Titillation in Isolation: Interview with Dora Bones
Credit: Dora Bones
A pair of gloved hands tantalizingly trace the outline of a face mask. Bedazzled and made of leopard print fabric, these are hardly the medical accessories we’ve become so used to; rather, they are part of Dora Bones’ most recent stage kitten outfit. Slowly, she peels the mask from her face to reveal a saucy grin. She glides it across her body, like a feather boa or stocking, before playfully twirling it and tossing it aside. No boisterous audience member will be catching it, however (save for perhaps one of her pet cats); this sequence is filmed in Dora’s home, and will be the introduction of an online revue show.
As the pandemic continues to overstay its welcome, artists continue to contend with its presence, in both their practice and daily lives. Dora’s bedazzled mask, integrated into her performance through matching fabric and its function as just another object to be disrobed, encapsulates the adaptability of burlesque. In her words, “(…) burlesque is scrappy. Burlesque history is a history of perseverance and adaptation. So I think it’s an especially perfect art form for ‘interesting times’.”
In March 2020, faced with canceled shows and an uncertain future, members of Ottawa’s burlesque community girded (or girdled, if you will,) their loins and quickly adapted their live performances for our increasingly online world. Dora Bones, alongside friends and fellow performers, began Burlesque 5 à 7, a monthly online revue featuring local talent. We had the pleasure of chatting with Dora for Nosy Mag, and discussed the pandemic’s impact on creators, on performance as a medium, and the trajectory of burlesque’s future.
Credit: Evan Splett Photography
When did you start doing burlesque? What drew you to it?
I fell in love with burlesque in my late teens. It’s a difficult thing to describe, I think, but I definitely had an instant attraction to the art form. I had been brought to a party at a bar (Babylon) by friends and there were burlesque performances, and I’m pretty sure I fell to my knees on the grimy, sticky dance floor in a slightly intoxicated and very dramatic gesture.
And drama aside, it really was a revelation – I’ve been deeply in love with the art form ever since that first moment. Like with most true loves I don’t think there’s much rational thought involved…but I know that I love the simplicity of the form’s parameters – that it is essentially this very specific thing (striptease reveals) but at the same time, it can be absolutely anything at all. Having grown up with a formal arts education, I love that it allows me to find a more adult use for all of these random skills and knowledge accumulated from a childhood as a theatre kid, dance brat, band geek, etc. It’s a way to channel all of those things that I was lucky enough to experience and learn as a kid, but previously had no way to continue as an alleged “grown-up.” And a way to explore and express sensuality, with some good old-fashioned low brow bawdiness.
I also find the history of burlesque, the stories of the legends who created this art-form, endlessly inspiring – especially as someone who’s worked in modern strip-clubs which they paved the way for. If ever I’m feeling discouraged I always go back to their stories and their acts, and they never fail to make me fall in love all over again.
What were your initial feelings when Ottawa went into lockdown? (Both personally, and as a performer)
When the first COVID-19 cases were announced in Canada, it was absolutely terrifying. In our industry, there were a lot of tough conversations between producers and performers as to whether or not gigs should be cancelled – ultimately the initial lockdown measures felt like a bit of a relief, as strange as it sounds, because it took the responsibility away from individuals who were having to decide between endangering themselves and others, and being able to work and pay rent.
As an immunocompromised person it spared me from having to cancel all of my gigs myself, which I would have had to do anyways. As q as I love being on-stage, as much as I love burlesque, it’s irresponsible to knowingly risk my life and the lives of others. It also came with the slower realizations that this virus is going to have long-lasting impacts, and people like me who are at higher risk are going to be unable to be back on-stage for a long time – likely considerably longer than some of our peers.
How difficult was the transition to digital performances? Was it an exciting prospect, or an intimidating one?
I think it was definitely both.
When I first started working on producing burlesque online (as part of Burlesque 5à7) it was very much born of a feeling of, “OK, this is doable.” I saw an opportunity for something that could be done, and spent a few weeks just sort of waiting to see who would be the one to step up and do it…and then when the online offerings remained minimal it was sort of an… “ok, I guess it’s going to be us, then.” Of course later I realized just how long it takes to put these shows together and that a lot more folks were working on things, they just weren’t yet at the stage where we knew about them, and that made a lot more sense! There’s so many more options for online burlesque now which I think is a really wonderful thing. I think my initial approach was mostly from a problem-solving perspective, and that spared me a lot of the nervousness that normally comes along with a new project with unknown outcomes!
And there were also lots of little bits of luck - I’m lucky enough that my partner works in film/television and is a professional video-editor, so those skills were immediately accessible to us, whereas so many folks had to pick up this entire new skillset. I’m lucky that I have prior event planning experience and know my way around online ticketing, etc. It was a lot of previously unrelated knowledge and skills falling into place. And that’s what led to that initial realization, I think, of “hey, we could do this, and create this opportunity for folks.”
As a performer it felt like more of an imperfect solution at first – I was just really grateful for a way to be able to work, to be able to perform while unable to leave my house. A distraction from the very real and visceral fear. But more and more I’ve fallen in love with digital performance, and have come to appreciate it on its own merits.
Also, it’s allowed me to do things I simply wouldn’t have been able to do if they weren’t online – shows based in other cities, time zones, countries. Being so involved in producing – it’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages, but I simply didn’t have the financial or physical ability as a chronically ill person. That math looks very different online.
Credit: Dora Bones
What do you feel you gain and/or lose when doing digital performances vs. live shows? Do you miss having a crowd egging you on? Do you enjoy the creative control of being able to pre-record your work?
It’s funny because despite the end result being similar for the audience (or at least I hope so), I really do see the two as being completely different. Like anything, there are pros and cons to both. I think we’ve gained some amazing things with the growth of digital performance – the ability to control exactly what the audience sees, for one thing. As a control freak, that benefit of pre-recorded acts appeals to me immensely – and is why all of our Burlesque 5à7 shows are pre-recorded. I’ve found I really love the laser-focused attention you can give to your audience through the camera, playing around with this fascinating singular/collective gaze. We aren’t limited by distance or even time zones or borders in terms of who can perform, and who can create, together.
Just getting to play with visual effects and editing in ways we can’t in person – we can have instant costume changes, and set changes. I’ve been playing around with layering videos, and that’s a sentence I wouldn’t have dreamed of saying a year ago. For example, I have an act where I’m a ghost and I’ve been able to do some really fun stuff with visual effects, so that I actually fade in and out in the video, and that’s been so much fun to play around with. We recently had a performance in one of our Burlesque 5à7 shows where this amazing performer was able to portray their burlesque and drag personas onscreen at the same time; something that wouldn’t be possible with stage alone (for example, the lovely Rita Slayworth/Ron Schlongson in our Whiskey&Go-Go show). And it created this really special act that wouldn’t have come to be if it weren’t for this specific moment in time, and the mediums we’re using because of it. That was a really special moment and it really enhanced my appreciation for what we’re doing with the online shows.
But at the same time, I don’t think we’ve regained anything that we’re missing from in-person performing. There’s no audience interaction, none of the exciting, immediate improvisation that happens in response to our audience members. There’s no exciting moment waiting in the wings, no stage lights, no applause. The energy is very different alone in your living room, and it can be hard, I think, to conjure up the same stage presence without that give-and-take between performer and audience that is so integral to live performance. (As much as they might be appreciated, audience interactions through lives and zoom shows are still…cold. It’s just not the same.) And selfishly, I miss seeing my friends backstage in dressing rooms. I miss watching them perform from the wings. I miss that informal peer-review and feedback and the chance to get to know my peers.
The merits of both are really very different – I definitely don’t see this as replacing the thrill of being on a real stage in that way. But we have gained some really amazing elements with digital performing, and personally I hope we can keep the best of both moving forwards.
It’s funny, I had really been wanting to play around with using pre-recorded video more in burlesque already, prior to the pandemic – we’ve done some initial experimenting with things like projecting video loops overtop of performers, creating atmospheric visuals in venues, etc., and using audio-visual elements in interactive ways. I’m super excited by the prospect of getting to find ways to marry the two forms in the future. Or should I say, the “After!”
How did the burlesque community respond to the lockdown?
Losing performance income has been absolutely devastating for performers, and while CERB has been a godsend for many, there are so many folks who were either unable to access the support they need to survive, or to simply live in major cities where 2k doesn’t begin to cover expenses. I have friends who can’t access benefits because they do sex work. Friends who relied on off-the-books income that’s now disappeared. I’ve contributed to more go-fund-me’s and survival funds this year than any other. It’s been very hard.
But sex workers and strippers - and that is absolutely what burlesque has been historically, so I personally see us all as within this broader historical context, even though only some folks individually are/identify as sex workers and/or strippers - have always been resilient. We’ve had to be, and this past year-ish we’ve shown that again and again. I think our community responded the way that it always has: We’ve adapted, been creative, found ways to continue to survive, found ways to continue to create art and make beauty in difficult circumstances. And we’ve also found ways to continue to bring sensuality and sexual expression to the masses, while experiencing extensive censorship and stigmatization.
If you’ll excuse the bit of a tangent, this is something that’s become a bigger barrier for us even as the pandemic rages on, and something that folks might not be aware of, but the application of policies influenced by FOSTA/SESTA on social media and other platforms are making it harder and harder for all sex workers and sex-adjacent workers to be able to express themselves and find audiences for our work. We’re being de-platformed en-masse while celebrities and other non-sex-workers are able to post similar, even more sexualized content, with no repercussions. We see pole fit content allowed while identical content by actual strippers result in their accounts being deleted. And this is visibly worse for Performers of Colour, and worse for folks with larger bodies. It’s destroying livelihoods. We see new legislation being brought forward in the chaos that is the United States that is poised to make things even more devastating, with essentially no pushback. It’s terrible. They’re still ignoring the warnings about how this absolutely will cause untold harm, even though they have evidence of it now…it’s beyond disheartening. If it was any other industry, we would see our government get involved – why should the USA get to determine global policies, while simultaneously negatively impacting thousands of incomes here in Canada with their terrible legislation? But there’s just crickets. Because despite unprecedented demand for “sexy” and “sexualized” content, despite the overwhelming popularity of sites like OnlyFans, our livelihoods and lives don’t matter to them.
We talked a bit about the importance of social media and how it helped sow the seeds of online/digital burlesque content, but in addition, it has the potential to be our undoing as well – if they follow through on threats associated with the new Facebook and Instagram terms of service, we could see our entire industry disappear from their platforms entirely. Platforms that have become ubiquitous to our modern lives. And that would be devastating.
We’re currently on a 2-month break with Burlesque 5à7 as we try to figure out what we can do to keep our content on these platforms. Nothing in any of our shows is more than PG13, there’s nothing explicitly sexual. You could be more nude, legally, in public. But we’ve been banned from running ads on Instagram and have multiple strikes against our account, for “solicitation”. They’ve limited our reach on Facebook as well. Our content is very PG, much more PG than I personally would like it to be, because of these concerns. My grandmother watches our shows. But we’re still being impacted despite trying to cater our content around their rules. We’ve tried to do everything just so. Everything has very, very strict age restrictions. But it doesn’t seem to matter much, and it’s impacted our ability to grow and connect with our audiences. We’ve had so many great ideas that we’re afraid to try out because it could mean we lose our platforms entirely, and permanently. It’s demoralizing.
I think this is a frustration that’s running as an undercurrent through a lot of the online content creation that’s going on, and I wish the general public was more aware of this struggle – we’re out here, adapting, creating, managing to still make art, and at every other turn there’s needless opposition. And as much as I believe we are resilient and believe that our community will find ways, I like to say: The one thing that’s better than resilience is not having to be resilient. And I feel like that is extra-applicable here.
Has there ever been online options for burlesque, or is this uncharted territory?
I personally believe that this transition to digital entertainment was inevitable – and had already been happening prior to COVID. We were already seeing the use of media like Instagram videos and tiktok becoming more and more vital. Many performers have YouTube channels, etc., and rely on videos to share performances on platforms like Patreon.
I also think that, before this, people were increasingly experiencing a fairly universal phenomenon: Really wanting to go out and do things, and then not actually managing to leave the house. While I believe there will definitely be a lot less of that post-COVID, the idea of being able to experience entertainment from all over the world, without leaving your couch, has long-lasting appeal. I think that this was where we were headed anyways – and that COVID just sped the process up.
Credit: Dora Bones
Do you think it's important that online burlesque continues during lockdowns? If so, why?
I think it’s important that burlesque continues regardless of the circumstances. Although personally my own motivations have been more selfish – I started working on online productions in order to help my friends be less depressed and more able to pay their rent. And I think that’s valid on a less personal scale – I believe it’s very important for us as artists to have avenues available to us that allow us to be creative during this time. (Although on the other hand, I know this time has also been valuable for folks who are choosing to take this as a break).
But I think it’s important for artists, performing artists especially, to be able to work within their fields right now, to have paid opportunities to do their jobs, however they are able to, safely and without endangering others. There’s so much disrespect and pressure to simply change professions, abandon years of training and career momentum, and I think it’s important for us to persevere and push back against this. And burlesque is scrappy... Burlesque history is a history of perseverance and adaptation. So I think it’s an especially perfect art form for “interesting times.”
Where do you see the future of local burlesque in the “After”? Should online accessibility continue? Will it be difficult for performers to recuperate losses and gain back an audience?
Oh gosh, I honestly don’t think I’ve even really let myself think about the “After” in that way! I think I might be hopeful enough to be excited to see what our local scenes look like. I hope they are diverse and expressive; an explosion of creativity. I hope that it’s not just a few better-resourced people using their privilege to give themselves power.
I do optimistically believe that online is here to stay. As someone who personally benefits from the accessibility, as someone who has fallen in love with this medium for burlesque, and also as someone who loves producing online shows!
I’m going to fight for it. Even just offering recorded video of an in-person show is such a relatively simple thing to do…why not do it, if it makes your show accessible even just to a handful of people who would otherwise miss out?
I think that we have to acknowledge that there are going to be immense inequalities coming out of this, even more than the immense inequalities already present in burlesque and in all of the arts presently. If we want to pretend to be a community (community focus is very much a thing in burlesque), we have to do the actual work to uplift the folks who have been the most negatively impacted and ensure access to a more level playing field. But even saying that, I know it’s unrealistic – we’ve already had a taste of how this will play out when restrictions have been loosened. Our industry is, ultimately, competitive, and there are always people who feel the need to do whatever it takes to get ahead – including risking theirs and other peoples’ lives, and undercutting folks who might demand better pay, or safety measures. When there’s financial/work scarcity, we see people doing whatever they feel they have to in order to survive, and while I personally place no blame on doing so, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still broader, negative impacts. …When we first started doing online burlesque, I remember having these optimistic conversations about how this could be an equalizer – hypothetically everyone has access to the same resources, right? But of course that’s not exactly how it played out.
Ultimately, we need for the folks with the most resources to be willing to give some up for other people, we all need to care about each other, and care even when we aren’t personally being impacted. And that’s just like, generic COVID stuff, but it’s true in our specific industry as well. I hope we can move forwards by addressing these issues head on, and leaving behind what we’ve outgrown.
There have absolutely been some serious shifts, I think, in terms of acknowledging who really are the powerhouses, the real leaders pushing this art form forwards and innovating, and ultimately making really impactful art. We’ve seen folks absolutely flourish with the larger audiences that online has made possible; audiences that they have always deserved but maybe struggled to find due to simple geography. I’m so excited to see what some of these individuals and groups do with their growing audiences as we shift back towards in-person entertainment.
I hope that our audiences are still out there – I also hope that our online efforts during this time help nurture them, at least hold their attention a bit. I hope that our governments step in and provide people with enough support that we won’t have to endure even more scarcity after this. I’m holding out hope, however naïve, for broad income support here in Canada, and for the robust arts funding that would see us having enough performance opportunities to go around. (A girl can dream, right?)
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"Don't miss this month's revue from 5à7, 'Love Potion'! Premieres March 25th, tickets available here.
Resources
Burlesque 5 à 7:
AMPLIFY:
Burlesque funding and scholarships for PoC Performers (Montreal only right now) Doing very VERY important work to address inequalities in burlesque and ensure equal access to training for BIPOC performers:
Other Canadian Burlesque productions/performers:
Kreative Kulture TO (Toronto) | Instagram
Virago Nation (Vancouver) | Instagram
Pointed Cap Playhouse (Toronto) | Instagram
Lust Cove Burlesque collective (mostly Montreal-based) | Instagram
Cellar Door is a very cool monthly online stripclub. (Vancouver-based) | Instagram