Seven Things You Might Not Know About The Art Of Burlesque, As Told By The London’s Burlesque Queen – Tempest Rose

This week I sat down with International Showgirl Tempest Rose who runs the UK’s best known Burlesque company House of Burlesque (www.houseofburlesque.co.uk)

House of Burlesque has had a significant impact on burlesque and cabaret as a live artform, consistently showcasing genre-defining new work. The company has an unwavering commitment to burlesque’s roots of cultural commentary, satire, and political parody. On stage Tempest and the H.O.B performers have showcased acts that tackle propaganda, sexual and gender identity, body image, fashion, consent, mental health, and consumerism.

But there’s still an awful lot of assumptions about the art, so I asked Tempest to chat through some of the most common misconceptions and unknown facts about the artform. Here’s what she had to say:

Burlesque has a fascinating history that has less to do with striptease and more to do with satire

Many people are unaware of the history behind burlesque dancing – viewing it as an artistic striptease and nothing more.

But while striptease is a notable part of burlesque, the word “burlesque” comes from the Italian word “burlesco” which means “mockery” or “making fun of” and originally burlesque was a form of political satire, and performance art. The women who performed, often wore risqué outfits, but that was as far as it went.

Burlesque was popular in London from the 1830s to the 1890s and was introduced to the US from the 1860s.

It was the US branch of the burlesque movement that began to introduce striptease in the later part of the 19th century. And whereas these days American burlesque is often all about the art of the striptease, in the UK, it’s more of a mix of the two - we inject humour and parody into our performances, alongside some very elegant striptease performances.

Because we often perform in small intimate venues, having great costumes is vital – so we all become expert seamstresses.

Since each artist has her own unique and recognisable look, we nearly always make our own costumes – it’s the most cost-effective way to make sure that you get high quality and distinctive outfits. That means that our creative work has to go way beyond creating our stage performance – a burlesque performer who has worked in the industry a few years, will almost always be an expert with a needle and thread…. or at least a hot glue gun!

Likewise, we always do our own hair and make up

For whatever reason, when chatting to audience members after a show, there is sometimes the assumption that we have a stylist backstage, to help us get our hair up into pin-curls, and our false eyelashes looking as glam as possible – but there really isn’t, every single performer has learned how to perfect her look with hour upon hour of practice,

Our audience is made up of more women than men

People often seem to think that a burlesque show is something only men go to, but it could not be further from the truth. Whilst men, women and people of all genders are supremely welcome to a burlesque show, we find that most of our audiences are usually women.

The more widely known and understood burlesque becomes as an artform, the more female-heavy our audience becomes, to the point where these days, it’s often about 70% women. I think this is because the best burlesque has a very affirmative and heartening message - as well as being funny and just very entertaining

You definitely don’t need to be a size eight

Burlesque was one of the first forms of performance to embrace body positively. Burlesque celebrates variety, and it needs individuality in order to survive, which means that you can be a size eight, or a size 28 – in burlesque it’s all about being an amazing performer and owning your physical space, regardless of size or shape.

So, some of our House of Burlesque performers are naturally slim, some are super fit, and some embrace their very sexy curves. All are welcome – all we care about is that they can put on a great show.

Performing burlesque is not just for girls!

Burlesque certainly started off as an art performed almost entirely by women, but that’s far from the case now - boylesque is very much a thing and as with its female counterpart, it is theatrical striptease and/or staged satirical vignettes performed by men.

And just like female burlesque, the type of performance can vary depending on what the individual performer brings to the table.

We’re also seeing more and more non-binary performers joining our ranks. And because burlesque can be so much about costumes and make up and wigs, a theatrical construction of femininity communicated by gestures and costume and humour and physical performance, as well as of course by our words, it’s not always immediately obvious if a performer is male, female cis or trans, and nor does it need to be in order for a performance to work. And that’s what’s lovely about burlesque – it is one of the most all-encompassing art forms.

The oldest burlesque superstar is 92 years old

One of the best-known burlesque performers of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and the woman who inspired me to choose my stage name is Tempest Storm who was dubbed "The Queen of Exotic Dancers”. Tempest Storm worked as a burlesque performer all her life, moving to Hollywood whilst still in her teens, and retiring at 67. She was an international star of stage and screen, rumoured to have dated both Elvis and JFK. She was, and still is, glorious, and for me, she is the ultimate burlesque icon.

If you would like to catch Tempest Rose and the other stars of the House of Burlesque performing in London in December, then these are the details

House of Burlesque Salon - Fridays and Saturdays at Century Soho on the 11th – 12th & 18th – 19th December. https://www.houseofburlesque.co.uk/H.O.Bsalon-show

House Of Burlesque at the bridge: can be seen on the 11th and 12th Dec. 9.15pm – 10.15pm Socially distanced theatre seating https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/house-of-burlesque/

More info: houseofburlesque.co.uk