Long ago, in a galaxy far far away...(Oh Wait! That's the wrong story.)

Burlesque came about in a time just before the turn of the century (the 19th century). Women were seeking independence from being male possesions. The lower and upper social classes were divided so greatly that there was barely any middle class to speak of (sound familiar?). People were either rich and priviledged or poor and seeking freedom through satire, entertainment and anything other than a drab boring daily life.

Enter Stage Right, the Burlesque show! At first it was the earliest vaudville style acts which included song and dance and satire, humor and wit and maybe a few dancing girls. Shows leaned more towards live entertainment and sweeping away the audience for a couple of hours of sketch comedy and wonderous acts. Burlesque was originally a form of art that mocked by imitation, referring to everything from comic sketches to dance routines and usually lampooning the social attitudes of the upper classes. It was often ridiculous in that it imitated several styles, and combined imitations of authors and artists with absurd descriptions. In this, the term was often used interchangeably with "pastiche," "parody," Possibly due to historical social tensions between the upper classes and lower classes of society, much of the humor and entertainment focused on lowbrow and ribald subjects. The popularity of these shows, and their audiences, grew.

The girls of burlesque originally started fully clothed...and stayed that way. The bounce came from a lack of the heavy undergarments of the time. What girl can really dance in a corset, bustle, bloomers, stockings, chemise, slip, underskirt, and full dress over it all with hat and high heels?? Necessity lead to the Burlesque girl. Scandelous behavior such as showing their ankles brought the men into the theatre. But of course most just read it for the articles...err..came to the show for the satire and comedy. Yeah, that's it.

Time progressed and theatre owners, of course, noticed the girls were the draw. The girls became the headliners and thusly gained the independence to take off or leave on as much as they wanted. They also learned that developing shows into pieces of performance art which often included humor and gymnastic acts, really sent them to top billing. Often girls would travel from theatre to theatre (known as "wheels").

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The modern age brought in recorded music, moving pictures, and cheaper productions. Modern convenience became the common place. Live performance was only for special occasions. Why go out when you can have everything delivered? Because you cant get passion, love, laughter, wit, and high energy emotions from a television. Modern burlesque brings all of these through the outpouring souls of live performers creating everything from the music to the cosutmes to their own dances.

Leave your house and go to a show. Ten bucks wont buy you a tank of gas, but we can take you to another world for a few hours. Your cable company cant bring you that, no matter how fast the connection is. Visit us for one night, you'll see what we mean!

Burlesque Found it's apex when encompassing all aspects of vaudville. That's what Big Mammas Productions strives for.

Without question, however, burlesque's principal legacy as a cultural form was its establishment of patterns of gender representation that forever changed the role of the woman on the American stage and later influenced her role on the screen. . . The very sight of a female body not covered by the accepted costume of bourgeois respectability forcefully if playfully called attention to the entire question of the "place" of woman in American society.
- Robert G. Allen, Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture (Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1991), pp. 258-259.

Parts of this information were gratiously borrowed from Musicals101.com