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

Burlesque Images and Magazines

Rose La Rose smiles blushingly and sits on a bar stool in the middle of a crowded room. Exposing herself in a revealing top and crossing her legs in her mini skirt, the paparazzi surrounds her from all sides. She poses as the flashes of camera lights submerge her in light, looking extravagant and regal with a large white boa draped around her neck. The paparazzi appears to be in awe of her and she seems to have complete control of the room. In another photograph, Rose La Rose sits in her dressing room after a show holding up a sequined g-string to one of her adoring fans. Other less candid photographs of Rose la Rose show her alone; similarly posing with extravagant clothing, sets, and facial expressions. These images are sold and distributed amongst her followers and show how she is able to have a “voice” in how the public views her image without even saying anything. She has control over her image, what that image says about herself as an artist and performer, and how she is mass produced to her fans. 

In earlier Burlesque magazines, women are portrayed in very exaggerated ways giving them a loud voice upon the male gaze. A Burten Follies 1925 magazine cover shows the image of a woman dressed as a spider and men as flies getting caught in her web. This creates the assumption that this particular burlesque dancer is a “temptress” and “seductress” and men are simple flies that cannot help but to be caught in her web. When this picture was taken, the woman could have known or not known the way that she was going to be ultimately portrayed.  Either way her individual voice is not quoted or mentioned on this cover and her voice is limited to the way that the magazine has portrayed her. 

Similarly, a later 1999 Erotica Magazine cover shows a woman in leather with a knife. The front page is flooded with fetish related graphics and whips; feeding into the timeless theme of portraying exotic dancers as predatory. In this case, eroticism is being associated with violence and fetishes. Dramatic and violent images relating to sexuality fill a particular niche in the burlesque dance world that has been explored more today. These images make a statement that is “loud” but may or may not be coming from the voice of the women themselves. Then and now Burlesque dancers had little known control as to how they were represented in photographs published in magazines and furthermore how they were perceived by their viewers. 
 

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