Burlesques mix humour, politics and eroticism

Breaking the pattern, questioning the rule and calling attention to everything that leads to a place of oppression. This is the proposal for the performances of the show Burlescagens, which will be presented at 10 pm this Wednesday at Valen Bar (Rua Fabricio Pillar, 27). Directed by Julia Kieling, the play invites reflection, laughter, and – why not? – to voluptuousness.

“Men and women with diverse and free bodies will use music, fantasy, and striptease to create a space where feelings and desires will be on the surface”, advances the publicity material of the group, formed by Alexei Goldenberg, Dara Deon, Franco Mendes, Gabriela Oliveira, Juliana Strehlau, Patrícia de la Rocha, Tamires Mora and Thais Diedrich. Tickets (R$ 30.00) on sale at vamoapp.com.

With a career still young – having debuted with two sessions within Projeto Espaçonave, by Cia. Teatrofidico, at Bar Oeste and made a first performance at Valen Bar, at the end of 2022 – Burlescagens originated in a discipline of the Department of Dramatic Arts (DAD) at Ufrgs. “We got in touch with this universe at the Scenic Experiment Laboratory, which uses cabaret and burlesque language, coordinated by professor Henrique Saidel”, says actress Juliana Strehlau.

At the time, the students of the discipline made an end-of-semester presentation and called the director of Cia. Fidic Theatre, Eduardo Kraemer, to watch. “He liked it and invited us to participate in the Espaçonave Project. We were excited with the result of the experiment and decided to turn it into work.” In addition to the DAD group, the project includes artists from outside the University.

Juliana says that, initially, the process of creating the first numbers happened individually, with each artist making their creation and taking the subjects they would like to talk about on stage – most of them started from the exercises they tried in Saidel’s chair. “The idea is always to work the scenic part with humor, in a mixture of comedy and political awareness. It is a variety show, which changes with each performance”, summarizes the actress, who is also responsible for the production of Burlescagens. “It’s not just about dance, but about a show with a more theatrical side, which is moving towards this thing of having an agenda behind each performance”, he adds.

Each number takes what the performer on the scene considers makes sense to him/herself, within the burlesque atmosphere, emphasizes Tamires, one of the actresses who has no connection with the DAD/Ufrgs, but who joined the project. “In the three presentations we gave, we received a lot of feedback from the public, and this look from the audience, which is instantaneous, is being considered – in addition, of course, to the look of the director, who recently joined and is finishing up the show, as well as well as encouraging playing with the audience and improvisation, two characteristics that are even more present in what will be taken to Valen Bar.”

According to Tamires, the work is succeeding in deconstructing “limited” references to burlesque, which “in general are associated with taking one’s clothes off and gogo boys”. “The way we are dealing with the project allows us to occupy various spaces, from bars to theaters in the city”, he points out. “In fact, we are creating a captive audience, people are following to see what we are doing”, adds Juliana.

The actresses point out that, although most of the research for the creation process was done through a compilation of texts, articles and videos made available by Saidel, the group continues to research the language in other ways. “This includes connections with people who already work with burlesque and who have greater experience, those who opened this path in the city”, emphasizes Juliana. She contextualizes language as one of the first artistic manifestations in human history, which, along with court jesters, used the scene to mock the political, economic and social system in past centuries.

“The cabaret, in turn, emerged in an underground space, which circumvents concepts – they are two paths that emerged in parallel and came together in the proposal”, highlight the actresses. “We know that when talking about burlesque, there is still a lot of prejudice (because it is a language that involves eroticism). time, an important action.”

Considering that in the middle of 2023, people, and especially women, suffer from the standard of body and beauty, Burlescagens takes the stage to inspire and touch the mind and heart of the public, through debauchery. Abusing the “laughter” element, encouraged by the performances, it seeks to disarm the audience to receive points of view that break with old discourses about the body, sex, politics, and the oppressive relations that society condones, without questioning. Those unable to attend this Wednesday still have the opportunity to check out the show on March 8, when the group takes the play to open the 2023 program of Projeto Espaçonave, at Bar Oeste in Porto Alegre.