AMOROUS BURLESQUE
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Saturday, July 13
City Beach Function Centre
Tickets: 42283188
Burlesque dancing is undergoing a revival in Wollongong, with numerous pubs and clubs staging burlesque shows and classes available to those who want to learn the risque art form.
The City Beach Function Centre will be the latest venue to get in on the act when it's transformed into a Parisian nightclub tomorrow for a burlesque-themed dance performance.
Performer Scott Radburn will act as ringmaster and the Velvet Set will play swing jazz but it is the dancers who will be the stars of the show.
Thais Entertainment, a Wollongong dance company, is choreographing the show, which director Natalie Thais Bauer describes as "burlesque-inspired cabaret".
"We don't do traditional burlesque because that involves a fair bit of stripping - which is wonderful when it's done the right way but our show is more of a cabaret-based burlesque," Bauer says.
"There's a lot of Paris theatre influence in the show, from theatres like Moulin Rouge, Lido, Crazy Horse.
"It draws on the themes of burlesque and on some of the ideas behind it - the satire and the comic undertone - but it's more dance oriented."
The dancers are all from Wollongong, and most have danced professionally overseas - including at the famous Moulin Rouge club.
Bauer says she established her company to give Wollongong dancers a chance to perform in their home town.
"I know for myself always having to go away from home to perform was difficult," says Bauer, who danced professionally in Italy for a number of years.
"It was amazing as well, but you do sacrifice a lot.
"I started this group because it's something Wollongong doesn't have but I think audiences want.
"It's about showing Wollongong what we can do and that they don't have to go to Sydney or Europe to see big shows; we can do them here."
Bauer says Australian dancers are the best in the world, and that Wollongong dancers are some of Australia's best.
"In Wollongong there seems to be this never-ending talent pool of brilliant dancers."
Bauer credits burlesque's current popularity to Hollywood and the 2010 Christina Aguilera film, Burlesque.
Amorous Burlesque will take audiences on a journey through the dance form's history, Bauer says.
"We go back through the different eras, capturing the glitz and glamour," she says.
"There are numerous costume changes - lots of feathers, lots of sequins, lots of lace.
"It's seductive yet will still make people laugh and have a giggle.
"With burlesque, that playful, comic undertone has to show through your movements and you have to engage the audience.
"It's not just about us performing in front of people, we bring them into the performance itself and make them feel a bit of glamour.
"We make sure we transfer that energy to the audience so they go away feeling they have lived a little bit of it."