Burlesque PH just wants to have fun!
Burlesque PH rekindled my love for creating, reminding me that art is meant to be fun. In a world where creativity is often reduced to its market value, it’s easy to forget that, at its core, art is self-expression. It isn’t meant to exist for an audience; it exists for the artist.
But art is also inherently political. In a world that denies space to many, creating is an act of resistance. It’s a way to take up space and challenge norms. Burlesque, in particular, has long been a form of resistance, subverting puritanical ideals, restrictive gender roles, and societal expectations about bodies.
Young STAR met with Burlesque PH’s president and creative director Antoinette Noir to talk about the power and artistry of burlesque.
YOUNG STAR: How did Burlesque PH start?
ANTOINETTE NOIR: Founded early in 2016, Joyen, Lucky Rapscallion and Giselle came together to form Burlesque PH. Joyen is an artist in the kink scene. Lucky is a burlesque performer and dancer and a professional in styling and hair. Giselle is in the events space.
The Philippines being a very conservative country, people didn't know how to accept us for a while. To initially get a feel for an audience, we've been careful about where to perform and whom to perform for. Then, through the course of doing what we do and educating our audience, we built our following with people who understand and align with the ideals that we promote.
How are you navigating this conservatism?
When people are unsure about how to accept us, we usually invite them to watch our show. By watching our performances, they can see that burlesque is not the same as what they have in mind. It’s not sleazy. It really is an art. If after watching our show they don’t understand it, then they may not be our audience.
Burlesque PH will perform with the all-female stand-up comedy troupe Bitches in Stitches in ‘Bad Romance: An Anti-Valentine’s Day Cabaret.’
Burlesque being burlesque, people have lumped us together with traditional strippers. Although we consider them as our sisters since we do the same thing, burlesque is not for the male fantasy. We don’t cater to the male gaze or the gaze of our audience. It's for our own personal empowerment. What you see is what we want you to see about ourselves.
Is Burlesque PH interested in changing people’s minds?
It’s not so much changing minds but getting rid of misinformation about what we do. People have their own ideas of burlesque and a lot of the time it’s not very accurate.
Burlesque is a bunch of people, not just women, of diverse shapes, sizes, sexuality, and gender orientation, who are choosing to go on stage and be as visible and vulnerable as possible despite what other people may think. It’s its own form of rebellion.
Burlesque is also a platform to further causes like LGBTQ+ acceptance, feminism, body positivity, and sex positivity.
Have these always been your advocacies?
We started doing burlesque for art. Every performer has a set of their advocacies and we tend to attract performers with the same values. But, definitely, we have ideals that are non-negotiables. We don’t, however, limit ourselves to political agenda. Those things just come out. Our main goal is really to entertain people. Have fun.
We are a group of people who want to push for empowering striptease. At its core, that’s who we are. To do that, we make sure that our shows are safe spaces for our performers and audiences to be who they are. Occasionally, we’ll produce shows in collaboration with other artists, like “Bad Romance,” a show we’re doing with Bitches and Stitches.
What are the shows you usually produce?
A lot of the shows we do are mostly in bars. We sometimes do shows based on those venues and other themes. We’ve done shows about Alice in Wonderland, Dante's Divine Comedy, Shakespeare, Milton's Paradise Lost, and murder mysteries. Pre-pandemic, I used to produce Bodabil, a throwback to vaudeville in the Philippines.
Recently, we did a show called “Showgirls & Showtunes,” a burlesque show based on Broadway musicals. Most of us love watching Broadway shows. We do shows about a lot of things that interest us—things we find fun.
Aside from burlesque, we invite standup comedians, acrobats, drag performers and other artists to perform alongside us. It’s really anything we want. Like I said, this is our fantasy.
A recurring theme in our conversation is ownership. How is Burlesque PH providing performers a venue for ownership?
I like to make sure that each performer gets to perform the art that they’re most comfortable with. Some of us are classic burlesque performers, some are modern. (Some performers are) not yet comfortable to strip down to their pasties; some want to be as naked as possible. We take into consideration the performer's level of comfort, style, and even preference for music. I want them to be as authentic to themselves as possible.
What are Burlesque PH’s challenges and how do you navigate them?
One of the biggest challenges is resources. Burlesque is not cheap. I want us to be at a certain level in terms of talent and production. I want us to push ourselves as the premier burlesque group in the country, but not everyone is on the same level.
We have something we call “stitch and bitch.” There’s a lot more bitching than stitching (laughs). We try to do it once a month where we go to someone’s house and share rhinestones, workshop routines, or watch performances that we like to give everyone inspiration. We’ll do a skill exchange and teach people how to style hair. It’s also a way to build community.
On top of that, there’s also the perception of burlesque’s value. We need to find people who are okay with how much we charge. We try to charge based on our skills and the time and resources we’ve put in.
Is finding space for burlesque in the Philippines easy?
Yes and no. Yes, because there are a lot of spaces that are okay with having us but we are quite particular about the spaces we work with. Our acts tend to be vulnerable and we like a certain level of intimacy.
Obviously, with the Philippines being a very Christian country, it is hard to find an audience that is accepting of what we do. I’m glad we have them but there’s not a lot of them. We also deal with the realities of censorship.
What is Burlesque PH’s vision?
I want to do more shows that we like, to get to a point where most of our shows are self-produced and have that be sustainable. We are hoping that burlesque opens people’s minds and teaches them to be kinder and more human. I hope to have spaces not just for burlesque, but for other artists and audiences where they feel safe to perform and consume art.
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Burlesque PH will perform with the all-female stand-up comedy troupe Bitches in Stitches Manila in “Bad Romance: An Anti-Valentine’s Day Cabaret” on Feb. 15 at Sari Sari, Makati. Tickets are available via Ticket2Me. Follow Burlesque PH on Instagram at @burlesqueph.
