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[light music]

[light music continues]

[lively music]

Burlesque is a piece of theater,
done late at night

that usually ends in nudity
or starts in nudity,

is no more than five minutes,

and is in a place
that serves alcohol.

[Martini chuckles]

[Martini] I think that's it.

[Bonnie] Neo-Burlesque
is burlesque

that's influenced
by the history of burlesque,

but it's done by performers
of this generation.

So it's seen
through the perspective

of this generation.

[lively music]

[announcer] How's everybody
doing tonight?

[crowd cheers]

[announcer] That sounds great.

Keep the energy going for your
hostess for the evening,

quite literally,
with the mostest,

World Famous BOB!

[lively music]

[crowd cheers]

Thank you so much.

Got really excited there.

Hi, my name is World Famous BOB.

And I'm your hostess
this evening.

Thank you so much for coming.

We have some
of the top-shelf stars

of burlesque internationally

right here,
live on stage for you tonight.

New York city's finest.

[crowd cheers]

And if you're new
to the world of burlesque,

and you maybe haven't had
an opportunity

to soak in their amazingness,

this is an awesome opportunity
for you.

Or if you're back

in the East Village
16 years ago,

watching me
direct traffic topless...

[crowd cheers]

on the corner of A and 12,

maybe we can be friends again.

People have always
done burlesque.

It became very popular
during the 19th century,

as people started to encounter
other cultures around the world.

When Lydia Thompson
and the British Blondes

came to New York City
um, in 1868,

they combined
that literary trope

with what was called a leg show.

[Dr. Lucky] And a leg show
were things like ballets,

feminized spectacles,

that put women's bodies
on display.

And in the 1870s,

burlesque and minstrels
shows combined,

so that burlesque shows

started to carry
the tri-part type structure

of a minstrel show,

with a beginning, opening,
a variety of acts,

and then an end piece.

That continued up
until the 20th century.

In about the '10s and '20s
is when we got striptease.

Which with the two things
put together,

it was stripping or disrobing
which had occurred before

in the late 19th century.

But it was also
the tease element,

where you're sort of like,
making fun.

Those things came together
in the 1910s, 1920s,

and they gained
great popularity.

And that's when the golden age
of burlesque is known to be,

the time period
from the 1940s to the 1960s.

[lively music]

I believe that there is
this common misconception

that burlesque disappeared

in the '70s, and '80s,
and early '90s.

And I don't think
that's necessarily true.

I think that
there's actually continuum

with performers such as,

someone like Catherine D'lish.

[Dita] I can't really think
of anybody who has done more

for the Neo-burlesque community,

really, than her.

And done more, for me,
as a performer than her.

She's really
an incredible performer

that's been putting
her heart and soul

into burlesque and striptease

for longer than anyone,
that I, that I know.

And at a level
that is beyond most.

[Dr. Lucky]
Extravagant costumes,

elegant sets,

she very much continued
that tradition of burlesque

that was happening
in the '50s and '60s.

And there are a lot of strippers

who did that sort of, like,
throwback to an earlier era.

Kitten Natividad was a,
the Russ Meyer girl

from, um, many,
many of his movies.

[Martini]
She was touring burlesque

when we had all forgotten
about it.

And, if it weren't for people
like John Sex,

International Crisis,

who was a fabulous transsexual,

I'm sure that I would not
be doing what I'm doing today.

You talk to a lot
of the old legends

like Dixie Evans
and Tempest Storm,

and they'll tell you that
when burlesque died in the '60s,

it's because the dancers tried
to become more radical

to keep their audiences.

Because television,
everybody had a television.

[Angie] You know,
people were staying at home.

So you know,
the dancers were like,

"Well, I can't just walk around
in my pasties and my G-string,

I better, you know,
shoot a ping-pong ball

out of my hooter."

And so, people started
getting more raunchy

and the girls started getting,
you know, more sexual.

That kind of lost
the satirical, ironic edge,

and became something
more serious.

And more seriously sexual.

I don't think it disappeared.

I think it was circulating
in a different economy.

Um, and I think that it started
to emerge in the 1990s

for a bunch of reasons
that were actually related

to specific things happening
in different geographic areas.

[Doc] Burlesque didn't go away,
it just lost its art.

And then all these wonderful
art people showed up.

And didn't even know
they were doing burlesque.

They were like, "We're just
doing performance art.

And it's sexy performance art.

"And then we take
our clothes off."

And they came back around

to discovering
what it was all along.

[lively music]

[BOB] We're gonna start off
the evening with a huge bang.

I'm so excited
that she is opening the show

because she brings burlesque
to the level that I expect

when I hear the word burlesque.

The level of authenticity,
and glamor,

and trickster appeal, right?

She is the head curator
and the headmistress

of The New York School
of Burlesque.

She also wrote
The Burlesque Handbook.

In case you're thinking,

maybe I wanna enjoy this
in the privacy of my own home.

There's pictures of her in
the book that you can also enjoy

in the privacy of your own home.

She is fag-nomenal.
I love her so much.

When I asked her backstage,

after knowing this young lady
for 17 years,

"Is there anything special

you'd like me to say about you
to the kids tonight?"

She's like, "Yeah.

Could you just tell them
that I'm the shit."

[crowd cheers]

So ladies and gentlemen,
please put your hands together

and make a huge,
huge amount of noise

for literally the shit herself,

Jo "Boobs" Weldon.

[crowd cheers]

[lively music]

[Martini] Neo-burlesque is funny

because I think really
a newspaper coined that term.

It wasn't us.

We were really just doing
performance art.

Personally,
I knew I was doing burlesque.

A lot of people didn't.

I did a lot of research.

I wanted to bring
burlesque back.

That was my main thing.

People should know
what classic burlesque was.

And beyond that, they should
be familiar with more names

than just Tipsy Rose Lee
and Sally Rand.

[Bambi] At the time,
when I started doing

what we are now calling
burlesque or Neo-burlesque,

there wasn't any burlesque.

No one was using the word.

And in the early '90s,

that's what any kind of, like,
strange performance,

or um, nude performance
or anything kind of outrageous

that you would just perform

was called performance art.

I worked in regular
old strip clubs

that I always just sort
of use them as a stage,

to, you know,
act out crazy things.

[lively music]

[crowd cheers]

[Jo] I've always known
about burlesque.

And when I was a little kid,

I was really drawn to these
images of these wild women

that I would see,
that were burlesque performers.

But I didn't see the New York
style of burlesque,

the Neo-burlesque style,

until about 1998,
when I was hanging out

with my friend
Bambi the Mermaid.

And she said, "You should come
to this show we're doing."

I go, "What kind of show?"

She said, "A burlesque show."

I was like, "Oh, I doubt it."

Because there's so many people
that I knew

that did a burlesque number.

But an entire burlesque show

just didn't seem
that likely to me.

And then I went
to the Va Va Voom Room,

and I saw a full burlesque show.
That blew my mind.

[Trixie] In the beginning of
the whole Neo-Burlesque revival,

- it was...
- It was much more artistic.

It was really, definitively,
like, Neo-burlesque.

It was a lot of narrative,
story-telling.

It was a little bit political.
It's very in-your-face.

- [Trixie] Messy and vulgar.
- [Monkey] Messy.

[Monkey] It wasn't about
the level of costuming

and how many rhinestones
you have.

[Trixie] Or having a beautiful
body or being perfect.

Or any of that.

And you know,
that's why we got into it.

All the crazy stuff.

[Dr. Lucky] New York Burlesque,
in particular,

in relation to the Neo movement

was a very unique bubbling up

of a melding
of a couple of worlds.

And those worlds are
night-life entertainment, drag,

and performance art.

All of these things
came together in New York City

in a very, very unique way
in the '90s.

[lively music]

[crowd cheers]

[James] It's fascinating
when I think about

like how many people all at once

seem to have the same idea,
you know, it,

it came together so perfectly
in the mid-'90s.

[Dita] When I first started
performing my shows

around 1991, actually
before I really even knew

what the word burlesque was,

I was dressing in retro style

and performing,
dancing in a strip club,

and performing
in the underground club scene.

I didn't really think about
taking the strip

out of the strip club
and onto a normal stage

until a few years later.

When we started burlesque,
you didn't need a résumé,

or you know, we were really
on the fringes

of the strip clubs
and of, of the art world.

[Bonnie] We were even
on the fringes of show business

because there were dancers
that had a different body type,

they couldn't get
in a dance company.

Or, you are not as bubbly enough
for Broadway.

And you enjoyed
expressing your sexuality,

but you didn't wanna be
in the strip club environment

which can be
very emotionally depleting.

I started stripping
when I moved here

with my fiancé who ended up
being terribly abusive

and I needed
to get away from him.

[Velocity]
And it was really hard.

I hated the whole experience.

'Cause I wasn't expressing
my own sexuality,

I was just basically
telling somebody

what they wanted to hear,

I wasn't expressing
my own heart.

Someone directed me towards
the Blue Angel Cabaret

and it opened up
a whole new world for me.

We were sort of
the strip club rejects

when we started
at the Blue Angel.

[Bonnie] It didn't fit in
with the performance world.

It didn't fit in,
really, with the strip club

because you had all this
avant-garde stuff going on.

It was almost like
Fellini meets,

you know, Times Square sets.

Now see, this is one of the
differences between you and me.

- I, I've been here since 1980.
- Uh-huh.

And if you put a gun to my head,

I wouldn't be able to tell you

where to go for
a nude performance night club.

- I know.
- Yeah, I know you know.

It's called the Blue Angel.

It's really, really cool, yeah.

[crowd laughs]

[Martini]
I remember very clearly

my first burlesque experience.

And I thought to myself,

"Well, this is such
an incredible thing."

And I had started to notice
the rumblings of burlesque

around me.

And then, sure enough,

I was looking through
the classified ads

in Time Out New York,

and I saw
a little blurb that said

"Red Vixen burlesque,
your den of iniquity

for classic striptease
meets new pole dancing."

And I thought, well this is
something really special.

[Julie] My first experience
in burlesque

was actually while I was doing
burlesque at the same time.

Around the milieu of the theater

that we were working with,
Chashama,

there was this woman named
Catherine Hourihan

aka Selina Vixen.

And she asked me,
she's Australian

so I'll try
and do an Australian accent.

She asked me like,

[in Australian accent]
Julie, would you like to come

and do a burlesque show?

And I said, "What's burlesque?"
And she said,

[Julie in Australian accent]
It's a short dance

either beginning or ending naked
and it's fun.

And I was like, "Yeah,

that sounds really
right up my alley."

So, the first time
I saw burlesque really was

from backstage.

Meeting all these
wonderful new people,

and sort of figuring it out.

I was always experimenting
with, with new acts.

Being surrounded
by other performers,

that, that were so inventive

was very inspiring
and challenging

and I think we all
encouraged each other

to keep pushing the boundaries,

to create dynamic,
interesting performances,

as well as sexy performances.

We had a common agenda,

a common goal

in the sense that we wanted
to see America

become more liberated
in terms of sexual expression,

accepting the body.

My road into this world

is sort of convoluted.

There was no scene.

[Tigger]
So I was continuing theater

but I was also go-go dancing.

I was doing live sex shows.

And then friends who were doing
circus performances

in the back of a bar,

they wanted me to jump in
and do a show.

They were doing, you know,
great gorilla performance art.

Like, no one knew
what was gonna happen.

It was in a set little venue.

So, I pretty much thought,

"Well, I get naked a lot.
I can do that.

I could make little,
mini-theater gorilla art

freaked-out
performance pieces...

to a rock and roll song, go."

And that was pretty much
what I was thinking.

So obviously,
it was creating burlesque

but I wasn't thinking about
the glamor or the history

or any of that.

I started doing burlesque
on accident in the East Village

during topless performance art
in gay bars.

And then when I was told
that I was doing burlesque,

I was blessed enough
to seek out Tigger,

and Kate Valentine,
and Julie Atlas Muz,

and Dirty Martini,
and Matt Moore,

and Scotty the Blue Bunny,
and Bambi the Mermaid.

So I really just walked
into this beautiful hive

of decadence and pageantry,
and self-acceptance and love,

and honoring who you are
in the world, and support.

[BOB] It felt like home.

[lively music]

Our next performer
is known exclusively

as the girl with the 44

double D...

brain.

Yeah, 44 double-D brain.

I hope you guys can handle it.

Strap yourselves in,
enjoy the ride.

And please give it up
for Nasty Canasta!

[crowd cheers]

[Bambi] Originally,
there was only burlesque

in New York and LA.

Then slowly, every year,
more and more is added.

Now, pretty much any small town
across the whole United States

has a burlesque scene.

But, the thing about New York
is it's cutting-edge,

and it's the leader,

and pushing every boundary
constantly.

New York has always been
the place of invention

and the place of art.

And this whole
burlesque renaissance,

I'm sure it started
simultaneously in various places

but a lot of that comes out
of New York.

[Maine Attraction] It's
the heart of the reemergence,

and the reason why
I think it was so important

for burlesque to come back

is because everyone needed
a little nostalgia

in their life.

Giuliani,
not to get all political,

he took the sex out
of New York City.

He turned Times Square
into Disneyland.

So these smart entertainers
and performance artists

took what they already knew
and brought it back.

In 2001, when a group of us went
to Teaserama in New Orleans,

and we were like, "Oh, my god."

[Tigger] We saw each city
as it created itself.

And it was starkly different.

Los Angeles was so glamorous.

They had these beautiful gowns
and everything.

And a lot of times
the girls would pose

in these amazing costumes.

And we're like...

'Cause all our costumes
were from the thrift shop.

[Bonnie] We felt so raggedy.

[Tigger] We're performing on,
you know,

a cum-stained hot box
in a gay bar.

But we had fucking chops.

It was punk rock, in-your-face,

much cheaper, more tattered,

much more rough and tumble,

but we did our shit.

Night after night, after night.

And we knew exactly who we were.

In particular, for New York,

it's not a revival,

it is a renaissance.

We are not propping up old acts.

We are recreating it for this
rebirth that is happening now.

Responding to our world,
our life.

With some old-time
burlesque tools,

and some new, crazy, freaky shit
that we brought along.

[crowd cheers]

[Nasty Canasta]
Burlesque here in New York

was very rooted in drag
and performance art.

A lot of it came out
of drag clubs.

And a lot of it
came out of clubs

and real downtown club scene.

And it evolved
into a more self-contained

stage performance.

But it's always been very edgy.

[lively music]

[crowd cheers]

[Maine Attraction] I didn't
start out doing burlesque.

I started out as a drag queen.

And so...

I was active
in the world of performance

when burlesque came back.

[crowd cheers]

Drag and burlesque
are inextricably intertwined.

[Tigger] A favorite quote,
RuPaul,

"We were born naked.
After that, everything is drag."

It's all around us every day.

It's just usually people wear
some really boring drag.

But there are, "I'm-a-serious
professional-drag."

"I'm-just-a-dude-hanging
out-drag"

Whatever.

Everyone has some measure
of drag going on.

We choose to celebrate it.

[crowd cheers]

[lively music]

As far as drag queens
and their influence,

for god's sake Mae West,

godmother to all of us,

learned her shit
from drag queens.

She was picking up stuff,

she was running
with drag queens.

And then the drag queens
would imitate her.

[Tigger] And it's been that
dialogue between strong women

and strong faggots.

That, I think has been
the bedrock

of much of what is enjoyable
in life today.

Certainly, burlesque.

[lively music]

You guys have been such
an amazing crowd tonight.

And I just wanna say

that your rounds of applause are
the best tips you could give us.

Truly.

Sometimes people ask me
what is the difference

between a burlesque dancer
and a stripper,

and I'll tell you
the honest-to-god truth.

Strippers make money.

- [crowd laughs]
- [BOB] Yeah.

They sure do.

Outside
of the burlesque community,

other people
interpret what I do.

Um...

Upon first meeting people,

They're like... You say,
"Oh, I'm a burlesque performer."

"Oh, so you're a stripper?"

"Well, yes, kind of.

But a little bit different
than that."

So I usually find myself having
to explain the difference

between a strip club

and an actual
burlesque performance

or performance art

or being up on stage
and doing these things.

I've always wanted
to be a strip club stripper.

Um, but I wanted to make sure
that I could do it

and not need it.

Because I knew that, um,

there would be conflict

if it was my only thing.

[Peekaboo] I couldn't do it
out of desperation.

My childhood was pretty good,
pretty normal.

I grew up in the DC area.

My parents are still together.

I always wanted to be a dancer.

I realized when I was about 12
that I wanted to be a stripper,

but I was afraid to tell anyone.

The DARE program came
into school,

and there was this girl
who gave a talk

about the evils of drug use
and where it will lead to.

And she ran away from home
and she became a stripper.

And she used to be
on the streets.

I was like, "Ah, she used
to be a stripper. Whoa."

And I just,
I latched on to that.

I was like,
"I wanna be a stripper."

[crowd cheers]

So I started stripping actually
when I was 30,

and was already
a well-established

burlesque performer.

I kind of do this
as a secret at first.

And it stretched
for a few years,

like a couple of years secretly.

And I was afraid
to tell the burlesque community

because I thought, maybe...

I wouldn't be as accepted
as a burlesque performer.

Which it turns out
is just not true.

We call it flipping
and stripping.

That's what we do.

[Nasty Canasta]
Burlesque is a performance.

You are there to present
something to an audience.

And it's your creation.

[Trixie] It's selling a story.

It's not about being naked.

It's about actually seducing
an audience

and getting naked.

It's about how you do it rather
than just doing it.

[crowd cheers]

The entire
socio-economic structure

is completely different.

The way money is dealt with
is different.

The way that you make your art
is different.

The way that you go to work
is different.

The way that you feel after work
is different.

The way the audience interacts
with you is different.

So a striptease performer

is deliberately appealing to men
who want to be sexually excited.

[Anita] Or women who want
to be sexually excited.

And I think burlesque
is in some way,

you assume that the audience

is someone who wants
a performative experience.

They want to be entertained.
They may be titillated,

but there's not that expectation
from the audience

that it's gonna culminate
in a sexual act.

[Dita] One of the most
interesting aspects

of modern burlesque

is that the audience
is different than it was

back in the 1930s and '40s.

You know, it was,
without a doubt

because of
the striptease element

predominantly a male audience.

And it's very important

that there has been
this dramatic shift,

you know, that the audience
is predominantly female.

[crowd laughs]

[Nasty Canasta]
It's kind of always fabulous

when like, you know,

guys that you look at them,
they're like,

"Dude... That, that guy,

What's that guy's name?
Mr. Gorgeous?

He was fantastic. I mean,
I don't usually like that stuff,

but he was great."

And I love that.

[Mr. Gorgeous]
If someone asks what I do,

I wouldn't say I'm a stripper,

I'm a burlesque performer.

If they said,
"Do you take your clothes off?"

Well, hell yeah.

Mr. Gorgeous character...

It's funny,
actually I went to school

for art and also for education.

And I was teaching
a pre-K class.

Um, my last name is Gorsuch

and one child in the class
actually called me Mr. Gorgeous.

And it kind of just stuck.

It's hard sometimes when you go
to a show and the poster,

and the print, and all
the advertisement is girls,

and then you go
and you're the guy.

[Mr. Gorgeous]
There have been some scenarios

where people aren't sure
what they're going to see.

And to see a guy come out

or be announced as,
you know, the next performer,

it's hard I think sometimes
for some people

to cheer for that.

You know, if they're there
with their buddies.

So for me,
whenever I go into a scenario

where I'm a little bit nervous,

as far as the audience,

specifically like a room,
where, like, guys,

you know,
that are here to see the girls.

I tend to go more
towards the comedy aspect.

So, um, my best experiences
have actually been in scenarios

where it's like a very
macho-heavy audience,

and I can make them laugh.

You know,
and by the end of the act,

they're like
screaming and hollering

just as much as, you know,
anybody else in the audience.

[crowd cheers]

Boylesque is getting
so big right now.

And, and I love it.

I love that men are comfortable
enough with themselves

to not mock us and just,
and just get out there

and be just as confident,
and funny, and sexy too.

Some people win titles.
And other people create titles.

Our next performer
is a perfect example of this.

He was reigned the very first

King of Boylesque in
the Las Vegas pageant in 2006.

Please welcome to the stage,

the trailblazing,

mind-blowing,
and he doesn't stop up there,

he's often found on his knees
blowing something else...

Tigger!

[screams]

The one faggot in the crowd
says his name.

That's right,
ladies and gentlemen.

He's got a reputation.

And he's here to make sure
that you know

he's still good for it.

Please welcome to the stage,
the original King of Boylesque,

Tigger!

[crowd cheers]

[Stormy] Boylesque
is the branch of burlesque

that is boys doing burlesque

rather than it being women.

Tigger was one
of the first Boylesquers.

He was actually the first
to be crowned Mr. Exotic World.

[Stormy] In the recent years,

more and more boys,
I should say men,

although I still think
they're boys,

have been getting involved
in burlesque,

and they're just as strong

and doing just as much
as the women are now.

I moved to New York in the '80s,

desperate to become myself,

to discover what I could be,

to do theater always, always,
all my life.

[Tigger] And I was always drawn
to really sexual,

political theater.

And for my life as a faggot
in New York in the '80s,

sex was politics.

In 2001 was the first burlesque,

big burlesque festival,
Teaserama in New Orleans.

And we got in the van
and drove non-stop,

New York to New Orleans.

And it was Miss Astrid,
and Julie,

and Dirty Martini,
and World Famous BOB, and me

all going.

And we're all talking about
"Ooh, what to expect there."

And BOB was saying,
"Ooh, Tigger, isn't it exciting?

You're gonna be the only boy."

And I was like "Oh, please.
Every troupe must have a boy.

If not, you know,
every city at least."

But, I looked all around,

all of us looked around.

And there were definitely
men doing crazy things,

but actually stripping

in a burlesque context
and making themselves

the object of sex,
humor, derision,

joy, whatever, wasn't happening.

That was
my personal feminist activism.

And I felt very strongly that

the mission is not complete.

Yes, women are doing
great things for other women.

To see women celebrating
themselves and their sexuality,

that's wonderful.

What about the men sitting down?

Yes, they're seeing
more personality

than they do in their titty bar.

But they're still getting off
a little too easy.

They need to deal
with their gender

up on that stage.

Them being focused on,

which they breezed
through their life avoiding.

So I felt adamant

that I had to get every bit
as naked as my sisters,

to work every bit as hard,
to craft every bit as carefully.

My feeling is we live
in such a puritanical society.

The very act of getting on stage

live in public
and getting naked,

showing your sexuality,

bearing a measure
of your vulnerability,

your humanity to strangers

is political.

For a woman to do that,

to own her sexuality
is political.

For a man, to expose himself

to objectification
and possible ridicule

is incredibly political.

And for us
to all share that stage

and open it up for a live moment

is a political act.

Everything about burlesque
is political.

Whether people admit it or not.

It was as men
started coming into it

that I started looking
very seriously

at it as a genre.

And I started to feel
really paternal about it.

And it was really important
to me that they do it right,

that they keep that spirit,

and that they never let go of
that sense of shared struggle.

[lively music]

I find that burlesque delivers
a certain message

in feminism
where you can be sexy.

You can be sexy
and you can be smart.

And if you think that
you can't be those two things,

then that's
a horrible way to think.

That's a horrible view of women.

Like you don't think
that you can wear red lipstick

and have big hair,
and wear stilettos

and have a brain?

Then you're the one who needs
to rethink your life.

Not me.

She is the mermaid
of Coney Island.

She's been bringing strippers
back to the people's playground

for 16 years.

And she's here tonight
to show you how to spell class

with a C instead of a K.

Please welcome to the stage

Bambi the Mermaid!

[Anita] There's a perception
that femininity

is going to be displayed
in a certain way onstage.

But I think
what's really interesting

about the New Burlesque movement

is that people
are exploding that.

They can be masculine, feminine.

There can be experiments
with gender on the stage.

People can take a masculine body
and feminize it.

Or take a very feminine body

and do, um, very aggressive,
masculine spatial acts

that are unique.

I think that that's the place
where the New burlesque movement

is making a difference
or changing the parameters

of what was once a feminine
display of the human body.

The power that burlesque
gives most women

is that if they feel like
it's inappropriate

for them to do something

because of the way they look
or the way they act,

or what they like,

burlesque gives them
a venue to say,

"I choose to be inappropriate
and be applauded for it."

I really think it's just
another revolutionary time

for women empowerment.

[Marla] And instead
of what women did in the '60s,

where they kind of took on
these masculine roles

in order to get
what they wanted as women,

it's reverse,

where we're empowered
by our femininity.

And that's
what makes us powerful.

And I mean, being on stage,

and being feminine,

and owning your body
and owning your sexuality

in front of an audience is...

one of the most intense,
empowering things you could do.

♪ Camel Toe ♪

It's very exciting

to see women express
their feminism

as well as their femininity.

[Velocity] And combine the two.

There's so much more
of that now.

♪ Camel Toe ♪

♪ Camel Toe ♪

I think burlesque offers
being very sex positive

and comfortable
with your sexuality

to women these days.

Especially in America,

because of our TV shows,
and all these violence and sex

that is thrown on our faces.

[Marla] We're actually not
that comfortable with sexuality.

It's still taboo.

[Dr. Lucky] There's a new
feminist movement emerging.

And a lot of it is very pro-sex.

A lot of it is able
to find pleasure

in the pin-up, for instance.

You know, so it's not trying to

argue that all images of women

that are based
in a patriarchal society

are oppressing you.

But instead,
it's offering the possibility

that you can be empowered
in a Playboy bunny outfit.

[Maine Attraction]
I think that burlesque

totally objectifies women,

and I think that women
are embracing the idea

of being objects
of voyeuristic gaze.

And seeing what they can do
with that experience

in order to be able
to empower themselves.

They can now make
political statements

through the work
that they're doing on stage.

As they say to the world,

"Hey, this is my body.
You wanna look, look.

And see what I can do.

How I can manipulate your gaze
to make me feel better.

[crowd cheers]

[Matt] People pay money to watch
someone believe in themselves.

We're all uncertain.

Everyone is neurotic.

Everyone is worried about
every little step they make,

and every word they've said.

To have the illusion,

even though
the most neurotic person,

the most fragile person,

the most vulnerable person
in the room is the performer.

But they give this illusion
of complete and utter control.

And it feels good to watch
someone believe in themselves.

[Rachel] A lot of what I see
coming out of burlesque

is this, this willingness
to go there.

And I think people break through
a lot of barriers

of fear in their personal life
to do it.

And a lot of people have told me

that burlesque
definitely changed their life,

even if they didn't perform
or stay in burlesque.

They've told me that using
burlesque to get over that fear,

gave them a willingness

to be more courageous
in other parts of their life.

Doing this type of performance,

that they weren't physically
considered appropriate to do

made them willing to try
to do other things

that they thought they may
have not been appropriate for.

[crowd applauds]

[sensual music]

[BOB] There are titles
in the burlesque community.

There are pageants
in the burlesque community.

The first pageant was known
as "Miss Exotic World"

and it happened in the middle
of the desert

in Helendale, California.
Where is that exactly?

It's this tiny, little dusty
farm called, Exotic World.

And once a year, strippers
from all over the world...

Literally.
Australia, Tokyo, Brooklyn.

Would go to this
little dirt-patch

and they'd get up on a wooden,
crickety stage.

And it really
cut the grease, right?

Like, who is gonna pack
their shiniest G-string

to go and get it
crusted with sand

in the middle of a sandstorm

in the Mojave's desert sun
at high-noon?

She did.

She travels all over the world.

She's internationally famous
for burlesque.

She was one of the co-stars
of Tournee,

She walked the red carpet
in Cannes.

Please welcome to the stage,
Miss Exotic World 2004,

- Dirty Martini!
- [crowd applauds]

[Martini] It's given me,
really, an outlet

that I don't think
that I would have had,

had I not found it.

An outlet to be bigger
than myself.

An outlet to just show everybody
what a curvy woman is

and how beautiful all women are.

Not just somebody who's thinner,
somebody who's big.

But all these women
of different shapes and sizes.

I want the whole world
to see that.

I don't want them to see
the narrow view

of women's sexuality
that we have

And so, I think it's really gone
so much more

beyond the professional for me

and into a realm of spiritual
and personal for my own life

and given me
a sort of superhero persona

-to inspire the revolution
-[crowd cheers]

[dance music playing]

The most important thing
is the fact that we are women

getting on stage
in front of audiences

that are 100 percent mixed
of genders and experiences

and saying,
"This is what we do."

I mean, there is a sexual
component to it. There's a...

Obviously, there's titillation
to it, but...

to bring that
to the comfort level,

to the average person's
experience,

I think, is really important.

[crowd cheering]

Because many of us,
women particularly,

were brought up

to not necessarily feel terrific
about our bodies.

Well, we weren't brought up
that way

but we just weren't
nurtured necessarily

to take pride in our bodies

and we're confronted all
the time with physical issues

or judging ourselves.

[Rachel] And being
in the audience,

and watching women
of all shapes and sizes

dance and move and jiggle...

It's refreshing
and it's reassuring that

sexiness comes
in all shapes and sizes.

And seeing them be confident
about it and own it,

and move it that way is...

is inspiring.

[dance music playing]

The very first time I saw it was

seeing a show
out of Coney Island.

[Rosebud] I went to go see the
gameshow, "This or That."

I had a really intense
reaction to it because

the women who were performing
were not a size zero.

And they had a lot of cellulite.
And I had my mother's reaction

to their nudity, which was,

"They have absolutely no
business being naked on stage.

That is offensive. They need
to put their clothes back on.

And it... everybody else around
me was having such a good time.

And I didn't understand
why they were all okay

[chuckles]
with what was going on.

And so, as I sat on the show

and everyone else continued
to have a really good time,

I realized I was being
a stuck-up bitch.

And so,
I need to get over myself

or whatever it was
that was inhibiting me

from being able to enjoy
what they were doing,

'cause they were really good
at what they were doing.

That was a breakthrough moment
for me in terms of

my personal acceptance
of living in a female body

And it made me
wanna do it, of course.

[slow music playing]

[Rosebud]
I knew from very early on

that I didn't identify
as female.

And I really thought that I was
gonna have to have a sex change.

And so, being able to see these

very glamorous,
very beautiful women

for what they really were
and not through the lens of what

I have been taught,
was a really amazing moment.

I came out of the closet
because of burlesque...

and it saved my life.

[crowd cheering]

I grew up in the '70s
in California

and I didn't have a word to
describe how I felt in my body.

[BOB] My gender fluidity
as a young person.

I did realize and notice
how the world reacted to me

because of the body I was in

and the limitations
that were put on somebody

in a female body.

And also, in my household,

being a woman was
the worst thing you could be.

So, my mom was on the bottom
of the totem pole

and not treated well.

So, there was no real incentive
to want to follow that path.

And the reactions from the world

outside my home didn't really
fight against that.

So, I think, the interesting
thing that burlesque did for me

was it provided me
with examples of women

that I actually did
wanna be like.

And it provided me
with examples of men

that I did wanna be like.

And it was
a huge opening for me.

It just provided a choice.

I didn't have to be
anti-female anymore.

Meaning, for me, you know,
not putting down other women.

But I didn't have to
be resentful of the female body

that I was born into

and I could explore the power
that it holds.

[sensual music]

[sensual music continues]

I think the burlesque movement
is headed towards death.

It's died before.
It's come back.

But, I think if people
aren't careful,

if they codify it too much
and make it be too perfect,

I think it's just gonna go
towards a slow, mediocre,

mainstream death.

[sensual music playing]

[James]
I think that over the years,

the scene has gone through many
different changes, you know.

When I first started
doing performance

that became known as burlesque,

it was mostly just done
in the gay world.

But then, like
the classic striptease thing

kind of came in...

You know, right around
the turn of the century

that started to become
the popular thing.

And for a little while there,
in...

maybe the fourth
or fifth year...

We were opening.
I kinda looked around

and I felt like it was
just this parade of striptease.

2008, 2009,

burlesque started
to become more popular.

And, you know, venues started
to, to grasp onto it.

[Darlinda] More like,
"Oh, let's do something

comfortable and pretty and like,
skinny women and rhinestones

and just music and dancing."
And it was... just got boring.

There's definitely been...

more recently, a shift in...

like, emphasis on costumes.

You know, or...

It's definitely become a little
bit more classic-oriented.

Whereas when I first started,
It was definitely like

much more performance art

and pop-culture referenced
and stuff like that.

It was the forming
of the worldwide community.

It's been very homogenized.

Not in a bad way
necessarily, but...

[Medianoche] There's definitely
something about New York City

and the old Slipper Room

and how things were
in the early 2000s maybe

that isn't necessarily
there anymore.

Now, it's a lot more commercial.

I think rather than
what's happened as

"people not going
to the crazy places anymore",

is that there are less
crazy places."

[Mat] And that the new taste
of a new burlesque audience

is more mainstream.

And they're more influential
on the booking policy.

Of some of the producers
of the main houses of burlesque.

As things sort of evolved

and progressed
and become more formal,

like, you have to buy
your tickets in advance online

and all that kind of stuff,

[Julie] I think that things
become a little bit more...

deliberate...

and less...

dangerous.

Whenever anything
becomes too mainstream,

there is an appetite

of the mainstream
that needs to be fed by it

and the mainstream...

culture cannot digest things
that make them question.

[BOB] I do feel that producers
cater to the mainstream

because it becomes economical.

Once there's a big enough
audience, then it's about money.

And there are few producers
that aren't that way.

And you're privileged if you get
to go to one of their shows.

Well, The Slipper Room is still,
like, what we would consider

the New York City
clubhouse of burlesque.

It's really one
of the only places that don't

ask you what act you're doing.

You... They don't censor you
in any way.

You can literally do anything
you wanna do.

[announcer] Ladies
and gentlemen, boys and girls,

welcome to The Slipper Room.

And now,
please put your hands together

for our host this evening,

our very own aging,
international man of mystery,

the one and only Mr. Mel Frye!

[crowd cheering]

Hey there. How are ya?

How you doing?
You guys feeling good?

[crowd cheering]

The performers, when they come
to perform at The Slipper Room,

are given free rein
to do whatever they wanna do.

I'll get performers
calling me up and saying,

"Oh, I'm booked
in the show tonight.

Is there a specific act
that you want me to bring?"

And I always say
to them, you know,

"Bring whatever act
that you feel like doing."

You know,
"What is it that you wanna do?"

And then,
you get the most out of them.

We have an amazing show
for you tonight.

It's an incredible lineup
that came down here just because

they, they love it
and they wanna be a part of it.

The quality is very high.

I know I am.

[crowd laughs]

The idea of drawing a line
and saying,

this act is too extreme
for The Slipper Room stage...

I think there have been
a few times along the way

where I've said that, and then
I've always gone back on it.

I've finally been like, "No,
let's do it. What the hell."

I hope you're drinking heavily

because it's just gonna get
weirder and weirder

and it's best if
you're deeply loaded. Right?

I'm still constantly blown away
by what people do. I mean...

You know, last week,
Mat and Julie

came back from London
and did a new number together

that I thought
was absolutely amazing.

-Hey there
-[crowd] Whoo!

[crowd shouting]

You know, in England,
where I'm from...

- Bruh.
- [crowd laughing]

And in America...

there are people,
men and women...

who go out there

and, on our behalf...

do the jobs that...

most of us
are just not prepared to do...

out there in the field,
in danger.

Making the world right for us.

I'm speaking, of course,
of the drug dealers...

the strippers,
and the prostitutes.

It's both fantastic
and challenging

being married
to your performing partner.

I mean, Julie has a plethora
of very famous solo acts.

And I have a couple,
not famous but, solo acts.

But we have duets as well that
we do and we like doing those.

[crowd cheering]

I dedicate this to them.

["Confederate Song" playing]

♪ Oh, I wish I was ♪

♪ In a land of cotton ♪

Can I get reverb?

♪ Old times there
Are not forgotten ♪

♪ Look away, look away ♪

♪ Look away Dixie land ♪

I once remarked
to Dirty Martini,

about the quick level
of success I've had

as a burlesque performer
here in New York.

You know, it's amazing.
My entry level was so high.

I...

I feel really blessed
and she said,

"Well you married into royalty,
didn't you?"

Ladies and gentlemen,

through the power
of nude interpretative dance,

Julie Atlas Muz
communicates with you.

[crowd cheering]

[Nasty Canasta] I mean,
the first show I ever saw,

Julie Atlas Muz was in it.

And to this day I get...

I mean, I've worked with her
for years now,

but I get tongue-tied
on the phone with her.

[Nasty Canasta] There are some
incredible performers and...

some really ballsy people

I mean, I think that's what
I find the most inspiring.

The people who, who aren't
afraid to put things out there,

and go, "Maybe you're not
gonna like it...

but I don't care
if you don't like it."

- ♪ Look away, look away ♪
- [crowd cheering]

♪ Look away ♪

♪ Zombie land ♪

♪ Glory, glory ♪

♪ Hallelujah ♪

♪ Glory, glory ♪

♪ Hallelujah ♪

♪ Glory, glory ♪

♪ Hallelujah ♪

♪ His truth is marching ♪

[Mat] I liked what was
happening in Britain.

But there's a big thing of like
pretending it was 1968 or 1948

and that everyone
had to dress up

in a double-breasted suit
and a cocktail dress

And I feel very
uncomfortable like that.

Plus, I wasn't allowed in clubs
in the late '60s.

My kind weren't allowed inside.

So, when I came... You know,

It didn't matter what you wore
in the audience in New York.

It was very contemporary.

There was funny, political,
savage, sexy work going on.

Blurring the boundary

between actual striptease,
as we know it, and burlesque

and bringing performance art in
and the fact that they felt

comfortable with
the "sideshow" terminology

because a lot of it started
at Burlesque at the Beach

in Coney Island.

Through Bambi the Mermaid.

I just felt that I'd landed
in my home.

[crowd laughing]

For those that have never been
to Burlesque at the Beach

in Coney Island,

then, basically, you have not
seen New York City Burlesque.

[Bambi]
We're the oldest, longest,

continuously-running,
Burlesque show anywhere

in the world.

We celebrate a lack of taste
and a lack of decorum

and anything lurid and vulgar.

So, that opens
people's minds a lot

to what they can achieve
in a performance

and what the audience
wants to see

and people just go crazy
and they bring their

very, very, very best, most
innovative ideas to Coney Island

[crowd cheering]

So, I'm Jo Weldon
and this is "Living Dolls"

at Burlesque at the Beach
at Coney Island

-Hi
-[crowd cheers]

Thank you for coming.

So, uh, sometimes,
we were talking about the show

and people are talking about
what they wanted to do.

Um, some of them will go,
"Well, is this a doll?

Is it technically a doll?"

And I'm like,

"Who gives a shit?"

- [crowd laughs]
- Right?

They're saying, like,
"Well is this really feminism?

Is this really rock and roll?

Is this really burlesque?"

I don't care.

[crowd laughs]

Either it's fun or it's not.

And this woman is a great time,
ladies and gentlemen.

- [crowd cheering]
- I know.

[Jo] Yeah, okay.

[dramatic music playing]

[mouthing]

[dramatic music playing]

Coney Island is just like,
yeah, wild, crazy good time.

I mean, it's just amazing.

[Trixie]
It's really not a summer

unless you perform at Coney.

It's, it's, sweaty, it's messy,
it's unpredictable...

If the weather turns to shit,
no one's there.

[chuckles]
It's like, there's just

all these variables,

but it's just a fun,
crazy, rowdy time.

I mean, obviously,
but, you know,

- those are our people.
- Yeah.

[Monkey]
I felt like Coney still has

that feeling of like, the Neo...

when we first started,
that feeling that you would get.

- [Trixie] Mm-hm.
- [Monkey] Yeah.

Where anything, anything
was possible and...

-And it's designed for freaks
- Crazy and, yeah.

[Jo] At Coney Island, you can
really do whatever you want.

[crowd cheering]

[Julie] Oh, Coney Island is...

Coney Island
is the American Freak Dream.

It's a place where outsiders
are celebrated

and outsiders can find a home.

It's where summer begins...

in the United States of America.

Coney Island is...

is our heritage.
So, so important.

From a Disability Arts
perspective,

it's the most integrated,
um, non-disabled

and disabled performer,
performance collective ever.

And the oldest.

I mean, that's massive if you
put it in those academic terms.

Like the fact that
the disabled body

is really celebrated in that way
as is the female body.

Honestly, sure, in a gritty,
hot experience

where, like, topless girls
are, like, natural

It's super special.

[crowd cheering]

[crowd applauding]

[whimsical music]

We've been showing
a lot of trailblazers

in the Neo-Burlesque
performance arena.

And the only way you can keep a
fire burning is to add new wood.

That's right.

So, please welcome to the stage,

she is known
as the "Sideshow Showgirl".

Say that ten times fast,

then try to do it with a cock
in your mouth.

Please welcome to the stage,
Marla Marquise.

[crowd cheers]

[dramatic music playing]

[Matt] It turns to be that
at a burlesque show,

you're going to be provoked
if you're in the audience.

No matter who you are,
what your limits are,

- what you think...
- [Rachel] Can be tested.

What you think you're okay with,
that's going to be nudged a bit.

[crowd gasps]

[Matt]
And I want that from any art.

I wanna be provoked,
I wanna be opened up

and I want to be challenged.

And I think
that this is a direct...

Again, in the moment, you're in
that room with somebody

and they are challenging you.

- Yeah, you wanna feel something.
- [Matt] And...

[sensual music]

[Martini] Some people say,
"Well, what do you find vulgar?"

or "What extent would you go
to make an idea happen?"

I guess is the real question.

And the thing is,
is that the idea is

in service to burlesque.

So, if you don't have a really
strong through-line concept idea

then you don't have anything.

And whatever it takes

to make the audience know
what you're feeling inside,

and how you view the world,
is what you have to do.

So, I don't believe
that there's any limit

that should be off-limits
for burlesque.

It's a down-and-dirty art form.
It's always been...

ten cents a ticket to get in.

[crowd applauds]

[Martini] It's never been
a high art form.

Except in the way that some
people have been able to do it.

So...

yeah,
I think that for burlesque,

there really isn't vulgar.

The only vulgar thing,

or the only off-limits thing
is to not love yourself.

To not get your point across...

and to not be true
to your ideas.

[crowd applauds]

[crowd cheering, screaming]

"Subtool" is a really good word

to segue into
our next performer.

She created an evening...

I like to refer to it
as "Burlesque Without Borders".

You know what I'm saying?

It was, like if you see panties
or panty lines as a border,

or rules or legal restrictions

or moral codes of ethic
as borders...

This was a place where you could
let your freak flag fly.

You could catch it on fire,
you could shove it up your ass,

you could cough it up on your
neighbor, you could send it...

Federal Express.

I still think
it's a really important time

to have that space
and that wiggle room

to just break
all the fucking rules.

She started this at a time when

burlesque was being
defined a lot by

you know, a nod
and a wink to nostalgia

and then the performance art
was thrown in.

And I just like to refer to her
as the woman

who took the jar of burlesque

with the tightly screwed lid
on the top...

Just poked holes in it
so that we can all breathe.

[exhales deeply]

You wanna breathe with me?

[man 1 breathes deeply]

That's good.

It is with huge amounts
of pleasure

rippling over the entire surface
of my body

that I bring out our next star.
Please give her a huge welcome.

Velocity Child.

[eerie music playing]

[James] I don't really think
there's anything

that I would not allow
to happen...

as long as nobody's
gonna get hurt.

I think that's where
I draw the line.

And I think some
of the performers do really

push the envelope on that.

[Nasty Canasta] Um...

There's a performer
named Velocity Child,

who is one of the ballsiest
performers I've ever seen.

And she puts things on stage...

I mean, people get
very uncomfortable.

She works with images
of violence a lot,

and images of...

power and, and lack of power

and assuming
a lack of power deliberately

or assuming a power deliberately

and, um, you know,
very iconic images of religion

and, um, it's...

gender and politics
very, very deliberately.

They're also
incredibly gorgeous.

I mean, just beautiful.

And she's been performing for...

I wanna say probably close
to 20 years now or something.

She is, I mean, just...

She is so at-home on stage.

"They're very problematic",
a lot of people have...

"I can't... What are you... How
am I... How do I accept this?"

And I think...

I feel like her point is,

"You figure it out."

I know that she has taken some
very difficult parts of her life

and created performance
out of it

that are very difficult
to experience from an audience

and it makes her
incredibly vulnerable.

It also makes an audience
incredibly vulnerable

and that's...

There's such a power
to that that's really wonderful.

[crowd gasps]

[giggling]

[crowd applauds]

I suppose my favorite thing
about burlesque...

There's a lot of things
that I really do enjoy.

But I guess
the sense of community

is probably my very
favorite thing.

- [Gal] Good to see you, woman.
- [Martini] Good to see you.

- [smooching]
- Hi!

- [smooches]
- [Martini] How are you?

- Good.
- [both] Hi!

[smooches]

[Stormy] I love burlesque
because

it's a safe way to exploit
myself and it's way with things.

And you have the support
of a wonderful community.

There's never been
a bigger inspiration for me

or a great group of girls,
and men too,

that were wonderful friends
and that I look to as family

for advice or inspiration
and to watch and learn.

Just having like-minded
female friends...

That was actually a huge reason

why I started
doing burlesque was...

I wanted to perform but I also,
I had no girlfriends.

So, that was
a huge reason and...

Since I've started doing this,
I found some of my...

my truest, greatest friends.

Generally,
especially in New York,

backstage is the most
wonderful place to be.

It's easier if you just...

Onstage should be the most
professional place to be.

But backstage is often home.

- Hi, sweetheart!
- Hi! How are you?

[Rosebud] My favorite thing
about burlesque is that

it's like living in
an enchanted bubble

where women feel safe enough to

give up to give up any baggage
that society has put on them.

It's the only place where
I've ever encountered

like, a large community of women

who they feel no need to be
competitive with you at all.

That we're all so different

and we're all trying so hard

to make something original
and, and unique

when, when it's hard to make
something original anymore.

[chuckles]

[Rosebud]
That when it's at its best,

we all support each other
unconditionally.

I've been wanting
to do this color forever.

And even if we don't really like
what the other person is doing,

like, we can respect

how much effort
they put into it.

[woman 1] Dude.

It's just a very communal,
kind of...

approach to art
and love and self-love.

And the fact that it can
be that affirmative,

is really special.

Because I have never
been involved

in any other
artistic community that

has ever treated women
with that much reverence.

And given them that much freedom
to just enjoy themselves.

And I feel like everybody else
has a better time

when things are like that.

[dramatic music]

I think it's very difficult
if such a female-dominated world

with female voices
showing what's beautiful,

showing what's ugly,
showing what's scary,

scary to a lot
of the population...

Boo!
[chuckles]

[Martini] So, I think that
it's gonna be difficult

to push real burlesque

into a place where mainstream
people can see it

for what it really is.

I think like any outsider
cultural phenomenon,

Neo-Burlesque will go through
its various phases

and I often equate it
with punk rock.

[Mat] Being a punk man,

much more than being able
to play a fast rock song,

You know, it was a revolution.

It meant that
you didn't agree with society,

rejected everything
that have come before.

You wanted to build
a new society

built on different Ethics,
la, la, la...

It was huge.

[crowd cheering]

And then, you travel forward
to Green Day,

who are very happy to be
the capitalist beneficiaries

of a Broadway version
of their music.

It sounds like punk,
it looks like punk,

therefore, it must be punk.

But it isn't quite punk, is it?

And I think in a way,
modern burlesque

is in danger of becoming that.

So, Dirty Martini,
Bambi the Mermaid,

Bunny Love,
Julie Atlas Muz, Tigger,

and then, Little Brooklyn
and the next wave lot...

They were revolutionaries
in terms of

presenting celebration
of female's sexuality.

That wasn't imprisoned by
the "Cosmo ideal", if you like.

And now, you've just got kids
who are in a rock band.

And it's great and they still
look great and I love rock music

and it sounds great
and I still go.

But it's not the revolution
it was before.

I think it's exciting

because people
are gonna get really bored.

And that makes a lot of room
for mass amounts of creativity

and going outside of the box.

[Velocity] So,
if it's saturated, that's okay.

That just means people
are gonna want something

a little different than that.

My feelings about
the changing world of burlesque

are "Shit changes".

[Tigger] No matter when
you move to New York,

there's someone here
to tell you,

"Oh, girl. You missed it.
You should've been here.

The underground,
whether it's burlesque

or performance art

or theatre or anything,
it's "Whack-a-mole".

You know, like,

yeah, they kinda killed that
with commercialism.

It pops up somewhere else.

It's going on.
It's always going on.

There's always a thrilling,

exciting,
transgressive thing happening.

You just have to find it.

And people who think
it's over, it's done,

they lost the scent.

Thank you, kids.
Great job tonight.

All right.

Got that taken care of.

Got that squared away. Check.

[crowd laughing]

[sighs]
It's the finale.

[crowd moans, cheers]

Unless you count what
we could all do later in a cab.

[crowd laughs]

I want pictures.

It is the finale
and the definition of a finale

is a beautiful and grand ending.

And I do wish that for each
and every one of you,

it is not the last finale
you do experience this evening.

[crowd cheers]

Hello.

She's known as "The Naked Girl
of Burlesque" and this is her...

This is a shout out
to all the geeks out there.

If you're a geek or a nerd,

you better sit up straight
and take notice.

Please welcome to the stage,
all the way back from London,

Stormy Leather!

[crowd cheering]

[electronic music playing]

[electronic music
playing continues]

[Dr. Lucky] To me,
when someone asks me

what is the Neo-Burlesque
movement about,

I'd say, "Oh,
it's monsters-slash-beauty."

I think that that is
the defining characteristic

that makes burlesque so unique.

It's like these two extremities
happening simultaneously.

It's its very
defining characteristic.

And it's what makes it
irreducible to a singular thing.

Hopefully.

We'll see what happens
in the future.

[electronic music playing]

[crowd cheering]

I'm so grateful for the many,
many, many years I've had

with a bunch of crazy downtown
performance freaks

but I look forward to more.

[Tigger] My big hopes
for the future

are to keep being surprised.

And to keep opening doors.

That's exactly
what this should be doing.

More than anything else,
is opening doors.

[crowd cheering]

[crowd cheering continues]

It's all happened before
and it'll keep happening.

People will keep opening doors
and breaking down barriers.

'Cause we have to to survive.

[crowd cheering]

[electronic music playing]

[calm music]

♪ When you look at me
Can you tell me ♪

♪ "What do you see?" ♪

♪ In a little lace
And a pretty face on display ♪

♪ Hiding all the pain
Inside me ♪

♪ Something frightening ♪

♪ When you peel away
All the layers ♪

♪ Know that's not me ♪

♪ Disguises trying to express ♪

♪ What's burning in my chest ♪

♪ So much inside of me ♪

♪ Socially never accepted ♪

♪ Outcast from the rest ♪

♪ Always felt alone ♪

♪ Oh, on stage I come alive ♪

♪ So much here inside ♪

♪ And no one ever sees ♪

♪ No one judging all the flaws ♪

♪ It's okay to bare it all ♪

♪ In the Shadows, I come alive ♪

♪ In the Shadows, I come alive ♪

♪ Alive ♪

♪ In the Shadows I ♪

♪ In the Shadows, I come alive ♪