Nestled between a CVS Pharmacy and a parking garage stand resilient, liquid black doors. Gold Coast tourists and tenants alike obliviously overlook the gateways to an era nearly forgotten by Chicago; it doesn\u2019t help that this lounge is entitled Untitled. Whiskey vaults and thick leather armchairs occupy the elite and the informed. Complementary Marlboro 27s entice the ladies, planted in between perfume and hairbrushes in the dimly lit restrooms.<\/p>\n
Clad in pink panties and her boyfriend\u2019s black tee, Amanda Gonzalez* sits at the center table in her Edgewater home, surrounded by glitter, beads and lumps of fabric designing her latest costume. This 28-year-old Los Angeles native discusses the confidence-boosting, depression-combating, female-empowering art that distinguishes her uniquely as Siobast: Burlesque.<\/p>\n
Tell me about burlesque. What sparked your interest? Do you have a day job, so to speak? Do you make money dancing, or is it more of a hobby? It sounds pretty addicting. Are there any public misconceptions about burlesque? Have you ever dealt with uncomfortable situations? How did you come up with your stage name? *Name changed to protect identity.<\/em><\/p>\n This interview has been condensed and edited. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nestled between a CVS Pharmacy and a parking garage stand resilient, liquid black doors. Gold Coast tourists and tenants alike obliviously overlook the gateways to an era nearly forgotten by Chicago; it doesn\u2019t help that this lounge is entitled Untitled. Whiskey vaults and thick leather armchairs occupy the elite and the informed. Complementary Marlboro 27s … Continue reading interview with a burlesque dancer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[101,115,114,116,117,118],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","category-journalist","tag-assignment","tag-burlesque","tag-chicago","tag-dancer","tag-q-a","tag-student-journalist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5HHH1-2S","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179,"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.axharrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Burlesque is about the art of teasing. It\u2019s stripping, but it\u2019s not just<\/em> stripping. Not that stripping is wrong or anything like that, I\u2019m all for it. Burlesque is about teasing and having fun. I\u2019m all about empowering human beings. In burlesque, girls can feel like they are beautiful and empowered. For me, that\u2019s how it started. I would see girls like Dita Martini and think, \u2018Oh my god she\u2019s so curvy! And beautiful! And sexy! And fun! And she\u2019s having a blast! I want to do that!\u2019 But also project that for other women who feel like they can\u2019t be models. It\u2019s an artistic outlet and a way to express myself. I try to make other people also feel like they can do this; that this is for everyone, not just one specific body type. It\u2019s not about sex. It\u2019s about whoever puts themselves out there and says, \u2018I want to do burlesque.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Burlesque is something that seemed attractive to me from the very first time I saw it. The feathers. The glitter. The attitude. The teasing. For someone that fluctuates in weight so much and has so many issues with body image and the way I feel about myself, it seemed like a ring to my finger. It just fit perfect. I can get all of the attention I want on stage and then I don\u2019t have to act all crazy in real life. I really like that I can take my clothes off, because that\u2019s just fun. Period.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I am a server in a restaurant downtown. It\u2019s definitely just a pays the bills type of job, but I do get inspiration because I hear awesome music, and think, \u2018Oh! I should do a classical musical piece to this!\u2019 It\u2019s white table clothes and velvet booths. It\u2019s a great place and I love it, but it\u2019s no Paris Club.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I feel like I\u2019m getting paid to party. I don\u2019t make any money to pay the bills, but I make money to be out that night and do what I want, and a little extra for something else. It\u2019s really money sucking because there\u2019s always another costume and another act and another idea.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Oh it is. It\u2019s extremely addicting, in a great way. The artistic outlet aspect is what\u2019s the most compensating from it. It\u2019s almost even a way to deal with depression. I was depressed for a really long time. It\u2019s kind of saddening, but I didn\u2019t want to be here, I hated this place. This life place? It\u2019s awful. People hate each other and treat each other like crap. I\u2019m sitting here by myself playing Farmville because everyone sucks and I don\u2019t like anyone and they don\u2019t like me and it\u2019s so stupid. Then I found this and everything made sense. It\u2019s almost like therapy, making and creating. I\u2019m sure people find this in other outlets. Firefighters, I\u2019m sure, feel empowered. Doctors feel, you know, they\u2019re doing awesome things. But for those of us who don\u2019t have the education, the funds, or downright the brains to do something of that level, there\u2019s little outlets you can find. This is it for me. This is what I love to do. Maybe that will change but for now, this is it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Absolutely. I get a lot of the eye rolling, \u2018Oh\u2026 you\u2019re a stripper\u2026\u201d Well first off being a stripper isn\u2019t something to be embarrassed about. Not that I\u2019m not, but burlesque is not just stripping. All that sexism and shit really upsets me. If you\u2019re a burlesque dancer, you must be a party girl, that\u2019s a huge misconception. A lot of these women are serious women and have serious jobs. They have their own families and do it because they like it, not because they want to party all the time or be drunk all the time. I personally am. A lot of my peers are not. After the show they put on their jeans, they go home and in the morning they go to the office.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Personally, it hasn\u2019t happened. The venues I have worked for have been really great about things like that. It\u2019s definitely starting to be addressed, which is a great thing\u2026 But which shouldn\u2019t really be addressed in the burlesque scene, it should be addressed in any environment you\u2019re in. Don\u2019t fucking touch someone unless they told you to, you know?<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I\u2019m an animal freak. I love my cat and felines have been a big part of my life. I love all animals, but felines are what I\u2019m particularly about. And you know, Kat Von D, there\u2019s a lot of kitties and cats. I didn\u2019t want to be just another cat. Bast is an Egyptian goddess portrayed as a black cat, a lot of times with dark eyes. Which is pretty awesome because I have black hair and dark eyes. If I were a feline, I would be a black jaguar.<\/p>\n