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According to The Cyber
Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film, a website by John
Kenrick, in the late 1860’s Lydia Thompson’s British burlesque
troupe became New York’s biggest sensation. Women played men’s
roles, they were the sexual aggressors and it was written and
managed by women. By the 1880’s burlesque had been taken over by
men and began to evolve into the bump and grind stripper performance
that has blighted its reputation ever since.* |
| Ooh-La-La Lizzie
from Columbus, OH |
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But Viva!’s troupe, the Velvet
Hearts!, is changing all that. She has brought back the original
drive behind burlesque that Lydia started out with long ago. She
choreographs all of her numbers and the numbers of the Velvet
Hearts! “It’s fun to express myself in dance, sexually, on stage,”
she says, “but not in a raunchy way – in a classy yet naughty way.” |
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Ooh-La-La Rachel from Columbus, OH |
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