Ruby Boukabou

October 5, 2011

FROM the popular music halls of the 1900s and Josephine Baker at the Folies Bergere in the 1920s to today, Paris has been a jewel in the international cabaret and burlesque crown.

Once the rendezvous of silent movie stars and the cabaret crowd, Menilmontant is a popular Paris district full of bars, cafes, restaurants and venues such as La Bellevilloise, which is about to host the third annual Paris Burlesque Festival.

The festival is the European hub of burlesque culture and this year four Australians are on the bill.

Despite receiving hundreds of applications, Juliette Dragon, a French cabaret/burlesque performer and artistic director of the Paris Burlesque Festival, says the choice was easy.

Once the acts of raunchy exhibitionism and cheesecake glamour were stripped back, the numbers with originality, punch and humour leapt out.

”We know what’s going to happen in a burlesque act, so what we look for is a remarkable skill – song, dance, mime … a surprise and a calibre of artist who can, in three to five minutes, transport the audience from their daily grind,” Dragon says.

What differentiates burlesque from ”bore-lesque”?

”What I often see from female Australian burlesque performers is very ‘pin-up’ [1940-50s glamour] and male seductive shows that, while very professional and slick, don’t have the ‘folly’ that I like … The acts that I have booked have a special talent and are nuanced, to be read on more than one level.”

A’dora Derriere, of Perth, will return to the festival with her drag act as Prince after a hit performance last year, this time with two dancers.

She will also perform a 1920s showgirl shadow dance and will be teaching four burlesque workshops (chorus line, vintage hair and make-up and chair dance).

”A’dora is an hilarious actress, a great dancer and a brilliant costume designer,” Dragon says.

From her new base in London, Derriere offers some advice.

”Good burlesque is about how the artist interacts with the audience. Sometimes the most opulent and over-the-top acts can be boring and self-indulgent,” she says.

”The audience needs to feel part of the performance somehow, even if it’s just by being made to laugh, cheer or feel sexy when a little wink comes their way.”

Laughing and cheering (and gasping) is expected for Sydneysider Lillian Starr, who will perform in the Nuits Fatales revue on Saturday night.

Renowned for her pop-culture pastiches and her gender-bending performances, Starr will perform her outrageous ”cherry pie” routine (”a rather salacious story about a 1950s cooking show”) as well as a high-class Swarovski-encrusted corseted act with a live band.

”J’adore Lillian Starr,” Dragon says. ”I love her transformation and ability to surprise.”

As Starr says: ”[Burlesque] should ultimately be entertaining. Sleazy can be entertaining but a connection with the audience, charisma and good ideas go a long way.”

What has she learnt through burlesque? ”That our bodies are an amazing vehicle for expression … I think that women feel good when we see more generous, funny and diverse representations of ourselves onstage,” she says.

This year’s festival line-up is not just women.

Boylesquer Monsieur P (Ben Palumbo), of Sydney, will perform with the globetrotting Australian tap dancer Jazmin Baret (my alter ego) for a double act that will combine theatre, tap dancing, opera and acrobatics.

”I aim to create performances that are sassy, classy and creative,” Monsieur P – whose act involves stripping off his shirt and standing on his hands singing opera in a falsetto – says.

”Burlesque has taught me to be creative in the moment and not to hold on. In opera it is all about hitting the perfect notes and holding a very precise rhythm but in burlesque you have a wonderful theatrical freedom.

”It’s helped me go with the flow – on stage and in life.”

Dragon says: ”It seems to me that Australians have a freedom of spirit, less self-censorship than Americans or Europeans, which means that when they decide to let go, they can go far.”

Ruby Boukabou, stage name Jazmin Baret, is performing in the Paris Burlesque Festival, which will run from tomorrow until Sunday.