‘Sugar & Spice’ Cover Article in The West Magazine 27th September 2008
By Pip Christmass & Flip Prior.
Perth audiences are embracing a red hot revival of sexy sophistication, thanks to the girls from Sugar Blue Burlesque.
About two years ago, Hurricane Burlesque hit Perth in a flurry of feathers and sequins. A monthly show called Back to Burlesque had just started at Northbridge nightspot The Bakery, and through word of mouth, the buzz spread. Soon, queues to see Back to Burlesque began to spill out of the venue and snake their way down James Street.
About the same time, burlesque fashion became big news. A new Wellington Street boutique called Burlesque Baby opened, selling vintage glamour-wear and classic burlesque wardrobe staples such as corsets, bustiers and suspenders.
Then Melanie Greensmith’s Wheels and Dolly Baby boutique opened its doors on King Street, treating an eager Perth public to a clothing collection with strong roots in burlesque glamour and the more sex-kittenish fashions of the 1940s and 50s.
Melanie Bruyer and Lia Parravicini are at the forefront of this burlesque revival in Perth. They’re part of Sugar Blue Burlesque, the performance group who are entertaining everyone from those Bakery crowds to the business folk at corporate functions, and they’ll be appearing as part of this year’s Silver Anniversary ARTRAGE Festival in their new show, Chronicles of Burlesque.
“I saw my very first burlesque show in Sweden, of all places,” says Bruyer (aka A’dora Derriere), one half of Sugar Blue Burlesque’s managerial team (the other half being Sharon Davis, aka Miss Bonnie Fox). “We were like, ‘wow!’ We could do this, and probably do it better. We came back to Perth and decided, ‘let’s just do it.”
Sugar Blue Burlesque is both a performance group and an academy, wehere women of all ages, shapes and sizes can come to learn ‘the art of the tease’ during a six-week course that includes everything from ‘gogo-robics’ and ‘burlesquercise’ to courses on vintage make-up and the history of the burlesque artform.
Under the watchful eye of their glamorous instructors, students can learn how to show off their legs with shiny, light-deflecting stockings, firm up waists with corsets, boost cleavage and transform a tired old bra-and-knickers set into a show-stopping costume courtesy of feathers and sequins.
But mostly, it’s about women realising they don’t have to look like Elle Macpherson to be sexy. “Burlesque is empowering for women because they accept their body for what it is,” Bruyer says. “We have women coming along who are well into their 60s. We have mothers and daughters doing the course together. After their performances, my students often come out thanking me, saying, ‘I feel so fantastic, I want to do it again!’. They genuinely to feel liberated. It’s an amazing thing to see.”
The Sugar Blue Burlesque girls’ love of burlesque emerged form their mutual obsession with vintage fashion. Bruyer is a costumier by trade, while Parravicini (aka Sapphire Demure) manages a costume store and is also a fashion designer.
But while Bruyer and Davis have a background in vintage jazz dance styles, Parravicini was a dance novice when she joined the Sugar Blue girls. “Mel seemed to think I could do it, so I just got up on stage with some of her grad girls one night and two days later I was performing with them,” Parravicini laughs. “It was a case of meeting the right person at the right time. Since then it has absolutely become my passion.”
Originating in the early 19th centry as a bawdy mix of parody, cabaret, theatre and satirical skits, burlesque has evolved and changed throughout the decades. The art died out in the 1960s as modern strip clubs took hold, but thanks to modern performers like Dita Von Teese, the burlesque phenomenon is globally hip again.
Von Teese, who had been working as a burlesque performer since the early 1990s, came to prominence during her ill-fated marriage to goth rocker Marilyn Manson, when she was regularly snapped on red carpets, fashion shows and after-parties in her classic vintage sex bomb look, all milk-white skin, jet-black hair and ruby-red lips.
Although she is the best-known burlesque performer these days, Von Teese is not the only inspiration for this new wave of glamour girls. Parravicini cites Gypsy Rose Lee, one of the best known early burlesque stars, as a major inspiration. One of Bruyer’s routines is closely modelled on Josephine Baker’s famous ‘banana skirt’ performances in 1920s Paris.
Parravicini is at pains to point out that burlesque is a very different entity to stripping. “It’s a mistake made by a lot of people who haven’t seen a burleque show,” she says. “Strippers and burlesque performers come from a similar tradition, but they are completely different ways of life. To me, burlesque is about vaudeville, cabaret, theatre. It’s fun, glamorous and comedic.”
“Burlesque can be sexy, but it’s never crass. With stripping, it’s all about getting your gear off as quickly as possible. When you go to a strip show, you’re really only there for one reason. Burlesque has so many elements to it and people respond to it on a lot of different levels. There’s a lot more layers of history and context.”
“In the time it would take your average stripper to remove all her clothing, a Sugar Blue Burlesque girl ma only have just finished peeling off her satin glove.”
