Burlesque troupe gives you the skinny on the shimmy

Like a lot of little girls, young Adrianna LeBlanc had a dream.

"I was always a bit of a showboat. I had a fantasy of wanting to be a glamorous lady. I had this image of a very exotic-looking woman in a fur coat and high heels and an evening gown," LeBlanc muses. "But I don't think I ever imagined I'd be going across the country and taking off my clothes."

Oh yes, you read right. As a core member of Toronto burlesque troupe Skin Tight Outta Sight, LeBlanc -- who goes by Sauci Calla Horra onstage, thankyouverymuch -- is on a mission to shimmy, shake and spread the love of burlesque clear across the country.

This week, LeBlanc, Skin Tight founder Tanya Cheex, and rockabilly king Alistair Christl are hitting up the Cavern for the second edition of Strummin' and Strippin', a double-trouble combo of rock 'n' roll and raunch. (The show last stopped by the Cavern in 2007.)

Of course, rockabilly and burlesque go together like... well, rock stars and hot chicks. (It's real life: Cheex and Christl have been a couple for a decade.) "The burlesque revival came from the rockabilly scene through pin-up culture," says Cheex. "A lot of girls were doing the whole 50s coiffed hair... and looking through the old men's magazines and finding the burlesque stars of the day. It was a natural progression."

So with Winnipeg's small but fierce rockabilly tradition, why hasn't the city yet pastied on to the burlesque revival?

"We produce a burlesque festival here in Toronto, and we don't get any applications from Winnipeg," LeBlanc notes. "We got one this year, that was it. Last year, none. I get this idea it's not really happening too much there, even though Winnipeg has an amazing artistic community. In Canada, it tends to be Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver... Halifax has a little scene. It's happening in Calgary."

In other words, time to get shakin', Winnipeg. This isn't your grandpa's strip show... well, actually, it is. And maybe his generation was onto something.

"For me, there's something quite feminist about doing burlesque," LeBlanc says. "Some people don't see it because they think we're just taking off clothes. But we're in complete creative control of what we're doing."

Key word: creative. Skin Tight's stage shows include wild storylines and zany props, like a giant lemon wedge. They even do, um, Bible burlesque. "The audience really gets into it," LeBlanc says. "Well, except for the right-wingers."

Hey, they're missing out. Burlesque is a joyful art; its devotees in on the joke with a wink and a curtsy. But it's not solely a laughing matter: performers use burlesque to challenge mainstream concepts of beauty, from age (LeBlanc is 36; over-the-hill in Playboy terms, but prime for burlesque) and size.

"I'm bigger and curvier than a lot of people, but I don't make that my mandate," says Cheex. "People say to me, 'You're so brave.' What do you mean I'm 'brave?' Do I have some gross deformity that I'm going up there with? In burlesque, there's room for different types of attractiveness without having to get political about it."

Strippin' and Strummin' takes over the Cavern on Tuesday. Tickets are $5 at the door.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 23, 2009 9