He could have done a much better job

[cassidyrose]

The Big Burlesque show I was in last weekend was written-up by a chronicle reporter in today's edition. I am somewhat disappointed in the article, mostly because the title includes "It's not over until the Fat Lady strips".

THE SCENE: A burlesque show that fills the stage It's not over until the fat lady strips

Jesse Hamlin

Thursday, June 13, 2002

The fleshy people were out in force Saturday night at the 848 Community Space in San Francisco, where Ms. DeMeanor, a Detroit dancer and self-described queer activist, staged herrollicking Fat-Bottom Revue.

It's a fun-filled burlesque show featuring women of size, as she calls them, or fat people, as she also calls them and herself. Ms. DeMeanor, whose real name is Heather MacAllister, travels the country putting on feel-good workshops and shows with big women.

They shimmy and grind as they peel off leather, lace and boas to expose a bounty of flesh, while keeping certain vital zones covered and left to the imagination. Sometimes they get up close to willing men and women in the crowd, who pop dollar bills -- occasionally proffered from the teeth -- into undulating undergarments.

"We're having a good time and affirming our sexuality, which has been unaffirmed and made negative in the popular culture," said Ms. D., a lively woman with a wide-hipped mermaid tattooed on her ample right thigh. She was chatting before Saturday's raucously entertaining show, where the mixed-gender crowd leaned toward the large and lesbian.

The gig was produced by Big Moves, a Bay Area organization that promotes size diversity in the dance world. It's run by Marina Wolf, a Santa Rosa freelance writer and waitress who teaches dance classes and directs and performs with the Phat Fly Girls, a hip-hop dance group featured that night.

One of the members is Marilyn Wann, a San Francisco "fat activist" whose book "Fat! So?" was published this
year. A cheeky blonde, she likes to offer "counter-propaganda" toprevailing images and attitudes about body size, "and if it means putting my ass on the line, I'm willing to do it," said Wann, who'd never stripped in public before. "Let's put it this way, it's the first time people have paid to see me do it."

The small, funky space was packed with people who'd plopped down $10 to $15 to whoop it up and support the women onstage. The master of ceremonies was the amusing Harriet Leider, a.k.a. Diva, a portly dame with a shaved head who appeared in "Torch Song Trilogy" and played a four-handed alien piano player on "Star Trek."

"Remember," she told the crowd, "good taste is timeless, and a good time is usually tasteless." Once you've had a big woman, she noted, "you'll never go back and you'll never go hungry. . . .Much poundage and cleavage will be shown tonight."

The lusty performances may have lacked polish but never enthusiasm. They ranged from classic stripper-jazz numbers to a campy over-the-top romp with sex toys and a hilarious erotic tussle on the floor between Ms. DeMeanor and Tallulah de Pluto. The latter is a very pretty 6-foot-2, 300-pound Berkeley belly dancer named Justine Sutton, who also did a terrific belly number involving her curly-haired boyfriend.

Jonathan Wright, who's getting a teaching credential at San Francisco State, was having a ball in the front row, slipping bills into the cleavage of dancers who lavished attention and other things on him.

"I came here because I love beautiful fat women," said Wright, 32, who happens to be Wann's boyfriend. "They're out here looking great, shaking it at the rest of the world and refusing to let anybody else say they're not beautiful. I got butts rubbed on my backside and (breasts) rubbed in my face, and it was awesome."

Carole Cullum, a San Francisco lawyer who sits on the city's Board of Permit Appeals, caught the show with her partner, social worker Kathy Brehm. They'd seen Ms. DeMeanor's revue last fall in New Jersey and loved it.

"They're our people," Brehm said. Added Cullum: "They're beautiful, voluptuous, fat women, and they really celebrate life."

For whatever reason that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I feel like the whole fat aspect of the show is being exploited is some way. I am also bothered that the author failed to mention that the show was not just stripping--we did actually dance and those of us who did solos are trained dancers (and incorporated such training into our routines). Also, many of us did not really "strip"---layers were removed, but in most my pieces that meant a robe was taken off to reveal a sexy, but full coverage, outfit (covers more than your standard swimsuit). In one number I wore a bra and denim shorts (with tights and boots).

He makes a passing mention to the dimension of tease in burlesque, but I don't think he really gets it. My solo was one of the best received numbers and the only skin that was shown during that was my arms, neck, upper-chest, and a bit of cleavage (my legs were showing, but were covered by dance tights and fishnets). He failed to note that we can dance and be sexy without stripping down to next to nothing. My costuming was strategic in that it was exciting and sexy without showing all that much. It was not a moral thing of my part, but it was a burlesque show, not a strip show. Perhaps he was so caught-up in the sexiness and the illusion that we were really showing a lot that he missied this. Yes, some people got down to pasties and g-strings (actually, that was only one person--maybe two-- out of many), but most were just sexily dressed.

It's not like I expected people ot only notice our dancing abilities, but some mention of the thought, time, and effort that obvisouly went into the pieces would have been nice. I mean, we didn't just get up and take our clothes off...we made it interesting. Frankly I think this guy was just blown away that fat women have sexy clothing and can wear them with confidence.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just cranky.

Comments

[marea93.livejournal.com]

I can't get the link to the article to work but it sounds to me like you have some valid criticisms. I hope you take the essence of your post and turn it into and LTE. They should be taken to task for this. The headline alone demonstrates a 5th grade teehee mindset that the show itself rises far above.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I can get the link to work. I pasted the article in behind the a cut-tag, so you can look at it there.

I talked to the reporter that night at the show and I was rather put-off by him and the way he handled things (such as turning on his tape recorder without asking me or telling me who he was). His big question to me was why/how did I decide to take off my clothes in front of an audience. Um, up to that point, he hadn't so much as seen me reveal my stomach. He saw me in a long-sleeved dress with tights and a leotard with tights and a bodice. I had taken a robe off to reveal the latter combination, but I don't think that really qualifies as "taking my clothes" off in front of people. I wore less when I was competitive swimmer and my hip-hop costumes have revealed more.

I will definitely write a letter to the editor. I had a feeling the article was going to be lacking. And yeah, the title is so very 5th grade. Of course, Bitch Magazine (http://www.bitchmagazine.com) recently ran a great article about the resurgence of burlesque acts around the country, so I may be a bit spoiled

[fluzby.livejournal.com]

I would definitely write a letter to the editor. And, see if you can find someone to write a letter who wasn't necessarily directly involved with the production.

[mac-arthur-park.livejournal.com]

:::seethe:::
:::fume:::

That's _journalism_??? I don't fucking _think_ so! That's a naughty little sniggering schoolboy who was allowed to get ahold of a typewriter.

Asshole.

I think a letter or twelve to the editor is definitely in order.

Want me to express mail you my hockey stick?

:::seethe::::
:::fume::::

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Want me to express mail you my hockey stick?

Yup.

I'd love that hockey-stick right about now.

Re-reading it, I think he managed to get in nearly every synonym for "fat" there is. I mean, was it really necessary to comment on everyone's size. And, while there were some lesbians in the audience, there were also straight women, gay men, bi men, straight men, bi women, some skinny, some fat, and many in between.

And, you know, we did have programs--He could have at least offered a real description of the performances. There were thirteen pieces in the show, some solo, some group, some non-burlesque. He mentions that the Phat Fly Girls performed, but what he fails to mention was that we performed hip-hop dance, not burlesque. Sure, we are sexy, but we are dancers--we do more than just look cute. Hell, I did more than just look cute in my burlesque pieces. Sure, I played up moving sexily when I was doing the burlesque stuff, but you do that in a lot of dance, and there is some quite a bit of skill involved in doing the acrobatics I did in my solo.

He also failed to mention that we are performers, many of us trained in some capacity. One of the reasons the show was so damned enjoyable was because the core group of us have a lot of experience performing...and are good at it. One doesn't just get up on stage cold and have the kind of stage presence that I have. I have worked hard to learn to be a good performer in whatever capacity I may be performing in. The show was entertaining. Yes, it was titilating, but it was also very entertaining and fun...and not just because we were taking some clothes off.

Grr.

It doesn't help that he seemed like a slimy gawker when he was talking with me. And the only reason I even encountered him was because he was sitting next to the modern choregrapher I have been doing work with. I really felt like he was a high-school kid who couldn't believe he was let in to see the fat ladies dance.

[catzen.livejournal.com]

I think your, ahem, disappointment, in the article is well justified. He comes across as a prurient, puerile, small-minded clod. He took 15% of the nature of the show and described that portion as if it were the whole of the performance.

Not noticing that actual, trained performance occurred was just one sign of the author's obtuseness. I also noticed that he failed to notice any of the costuming. That, of course, is just one more example -- out of many that I could have mentioned. A lot of effort went into this. Of course, everyone probably does have some blind spot; but with a lowbrow hack like this, I have trouble imagining him doing a much better job with anything else. Perhaps, with his level of sensitivity, open-mindedness, and perceptiveness, he could write commentary for neighborhood slot-car races. If you're going to offend people, at least do it well.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

I love my kitty!

You could wield aliciar's Hockey Stick O' Justice quite well.


And the costuming...I mean that was 3/4 of the fun!