Melbourne Burlesque

Fighting off the floor destabilize effects of serious jet lag Foxtrot India and I ventured out into a rather cold Melbourne city to the find the Forum Theatre, where we we hoping to catch and hook up with an Australian Burlesque phenomena ‘The Town Bike‘

After a few jars of Cooper, we found the The Forum Theatre bustling with spectators. However what I did expect was the extraordinary beauty and play the interior designers of the Forum had created. With sofas, beach chairs, booths, a beach style bar with palm trees, a cafe selling cakes and quiches, and all this set within high walls decorate in mock Roman/Grecian pillars and figurines.

The show started with a presentation of pole dance, it was a solid a clear performance of erotic pole, with good technique. Later mini skits (50s kitsch aesthetic) were used to set up their routines. For me it highlighted the problematics of a male body performing such female sensuality. Still for me, I cannot see my masculinity being represented within this performance from without tensions arising, due to the reading of sensuality. I am still asking how the male body can fit into this performance form and be read as heterosexual. Of course there are performers that may offer pathways into finding my hetero-sensual male, Miss Glory pearl’s burlesque pole dancing or Remi Martins emotional male Chinese Pole act.

However for my own personal taste, the highlight of the night was ‘The Town Bikes’.  Am Australian female duo that fucks everything right up.  Twisted, comical, they layer with such grotesque subtly multiple representations of the female it is, for feminist studies, a wonderfully mezmerizing stew to savour.  After their performances I asked them if they wished to be included in the PhD at which they smiled and hugged me.  (Seriously nice girls) I feel ‘The Town Bikes” along with ‘The LBF girls’ , kleinkunst and Killpussy, along with Beatrix von Bourbon, Kitty and some others should provide a complex feminist landscape from which I must pluck the males.

Next, off to Japan for family meets, then Hong Kong for more Booze and back to the UK.