Not having felt moved
to shout into the abyss of late, I haven’t been writing much - and the abyss,
it appears, has been just fine without me.
But several days ago I
passed my twelfth anniversary as a full-time performer, producer, writer and director
within the neo-ecdystiastilogical arts. Twelve years. Big fucking deal, right?
But it’s the longest I’ve had any job and, frankly, making a Life In Art
– especially in New York City, and in 2016, and at no-longer-25 – is something.
So it seemed time to
attempt to articulate a thing that has been sitting there taking up brainspace
for a while now.
The temptation to
hashtag about lacks of fucks is strong, but as we are not actually twelve years old, we resist
nonetheless.
••••
I’d like to talk about The Myth Of Community.
The Myth of Community says that we are all one amazing
loving shiny sparkly supportive gilttertribe that only wants to see all our
sisters (and maybe brothers but really only The Acceptable Ones) shine and
sparkle like the sassy empowered amazing fierce deserving creatures we all are.
The Myth of Community says that everybody who “does”
burlesque (well, but of course what we really mean is performs burlesque, or maybe also teaches it) is equal: equally experienced, equally skilled, equally
respectful and professional, equally deserving of financial and artistic
success. It says that the sheer fact of existing under a stage name renders one
worthy of every benefit that The Community has to offer.
The Myth of Community says that the one shining goal of burlesque is To Elevate Burlesque: that we’re
all working hard, and all towards this same goal; and that at all times this
single, universal, Community-wide goal is at the forefront of everyone’s
motivations and thoughts - to the exclusion of individual needs and desires, so
that it trumps and eclipses even personal events and real-world needs.
According to The Myth of Community, we all have the same
artistic goals. We agree on what “is” and “isn’t” Burlesque. We all value the
same things as people and as artists. And above all and beyond everything We all like each other and love each other
and like each other, all the time and in all circumstances and we act like it
too and we’re all best friends with everyone else, even the people we’ve sort
of never really even met.
••••
… You do realize that this is pathological, right? It runs
counter to almost every facet of basic human nature - which somehow and
subconsciously we know, we realize and understand. But the Myth is so pervasive
(and glittery and attractive and unicorns and butts omg yay!!!) that we all buy
into it - we pretty much have to, in order to Succeed At
Burlesque. (Remember: you’re never going to Be Voted Number One if you put
yourself first without also putting The Community first too.)
The Myth feeds and fuels all the feelings of entitlement,
butthurtédness and persecution, the lack mentality, the competition hysteria
and zero-sum mentality, the climbing and posing and starfucking and cutting
down and backbiting and shade-throwing and simple basic lying that creates such a wildly unpleasant and constant undercurrent
to everything that we do.
Because of course we’re human: and it is in the nature of
humans to be selfish. Not grab-all-the-candy, tax-the-poor,
kick-the-orphans-out-of-the-hospital Gordon Gekko greedy, but we all have our individual needs, desires, likes and dislikes,
goals, values and opinions. Sometimes these synch up with other people’s, and
sometimes they do not; but either way truly and honestly our only obligation is to seeing that serving
our own goals doesn’t actively hurt or intentionally deprive others. And that
is called Existing In Society.
When we Exist in Society, we get to make the decision to
collaborate artistically or financially or personally with this individual
rather than that one. When someone hurts or is unkind to us – deliberately or
by accident - we are allowed to speak up about it to that person. Artistic
opinions can be expressed and discussed without personal attack or reprisal. We
get to spend our leisure time with people whose company we enjoy, with no
implied obligations on our professional time and relationships (and vice versa).
We get to work towards goals that are meaningful to us personally, to not
participate in events that are uncomfortable or unpleasant or uninteresting to
us, to avoid situations that would mean interacting with people that hurt us,
or disrespect us, or who we simply and for no particular reason just kinda don’t like. WE ARE ALLOWED TO JUST KINDA OR ACTUALLY AND
IN FACT NOT LIKE PEOPLE, FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON OR FOR ACTUAL REASONS TOO.
••••
And so.
In rejecting the Myth, we’re not instituting a self-centered
free-for-all. We’re simply freeing ourselves of these self-imposed obligations
of behavior and interaction that constantly butt up against the nature of
humans in general and Us Sensitive Artist Types in particular:
When we reject The Myth of Community we’re acknowledging that
we’re not one giant hydra-headed single-minded “glittertribe,” but countless
self-created, geographically-convenient, interest- or circumstance-based
groups, cliques, families, companies, troupes and organizations, some of which
overlap in a giant Venn Diagram and others of which exist as independent
satellites - and that is alright.
When we reject The Myth of Community we’re acknowledging
that not everyone is at the same place in their artistic journey, that not
everyone has the same level of experience or training or talent, and that
opportunity, compensation and recognition are based at least in part on these
factors - and that is okay.
When we reject The Myth of Community we’re acknowledging
that the reasons for which people participate in burlesque are varied and
infinite; that one person can have several or many different reasons and that
these can change over time and with personal experience; that often different
people’s goals are complementary but many times they are not - and that is acceptable.
When we reject The Myth of Community we’re acknowledging
that “art” has as many definitions as the people who create it - and that is as it should be.
When we reject The Myth of Community we’re acknowledging
that humans are just that – human – with different personalities and
experiences and outlooks and intellectual responses and emotional responses and
likes and dislikes and relationships and attractions, that everyone is owed
basic human respect and that that is the only
thing everyone is owed - and that
is, simply, what existing as human beings means.
••••
So when we reject this Myth what, practically, happens?
Well.
The idea that there is one single “definition” of burlesque
finally being discarded as ludicrous, no show or performer is any longer
dismissed by others as being “just classic” or “only doing weird shit” – or
indeed is required to define it- or herself in any way. The fucking pointless Is burlesque stripping? non-discussion
finally just stops. If people want to perform or produce or teach solely as a
lucrative and early-retirement-friendly career, they are free to do so to the
best of their ability and the limit the market will allow. If people want to
create performances or shows simply for the sheer artistic exhilaration of it
and never charge a dime, they are free to collaborate with like-minded
individuals and organizations to do so. Other artists will agree or decline to
work under these conditions as they so choose. If people want more than
anything only to re-create historical striptease with absolute accuracy, or just
to perform neo-burlesque based on pop culture references, or solely to be
recognized with a particular title or crown, they are free to work towards
these goals with as much or as little energy, focus, money and time as they
choose to expend.
With producers under no perceived obligation to book anyone,
backstage and online bitching about why
so-and-so never books me stops, creating a far more professional and
pleasant environment for everyone. Forced instead to both evaluate their own
attitude and skill level and to learn to interact with peers in a businesslike
and appropriate manner, performers, producers and others elevate the level of
skill and professionalism across the board. With this increased level of
professionalism comes independent, value-based decision-making (“Your host
tells racist jokes onstage, so I will not perform with your show”) and also
actual accountability (“I choose not to hire you because you speak very badly
of this show to other producers and performers.”) With this transparency,
rumor-mongering is no longer tolerated and thousands of social media ‘secret
groups’ are disbanded. The number of Facebook-fueled pre-ulcerous conditions
among artstrippers plummets.
Without an undefined, constantly contradictory notion of “community”
fueling commentary on all ideas and events people focus on their own work
rather than monitoring everybody else’s. They work towards fostering meaningful
real-world interactions with other living breathing beings, rather than
speaking only through the comments section or vaguebooking. They work with whom
they choose, for whatever personal or professional reasons they like, while
expecting or requiring nothing from those with whom they do not have any
relationship.
Festivals become actual ‘reunions’ around the world and
celebrations of the various facets of the art form, rather than in-name-or-in-notion
attendance-obligatory cookie-cutter pageants. Numerically-ranked voting lists vanish
in a puff of illogic and the endless commentary on these lists is instead
channeled towards proficient and informed reviews and discussions of art and of
craft. Literally almost everyone never wins Miss Exotic World. There is no Next
Dita, the Facebook police still crack down on stage names, bots still flag
nipple pics and trolls still call us sluts and fatties in the comments section.
And because we don’t have the obligation of Community to
contend with all the time, we simply deal with it all in our own individual
ways, with the support of our actual friends and families, and with an actual mindfulness towards others’
journeys and the impact that our words and actions have on them beyond trite
floral inspirational #myshowgirlfamily quotes on Instagram.
••••
Most of this of course will never happen. It is the utopian
fantasy of a middle-aged wiseass title-less non-numerically-important neo-ecdysiast
whose goal is to create weird smart shit with like-minded, dependable and
adventurous artists, and to sell enough tickets to that shit to pay her
exorbitant rent and not die of scurvy in the streets of New York. Would she
like to be Heralded as The Eternal Queen of What She Does? She surely would.
She would like to be ensconced as Permanent Number One for A Life In Art, Flawlessly
Exhibited. She would like to see her Enemies Vanquished By Fire, she would like
everyone to agree with her all the time, and to Do Better, and to shut the fuck
up about everyone else for a goddamned minute and live their own fucking lives.
Is that gonna happen? Ain’t. After twelve years of it the best she can hope for
is one single hour when all the other
butthurt whiners just do their work, and leave everyone else alone to do their
work too.
And so I do enter into a new era of fucklessness. I’d invite
you along but really, at this point, I don’t give a fuck. I’ll be over here
like an adult caring about the things and people that matter to me and that
care back, and not worrying about the rest of it .
But I’m sure I’ll hear everyone’s thoughts on that through
the grapevine eventually, anyway.
