Is it Hot in Here? Moisture Festival's Libertease Burlesque Show

The newest place in Seattle to enjoy a showcase of burlesque performers is the Moisture Festival, a 501c3 organization. The three-week long celebration of all the whimsical weirdness, the eerily enchanting charm of turn of century-style tent circus extravaganza, including variete acts, vaudeville, acrobats and jugglers, has added a five-day burlesque program to their repertoire. We sat next to the fierce Iva Handfull, and we “oohh-ed and ahh-ed” in synchronicity at belly dancing bombshell, Fuschia FoXXX, who shuffles, gyrates, convulses and thrusts her hips and chest in rhythmic perfection, Inga Ingénue’s technical yet ethereal tribute to Sally Rand, Manuella Horn, the 6’2 Austrian dominatrix who yodels in perfect melody to “Highway to Hell”, dodged a few flying rubber chickens, and we almost pissed ourselves (we think that’s why they call it the Moisture Festival?) watching Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey perform a gypsy-style psychic reading about two centimeters away from qualifying as sexual assault. Wanna spoiler? The act “finishes off” with the Evil Hate Monkey’s glitter ejaculation sensation.

To reiterate: we love boobs. But as a fashion writer, we’re most captivated by the glamorous, mystifying and unlimited world of burlesque costuming, and its integral role in the performance itself. The slightest strip and shimmy is intricately related to the clothing and/or prop; what ends up on the floor is just as much a part of the act as what is not. In the armoire of a burlesquer, there’s an unexplored and mysterious phenomenon of eclectic hairpieces, recycled fabrics, DIY props and seamstress tricks, and we saw it all backstage with Fuchsia FoXXX and Inga Ingénue.

“In the art of tease, everything you take off has to seem really important and have impact and emphasis. Tease is impacted by fashion because, well, like a rhinestone glove—no one necessarily cares about a glove, but the audience will “oooh” when it sparkles and slaps against the floor,” says Inga.

Wearing a self-sewn nude chiffon panel skirt and brassiere embellished with rhinestones, we discovered that not only are these women professional performers, they’re competent seamstresses, expert embellishers and champions of craftiness.

“Everyone in burlesque is really self-made; it’s all about being crafty and self-reliant, ” says the "Little Blond Bomb." And Fuchsia adds, “Yeah, and rhinestoning that glove yourself can take up to five seasons of “Sex and the City!”.

While there are several well-known costumers to the burlesque community: Jamie Von Stratton and Danial Hellman to name a few, most performers spend a lifetime collecting their various pieces to mix and match, add and edit. Fuchsia, featuring coin-fringed pink wraps on her hips and a beaded brassiere with an impressive antiqued metal necklace sewn on as boning in sheer Xenia the Warrior Princess brilliance offered a different perspective on how costumes impact her art.

“In belly dancing, you never really touch your body like you do in burlesque, and stuff doesn’t come off, but I present them like in burlesque dancing, like with skimpier, sheer clothing, my hair and makeup and in my mood," says Fuchsia.

Inga thoughtfully adds that “Belly dancing encourages you to keep your upper body still and strong and isolate your movements to make the costume move specifically.”

So when these girls shop - we mean collect - they’d probably be in different aisles. Fuchsia looks for things that are going to shine under the lights, but look more old-world, metal jewelry, and oh yeah, PINK. Inga, both a classically trained technical dancer and a traditional bump and grind burlesquer, looks for ruffles, fringe, feathers and lingerie-ish pieces. But there’s no doubt, belly dancing and burlesque aren’t totally unrelated to one another. A lot of the movements in bump and grind burlesque are developed from, as Inga wittingly paraphrases, “white lady basterdized dance interpretations” of belly dancing. Even burlesque performers sometimes borrow the basic architecture of the bedlah belly dance garb (the bra, belt and panel skirt), though usually stripping down to the pasties and thong.

Pasties and thongs—the really fun part! Even Uncle Sam influences burlesque costumes. Much like 100 years ago, Seattle laws require in alcohol serving establishments that thongs must be an inch width up the booty crack, and that pasties must be a certain width to ensure no nipple peepage. But even if uptight Seattle regulations changed, burlesquers probably wouldn’t. Pasties are a beloved component of the burlesque tradition, and for many burlesque performers, the tradition of tease is not one to tamper with.

There are two more days to enjoy the Libertease Burlesque portion of the Moisture Festival:

Act Theater // 7:30pm // $25.00 // 18+
http://www.moisturefestival.org/events/burlesque