Spectacles of Agency and Desire: Dance Histories and the Burlesque StageMain MenuKatherine Greerfc295a655478c83ef28fbc5d88f44e832ee8ba0bLilianna Kanec453f3fcecc1717732f04f989f34f22e5a4d4903Maddie Leonard-Rose7795fc6919b777a978ec7bda4587e47146d4272eMargaret Morrison70f833738ab191151c82af514f5ee008e3ec05e1Claire Staveskifd4448269ba1d9180643996c497c3b954e2e9635Rachel Sigrid Freeburg19a18a24de8629654b230af3d38b9d4e018fd92aNena Couch011ed4d85d026b7c015f3ceb81e22a57b29b69c6Harmony Bench0272c6dce71da71c341d0dca5e4d21947d1ad231
Lydia Thompson Pointing Bayonette
12015-10-14T13:31:46-07:00Maddie Leonard-Rose7795fc6919b777a978ec7bda4587e47146d4272e59771plain2015-10-14T13:31:46-07:00Guy Little Theatrical Photograph by Beau, Adolphe Photograph of Lydia Thompson in The Volunteer Quick Step. V S.141:730-2007Maddie Leonard-Rose7795fc6919b777a978ec7bda4587e47146d4272e
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12015-10-14T13:36:46-07:00Lydia Thompson in Drag12gallery2015-12-07T05:24:31-08:00 Lydia Thompson and her British Blondes cross dressed in many performances including Ixion (their first performance in the US) which premiered September of 1868 at Wood’s Broadway Theatre in New York. Cross dressing onstage as a phenomenon was not new, actors had been doing it for hundreds of years, but the way burlesque was utilizing the male clothing was different. During their act, Elizabeth Mullenix notes, “Thompson and her Blondes would parody honorable and dishonorable male contemporaries, adopt their language and their gestures, and sing songs and dance in imitation of well-known artists—all of which was standard fare for the burlesque” (379). The key words here are parody and imitation. These performers were not just playing out the stories of men, they were playing out stories as men. Which is a crucial distinction to make as it directly relates to the saliency of their performance. Men who attended the performance could not brush off the idea that they were being made fun of, and were thus very affected by the performance.
Works Cited:
Mullenix, Elizabeth. "Fair Montague" or "Ill-beseeming beast": Breeches performance on the American stage, 1800-1869. Diss. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1995. Web. 23 Oct 2015.
