Rutland area women learn burlesque — and confidence
|
|
Toolbox
By DOROTHY DAHM
CORRESPONDENT - Published: March 15, 2009
Dance students rarely warm up with pelvic thrusts. Few dance teachers instruct pupils in the art of boa twirling. Most dance classes don’t culminate with a dozen women weaving around – and on – chairs.
That’s what makes Ilene Blackman’s burlesque class unique.
Blackman, who also teaches ballet, ballroom dancing and acting, is leading a three-session burlesque course at her studio in Rutland. She taught a similar program in 2001.
Called Decent Exposure, the class doesn’t involve nudity or disrobing. Blackman tells students they don’t need to remove clothing to be provocative or to engage an audience.
“You don’t need to do much to be wonderful and powerful,” she explains.
Participants quickly learn that Decent Exposure is as much about personal growth as it is burlesque. “I conceived the program as a mini Upward Bound: women getting to know themselves through dance and movement,” Blackman said.
In one exercise, students walk solo across the studio floor, making eye contact with each of their classmates as they progress. Although many participants struggle with this routine, all agree it helps them gain confidence.
“I think it will make me a more outgoing dancer,” says Maddie Slack, 17, of Ira, who also studies ballet with Blackman.
Blackman urges her students to apply the program’s lessons to their everyday lives.
“Take these skills back to your homes and jobs,” she said.
The program – like all forms of creative expression – is particularly vital in hard times, Blackman said. “The economy’s lousy, but there’s no reason for anyone to be bored. Don’t deny yourself the pleasure of your own company.”
Blackman and her students, whose ages range from teens to 60s, enjoy each other’s company. After warm-up exercises, her dancers don colorful costumes. As they wiggle into dresses and skirts, they giggle, trade accessories, and compliment each other on their glamorous looks. Transformed, they cross the floor, one at a time, to music from “Cabaret” and “Chicago.” They strut and twirl for an imaginary audience, tossing their boas, fluttering a fan, or revealing a glimpse of leg en route.
But this introduction to burlesque doesn’t end with costumes and movement.
Blackman explores burlesque’s rich history, distinguishing between burlesque and simple stripping. “Burlesque is bawdy, satirical, and outrageous,” she says. “It’s an art form. It’s not raunchy.”
She also discusses how elements of burlesque appear in popular culture: “It’s in advertising, it’s in Broadway musicals, it’s in fashion – it’s part of our lives.”
A ballet dancer and actor, Blackman became interested in burlesque when she studied dance in New York City during the 1960s. She saw “Gypsy,” the musical based on the life of burlesque legend Gypsy Rose Lee, during its first Broadway run. She also saw “That Was Burlesque,” a long-running musical by and starring burlesque queen Ann Corio.
Burlesque queens developed highly individualized personas, Blackman tells her students. She has them invent burlesque characters for themselves, alter egos with sexy names and compelling back stories. Her students tackle this assignment with aplomb. There’s Ava Galore, who was discovered by a New York agent in an Italian village. There’s Dora D’mure, a shy librarian with a lucrative night job. Finally, there’s Bobbi, who hitchhiked from Minnesota to New York to become a Broadway star – but found work in a nightclub instead.
Participants find character creation illuminating.
“Putting aside who you think you are and getting into character is challenging,” says Debbie Etzler, 47, of Clarendon. But this artistic process is also why the class bonded so quickly. “I’ve enjoyed making new friends and seeing new sides of old friends,” said Judy Dordeck, 63, of Rutland.
It’s this opportunity for discovering new dimensions that makes Decent Exposure so valuable, Blackman believes. She thinks people need chances to express themselves in unfamiliar ways and develop hidden talents: “It’s good to be a little outrageous; you’ve got to have fun in this life.”
82