Bird's Eye View

Burlesque Undressed: An Interview with Alison Grist

Immodesty Blaize in Burlesque Undressed

Immodesty Blaize stars in Burlesque Undressed; an exclusive behind the scenes look at the art of tease.  The film features dazzling live performances, lavish costumes and interviews with burlesque stars past and present.  Warm, celebratory, cheeky, glamorous and revelatory, this is the ultimate film on burlesque.  Immodesty was a special guest at our festival last year as part of the Femme Fatals season and we were were excited to get an interview with director Alison Grist.

JC.  When did your interest in Burlesque start?

AG.  I’d been aware of burlesque before and knew who Immodesty Blaize and Dita Von Teese were but I didn’t have any deeper knowledge of the genre.  Actually I remember a scene from a brilliant movie called The Right Stuff about test pilots and pioneering astronauts.  The chosen astronauts were entertained by ‘Sally Rand’ performing her feather dance to an emotional music track that was Clair de Lune by Debussy.  Her performance was intercut with shots of the astronauts looking around at each other with the clearly replicated feeling of ‘we’re being honoured here, we’re the chosen ones, we’re making history, we’ve survived so far, we’re made of the right stuff’.  It was a potent mix of celebration and wonder and worked perfectly with Sally’s signature feather dance.

JC.  How did the collaboration with Immodesty Blaize come about?

AG.  I’d posted on my LinkedIn page that ‘I was now seeking interesting projects’ and I got a call from one of my connections the very next day about the burlesque film.  It sounded like a wonderful project so I met with Immodesty and the Producers and it all went from there.

JC.  What did you enjoy most about working with her and the other stars?

AG.  Immodesty is extremely bright and articulate and has her opinion.  I loved talking to her and hearing her passion for what she does.  A lot of our chats ended up in the film either in vision with Immodesty saying them or in commentary.  They shaped the film.  Immodesty was great fun when she came into the edit too, professional but also fun to have a laugh and banter with.  She had a dream for this film and has been determined to make it happen.  Hopefully we’ve achieved that dream.

JC.  Burlesque seems to be enjoying a renaissance lately with artists such as Dita von Teese, and of course Immodesty Blaize being well known names.  Why do you think this is?

AG.  In the film Immodesty says she thinks people need something like this right now when world news is pretty bleak from the recession to global warming.  Burlesque is another world for people to escape into that’s not depressing or morbid.  Audiences come to Immodesty’s Tease shows dressed up for a glamorous night out and just want to be entertained in a lovely setting.

JC.  Was this a factor in deciding to make the film now?

Showcasing lavish costumes

AG.  It makes complete sense to produce the film right now and especially to be releasing the film in the depths of a January that’s cold and dark (in this country at least!).  It gives hope for the New Year and it’s fun, there are such great stories in this film from the older American legends which will make you laugh out loud.

Originally Immodesty’s The Tease Show was filmed last May and was going to be released as a pure performance DVD.  But we decided it would be better to save particular performances for the heart of the film and weave the story of burlesque around them in a documentary style, so when audiences watch the performances they will understand the references and also gain significant insight into what effort it takes to create and stage an act.

There’s also a feature film in production called Burlesque starring Cher and Christina Aguilera which is due out later this year.  If reports are to be believed, Cher has seen our film and loved it.  We’re hoping our documentary will compliment her movie and even prepare audiences for it.  We’re also hoping TV channels across the world will broadcast our documentary film later this year.

JC.  The majority of the audience at the shows seem to be women. Do you think that today’s Burlesque is maybe even more popular with women than it is with men?

AG.  Immodesty told me she believes her audiences are made up of 60% women, 40% men.  So yes, I think women do choose to go to these shows and take their male friends with them, who are very pleasantly surprised.   Women love to dress up, they love the glamour aspect, they appreciate the female form, the costumes, the dance, the humour and there’s probably another aspect - they’d secretly love to try burlesque themselves.  If you check out the Ministry of Burlesque website, you’ll see that thousands of women (and also many men) up and down the UK are connected by a love of burlesque.

JC.  In our current climate of the media being obsessed with weight and body image, do you think that Burlesque artists offer positive female role models?

AG.  Yes definitely.  But remember that the majority of professional striptease artists work incredibly hard on maintaining their bodies - they go to the gym, to dance classes, do yoga, drink lots of water, etc.,  The misconception is that burlesque is about a bunch of larger ladies on the stage taking off their clothes in order to feel empowered.  Actually most burlesque performers have amazing figures, naturally tiny waists and larger busts and hips.  The outfits serve to highlight these figures.  The great thing for me is to see women with curves who are not afraid to use them.  Remember Marilyn Monroe’s wiggle walk and how people reacted to that on film?  It’s the same in burlesque and walking with a tight corset and high heels only accentuates the curves so as they sway our eyes are drawn in and we appreciate the female form in all its glory.

JC.  Do you think that modern audiences go to Burlesque shows for the same reasons as, for example, a 1940s audience?

AG.  Yes, I think it’s probably the same.  The main thing is that they go to be entertained, to have a laugh, to be thrilled and for a frisson of sexual excitement.  In many theatres in the 1940s the audiences would be mostly men.  I guess some would be of the dirty mac variety (!) which you don’t get today.  But, the majority would go to be teased and to be encouraged to laugh out loud and forget their troubles, soldiers on leave from the war for instance.  There’s something wonderful about performers who make their audiences forget their woes outside the theatre.

Burlesque Undressed is released on 21st January. Show your support by going to see it on its opening weekend release. For more information, vistit our First Weekenders page.