Another inspiring year in our city’s globally recognised burlesque community culminates in the 12th instalment of the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival (VIBF), finishing tonight at the Vancouver Playhouse.
As always, this celebration of women in the creative arts will champion bodies of all sizes, ages, backgrounds, and orientations. In a conscious decision to include more women of colour, the VIBF organizers have also welcomed Ruthe Ordare to the board of directors. Ordare, the co-founder of the newly formed all-indigenous troupe Virago Nation, will ensure that the weekend-long festival achieves a balance closer resembling BC’s cultural mosaic.
In conversation with the Westender, the festival original co-producer and co-founder, Cherry OnTop, wasted no time diving into the history of the showcase. “My troupe, Sweet Soul Burlesque started it 11 years ago with Melody Mangler and Norm Elmore from the Screaming Chicken Society. We ran it for two years before passing it off to a board of directors. With new members voted to the board yearly, it’s been run in that fashion ever since.
“The boards have structured the VIBF in different ways throughout the 11 years, but in the last five years the vision we originally shared has come to fruition and the festival has established an identity. Those board members deserve a lot of credit.”
The majority of festival performers apply to take part; however, headliners, international performers and featured artists, like Cherry OnTop, are invited to take part.
Headliners of the 2017 spectacular include the recently crowned Burlesque Hall of Fame (BHoF) Queen of Burlesque – and Miss Exotic World 2016 winner – Poison Ivory, based out of New York.
Contemporary dance-theatre-veteran-turned-vault-staffer Bazuka Joe also comes our way via the Windy City to see his name on the marquee as well.
There are only a few binding elements required to qualify as ‘burlesque’: satire, music accompaniment, pasties, and often varying degrees of voiceless acting. After that, the art is very versatile. “I tell my students at the Vancouver Burlesque Centre, 'It's not like we are learning ballet where there is a specific library of dance moves,’" says OnTop. "You don't have to be a dancer. You can be a singer or a costume-maker, an actor; it’s whatever you bring to it.”
Nor do you have to be cookie-cutter chiselled, or adhere to conventional ways of thinking or behaving. “Everyone looks different. Whoa, that's weird, huh? It's exciting when bodies look different.”
In the performing arts, reputation can follow an individual wherever they go, but in a burlesque community that prides itself on inclusion, OnTop maintains that everyone is welcome. “As far as your history, whatever baggage you come with, good or bad, shouldn't affect your application. The judges are watching the act itself. It's shitty when you don't get accepted to a festival; [however] people have to remember that we are curating a show. You might have an amazing number, but there have been five acts with the same song or theme.” Almost visibly wearing her adjudicator hat, OnTop adds, “Plus the flow of the entire show requires consideration. Every scene is different; I often tell people applying from out of town, ‘Don't be afraid to bring your arty and bizarre stuff; we are arty-weirdos in Vancouver.’”
Currently housed at the Vancouver Playhouse, lavish stages weren’t always an option for the festival in its early years. “It was [treated] more like a film festival, with different venues all around the city involved. There were a few years where separate troupes would produce differing shows, and it got pretty convoluted," OnTop recalls. "The VIBF finally came to the beautiful Vogue [Theatre], and what diva doesn't want to perform the Vogue? [Then], the VIBF moved to the unbelievable Playhouse last year. It's magnificent to call the theatre our home”.
Cherry OnTop is slated to perform alongside dancer (non-burlesquer) Tawni Krystal and the progressive Lost Girls Burlesque (LGB). The Lost Girls are made up of local burlesque legend Veronica Vex, Bunny, Justine Sane, Calamity Cate, Nite Mare, and Jungle Kat. LGB had a commanding 2016, culminating in the coven’s first appearance at VIBF, which Jungle Kat refers to over the phone as “a family reunion for Vancouver burlesque”. Each of the eight performers is set to reprise their respective roles from June’s Lost Girls Burlesque ritual, Fatal-A-Tease.
“We are obviously really honoured to be a part of the festival,” says Kat. “We're excited to do it and have been working hard. Vancouver is lucky with such a rich scene with so many different types of burlesque, and to have the VIBF to provide a ‘sampler platter’ of everything.”
Cherry OnTop agrees: “We have this running joke in our troupe about people who say, ‘Oh, I've seen Burlesque and I didn't like it’. That is like saying, ‘Oh, I heard music, and I didn't like it.’ There are all kinds of burlesque, such as nerdlesque, gorelesque, super-classic burlesque, there is neo-burlesque.”
Jungle Kat tags in, “The point of the festival is to get some butts in seats! It’s to reach out to the city and mainstream audiences with the hope that they will love burlesque and come out to support the individual troupes all year ‘round.”
• The Vancouver International Burlesque Festival is a four day event with the last two days (March 31/April 01) performances open to the general public. Vancouver Uncovered takes place tonight (April 1) at 8pm. For tickets, click here.
