Lola the Vamp : Exclusive Interview

Vamp by name, vamp by…well, perhaps not today. The divine Miss L is ticking off some busywork; an athletic swim, and some ritual cleaning.

“[This work] requires more than I do. In order to do shows every week, I need to be fit, wanna be toned” she admits.

Lola is Australia’s premier mistress of burlesque; some call it stripping with feather boas, some call it erotic art; whatever the consensus, it’s a hell of a show. A show she’s executed everywhere from the homeland (including, but not limited to, nationally on the Big Day Out tour) to glittering Las Vegas, Paris and Tokyo. Nick Cave summed it up in a single word, in true Cave style: “Beautiful”. She manages to wrap the crowd in a haze of fantasy, taking them back to a time of subtle erotica and elegant performance. Being that Lola’s job requirements include getting down to netherclothes in front of complete strangers, does she have an enormous amount of confidence in what is- but don’t tell her I said it – a kick-ass figure?

“In some ways, yes, in some ways, no; that’s human. We are taking clothes off and…some performers can be shy as a person…I used be shy as a person. Confidence depends on the situation. Using your body on stage becomes part of the costume, part of the expression” she explains, while I try to imagine the goolies it must take to perform with such vulnerability.

Burlesque is not a new fad, so you know; originally a cheeky performance that combined music, comedy and cabaret, it began sometime in the 1840s. It was designed as a lower-middle class entertainment that took mickey out of the bourgeoisie. By the 1860s, shapely and comely women could make a decent living out of the burlesque scene, especially Lydia Thompson, the head of a British burlesque troupe that took the ever-welcoming New York by storm and cemented the burlesque agenda: to entertain, not prostitute. As Lola explains, though they share common traits, burlesque is a far cry from grinding the pole at (insert your local titty bar here)…

“Both of them have the acts of removing clothing- that’s where the similarities end. The variation, in terms of burlesque; I work in a strip club as a burlesque performer and strippers don’t consider me to be one of them. Strippers are paid to lap-dance and interact with the audience, burlesque dancers are paid to dance; I would never deride what a stripper does, though; some people take their high horse and say it’s classier and somehow better: strippers can be amazing and creative or a terrible burlesque dancer. Strippers can go full nude, too; burlesque dancers, considering the legalities of the past, only go to panties and bra”

“My heroes are showgirls” Lola explains. “I love the Serpentine Dance, which was originally by an American act [Loie Fuller] who was huge in Paris during the Art Nouveau era. You take a lot of influence from the 1920s, especially the music. I tend to use nothing after the big band era; I try to go more New Orleans, more music that sounds timeless; like accordions rather than classical”

So, for those who have not yet been privy to the prurient performance of Lola and her kin, what can one possibly expect?

“It’s a flight of fantasy; it’s supposed to take you into another world, an alternate reality. I am aiming for a spectacle; it’s not the kind of thing you see every day…” she warns. Let the prudent eat cake: it appears that if Lola does indeed deliver what she huskily promises, the proceedings will not be for the faint-hearted.

But, please, dear reader: do not consider our dear Lola a mere sex object. Her burlesque performances, though scintillating, also double as academic exploration; “It’s kind of gearing up my PHD” she replies, nonchalantly.

“In burlesque?” I answer. I never knew there was such a thing.

“I am always creating shows for the PHD submissions, then writing about that process and creative theory, design, movement, costume. There’s a level of fetishism, in the psycho-analytic sense of the word, it’s broader than the sex shop theory. I use antique pieces in the show; I find it ties the show to something before me”. Well, if that don’t beat all!

“My Nan was an artist who was heavily into Impressionism, so it was very normal to see a naked body in a beautiful setting” Lola says, a sense of personal history tied in with her professional career. “Burlesque brings that art off the page”

You can catch Lola the Vamp playing at:

12 Feb 2010- Beyond Burlesque Symposium- Melbourne, Victoria
20 Feb 2010 – The Burlesque Ball – Luna Park Crystal Ballroom- Sydney, NSW
26 Feb 2010- The Burlesque Ball – The Centre- Melbourne, Victoria
27 Feb 2010- The Burlesque Ball – Tivoli Theatre- Brisbane, Queensland
5 Mar 2010- The Burlesque Ball – Perth Town Hall- Perth, Western Australia
6 Mar 2010- The Burlesque Ball – Adelaide Town Hall- Adelaide, South Australia