Toronto Burlesque Festival's REVERIE challenges who gets to take the stage
Festival director Ivory says the four-day event is about celebrating the artists behind the performances, not just what the audience sees.
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The Toronto Burlesque Festival returns November 12 to 15 with REVERIE, a four-day run of burlesque, drag and cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. If you have been to this festival before, you know the drill: the room fills with people who came for the glamour and leave arguing about what they saw.
Organizers chose about 50 performers from more than 500 applications for this year's international lineup. The artist-led, non-profit festival has run since 2008, and it has always drawn performers from Toronto, across Canada and beyond.
Festival director and board chair Ivory says the event is about the artists behind the performances. "These are comedians, these are dancers, these are storytellers, these are political activists, these are boundary pushers, and they are redefining what beauty, sexuality, autonomy, resistance, resilience, and performance can look like around the world," she told Queer & Now.
Ivory describes burlesque as dance, comedy, satire, glamour and storytelling combined. "It's a little bit funny, it's a little bit cheeky, it's often highly politicized," she said, adding that striptease is one part of the art form, not the whole of it.
Headliner Jezebel Express, who has performed since 2004, puts it more bluntly. Many performers want to push back against separating burlesque from stripping. "What we do is stripping," she said. "It's fundamentally taking your clothes off in a bar for entertainment purposes, and it's really important for people to hold that line."
The festival runs November 12 to 15 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
The details
Where is the Toronto Burlesque Festival held?
The Toronto Burlesque Festival's REVERIE is held at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. The four-day event features burlesque, drag and cabaret.
Who runs the Toronto Burlesque Festival?
Ivory is the festival director and board chair of the Toronto Burlesque Festival. She says the event focuses on the artists behind the performances.
How many performers are in the Toronto Burlesque Festival lineup?
The Toronto Burlesque Festival's international lineup includes about 50 performers. Organizers chose them from more than 500 applications.
Who is the headliner at REVERIE?
Jezebel Express is the headliner at the
