DEAF installment 2... a bit more grown up.

So after wandering around the Deep Ellum Arts Festival all day Saturday, as the sun was going down I was hanging around at Leroy Roper's gallery opening when I was asked to shoot the burlesque show.

Now, it's not that I wasn't planning to watch the show... I am quite fond of ladies taking their clothes off on stage... but I always feel somewhat creepy being a "Guy With Camera," so I wasn't intending to take the above pictures. But then our official Copasetic photographer said to me "I don't have my flash. Could you shoot the girls?"

Despite the kidding about how rough my job is, having to photograph a stage show of sexy ladies shakin' it I found that my camera, even with flash, was woefully inadequate for the task. That is why, during the editing process, I hit upon the odd style that you see in some of the final shots. That's the great thing about the creative process. As horribly mangled and unusable as standard portraiture as my photos were, they screamed to be manipulated and stylized into something that really goes with the burlesque/pinup feel. I hope I achieved that.

So, what is the point of all of this?

Dallas recently had their first coordinated Burlesque Festival. The Lollie Bombs played a recent Con, burlesque troupes are playing Arts Festivals, have standing gigs at several local clubs. Burlesque is mainstream.

Not just that. Burlesque, much like the recently resurgent Roller Derby, is a entertainment medium featuring women not afraid to be sexual, aggressive, and independent. It is run by women, managed and promoted by women.

I wasn't really thinking about this that much, but then I wandered back into Leroy's gallery and witnessed a massive outpouring of love and appreciation from his models which got me pondering. You see, Leroy Roper is, among other things, a body painter with an incredible artistic process to help his models reinvent and discover themselves through his art. As such, he is one of the most "feminist" artists (as far as philosophy behind his art) hat I know. Yet some people might look at his work and simply think, "oh, it's a naked woman painted all pretty..."

Let me add an aside here. The fire dancer I have included shots of is a lovely young lady named Whitney, who I first met being painted by Leroy as the 2008 Dragon Goddess. I'm kicking out so much praise for talent in this entry that I have to include her performance.

So I want to bring this back to burlesque. One may just see girls on stage being titillating, but I think the aim of a show is aimed less toward a prurient audience (even though we horndog men provide an eager and stable revenue base... yes, my brain still overrides and just sees 'naked lady!') but really is an art that benefits the performer more than the audience.

Burlesque is an outlet for women to be openly sexy, to be in the spotlight, and to be unabashadely adored. I could write all night about all of the positive things that I think the growing Dallas burlesque scene adds to the world, and how it demonstrates advances in our society, but I think it would just make me seem like a fawning sycophant. I can't help it if I have to write dissertations to justify the fact that I like girls who enjoy taking their clothes off.

So let me keep this brief and, just add my kudos, drop in some links as shameless plugs, and wish all of these girls the best. Hopefully we will see the Dallas Burlesque Festival become an annual event.

tags: deep  ellum  arts  festival  burlesque  ruby  revue  ginger  valentine  rose  darling  feminism  leroy  roper  copasetic  tiffany  diamond  

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