Welcome to The Anatomy of Burlesque -
an hilarious filmic romp through the history of subversive art,
dance, performance, and comic eroticism. Of course lots of people
think burlesque is simply nude girls and striptease. In fact
if you're here to get an eyeful of naked women please check
the warning below. Striptease, or comic striptease, is just
the lastest gesticulation of a very ancient instinct - to laugh
at our superiors, to ridicule the pretensions of the earnest
and the morally rigid.
The Anatomy of Burlesque is an adventure
into the history of subversive attitude. Here's where high and
low forms of burlesque meet at the intersection of common humour
and dissent; where the social meaning and physical components
of an age old art are explored and celebrated. Traveling across
eight hundred years, we map burlesque's evolution from the giants
of literature all the way down to music halls, chorus lines,modern
burlesque revivals and the explicit comedy performances of the
21st century.
You'll get to meet a lot of old burlesque
stars: Mae West, Charlie Chaplin, Salome, Mata Hari, the French
Cancan, Little Egypt, Lili St. Cyr, the Minksy Brothers, Florenz
Zeigfeld.
And you'll be awed by the depth of humour,
intelligence and winking knowingness that burlesque struts in
all its forms.
