‘Naughty but Nice’: Re-Articulations of Value in Neo-Burlesque Striptease

Abstract

In this chapter I present an Anglo-American study of female ‘new’ or ‘neo’-burlesque striptease, a performance genre that re-emerged in the 1990s, in which performers remove clothes to a state of partial, and very occasionally total, nudity.² I situate neo-burlesque as a form of popular dance in that, although it is theatricalized and presentational in style, it occurs within the popular entertainment context of cabaret and the body is choreographed according to a movement repertoire rooted in striptease performance, which historically occupies a position of low art. Integral to neo-burlesque performance is the notion of tease, which plays upon a delicate matrix of wit and seduction: it is ‘naughty but nice’ (Blanchard, 2003, p. B01); ‘erotic, not blue’ (Athorne, 2005, p. 25) and ‘good, clean, British fun’ (Shepard, 2005, p. 26). Indeed the introductory description of Amber Topaz’s ‘Jessica Rabbit number’ illustrates the critical components of neo-burlesque striptease: the presence of humour, an erotic play, a solicited audience interaction and the desire to tease.

With dazzling red hair and air of cool, she saunters to the stage area with microphone in hand. Unmistakably Jessica Rabbit, in a vermilion satin dress that clings over every curvaceous inch of her delicate frame, her breathy vocals drift effortlessly along with the refrain ‘Why don’t you do right, like other men do’. She eases over to a table, leaning forward to display her small, yet plump cleavage to an anxiously grinning young man. Back to the centre, commanding attention with her ruby brilliance, she flashes her thigh to reveal a small soft toy Roger Rabbit tied to her leg. She smiles cheekily as images of rabbits and sex collectively flit through our minds. Knowing precisely where our thoughts lie she interjects in pithy Northern accent, ‘like a good Rogering?’¹ With barely time to register her play on words, she straddles a man, while happily chatting on. Upright once again, she deftly throws her leg on the table, to give us another shot of Roger. She struggles to untie him, mops her forehead, then throws him away knocking over a couple of glasses and a candle on a nearby table. Unfazed by the chaos, she slowly removes her skirt, bluntly suggesting ‘this is where you cheer’. Immediately we whoop, but she turns her back while sending her bottom into a wild shimmy of soft undulating flesh. Hand on table, she breaks back into a grand arabesque as she slowly, slowly, slowly removes a delicate silk stocking. One moment coy, the next pissed-off, she yanks it away from her foot. Leg now by ear, she removes the other stocking, pulling a face of mock pain at her hyper-extended leg. Centre-stage again, she whips off her large red knickers to reveal a sliver of bright red G-String. All that is left is the corset. She smiles. We smile. She gestures for applause. We whoop and off it comes. She looks shocked, then smiles knowingly. We want more. She shimmies her breasts, red sequinned pasties flying round like little windmills. We applaud, we cheer, but still want more. She nods to her breast and twirls a single pasty tassel. Blown away by this technical mastery, she repeats her clever trick with the other breast. One final shimmy and this scarlet spectacle has gone.

Amber Topaz performing at Volupté, London (13 September 2008)