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Back to the Bump N' Grind Michael Citrome Thursday, February 24th, 2005 The lights are still dimmed when the music starts - a vampy flamenco number - and as the scene gets brighter, a statuesque, raven-haired woman, lit up in shimmering blue satin, begins a slow, sensuous bump 'n' grind. In a few minutes, she'll be down to a pair of pasties and a sequined G-string, with the crowd hooting for more - but that's the end of the act and the essence of the burlesque tease. This isn't a jazz-age nightclub, with tuxedoed patrons swilling bathtub gin. It's Montreal on a blustery February night in 2005. And for the 700 people packed into the beautifully restored art-deco Corona Theatre near the Atwater market last Saturday night, it's a taste of burlesque, a nightclub art form that's been enjoying a recent revival. "People are charmed by the show," said Carine Bouchard, 28, a professional hairstylist who's better known to her fans by her burlesque alter ego, Miss Blue Cherry. Bouchard is one of the founders of Blue Light Burlesque, one of a handful of local troupes dedicated to the art of burlesque. Their performances are sexy and theatrical, with showgirl dancing, Chaplinesque mime, lip-syncing and the kind of costumes seldom seen outside a Tex Avery cartoon. "For people who'd never seen a burlesque performance, they were pleasantly surprised. There's nudity, but it's not vulgar or degrading," Bouchard said. In fact, there's a lot of putting on and taking off stockings, and more leg than a ZZ Top video. And the performers wear pasties, often of the tasselled variety, so there isn't much more exposed flesh than you'd see on MTV Spring Break. That kind of modesty might seem quaint today, but up until the 1970s, Montreal was famous for its burlesque shows. Although last Saturday's audience was young, most of them in their 20s and 30s, Blue Light Burlesque's show brought out nostalgia-seekers, like Newfoundlander Jeffrey Squires, 46, who remembers going to burlesque shows 25 years ago. "There used to be 15 or so burlesque clubs in Montreal. Now they've been turned into strip bars. Strip bars have got no class - burlesque is a show, it's a fantasy. It's an art," he said. "I hope they bring back the old Montreal." Although the performance style features scantily clad ladies cavorting on stage, the audience is split about evenly along gender lines. "I like the tease and the sensuality and the suppleness of the ladies that I'm seeing. Women are supposed to be curvy and sexy. These women look like real women," said Melissa Thompson, 22, who works as a bike courier. "I think it would be fun to take off my clothes in front of a lot of people hooting and hollering in a fun, burlesque way - and I would like to do it for a lover," Thompson added, only cracking up a little bit. Of course not all burlesque has to be retro - another local troupe, the Coral Lees, injects some modern themes into the mix. "We don't really do any retro numbers. I have tattoos and I don't look retro," said Elsa Lee, 24, who is also a former porn star and part-time wrestler. "We do a number about phone sex where Seska (Lee, Elsa's partner) and I play the fantasy and reality of phone sex - what you imagine and what you really get," she said. Burlesque performances are a series of vignettes - four or five minutes of bump 'n' grind with a big finish at the end. But coming up with the idea of an act requires a balance of costume, music and persona. "Those are the three points of the golden triangle - we pick one and the others fall into place. We might just think of a costume, like it might be cute to have something with flowers, and we just take it off from there," said Kurt Hemming, who helped found Blue Light Burlesque with his partner, Miss Oui Oui Encore, and Bouchard. Kurt plays several parts in the performance himself - including a hapless newlywed and a hapless security guard who's baffled by a mischievous "painting," who keeps taking off parts of her costume. The costumes involve more than just
raiding thrift shops and Grandma's old lingerie drawer. For Bouchard's
flamenco costume - inspired by a 1950s Spanish doll - she went to
her friend Sonia Barbe, a designer and seamstress who runs a clothing
shop called Diabolik (257 Mount Royal Ave. E.). |
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"You have to design it with your routine in mind - the light has to hit it right. It has to fit in with the character. You have to see it from far - and you need lots of Velcro and little snaps so you can take it off," Bouchard said. Visit http://bluelightburlesque.com for more information on Blue Light Burlesque. Miss Oui Oui Encore also offers burlesque classes in a small group. Check the Web site for details. Information on the Coral Lees can be found at www.corallees.com
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