The Lalas, a burlesque group from Los Angeles, are set to perform at 7 and 10 p.m. Friday. Credit: Courtesy of MGM Springfield
Rhinestones, fringe, laughter and dancing — anything can happen on a burlesque stage.
The Lalas, a Los Angeles-based burlesque group, are set to perform two shows at the Hollywood Casino Columbus Friday. Erin Lamont, owner and choreographer of The Lalas, said the show has a focus on empowering women through a blend of humor and risque dancing.
“Burlesque is comedy and it needs to be equally hilarious and equally sexy,” Lamont said. “It’ll have a lot of fringe and a lot of rhinestones, but it’s all about the show. For women, by women and in celebration of women.”
Alyssa Stover, a second-year doctoral student with a focus on burlesque in the dance department at Ohio State, said burlesque has changed a lot over the years.
“When you ask, ‘What is burlesque?’ I think it’s really different depending on the era you’re looking at,” Stover said.
Stover said burlesque started in the 1860s when a group called Lydia Thompson and the British Blondes entered the scene. They were not the burlesque dancers one may picture nowadays, Stover said, as the most scandalous thing shown on stage at that time was maybe an ankle.
“These women were very politically aware,” Stover said. “All of their acts, for lack of a better word, were political satire, like making fun of the rich, making fun of politics, like just poking fun at society’s expectations of gender and sexuality.”
Lamont said she was inspired to create her own burlesque show in 2009 after she went to a bar in LA that had a burlesque happy hour. She said the idea started more as a joke and a way to make $100 in a night, but then became more serious as she started hosting rehearsals with her friends. Since then, Lamont said she’s had about 30 to 50 women audition for the show.
“The dancers are entertainers, the best at what they do,” Lamont said. “They’re the busiest,top-working dancers in LA, and they hold audiences in the palm of their little hand every time they get on stage.”
The Lalas show is different from other burlesque shows because it is more daring than a classical burlesque performance, Michelle Costello, a dancer who’s been performing in the group for nearly a decade, said.
“We’re not up there using feather fans or sitting around,” Costello said. “We have choreography. It’s intense.”
Stover said The Lalas represent only a portion of what burlesque can be. Although a professional background in dance can help enhance a burlesque performance, self-taught dancers can be just as successful, she said. What is most important for any burlesque group is the way performers interact with audiences and work to provide a performance that combines both humor and tease.
“They are representing a slice of burlesque,” Stover said. “They’re all very thin and fit and professionally trained in certain styles of dance. You do not have to be a trained dancer to be a burlesque performer, and to be a really good burlesque performer.”
Costello said she had little knowledge of what burlesque was when she auditioned for The Lalas, but later developed a love for it, especially when coming up with her solo performance.
“I get to really play a character and stand in my power,” Costello said. “It’s really cool to be able to use your body movement as a language and be able to speak like that without even having to open your mouth.”
Lamont said people are sometimes hesitant to buy a ticket to a burlesque show because of the risque reputation surrounding it. She said she loves when people who were hesitant about coming to the show start to enjoy burlesque after attending.
“It’s a great creative outlet,” Lamont said. “I feel like people are always intrigued about it.”
Over the years, burlesque’s popularity has ebbed and flowed, even to the point where it has been considered “dead” many times. However, Stover said burlesque is still kicking and has become more popular in recent years. Stover said burlesque’s ability to come back after each decline shows its positive impact on those involved.
“Women in particular really want to find ways to claim space for themselves and claim agency over their bodies and express their own autonomy, sexual or political or otherwise,” Stover said. “It provides a platform where there are a lot of possibilities and different ways that you can do so.”
Costello said a big lesson she’s learned from dancing burlesque has been to embrace herself and who she is.
“That’s totally what I stand for, just supporting other women and also just showing the women that come to the audience that it’s okay to be sexy,” Costello said. “Some people are so afraid to do it, but it’s okay to do it, or to stumble or be silly. Just be comfortable in your own body.”
There will be two shows Friday, starting at 7 and 10 p.m. Tickets start at $30 and are available through the group’s website.
