{"id":9207,"date":"2017-09-08T16:13:40","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T23:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/bringing-back-burlesque\/"},"modified":"2017-09-08T16:13:40","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T23:13:40","slug":"bringing-back-burlesque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/bringing-back-burlesque\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing back burlesque"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been years since Juneau has had a vibrant burlesque scene, and Rachael Byrd hopes that\u2019s starting to change.<\/p>\n

Byrd, who has lived in town for the past 13 years, has seen burlesque take off in other Alaska communities such as Homer. In Juneau, however, she\u2019s seen fewer performances the past few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I know, there\u2019s been more cabaret-style singing in town,\u201d Byrd said, \u201cbut in the last eight or nine years I haven\u2019t seen much burlesque-style events, and we don\u2019t have a troupe.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an attempt to bring not only burlesque but other performance art to Juneau, Byrd began The Byrdcage Performance Art Promotions earlier this year. Since then, she\u2019s brought a comedian and a ukulele musician to town. Tonight, she\u2019s staging her biggest event yet \u2014 The Rebels &Vixens Burlesque and Variety Showcase.<\/p>\n

The Gold Town Nickelodeon will open its doors at 9 p.m. tonight for the event, which will feature eight performers. Six of the performers will be from Juneau, including The Mystic Diamond, Scarlet Dragon, Salty L\u2019Amour, Polaris, Tripp Crouse and Ra\u2019Bell, according to the event poster. VIP seating sold out already, but general seating tickets are $15 and are available to people 21 and older both on the Gold Town\u2019s website<\/a> or at the door. Byrd said 20 percent of proceeds are going to local charities.<\/p>\n

While some might look at burlesque shows as merely a sexed-up dance routine, Byrd said, there\u2019s often a comedic element to it. Burlesque usually does involve a striptease, but it\u2019s also meant to be a parody or social commentary. Byrd laughed as she recalled a recent performance she saw where the performer came on the stage dressed as a burrito, wearing a paper bag and tortilla-colored clothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBurlesque is really fun because you take these outrageous props and turn them into this comedy striptease that\u2019s just wild,\u201d Byrd explained, saying that creativity is far more important to a successful performance than any other factor.<\/p>\n

Local vocalist Salissa Thole will sing between dances, and there will also be a spoken-word performance. Audience members are encouraged to tip as well, and Byrd said it\u2019s fine to just crumple up dollar bills and toss them on the stage during a performance.<\/p>\n

The two headliners, Bobbye Pinup and Bunnicu\u2019La Blanc, hail from Homer and Anchorage, respectively. Rendezvous is providing a no-host bar for the event as well, and Byrd said she often sees the joy of the dancers spread to the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a burlesque dancer and I love it and I can\u2019t get enough of it,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cMy goal is to bring a lot more of that style and variety too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though there hasn\u2019t been a great deal of local burlesque as of late, Byrd is optimistic that there\u2019s still an audience in Juneau. The challenge is finding it, and Friday\u2019s show will be an indicator of how popular burlesque can be here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just sticking toes in the water and seeing what the response is to it,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cSo it\u2019s one show only and, hoping to build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2022 Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com.<\/b><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been years since Juneau has had a vibrant burlesque scene, and Rachael Byrd hopes that\u2019s starting to change. Byrd, who has lived in town for the past 13 years, has seen burlesque take off in other Alaska communities such as Homer. In Juneau, however, she\u2019s seen fewer performances the past few years. \u201cAs far […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":428,"featured_media":9208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-9207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9207"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}