Neo-Burlesque: Striptease as Transformation

The neo-burlesque movement restores glamour, theatricality, and humor to striptease, featuring pro-sex, gender-bending, and feminist performances. Performance studies scholar Lynn Sally explores the scene's history, culture, and philosophy, highlighting how performers use camp to comment on femininity and the broader community of "Pro-Am" performers.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 27 October 2021
Publisher: Rutgers University Press

The neo-burlesque movement aims to revive a sense of glamour, theatricality, and humor in striptease performances. Neo-burlesque performers captivate audiences with their playful brand of pro-sex, often gender-bending, feminism.

Performance studies scholar and acclaimed burlesque artist Lynn Sally provides an insightful exploration into the history, culture, and philosophy of New York's neo-burlesque scene. She delves into how twenty-first-century neo-burlesque engages with the classic burlesque of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, examining how contemporary performers use camp to challenge preconceived notions of femininity. Sally also explores the art of the striptease performer, who directs the audience's gaze through layers of meaning while gradually removing clothing.

Through detailed profiles of iconic neo-burlesque performers such as Dita Von Teese, Dirty Martini, Julie Atlas Muz, and World Famous *BOB*, this book makes a compelling case for understanding neo-burlesque as a new sexual revolution. It also examines the broader community of "Pro-Am" performers who use neo-burlesque as a liberating vehicle for self-expression. Neo-Burlesque raises important questions about what feminism looks like, celebrating a revolutionary performing art and participatory culture that has political reverberations both onstage and off.

Weight: 666g
Dimension: 160 x 241 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781978828094