about. And it’s funny. I had questions at first about telling my family that I’m doing it, and I had questions at first about telling people I love that I’m doing it.
And I think that the difference for women is that we’re not strippers. And I don’t mean that in a stripper-negative way; I’m not dissing on strippers. They make a lot more money than we do. If you can shake it, do it. But thing is, most women are not built to be strippers. We just aren’t. Even after plastic surgery I don’t think I could be a stripper.
I think that what strippers do is they’re fulfilling a male fantasy. And burlesque is fulfilling a female fantasy. We get to get on stage, [eff] you, I’m gonna have a good time here, I’m gonna do what I want. I’ve made this costume, I’m here, I’m standing up in front of you. Look at me. Cheer for me. I’ve got a nice body. Touch me? I’m gonna bite your [frikkin] hand off.
Cheeky: What was your mom’s reaction?
ET: My mom - I think she took a little warming up to get used to it. But then when I started sending her videos of what other people were doing online, she said “Oh this is so fun, I can so picture you doing this, these women are so cute!”
Because it’s not about grinding or bumping or boobs; it’s about the tease. It’s about, you know, who you are as a woman, that sort of thing. And my dad actually has been very positive about it too. He was like, “Oh we should go to Vegas, and you can watch real Burlesque performances.” [laughs]
Cheeky: Classic!
ET: Which is sweet. It’s nice. And I’ve been using a lot of my grandmother’s clothing too, because she wore really fantastic - you know I like to use a lot of vintage-inspired stuff. And I called my mom and I said, “Do you think she would have been bothered by this? I actually feel a little guilty using this.” And my mom said, “If she were still alive, she’d be doing it!”
Cheeky: I love it. Speaking of costumes, you mentioned making pasties.
ET: There are a lot of different schools of thought on making pasties. You know, whether to use craft gum or whether to use buckram, how to you attach your tassels . . . And there have actually been some throw downs in the burlesque community over people stealing other people’s ideas on how to attach tassels so they can best twirl.
Because that’s the goal. If you have tassels on your pasties, you want them to twirl. You want them to twirl beautifully, perfectly. And like even after you stand still you want them to keep twirling is the idea. And there are all sorts of different schools of thought on how to get them to twirl. And there’s lots of glitter. Lots of hot glue. I think everyone in the burlesque community has spent like hours in front of Top Model gluing shit to costumes.
Cheeky: What’s the trick for good tassel spinnage?
ET: I can’t tell. It’s a secret. Not on the record.
Cheeky: What else do you want to tell women about burlesque?
ET: It’s fun and it’s body-positive. It’s taking all these traditional womanly arts that have become punk-rock cool again - all of the sewing and knitting and stuff that suddenly is really hip again - and incorporating all of that, and the dance, and everything else, into this thing that’s beautiful and fun. We’re reclaiming our bodies in this way that’s friendly for everyone to come and watch, that’s really fun.
I mean, as much as I’m speaking to the good feminist stuff, more than that it’s just a good time. I just have fun.
Emily’s next show as Coo d’Twat:
Viva La Muerte’s Hot & Heavy Burlesque Presents:
A Burlesque Tribute to Classic Horror Films
Viaduct Theatre
3111 N. Western Ave.
773.296.6024
18+
$15 advance / $20 door
Gussy Up Gertie and Coo d'Twat... I'm to their right, just out of frame. :( Mid-japanese schoolgirl pop song striptease.
Oh no! Robots attack!
Whatever shall I do?
Clearly, become a hoop ninja.
Eek! Evil robot succubi! (They had giant screwdrivers and wrenches that they used to take off their robot parts. Also, those boxes in the front opened up to reveal robot cone boobs with twirling tassels, and brillo pad robot vajayjays.)
And then I kicked their asses and then we all got naked.
Also, check out this fantastic interview with my friend and burly-q collaborator, Coo d'Twat!
this week's feature
Inside the Liberating World of Burlesque
Cheeky Gets Nosy with Emily Tamblyn
by ali weiss
It seems that burlesque shows have sprung up everywhere within the past few years. When my boyfriend invited me to my first show last fall, I admit that my mind flashed to the ill-fated date scene in The Graduate. Not even close. I found myself cheering for the ladies on stage along with a rowdy crowd of both women and men. Similar to roller derby, contemporary burlesque has a whole bad-ass-chick subculture all its own.
When I decided to investigate burlesque, I knew exactly who to turn to for the candid, no-nonsense scoop. My friend Emily Tamblyn, stage name Coo d’Twat, started doing burlesque just last year and hasn’t looked back. Emily’s one of those crafty, vintage-fabulous women who always seems to be creating something immensely cool. Once for a sketch show, she turned my 8th-grade Converse sneaker into a hand puppet named Chuck; his companion was a talking pair of panties.
Emily’s also an improviser, and she incorporates both humor and costume-making skills into her act. Recently at Variatease she performed in an “epic, faux-Japanese horror film” act complete with robot private parts. In a Christmas show, her own aggressive sock puppet undressed her to “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” On May 9th at the Viaduct, she’ll perform scenes from both Carrie and The Exorcist to death metal at a burlesque tribute to horror films.
I sat down with Emily after a Thursday night show at Blue Bayou. She had performed in femme-bullfighter regalia, which she made herself.
Cheeky: You’ve mentioned getting into burlesque partly because you wanted to make your own costumes. Tell us the whole story about how you got involved.
Emily Tamblyn: It was kind of counter-intuitive. I feel like a jerk for saying this, because everyone does, but I have [mock-seriously] “body issues.” You know, because all women, and most men, have “body issues.” But it was getting to a point where it was kind of pathological. And I was actually going to see someone and it wasn’t helping. And I thought, what can I do to love my body? And [burlesque has] actually really helped, as bizarre and counter-intuitive as it is.
I know I’m not perfectly built, but I’m so much happier with how I look now that I’m taking my clothes off in front of strangers.
Cheeky: That’s amazing. That’s awesome. Do you hear a lot of stories like that from your fellow performers?
ET: Yeah, a lot of people got into it either because they were dancers or they had a friend who did it, but a lot of us are a lot happier with our bodies now. You learn to accentuate the good and hide the bad and be happy with whatever else is there.
Cheeky: It seems like in the past two or three years these shows have sprouted up all over town. And I’m wondering why. I don’t know if theaters have realized boobs are a good way to bring in audiences, or if it’s part of the retro culture. Do you have thoughts on that?
ET: I think that, for a lot of the shows that I’ve been involved in, it isn’t theaters putting them on; it’s the burlesque performers putting them on. It’s been the drive of the burlesque performer, of women who are taking charge and leading each other.
I think it’s a direct throwback from third-wave feminism and all the sex-positive messages that we’re getting now. That you’re OK, you can go out, you can enjoy sex, you can enjoy being a woman. That whole sex-positive, queer-positive - although there’s not a lot of - I wish there were more male burlesque performers and transgender performers. There isn’t a lot of that. But there are a lot of women, and there are a lot of women of all different sizes. In the last year that I’ve been doing this, the number of burlesque performers in Chicago has doubled.
Cheeky: You perform with a lot of different companies. Can you give us a rundown on the lay of the land, and the different kinds of companies?
ET: You know, there’s theme shows, and there’s bar burlesque and there’s theater burlesque and there’s bigger shows and smaller shows.
I think I’ve noticed, looking at YouTube videos and Vimeo, there’s a bigger difference between cities than between companies.
Cheeky: So what’s the Chicago scene like, if you had to distinguish it from other cities?
ET: Wild. [laughs] There are a lot of really good dancers in the Chicago scene, but I don’t think dance is one of the things they’re necessarily pushing. I think Chicago pushes, true to our roots, a lot of humor behind things. Heavy on costuming.
Cheeky: And you have an improv background. Do a lot of burlesque performers in Chicago have a theater background?
ET: I think a lot of Burlesque performers have a dance background. Some have theater backgrounds too, but I think the dance background is the big driving force. Everyone I know who wants to do burlesque and hasn’t done it, it’s because they don’t have a dance background and so they feel a little intimidated.
Cheeky: And that brings up my next question, which is about training. What did you do to prepare for this?
ET: I took a class at Early to Bed that I thought was a strip class. Cause I was like, hey, that’d be fun. I’m uncomfortable with that. Let’s go try it. And it turned out it was a burlesque class from Miss Behavin. And then she ended up doing another series of classes that I took there, and I’ve done some belly-dance workshops and that sort of thing, and it’s a blast.
Cheeky: It seems like the workshops are springing up everywhere too. And sometimes it’s bachelorette parties, but do serious performers go to train there too?
ET: I can only speak for myself on that. It depends - the last workshop I went to was belly dance for burlesque. And about half the class was really rockin old ladies. Like leopard print pants and Charo hair. And the other half was, like, regular performers. You know, good, talented, long-term performers. Hopefully everybody brushes up from time to time. We all have stuff we can use.
Cheeky: What about the camaraderie among your fellow performers? Do you sort of know everyone on the circuit?
ET: It’s so funny how many people’s first names I don’t know - I only know them by their stage names. But yeah, I think there’s definitely . . . quabbles? Quibbles? Quarrels? But any time you’ve got a bunch of performers together there will be. Mostly I’ve found almost everyone is really, really nice. It’s sort of sisterly in the way that sisters can love each other and hate each other, I guess.
Cheeky: I’ve been to about three or four burlesque shows and I’ve noticed it’s tons of couples - it was not a bunch of men. A ton of women, a ton of men. I don’t know what my question is; I’m just observing that women love this. Why do you think so?
ET: This is something I think a lot about. And it’s funny. I had questions at first about telling my family that I’m doing it, and I had questions at first about telling people I love that I’m doing it.
And I think that the difference for women is that we’re not strippers. And I don’t mean that in a stripper-negative way; I’m not dissing on strippers. They make a lot more money than we do. If you can shake it, do it. But thing is, most women are not built to be strippers. We just aren’t. Even after plastic surgery I don’t think I could be a stripper.
I think that what strippers do is they’re fulfilling a male fantasy. And burlesque is fulfilling a female fantasy. We get to get on stage, [eff] you, I’m gonna have a good time here, I’m gonna do what I want. I’ve made this costume, I’m here, I’m standing up in front of you. Look at me. Cheer for me. I’ve got a nice body. Touch me? I’m gonna bite your [frikkin] hand off.
Cheeky: What was your mom’s reaction?
ET: My mom - I think she took a little warming up to get used to it. But then when I started sending her videos of what other people were doing online, she said “Oh this is so fun, I can so picture you doing this, these women are so cute!”
Because it’s not about grinding or bumping or boobs; it’s about the tease. It’s about, you know, who you are as a woman, that sort of thing. And my dad actually has been very positive about it too. He was like, “Oh we should go to Vegas, and you can watch real Burlesque performances.” [laughs]
Cheeky: Classic!
ET: Which is sweet. It’s nice. And I’ve been using a lot of my grandmother’s clothing too, because she wore really fantastic - you know I like to use a lot of vintage-inspired stuff. And I called my mom and I said, “Do you think she would have been bothered by this? I actually feel a little guilty using this.” And my mom said, “If she were still alive, she’d be doing it!”
Cheeky: I love it. Speaking of costumes, you mentioned making pasties.
ET: There are a lot of different schools of thought on making pasties. You know, whether to use craft gum or whether to use buckram, how to you attach your tassels . . . And there have actually been some throw downs in the burlesque community over people stealing other people’s ideas on how to attach tassels so they can best twirl.
Because that’s the goal. If you have tassels on your pasties, you want them to twirl. You want them to twirl beautifully, perfectly. And like even after you stand still you want them to keep twirling is the idea. And there are all sorts of different schools of thought on how to get them to twirl. And there’s lots of glitter. Lots of hot glue. I think everyone in the burlesque community has spent like hours in front of Top Model gluing shit to costumes.
Cheeky: What’s the trick for good tassel spinnage?
ET: I can’t tell. It’s a secret. Not on the record.
Cheeky: What else do you want to tell women about burlesque?
ET: It’s fun and it’s body-positive. It’s taking all these traditional womanly arts that have become punk-rock cool again - all of the sewing and knitting and stuff that suddenly is really hip again - and incorporating all of that, and the dance, and everything else, into this thing that’s beautiful and fun. We’re reclaiming our bodies in this way that’s friendly for everyone to come and watch, that’s really fun.
I mean, as much as I’m speaking to the good feminist stuff, more than that it’s just a good time. I just have fun.
Emily’s next show as Coo d’Twat:
Viva La Muerte’s Hot & Heavy Burlesque Presents:
A Burlesque Tribute to Classic Horror Films
Viaduct Theatre
3111 N. Western Ave.
773.296.6024
18+
$15 advance / $20 door