Today we’d like to introduce you to Elsa Riot.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Elsa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I got into burlesque the way most performers do: I attended a show and fell in love with a world that allows women to tell stories, push boundaries, and feel themselves under a spotlight. I didn’t even know I was an artist at that point — I’d just been working a 9-5 with a communications degree. The first show was such an unexpected splash of color in my life that I had to dive in.
Going to shows led to taking classes, which led to “kittening” shows (picking up the bras), which led to performing, which made me want to change the landscape for performers. Boston’s burlesque scene is dynamic and inclusive as hell, but it leans “neo” – nerdy burlesque, horrorlesque, lots of themed shows and tributes to fandoms. I was more drawn to “classic” burlesque, meaning the vintage showgirl aesthetic, very femme and glamorous, ostrich feather headdresses and rhinestoned fishnets. Classic burlesque is arguably the most problematic sub-genre; it’s been around the longest, hasn’t taken as many steps to expand its notions of beauty and femininity, and still riddled with skewed power dynamics and gatekeepers who only stick around to profit from performers’ bodies and art. It was here that I saw the need for more women-run shows, and responsible producers who look at burlesque with a modern feminist eye. I wanted to do my fancy stripping without a man misrepresenting my art moments before I step onstage, or taking a disproportionate cut of profits. So I carved out a new space for myself and fellow performers who were suffering that same disempowerment. I’ve been producing shows in the Boston area for a year and a half now.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The strongest current I’m constantly swimming against is misconceptions about the form. It’s not mainstream in Boston, so I have to either establish what it is to someone (whether it’s an audience member, venue, or business I’m trying to work with), or I have to undo an inaccurate perception and then build it back up. Understandably — it’s a strange form! It’s stripping, but it’s not club stripping. It’s not voyeuristic and it’s not tailored to the individual viewer’s desires. It’s less about the body parts and more about the character, the transformation, and the story behind it. But performers still want to titillate the audience, on their terms and their terms alone. Newcomers to burlesque have to develop a baseline etiquette and literacy before they can tap into and benefit from that exchange.
Coupled with my earlier point about gatekeepers in the community, this certainly hurt me early on. Burlesque wasn’t a hard sell to a theater with diverse programming, so my first project, a monthly variety show called Smoke & Shadows, was easy enough to get off the ground. But it still felt underground (literally! The venue is beneath Davis Square!), and I wanted to reach people who would never, ever seek out burlesque on their own, either because they had the wrong idea or no idea at all.
It took a long time to find a non-theater venue that would take a chance on putting burlesque out in the open. Bar owners would assume sleazy intentions, or that I wanted to turn their establishment into a strip club, or that their patrons simply couldn’t handle seeing skin — or their only context would be a show they saw and didn’t like because of a misogynist emcee, or the 2014 film Burlesque where the performers leave their corsets on and sing songs. I gave out countless free tickets and pitched to bars for 10 months, trying to prove burlesque can be just as harmless, fun, and interactive as the open mics and comedy shows you see everywhere, before finding an establishment to partner with.
That burden of proof follows me with every show and audience because I’m always attracting newcomers. I’m not sure it will ever stop being an uphill battle.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Elsa Riot story. Tell us more about the business.
My monthly burlesque and variety show, Smoke & Shadows, is the only show of its kind in the Boston area. I feature different artists every month — always burlesque, music, and comedy, and every so often drag, pole dance, bellydance, magic, and more — anything I can find! The variety aspect is very palatable to people, so I get all sorts of different crowds and adore sampling a bunch of new, different forms of live entertainment all in one night. I also wrote into the show’s mission statement an emphasis on diversity, because again, burlesque has problematic roots and to this day maintains a racist status quo, favoring Eurocentric beauty standards, excusing cultural appropriation, and excluding those who are marginalized. Smoke & Shadows is my response to this problem, and I’m proud of what I’ve cultivated — a monthly celebration of different bodies, identities, sexualities, and cultures — between the audience and performers.
Inviting performers from the comedy and music scenes to the party has only made it better. When I started dreaming up the show, I knew I needed to expand my network and always be on the hunt for new talent in different spheres. I quickly picked up on Boston’s hostility toward hip hop, as well as racism within the comedy scene, and I had already taken on the responsibility of giving my stage to burlesque artists who struggle to get seen — so I started to pull together lineups from wildly different industries that you’d never see anywhere else. The result of all the different perspectives across different art forms that have touched the stage has been fascinating. All that said, the show rarely gets political. Those values of inclusion and support for artists with marginalized identities are its heartbeat. I dress it up differently every month depending on the artists’ vocations and backgrounds, but it coalesces into a dazzling night that’s entirely positive and more than the sum of its parts. And since I never repeat lineups, everyone gets to be part of something unique and special.
I have other projects that are more narrow in scope, like my small cabaret troupe Top Shelf Burlesque that does short sets in bars and at private events, but this is the lens through which I create live entertainment. The interplay between different genres is so much fun to explore. Top Shelf Burlesque has done sets with 40s swing next to Beyoncé, and Josephine Baker next to the Spice Girls. I like to put the audience in a place of not knowing what’s going to come next, just that it’s going to be grand.
What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
Because burlesque serves to remind us that women are more than just their bodies and sex appeal, I have partnered with the Philadelphia-based producer and performer, Honeytree Evileye, to bring her project “Get You A Girl Who Can Do Both” to Cambridge on June 15 at OBERON. The show features TEDx-style lectures and burlesque acts by the same performers. Honeytree (aka Dr. Timaree Schmit, PhD) is an adjunct professor in human sexuality and a walking embodiment of the dynamic ways women contribute to the world — as educators, thinkers, laborers, artists, and sex objects. The show will feature local performers and cover topics from A/B testing to geopolitics of the refugee crisis to the psychology of being mixed race. It’s a revolutionary show that I’m thrilled to help bring to Boston.
Bringing shows out into the bar scene has been an interesting journey. In July 2017 Top Shelf Burlesque started doing free shows at Saloon (also in Davis Square) at midnight on Fridays. Most of the patrons had no idea there would be a show happening! We changed a lot of hearts and minds about the act of stripping, and the patrons, cast, and bar staff had a blast together. We just took the next step to partner more closely and create an all-inclusive, 3-course dinner and show: Supper Club at Saloon. Three sets of entertainment — burlesque & live music — to complement amazing food and drinks, in an intimate room that seats no more than 20. It’s totally new territory and we pilot on Tuesday, June 19.
And as far as Smoke & Shadows and my own performances go, full speed ahead! The show is every first Monday of the month at the Rockwell in Davis Square. Since launching in February 2017, the time has flown by. The world is full of fascinating artists, and though it takes hard work, late nights, and cultivating trust, I love seeking them out and bringing them to my stage. I love hitting the road myself and have performed all around the country — at burlesque festivals, parties, and variety shows much like mine — and feel so lucky to see the world through this wacky lens. Come to Smoke & Shadows sometime and let me show you what’s out there!
Contact Info:
- Website: elsariot.com
- Instagram: @elsa.riot
- Facebook: facebook.com/elsariot
Image Credit:
Iris MacKinnon Photography (cover photo, white feather fans in alleyway)
Oh, Karina Photography (Elsa and Harley Foxx, photo on bar, blue dress against white background, Top Shelf Burlesque cast photo)
Epsilon Photo (brown dress and scarf)
Jude Domski Photography (Vermont Burlesque Festival still)
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