Jo Weldon

“The trouble with the American burlesque show, from beginning to end, is either that is has been too dirty — or else that it hasn’t been dirty enough.”

Though written forty years ago, the first sentence of The American Burlesque Show, Irving Zeidman’s history of burlesque in the United States (primarily New York), cites a dilemma that continues to haunt burlesque.

Take one guitar wonder kid and one international burlesque star, throw the two together, and you get a rock-out road show hitting a Canadian city near you. Real-life couple Alistair Christl and Tanya Cheex have put together a winning combination of tunes and tease.

People always ask questions about pasties. They are, after all, pretty peculiar articles of clothing in spite of being some of the most traditional items in most neo-burlesquers’ wardrobes. As far as I know, they are unique to burlesque — at least in terms of dance costuming.