15 February 2009

Burlesque too racy for the festival?

| johnboy
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[First filed: February 14, 2009 @ 13:24]

The Canberra Times reports that the Office of Multicultural, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs is up in arms about the burlesque component of the Fringe Festival.

While I personally find burlesque a bit dull, basically drag shows with women, the parts I’ve seen both on opening night when this photo was taken, and last night, have been pretty tame.

Whether breasts with pasties on constitutes nudity is a point that various courts and censors have debated at length and it seems to be OK.

Last night certainly saw a huge crowd packed into the tent enjoying the entertainment.

On the other hand when you take the Government money to put on an event you do become beholden to wider community views.

Do burlesque performances in public places offend you? Would you like to see more of it? Should it be confined to paying 16+ customers?

Burlesque at a Government funded festival

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Actually on the Thursday night there was the seminar (for want of a better word) on Burlesque which was mixed in with some performances. At the end was a question and answer session and one of the performers asked what people thought of children attending a Burlesque show as one of her friends wanted to bring her 8 year old daughter along to one of her shows.

The performer also mentioned a time when she was performing at some public event and a boy about 12 years old had yelled out to her to “show us ya tits !”. IIRC she told him off after getting over her shock.

The performer said that she thought it should stay as “adult entertainment” and not have kids at shows. Some of the audience said that it depended on what type of burlesque show – after all some are fairly tame, but others are not.

Most of the acts on Friday night were fairly tame, although one or two near the end were not so tame. One of which the performer was fully clothed in a plastic nude suit. She actually expressed surprise when she saw the boy in the front row and for the rest of her act stayed on other parts of the stage that were further away.

scootergal said :

I was there and enjoyed some of what I could see. What I was concerned about was the young boy of about 8 years old sitting at the front of the audience. I didn’t take my 12 year old girl along as I’m sure I would have heard gasps of “EWWW gross!” from her and her friends.

Frankly he seemed more shocked by the sword swallower who then lifted the irons with his eye lids.

Vic Bitterman9:47 pm 15 Feb 09

Needs less clothes.

Hrmm, it’s very multicultural to have drunks hopping from tent to tent drinking to oblivion but not okay for a burlesque show in a designated space? And parents who have problems with it should not bring their children to the tent. It’s as simple as that. It may well has something to do with feminine empowerment but I see it as a bit of fun entertainment and an introduction to a culture that we don’t often see. And the sort that happen perhaps once or twice a year.

Pommy bastard10:48 am 15 Feb 09

I-filed said :

Straightforward, “please the gentlemen” burlesque without social comment of some kind is totally inappropriate for a government-funded occasion.

There’s an easy way round that, call it a; “please the disabled, lesbian, single mother, Burlesque”, and say it’s a social commentary on how there is a lack of shows catering to the needs of disabled lesbians,and the govt would throw thousands at it…

Whether it should be government funded comes down to the content. The Street Theatre’s burlesque show was pretty interesting and subversive in places – though largely banal. To be fair, I haven’t attended the Jorian one, but from the still it looks as though it is relying on the performers rather than set & atmosphere – so those performers would need to be very good. Straightforward, “please the gentlemen” burlesque without social comment of some kind is totally inappropriate for a government-funded occasion.

Woody Mann-Caruso8:28 am 15 Feb 09

So was anybody at the show actually shouting ’show us your tits’?

No.

You mean imhotep didn’t have a witty insight into an imaginary class war? But that ‘yarts’ bit was hilarious! You know – because it was like, arts, but like, not? He sure stuck it to them book-learnin’ types.

I will say, though, that the Multicultural Fringe does look a bit, ahem, anglo and white…

I suppose it’s a good excuse for an arts festival, but there ain’t a lot Multicultural about it. Still, if it’s keeping Jorian Gardner from attempting journalism, I’m happy…

Pommy bastard7:48 am 15 Feb 09

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

I don’t see the difference between this and summernats, really.

“Show us ya tits”

You don’t have to shout at a Burlesque show d=for them to show you their tits, it’s all part of the service.

Tits are over soooooo rated. Unless it is on a Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander doing a trad dance. But who am I to judge?

I was there and enjoyed some of what I could see. What I was concerned about was the young boy of about 8 years old sitting at the front of the audience. I didn’t take my 12 year old girl along as I’m sure I would have heard gasps of “EWWW gross!” from her and her friends.

Woody Mann-Caruso11:17 pm 14 Feb 09

‘Bogans’ at Summenrnats? Not cool. The ‘Yarts Community’? Well, that’s OK.

So was anybody at the show actually shouting ‘show us your tits’?

a snit over a tit…

or a rustle over a bustle…

or maybe a hassle over a tassle…

A storm in a D cup.

(Not an original of mine, unfortunately.)

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

I don’t see the difference between this and summernats, really.

“Show us ya tits”

Ah, but you see the difference is in WHO is doing the yelling.

‘Bogans’ at Summenrnats? Not cool. The ‘Yarts Community’? Well, that’s OK.

The double standard applies down the social spectrum, not upwards. Witness the Bill Henson stoush.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:05 pm 14 Feb 09

I don’t see the difference between this and summernats, really.

“Show us ya tits”

Just another thing for the Office of Multicultural, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to complain about: should keep them busy between actual matters of interest to Mutlicultral peoples & Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

To the 10 people that voted ‘too racy/not necessary’… BREASTS VAGINA PENIS BOTTOM. We all have reproductive organs. Deal with it. Get over your immaturity complex.

Pommy bastard6:34 pm 14 Feb 09

Pandy said :

I can assure you that they are not all lesbians. Nor are they all hoes.

Errrmmmm… who said they were either?

So let me get this right, according to those empowered to spend our taxdollars Burlesque is akin to porn. But if an artist (so-called or otherwise) paints a full-frontal picture of a naked women (from photo-realistic through to abstract)than it’s art and the Gov’t can buy the painting and can hang it freely in full view.

Go figure.

There is nothing wrong with the naked female form from my perspective. Bring it on…

Woody Mann-Caruso5:52 pm 14 Feb 09

That said, I know there’s at least one liberal fossil shuffling his intellectual zimmerframe around the RA site who even finds the male chest offensive.

Aww, are woo still cwying about dat, diddums? HTFU, precious, or buy a blouse and panties to wear to the bottle shop.

I think burlesque is great, and there should be more of it.

I can assure you that they are not all lesbians. Nor are they all hoes.

Where’s the option for more photo’s?

Pommy bastard5:41 pm 14 Feb 09

All power to them then! (In a non-sexist, women empowering, we are lesbians hear us roar, sort of way.)

Very girly women do burlesque to empower their sexuality.

I don’t see what the problem is on either side. They say there the letter is from 29 December, so it isn’t like it is in response to anything that has happened during the festival.

Like it or lump it, if nudity is involved the laws change, especially if there is booze for sale, not sure if there is at the fringe. This is just a government official getting written confirmation of something that was said verbally, so that if something illegal happens, he has covered his arse. Happens every day. It would be interesting to see the rest of text if the couple of paras quoted were the most controversial, I bet the rest if it said it was just a letter for confirmation’s sake. Anyway.

Clearly nobody has a problem with it, otherwise they wouldn’t have provided money in the first place. It certainly doesn’t seem to warrant hysterics in the Canberra Times…

Pommy bastard5:36 pm 14 Feb 09

johnboy said :

Get with the program PB. Burlesque is a celebration of femininity and empowering and ironic, or somesuch.

At least that’s what the sisters tell me.

The sisters confuse the hell out of me then John. 🙂

Sounds like another Jorian Gardner beatup to me.

Tell me, if they were tableux vivant, would they be bringing us into disrepute also?
Or are we going to go back even further than the “If they move its rude, otherwise they’re no more offensive than statues” of 1930s England?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windmill_Theatre

PS: If they ddn’t want controversy and debate over art, why advertise and support it as a Fringe Festival?

and this lot gave act govt money to summernats, so what does that mean – female nakedness is only ok if it is performed for screaming drooling knucledraggers.

They need to give up trying to run an arts and multicultural festival if they can’t cope with artistic nudity. They should just rename the multicultural festival as the food and wine frolic and be done with it. No wonder Dominic Mico moved on.

I thought only nutbag americans were horrified by nude art.

PB – actually art nudes are not generally anorexia inducing, or offensive to women.

It is gratuitous female nudity aimed soley at men that do those things. There is a difference between objectification of women as bodies, or just body parts, and intelligent women doing burlesque.

It is interesting that Mssrs Hargreaves and Manikis are offended by these women performing burlesque for a mixed audience, and not by the sleazy phone sex ads we get on telly after 10.

Pommy bastard said :

But, but , but, it’s demeaning to women…

And it sets stereotypical body type which some might not be able to live up to…

Get with the program PB. Burlesque is a celebration of femininity and empowering and ironic, or somesuch.

At least that’s what the sisters tell me.

Anyway I’d like to be clear that my personal boredom with it is not to say others can’t like it or shouldn’t get the chance to see it at the Fringe.

I’m just not sure it’s worth the festival dying in a ditch for.

Slightly OT.

I am finding that my opinion is usually 180 degrees to that of the Labor minister mentioned in the CT article above.

I certainly dont feel that out of sync with the world in general.

Pommy bastard3:36 pm 14 Feb 09

But, but , but, it’s demeaning to women…

And it sets stereotypical body type which some might not be able to live up to…

phototext said :

“Mr Manikis said, ”The funding and approvals provided by the ACT Government for the event is conditional on the reputation of the ACT Government not being brought into disrepute.””

I hardly think that some scantily clad females performing burlesque could darken the ACT Governments reputation any more than the current bunch of clowns in power have been doing.

. . . or statues of Al Grassby.

The MC said last night, this event was for people who like “brains with boobs”. Do the avant soundtracks and costumes, magic and comedy acts make burlesque more acceptable than other forms of adult entertainment? I’m not sure.

But I agree with JB, it was a bit slow at times, and truth be told, about as sexually provocative as posters you see in shops around town. You would see more flesh per person at the pool or at the beach.

My favourite act were Tthe Town Bikes’. Doing a grinding numchuck-infused routine to a cabaret/jazz version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ certainly satisfied my thirst for fringe entertainment.

They may be getting their French mixed up and confusing Burlesque for Coup d’etat.

phototext said :

I hardly think that some scantily clad females performing burlesque could darken the ACT Governments reputation any more than the current bunch of clowns in power have been doing.

Indeed its geographic location may constitute as a lap dance for the Legislative Assembley.

“Mr Manikis said, ”The funding and approvals provided by the ACT Government for the event is conditional on the reputation of the ACT Government not being brought into disrepute.””

I hardly think that some scantily clad females performing burlesque could darken the ACT Governments reputation any more than the current bunch of clowns in power have been doing.

Personally I am comfortable with the human form – additionally I find it amusing that that anyone who has criticisms of burlesque misses the sweet irony in the fact that the act itself holds their views up for ridicule as antiquated vestiges of the 1950s.

That said, I know there’s at least one liberal fossil shuffling his intellectual zimmerframe around the RA site who even finds the male chest offensive.

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