Foxy Tann
You ain't seen nuttin' until you have seen self-styled "Burlesque Assault Specialist" Foxy Tann (Heather Wilson) do her thing. "Wilson began her performance career as an emcee at the Gay '90s drag show during the late 1990s" (see Kate Leibfried's "Minnesota Naughty", The Rake).
Says Tann:
I started out in 1997 as a female female impersonator (if that makes sense) working in drag bars all over town. I emceed the largest drag show in the Upper Midwest for over 2 years. That is my main gig and the burlesque thing came later. Then I took my already developed character and moved into a burlesque show at The Sevill called The Naughty Naughty Show."
Foxy Tann and the Wham Bam Thank You Ma'ams (Mya and Redbone ), a multiracial troupe, came onto the burlesque scene in 2005, where they premiered at The Naughty Naughty Show at the Seville Cabaret in Minneapolis/St. Paul, a.k.a "The Twin Titties", Tann's home town. They then went on to win the title of "Best Troupe" at the Miss Exotic World Burlesque Pageant in Las Vegas in 2006.
But this was the first honour for Miss Tann. She was awared wiith a performance Art Commission by the Jerome Foundation in 2000. And as early as 1991 she received the National Irene Ryan Acting Award of the American College Theatre Festival from The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
The clubs she has performed in are numerous. In Minneapolis: The Bryant Lake Bowl, The Seville Cabaret, The Kitty Kat Klub, Intermedia Arts, The Gay 90, Pi. In St. Paul there was Station-4 and The Town House and in San Francisco Club Deluxe.
Plus she has have personally produced shows including:
Miss Biracial Upper Midwest 1984 ( the 2000 Jerome Performance Art Commision), The New and Improved Superior Lounge, The Naughty Naughty Show, AfroMation, The Cheap and Tawdry Side Show, and Lysistrat-o-Rama: Never Surrender the Pink!
What may surprise people is that she performs circus arts as well, doing aerial hoop, handbalancing . Further, she is a character clown by the name of Holly Monitor.
Foxy and the Wham Bams have gone on to perform with the likes of Immodesty Blaize in London, England, the Little Minsky in San Francisco, and comedian Margaret Cho in LA.
FTWBTYM is "about as exotic as you can get in this world of European values of beauty". As Miss Tann says "Burlesque can be black too baby!"
Performing at the 2006 Miss Exotic World competition
Harlem Shake Burlesque
You cannot talk about Black women in Neo-burlesque without talking about Simone de La Ghetto (a.k.a Teresa Ellis), founder on May 31st, 2003 of Harlem Shake Burlesque the first all-Black Burlesque troope in North America. I had the pleasure of meeting her and two other members of the group in May 2004 when they came to Toronto from Oakland, CA.
In an interview with Isa Tousignant, Ellis revealed how she got her start:
I danced in two other burlesque troupes before I started Harlem Shake...and I was the only black dancer dancing. And I was done! I said, 'You know, I really want to dance with other black ladies.' And so I started Harlem Shake
HSB was voted "Best Burlesque Troupe 2004" by the SF Weekly & The San Francisco Bay Guardian. They were also winners of the 2004 title of "Best Burlesque Troupe" at the Miss Exotic World Pageant,
HSB performing their signature "church lady" act the final night at
Miss Exotic World 2006
Brown Girl Burlesque
In NYC in the spring of 2007, Miss Aurora BoobRealis mentioned to a good friend of hers that she had been thinking about creating an all woman of color burlesque troupe for a few years. Her friend said "let's do it". They reached to some great women and Brown Girls Burlesque was born ("Brown" referring to all women of color*). Currently BGB is made of the aforementioned Aurora BoobRealis, Royale, Lady Luscious, Shimmy Shimmy Ya, Smokifantastic, Toli Nameless, and Hot Ti (see bios).
Their mission statement*:
Brown Girls Burlesque (BGB) is a collective of women of color dedicated to creating our own reflection in an art form that we have supported and enjoyed but traditionally, has not well-represented people of color. Our mission is to take our rightful place on the stage to celebrate our cultures, sexuality and artistry with humor, fierceness and nudity.
*In case one really needs clarification, all self-identified women of African / Black/ Caribbean, Arab, Asian & Pacific Islander, Latina/o, and Native/Indigenous descent.
Tangerine Jones
Known as "El Huracan del Azucar Marron" or "the Brown Sugar Hurricane" , the formidable Ms. Jones is five feet nine inches of hips, lips and hurricane fury.
A colorful addition to the world of burlesque, she has shimmed across stages at Starshine Burlesque, Weimar New York at Speigeltent, Galapagos Art Space, Red Hots Burlesque, Sweet and Nasty Burlesque and the Slipper Room.
In 2006, she placed for Best Mermaid at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade.
A classically trained actress, Ms. Jones pays homage to the African Diaspora and the Black Burlesque and Vaudeville performers of yesteryear. She educates and titillates.
When she's not shaking up a storm, Ms. Jones can be found stirring up handmade goodness for the naturally decadent cosmetic line, Lizzie Sweet.[Photo by Presscott McDonald]
Tangerine Jones, the Brown Sugar Hurricane in a performance at Starshine Burlesque.
Ms. Vagina Jenkins
Ms. Jenkins hails from Atlanta, Georgia.
As bio says: "Imagine Dynasty's Dominique Devereaux, Jessica Rabbit and Cleopatra Jones in a lesbian menage'. Go on imagine it. Hot, isn't it? Well, if such a union were to happen, Vagina Jenkins would be the result."
She has been performing for nearly three years now in the Atlanta area, first with The Dixie Pistols and now with a group called Moxie Cabaret. She is here to queer up burlesque... and not a moment too soon.
Performing at Good 'n Plenty