Issue #25 Vol. 34, May 5th, 2008
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Arts & Entertainment

Busty, Bawdy & Bountiful: The Vancouver International Burlesque Festival

By Mark Fisher

For an exciting, exhilarating, and titillating night out, nothing can compare to a Vancouver burlesque show. The city is truly blessed to have so many talented and vivacious performers who always deliver a performance that leaves your heart racing.

If you’ve never been to a show before, be assured that burlesque is lot more than just a striptease, it’s more like a sexy variety show. The burlesque scene in Vancouver has been steadily growing over the past several years, with many performers from our fair city being whisked away to perform all over the world. To further put Vancouver on the map, the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival (VIBF) was created, and it just concluded its third successful year, running from April 24 to May 4 with an incredible nine nights of thrills.

Having attended the first two VIBFs, I must say it’s awesome to see something that originally started as a weekend festival evolve into something so big that it’s impossible to take it all in. The festival has surpassed its humble beginnings and is become something akin to the Vancouver Fringe Festival or New Music West; performances at different venues each night, workshops during the day, industry schmoozing events, and even an awards gala at the end. In addition to homegrown talent there were performers from San Francisco, New York, England, and Australia. The festival is volunteer-driven and next year they’re planning on making it even bigger.

Being able to attend four events in one week was like heaven, though I was sad to miss out on some tantalizing numbers. During the nine nights of this year’s festival, almost every aspect of modern burlesque got its time in the spotlight, including musical theatre, a night dedicated to burlesque on film (complete with the screening of a documentary about burlesque in Vancouver), and a showcase of international performers.

The events I was able to attend began with April 29’s “Kitty Nights”, a night of live vocalist burlesque— that’s right, every act sang while they stripped. Taking place at the gorgeous Majestic Lounge (1138 Davie Street), where the beauty of the room, voices, and bodies combined into a night I won’t soon forget.

April 30 brought me to the Royal Unicorn Caberat (147 East Pender) for the “Corrupt Cabaret.” Many of the acts had to be seen to be believed, including Diamond Minx as a tearstained bride cutting the wedding dress she was wearing to pieces, Cara Milk looking royally beautiful as the Queen of Hearts, with a cape larger than the stage she was performing on, and the Delilah Dare doing Mary Poppins, starting off lip-synching “A Spoonful of Sugar” until most of her clothing was gone, at which point she switched numbers to Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” There was also a foul-mouthed nun, to remind us of all the sins we were committing. This night’s vocal performances came courtesy of the Marmaladies, an a’capella singing quartet that was too adorable for words and too talented to not go see them again. And I can’t not mention the clowns, especially after the story we had about clownaphobia we had in our last issue. While I don’t usually suffer from such a phobia, watching a clown take its clothes off still gave me the willies. And this night had not one, not two, but three stripping clowns! The performers each did a great job––heck, one of them even used a trampoline, but I still wound up a little freaked out.

The biggest event that I attended was May 1 at the Wise Hall, the aptly titled “Banquest of Broads.” This event started with an amazing aerial act by Jillian Deri that was like a bootylicious Cirque Du Soliel, and it just kept on getting better from there. The Luscious Dance team showed how much you can do with a pole dance, amazing the crowd by having three girls going around a single pole at once. There was hilarious spoken word by Sara Byone, the host of “Teen Angst Poetry Nights,” that had the crowd in hysterics. Malika Millions did an amazing performance with a male dummy on a string and roller skates. Definitely a night to remember.

Perhaps the coolest part of the festival was the VIBF Red Carpet Gala, a celebration and awards ceremony at the Biltmore Cabaret. The burlesque’s answer to the Oscars, the gala was an awards show like no other. To give the Vancouver stars a night off to enjoy themselves, organizers booked only out-of-town performers. The red carpet ceremony gave everyone a chance to really get decked out, and being a part of scene that already dresses beyond belief, it was quite the spectacle.

“The best thing about burlesque is that it’s completely individual, and every woman who get up on stage had something that I want to see. It’s never about being the best, it’s about the individuality of each woman” said Burgundy Brix, one of the festival’s most prolific performers. As much fun as I had being a spectator, all too often the women on stage seemed to be having the most fun of all.