|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A spectator in the crowd at Wednesday night’s burlesque Silhouette performance in downtown Redwood City pressed a wad of dollar bills into this reporter’s hands.
“The best part about a burlesque show is throwing ones,” said the spectator, a woman who identified herself as ChaCha.
Unable to resist the moment and the crowd’s energy, I threw the dollar bills onto the stage as a slate of performers with names like Colette de la Crème and Nicky Paradise shimmied in – and out of – their sequin, tulle, and lace costumes on the catwalk stage.
Silhouette is a recurring burlesque show that takes place on the second Wednesday of the month at The Hub, an entertainment space and bar in Redwood City.
To the uninitiated, burlesque is a challenging art form to define. It can be sultry or nerdy, artistic or satirical. It combines elements of theater, dance, acrobatics, drag, and, of course, strip teasing.
“ Burlesque is really special because it can be almost anything,” said a performer from Wednesday’s show who goes by the stage name Babraham Lincoln. “We get to create social commentary. We get to have talks about bodies. We have body acceptance. It can be sexy, it can be silly, it can be political, it can be almost anything you want it to be.”
Host Dorian Dietrich introduces the next performer in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
The audience reacts to the first of several burlesque routines in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Saturn, a drag-burlesque dancer, performs at the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
“Babe” Babraham Lincoln struts past crumpled bills– tips from the audience– in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Burlesque dancer Nickie Paradise struts down the cat walk during the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Colette de la Crème performs in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
The audience applauds during the Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Discarded clothing and crumpled bills cover the catwalk as the audience enthusiastically applauds a performance in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney.
Dorian Dietrich produces the burlesque shows. When Dietrich approached Allan Rodgers, the owner of The Hub, about organizing a monthly burlesque show in 2021, Dietrich wondered if the community would be interested.
”I did have that concern of like, ‘I’m going to make a burlesque show. Is anybody going to come? Do people want this?’” Dietrich said. “And I found out pretty quickly that yes, they did want it.”
The community has been supportive of the shows, and many of the performances, including Wednesday’s, sell out. Carly, 40, has regularly attended the shows for the last year and a half with her partner Kevin, 54. Carly said she finds the art form to be a unique combination of gracefulness, artistry, and athleticism. She noted the skill of performers like Babraham Lincoln, who gracefully manipulated two large, heavy wings on stage.
“ You can go glamorous, you can even do it with humor. We saw a burlesque clown and she combined funny and sexy, which is a hard combo to pull off, but she did it really, really cleverly, ” said Carly, who preferred to be identified by her first name only. “It kind of tickles your brain and your nerves at the same time.”
Burlesque comes from a tradition of underground entertainment forms of the early 20th century, explained an audience member named Kit, 46, who preferred to be identified by his first name only. While the burlesque movement is rooted in sexy, femme expression, Kit said that the art form has evolved to include performers of different gender expressions, body types and races.
”Now people use the art form to tell a story,” said Kit, who has also performed burlesque for the last eight years under the name Throbbin Wood. “It can be a very sad story, and people really just bare their souls about everything from dark thoughts to miscarriages to all sorts of stuff that you wouldn’t expect to see in a show where there’s a lot of stripping.”
Kit’s partner, Saph, 36, has recently gotten into burlesque performance based on encouragement from Kit and Dorian. She will be debuting a duet performance at The Hub next month under the stage name Saphrodite.
Saturn makes final adjustments to her costume backstage prior to performing in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Colette de la Crème, left, stretches backstage as Sparrow Nova, right, carefully waterfalls water into her mouth to avoid smudging her makeup prior to her routine in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Dancer “Babe” Babraham Lincoln uses a bedazzled wrench to make final adjustments to her elaborate costume before her routine in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Colette de la Crème stretches backstage in preparation for her routine in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Dancers Saturn, left, and Nickie Paradise, right, prepare backstage for their routines in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Dancer “Babe” Babraham Lincoln gets ready backstage for her routine in the monthly Silhouette burlesque show at The Hub Redwood City on Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney.
Burlesque also has close ties to the LGBTQ community. Dietrich, who also served as emcee of the show, likened the show to “queer church.”
“You get to make all kinds of noises and show monetary appreciation,” said Dietrich during the show.
Some audience members noted that there is a shortage of burlesque venues in the South Bay. ChaCha is a graphic designer by day and performs as a burlesque hula-hooper in venues around the Bay Area, including The Hub.
“ I think this is a really big deal for Redwood City to have something like this,” said ChaCha. “It’s not only catering to the LGBTQ community, it’s also contributing to other people that live in Redwood City that have never seen anything like this before.”
Tickets for upcoming Burlesque Silhouette shows can be purchased on The Hub’s website. But be forewarned: if the attendee-to-performer conversion rate is any indication, you might soon find yourself strutting on the catwalk in silk and feathers, crumpled bills raining down around you.
