Lesburlesque is a British troupe of over thirty

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

circuit. They are notable for being the first and only burlesque troupe in the UK that performs

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

burlesque. Following on from the success of Los Angeles-based girl band and dance troupe,

the Pin Up Girls The Pin Up Girls are a girl group and dance troupe, founded by New York City native Vixen Romeo in 2005, which began as a burlesque-style performance group based in Los Angeles. Performing at Hollywood's most notorious venues such as The Viper ...

, Lesburlesque appeared on the burlesque scene in September 2010. They came to wider public attention in 2012 for having performed at a former church and continue to incorporate traditionally lesbian specific

entertainment, such as

drag king Drag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of an individual or group routine. A typical drag show may incorporate dancing, acting, stand-up comedy and singing, eit ...

ing to broadening its appeal to the wider cabaret circuit.

History

Lesburlesque is a British

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

and

dance troupe A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a sport, spectacle or entertainment. There are many different types of dance companies, often working in different list of dance ...

, founded by

cabaret performer Pixie Truffle in 2010. The troupe began as a duet burlesque routine idea, but following favourable responses from established burlesque performers Kitty Liquor, Mona Von Chrome, Isobella Lash and

March Violets ''March Violets'' is a historical detective novel and the first written by Philip Kerr featuring detective Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther. ''March Violets'' is the first of the trilogy by Kerr called ''Berlin Noir''. The second, '' The Pale Crimina ...

vocalist

Rosie Garland Rosie Garland (born 1960) is a British novelist, poet and singer with post-punk band The March Violets. Life Born in London on 8 May 1960, as a baby she was adopted by her mother Mary Garland (née Metcalfe) and father William Garland, spendi ...

, aka Rosie Lugosi, Pixie dedicated herself to making Lesburlesque into a fully fledged cabaret group. The press in Manchester seemed supportive of their efforts to expand the concept of burlesque to the LGBTQ community and to render sapphic art forms such as drag kinging available to a larger audience. The troupe continue to use established drag king performers The Dyke Kings and Juan Kerr. Lesburlesque and Pixie continue to spearhead the rise to equality of drag king performance art. In an exchange between Pixie and actress and feminist writer Rhona Foulis, Pixie claims it is "...her personal mission to bring lesbian performances to a mainstream audience, in exactly the same way as drag queens have been accepted."

Associations

The troupe continues to be associated with the Lesbian Community Project, a charitable organisation that helps to put lesbians in touch with each other across Manchester and to provide counselling and fun activities. On their first anniversary Pixie Truffle formed a one off partnership with Bella Besame, the founder and promoter of The Slippery Belle Presents...BURLESQUE! revue in Manchester. On their second anniversary Pixie announced a partnership with The Singapore Burlesque Club, a well-known Burlesque revue in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Singapore is a country with stringent controls on public nudity and the Burlesque Club's stance, and association with a Lesbian Burlesque troupe, would at the very least be at odds with the state of women's rights and gay rights in its native Singapore.

Performances

* Grrrl Meets Boi
The Lesbian Community Project
Manchester (26 February 2011) * The Slippery Belle Presents...Lesburlesque! (2 March 2012) * Lesburlesque Presents Sapphic Pride (25 August 2012) * Lesburlesque Presents... In Association with The Singapore Burlesque Club ....INTERNATIONAL ENCHANTRESS NIGHT with Burlesque Legend Kitten De Ville (13 October 2012)

References

External links

* {{Drag performance Lesbian culture British neo-burlesque performers British drag kings Cabaret Drag groups