Like the cat in Schrödinger's famous thought experiment, burlesque exists in a dual state of dialectical uncertainty. It both is and is not theatre. It is and is not performance art. It is and is not subject to criticism. Modern burlesque is both defiantly feminist and old-school objectification, simultaneously reflecting female self-empowerment and the leering male gaze. It uses tropes both hetero- and homosexual. It reinforces cultural standards of beauty while exploding those limitations. Burlesque performers will never be confused with the strippers at your cousin's bachelor party, yet they're subject to the same regulations. They perform for us. They perform for themselves. They aren't performing. They are their alter egos. They're not their alter egos. They're our lovers. They're our friends.

American burlesque grew out of music hall entertainment in the early twentieth century. In those days, it was basically any adult vaudeville that included striptease and, more often than not, bawdy comedy including standup. Police raids and a changing sociopolitical climate chased it underground in the 1930s, but it's been resurrected over the last twenty years, and almost entirely by female managers and performers. The so-called "new burlesque" pays tribute to classic acts like Sally Rand and Blaze Starr by incorporating prewar fashion elements; there would be no Dita Von Teese, for example, had there never been a Bettie Page-and what a diminished world that would be.

Miss Indigo Blue, star of A Wink and a Smile, teaches burlesque classes in Seattle and, beginning last year, Olympia. Oly turned out to be a warm, welcoming place for her pulchritudinous purveyors of the ecdysiastic arts. Encouraged by packed graduation shows at Jake's, dancer Frida Fondle organized a local group, TUSH! Burlesque. TUSH! has now played to full houses over the last few months, including the Capitol Theater and back-to-back shows at the Royal Lounge February 11. The entire TUSH! roster, including Lowa deBoomboom, Princess Lucky Buttons, Nani Poonani, Ginger S Mack, and Miss Betty Beelzebub, along with MC Hattie Hotpants, have already become local celebrities-and of course, many in the crowd know these lovely ladies by their "real" names as well. Scary? One has to imagine it is.

Indeed, only a true cad would write negative criticism of ladies sufficiently brave and generous enough to doff their duds for art's sake, and I am not that cad. I've seen several of these performers in action before, and while I believe the dances performed at the Royal were all new, I look forward to the debuts of brand new TUSH!ies. Of course, burlesque isn't just for female performers. Men performed in 1920s burlesque, but as musicians and/or comedians-Abbott and Costello, W. C. Fields, Jackie Gleason, and Milton Berle, to name just a few. Now they're often invited to mention their manly unmentionables as well. Neo-burlesque incorporates camp and drag. A woman in Seattle performs as Elsa Von Schmaltz, but also as Ernie Von Schmaltz-a sleazy, schlubby, moustached male with unruly pits and chest hair. There's a male performer, Oliver Clothesoff (clever) in one of Betty Beelzebub's acts, but he serves mostly as audience surrogate. No doubt future performances will include male striptease artists. After all, Miss Indigo Blue's Academy of Burlesque features a class called Boylesque 101, taught by Von Schmaltz and Waxie Moon, a self-described "gender bending queer lady man." Tassels, meet ponytail. The mind reels.

Correction:  The Capitol Theater show referenced above was actually put on by another company.  Mr. Carvajal was at that show but misremembered.  Both he and the Weekly Volcano deeply regret the error.