I tell the same stupid story about why I started the burlesque troupe to all the reporters who have written about Les Dames . It's centered around social networking sites and having fun. It's not an untrue story, but it's incomplete. Mostly, it was selfish. I craved a chance to perform and to collaborate. I shopped a couple ideas around, and burlesque got the most response. Burlesque is a vehicle to perform, but it is also an act that is based in community. Certainly, our troupe is on the edge between pure entertainment and art-making, but we have been successful on certain occasions of placing ourselves firmly in the art-world and thereby exposing a new sector of the community to a performance they were not expecting. Last spring we were able to practice for free in the Senior Center work-out room as a performing group of the center. This meant that at the end of the semester I pressed play on a CD that started with "A Bushel and A Peck" and acted out a skit involving plastic baby dolls being swept under the table and husband-poisoning. Then I played the Vivaldi Double cello duet with my sister while removing articles of clothing. The seniors loved it.
Last spring, I taught a burlesque class to a group a senior women. We used gloves and hula hoops and scarves, learned a routine for "Big Spender," and rehearsed a humorous burlesque skits. (see page seventeen)