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San Diego's Diversionary Theater Is Bringing Back Burlesque

The cast of "In the Va Va Voom Room" display the diversity of burlesque dance styles.
Raymond Elstad
The cast of "In the Va Va Voom Room" display the diversity of burlesque dance styles.

San Diego's Diversionary Theater Is Bringing Back Burlesque
San Diego's Diversionary Theater Is Bringing Back Burlesque GUEST:Michael Mizerany, choreographer, "In The Va Va Voom Room"

Is an art not talked about much in public, striptease. It used to be on display with flair and feathers across the nation. Now that it is not that much of a big deal the 21st century, is there any place left for the sly in sexy dances? The answer seems to be yes. For the second year in a row, Michael will present content -- "In The Va Va Voom Room". Welcome to the program. Thank you. One made you want to develop this? Back I was intrigued by burlesque, the victor -- especially Victorian era. A really did not get into this trippy -- peace -- kept these aspect. This combines the Victorian era and striptease and makes it one show. It is not only women on display? Back no, equal opportunity. The men are there also. Definitely. Tell us about the entertainment for "In The Va Va Voom Room" . I am looking at extreme fighting. It starts out with two guys on stage. They are sizing each other's up. They are closed. As they fight and Russell, the closed come off. It takes on a different meaning as they get their close off. The wrestling become an Homo. Making fun of how we view sports and fighting. Is okay if men are close in that aspect but this is still out. You can kill them but not just them. What about the other entertainment? There are eight. Four people are doing dances and then four people are doing other dances. What are the entertainment that was a quick One dance is on a pole dance. We brought in a pole on a base. It is really hot. It is pole dancing but there is a storyline and ball. were trying to choose between two lovers. They both come on an advisor but in the end she remains alone whether by choice or because they leave her widowed. Is a narrative about not just disturbing but why you disrobed and how you disrobe and what is the motive behind. Laster "In The Va Va Voom Room" was a great success. Wide audience like it? Because we embraced the burlesque feel. Feel that that was a cabaret. The jokes were really raunchy. The audience loved it so much. It gave them a freedom to sit back and watch and have fun. They can just sit back and watch what is going on and have a good time. Is a comedy about? Back there is comedy in the dance. It's all dance. There is no talking. The older generation of burlesque, this is from the old 30s and 40s and 50s of the last century. It was about teasing the audience making what they were seeing more than they were. Yes. Is that still part of the show? Packet is. No one gets totally naked in a show. There are a couple of backsides but it is the art of the disease. See this and blackout. You do not really see anything except a couple of black -- backsides. It is about a lowering and being sexy. It is about being central and not about being lewd. Do you do -- to use the standard trip -- striptease is a? That one piece does. The is a scene that happens and are close all over the stage. A person comes in and says I have to clean this up? There's a whole segment of him dancing with the brown. One thing you say about the performers in the show, some find it empowering to be able to entice an audience this way and to also show their bodies in this way. Why is that? Back and do not dictate body types. If they can dance, they are in. People who do not have the body type you think, they come in any field again, an heir beautiful. Is not just about being themselves. It is about being comfortable in your skin and fighting empowerment in that. From what you say, sounds as if you think that burlesque, the art of the striptease, it is an art form? Packet is an art form it definitely is an artform. There is a way to disrobe and be sexy and sexual without it being lewd. That is an artform. What you hear from audiences after the show? Laster, they had such a good time. They loved it so much. I had been speaking with Michael Mizerany and "In The Va Va Voom Room" place this Thursday through Sunday. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to be here. Join us tomorrow for KPBS Midday Edition at noon. If you miss a show, you can check out the podcast at kpbs.org . I am Maureen Cavanaugh. Thank you for listening.

San Diego's Diversionary Theater is bringing back its very popular burlesque show, "In The Va Va Voom Room," to ring in 2017. The first run of the show in Jan. 2016 played for sold-out audiences.

This year's show features four men and four women dancers performing acts designed by four choreographers.

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Burlesque is not often talked about as an artform. Choreographer Michael Mizerany said the show is not about taking off clothes, "It's about how you take off your clothes and the way you do it is empowering."

One new addition to this year's "In the Va Va Voom Room" is pole dancing.

The Art of Pole Dancing

Pole dancing often conjures up negative connotations. Even the online Oxford Dictionaries link pole dancing to strip clubs. But pole dancer Victoria LeBrun challenged those stereotypes: "It’s quite a battle because there’s the issue of wanting people to take away that stigma, you know people need to know that pole does exist outside of strip clubs but at the same time I find it just as important for people to take away the negative stigma that comes with strip clubs."

Dancer Steven Beasley added, " There’s also a whole other preconception or stigma with men doing pole. So they say how does a man look sexy or how is a man be masculine with a pole but there is a lot of movements that are not just feminine there’s a lot of strength that’s involved."

Beasley displays that strength in the dance "Way Down We Go" choreographed by Cara Steen in "In the Va Va Voom Room." Steen, who is also one of the dancers, sees pole dancing as an art form.

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"Just like any type of art, it can go in so many different directions and that’s why I believe it’s so important to bring it to a stage, to bring it to a theater so that we are experiencing the diversity of what pole has to offer instead of simply just seeing it in the form of a strip club," Steen said.

Steen’s background is in classical dance but she began pole dancing three years ago.

"I found that it fully resonated with who I am and what I love and combined so many different elements of strength and flexibility and sensuality and an element of feminine side and it combined it all with musicality and performance and so pole kind of felt like a direction that I wanted to go in my performance art career," Steen explained.

Her choreography has such beauty that you might miss how much strength and athleticism is involved.

"Oh my goodness it absolutely takes a lot of discipline, a lot of training, a lot of bruising," Steen said.

"The biggest difference that I saw from going from aerial to pole was just the different type of pain," Beasley said. "I definitely had the strength I needed to have in terms of the conditioning aspects but I had a lot of points on my body that usually don’t touch the apparatus in terms of like inner thigh, or the side of my back or my rib so I didn’t have any callouses and I had to work some of those nerves down a little bit but other than that it worked out pretty good in terms of the transition."

LeBrun said she used to be overweight, "I could not do a push up when I started pole nor could I do touch my toes. Now I can bust out ten pull ups solid, I’m relatively flexible. It’s done amazing things for my mind and body. I am more comfortable in who I am."

"It’s a full body workout," Steen added. "We are using our upper body strength to pull, we’re using our legs to push and to squeeze, we are using our core to engage and to lift so it really is it’s full and it’s dynamic and… With that practice comes a sense of lightness and I think you can see that and you can feel it as you progress and as you train and as you get stronger."

Last year audiences were treated to an "In the Va Va Voom Room" that was decidedly burlesque from start to finish but LeBrun said "Way Down We Go" won’t adhere to traditional notions of burlesque either.

"I definitely think it has beautiful, sensual elements to it, definitely accents that are similar to burlesque. I think it’s definitely more on the side of just the pole fitness and the contemporary I’d say it’s more contemporary than anything," LeBrun said.

"So just come and experience something that maybe you haven’t experienced before," Steen concluded.

And after, you might be inclined to define pole dancing in a whole new way.

"In The Va Va Voom Room" runs Jan. 5 - 8 at the Diversionary Theater located at 4545 Park Boulevard in University Heights.