Spectacles of Agency and Desire: Dance Histories and the Burlesque Stage

Ann Corio's Methods of Raising Women's Attendance

Ann Corio, a Burlesque dancer credited with the revival of burlesque, started recruiting women audience members to attend shows. Burlesque theaters were unable to fill their seats, and Corio turned to women as a new target audience. She started recruiting women by creating new promotional events. For example, women in the community were given free tickets in order to fill the house. There was also transportation provided to women to get to and from the show.
 
Corio realized that there were certain theaters that attracted a male audience versus a female audience. For example, venues near military bases and ports were much more likely to be full of male servicemen. Other theaters had a long history of just men present in the audience and women did not feel comfortable attending. For example, "in Boston women would not attend The Old Howard, but they would patronize shows at the Columbia Wheel House" (Vogt 128). Many wives of the men attending the shows and women in the nearby communities were interested in seeing burlesque. Corio and Al Somerby, The Old Howard manager, decided to create a "Ladies Night", a night where only ladies were invited into the theater. The first “Ladies Night” was a sell out show and many of the women in the audience were pleasantly surprised with what they saw. This "Ladies Night" idea started spreading to different venues and across the burlesque circuit. This type of promotional idea allowed women to feel welcomed into the theaters and this began to increase women attendance during non-ladies’ night shows as well. 
 
Ann Corio also presented strip-teasers as talented artists with no connection to prostitution. There was a negative stigma attached to burlesque dance in many women's minds. Burlesque performers were often associated with prostitution and other degrading careers. Corio’s shows were done in a high quality manner that required the performers to be highly skilled. She also made sure there were always historical and comical elements in every show. She did not want the entire show centered on women stripping on stage. If the mind of audience members was stimulated throughout the show as well as the body, Corio felt it was successful. 
Women began to realize that they could enjoy burlesque too and that it was not just an art form for men to view. Theaters began to fill with couples and groups of women began to flock to theaters. Ann Corio is responsible for the increase of female attendance and her methods spread throughout the burlesque world. Once Corio planted the seed for women attendance, word of mouth took over. 



 
Works Cited:

Vogt, Julie N. Woman to Woman: Ann Corio and The Rehabilitation of American Burlesque. Diss. University of Wisconsin, Madison. 2010. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

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