Last night I did a presentation on neo-burlesque in my class. I was initially supposed to have 15 minutes for an entire presentation (eek), but it worked out for me to have about 45 minutes (yay!). My classmates knew that I perform and teach burlesque professionally, but they didn't really know much about this special subculture. I'm sharing my format with you, dear reader, in the event you find yourself trying to explain something that pervades every part of your life in a short period of time.
I started with a brief history of burlesque and neo-burlesque. Since some of my presentation will appear on the final, I created a handout with the brief history along with my upcoming shows and contact info. In truth, the handout was the "Little Golden Book" version of my term paper, covering the origins, culture and technique of the form in less than a page.
I then passed around some photos to give examples of neo-burlesque acts. I also handed around some costume pieces to give hands-on examples of what we wear: boa, bra, shimmy belt, hair flowers, rhinestoned shoes, and pasties with tassels. Since my presentation was at a community college, I couldn't do a number to show them an actual act; I didn't want to cause trouble for my instructor since there may be students under 18 and some of them might be offended by partial nudity in the classroom.
After a few questions, I got the students on their feet to learn about a minute of choreography. I took my beginner class choreography and altered it so I could teach them glove peel technique. Since I couldn't show video (nudity), I thought the best way for them to get the flavor of burlesque was by doing a little. I taught them the choreography, we walked through it once, then we added music for the final "performance." A few students stayed after class to run it once more and video it. It was such fun that it totally counteracted my otherwise bad day.
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