“The time that I spent in Paris going to burlesque shows and meeting artists helped me understand the power of this genre of performance. Burlesque is a tool of empowerment: performers and audiences alike get to experience a space where different bodies and sexualities are applauded, and where artists can engage with subjects as complex as misogyny, racism, and homophobia in comical yet critical ways. At a neo-burlesque show, you will meet mothers, survivors, queer people, and other diverse performers who take to the stage and undress not only their clothing but also the bigotry and challenges they face in their everyday lives. It is an international art; burlesque was born in the Parisian cabaret, but resurrected in New York only to travel back across the ocean to French stages.”
Ryan Buggy Friedberg Report, fall 2018
(Ryan studied at the Hamilton in Paris Program.)
