Ballet and burlesque

The word ‘burlesque’ originally referred to a certain type of vaudevillian stage show, but these days the word is most often used to describe a form of striptease dance.

The link between burlesque and ballet today isn’t immediately obvious, but it can be agreed that both art forms pursue beauty of form and movement. However, ballet and burlesque also actually share a history – most interestingly in that many of the most well-known burlesque dancers from the 1860s onwards started out as classically trained ballet dancers themselves.

In Victorian England, being a ballet dancer was not considered a proper vocation for a woman. The lowly status of the average ballet dancer in society, combined with the other very real dangers of being a dancer in 19th century England and Europe – the illness, the poverty and the risk of tutus catching on fire – made the profession quite unappealing. So it’s not surprising that some turned their highly trained classical skills to other more lucrative things.

Lydia Thompson was one of the first to move from ballet into the bawdier world of burlesque. Thompson had been a part of the corps de ballet at Her Majesty’s Theatre, but when she took her vaudeville show British Blondes to America in the 1860s, she was an instant hit.

Burlesque dancers were also called ‘fan dancers’. Like the famous Sally Rand, these dancers incorporated fans, as well as some of the other more graceful and feminine movements of ballet, into their routines.

Today’s burlesque performers also still incorporate dance into their routines. Poster girl of the ‘new burlesque’, Dita von Teese, endured rigorous classical ballet training until she was a teenager, just like many of the early burlesque performers. Her performances regularly feature her dancing en pointe.

“Ballet is my favorite (form of dance),” von Teese has said. “I’m just a big fan of the beauty of ballet, and the fact that it’s so feminine. There isn’t one ugly move in ballet. If you snap a picture anywhere you’re going to have perfect body lines; really feminine, beautiful body shapes.”

Closer to home, when the ‘Spanish’ dancer Lola Montez toured Australia during the 1850s gold rush, she made a huge impression. Vaudeville and burlesque dancers such as Montez familiarised local audiences with the performing arts, and paved the way for ballet’s immense popularity in the early 20^th century.