A scene from a previous year\u2019s Isle of Tease Burlesque Festival (photo by MKM Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOne of the misconceptions in mainstream burlesque, Sparkles points out, is the belief that it\u2019s only classic burlesque corsets, boas, feathered bands, and sparkles. While that remains part of burlesque, performers come from a diverse range of backgrounds, use different music, or base their art on political messages, which is all presented at Isle of Tease, as are acts that are full of dancing and fun energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely want to take people on a really good adventure in the festival and showcase what burlesque is across the spectrum,\u201d says Sparkles.<\/p>\n
In addition to diversity of performance styles, Isle of Tease showcases diversity in artists. It highlights performers from the BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled, and other marginalized communities; there\u2019s also a strong focus in showing how burlesque is for all backgrounds and interests. And ages: Burlesque Hall of Fame inductee Lorna Legend, who is 80 years old, is one of the headliners and will be performing both nights and giving a talk on her life as a performer. (Afro-Indigenous performer from the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake, Quebec Lou Lou la Dechesse de Ri\u00e8re and burlesque education convention BurlyCon executive director Iva Handful are also headlining.)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get to hear about what burlesque was like in the \u201850s, \u201860s, \u201870s, [and] \u201880s, and hear about some of what the burlesque legends got up to; some pretty great adventures,\u201d says Sparkles about Legend. \u201cAnd they also faced a lot of challenges, a lot of stigma with this type of performance.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBeing in Canada we don\u2019t see as many international acts; being on an island lessens the number even further. That\u2019s why Isle of Tease tries to bring in as many performers with diverse styles, backgrounds, and ages as possible. Isle of Tease also gives locals an opportunity to mingle and connect with performers from across Canada and the US.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSparkles encourages everyone, whether they\u2019re familiar with burlesque or not, to escape the dreary January weather and head down to the festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will challenge you,\u201d says Sparkles, \u201cand you will get to see things that you never knew existed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isle of Tease Burlesque Festival
\nVarious times,
\nThursday, January 25 to Saturday, January 27
\nVarious prices and venues
\nisleoftease.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Isle of Tease Burlesque Festival celebrates the variety and history of burlesque while showcasing the diverse backgrounds of burlesque performers. Event co-producer Champagne Sparkles\u2014also the co-founder of Victoria\u2019s popular Cheesecake Burlesque Review, celebrating 18 years of being a burlesque troupe this March\u2014says that what the Cheesecakes do is only part of what burlesque is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,238,4,303],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-life-sports","category-arts","category-january-24-2024"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24888,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24885\/revisions\/24888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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