Dates: June 12-14, 2009
Boylesque? Burlesque? Aerialists, fire eaters, jugglers and acrobats? The international Vaudeville Revival is in full bloom and gets a big stage at Asheville's annual Americana Burlesque & Sideshow Festival.
Love or fear it, Burlesque is growing explosively the whole world over, and Asheville is a part of it. Our Paris of the South is now a hothouse for the flowering of the Vaudeville Revival, with roots in the extraordinary early success of the Rebelles. Now Asheville plays host to three Burlesque troupes, an active Pin-Up and Alternative Modeling community, numerous fire performers, aerials artists, and this now flourishing national festival
Says Executive Producer Onca O'Leary ; "We've had 1000 people involved with the festival over the past two years and tremendous interest for 2009. In troubled times, Vaudeville always does well because even the mainstream develops a powerful desire for healthy social commentary. Our culture is so conflicted about issues of body image, gender roles, class, and social norms - a mix of humor and empowered sexuality is just what the world needs right now. And think of Prohibition: hard times mean serious festivity!"
Herein perhaps lies the success of international festivals, such as the London, Toronto, and New York Burlesque Festivals, the Boston Burlesque Expo, the Viva Las Vegas competition, Teas-O-Rama, and Miss Exotic World.
Headliners artists include Baltimore artists Trixie Little & the Evil Hate Monkey, Asheville's original neo-Vaudeville heart-throbs The Goodies, Blast-Off Burlesque of Atlanta, Renea Le Roux of LA, and many others. This year also features more live music than ever, with the Goodies, the Mezmer Society, Wasted Wine and the Malamundos, a group that travels with its own cadre of GoGo dancers.
This year's event has more to offer than ever:
• Friday night - The Red Carpet Gala & Opening Ceremonies! Enjoy a humorous history of the artform, see the Festival artists walk the Red Carpet for the Paparazzi, and enjoy a sampler of Burlesque, circus arts, and live music performance.
• Saturday and Sunday Seminary - Take any of over a dozen introductory and advanced workshops and Get Right with the Gods of Sass. All participants receive a Certificate of Vaudeville Divinity!
• Saturday night- The Big Spectacular at the Orange Peel Social Aid & Pleasure Club. A full night of delicious performance with award-winning artists from around the country, followed by after-party music with The Goodies!
Keeping Asheville funky is another part of the ABSfest vision. "One of the goals of ABSfest is to support our downtown in retaining an identity as a lively, viable, performance-friendly community. Some Burlesque festivals are secreted away in convention centers and hotels. By participating in ABSfest, artists, vendors and attendees are reinforcing the vital image of downtown Asheville as an art-based travel destination."
Schedule of Events:
Friday June 12 9 PM: Red Carpet Gala, MoDaddy’s $15
Saturday, June 13 8 PM: Saturday Night Spectacular, The Orange Peel, $25 (main event)
Saturday-Sunday 9 AM – 6 PM: Various workshops, topics vary. French Broad Co-Op Movement and Learning Center; World Spirit Studio (70 College St); and The Orange Peel. Prices $20-$40
Private Lessons with Trixie Little & The Evil Hate Monkey, by Appointment, Sunday 12-5 PM. $100
_________________________
Q&A with Founder
Lauren ‘Onca’ O’Leary
1. How did the first ABSfest come about in '07?
In addition to my event production, I am a career bellydancer. That means quite a bit of travel, teaching and performing. Over the past eight years, I have worked alongside amazing circus, sideshow and burlesque artists. I have also been very involved as an advocate for the perpetuation and legitimizing of folkloric arts. By 2005, the international Neo-Vaudeville Revival had reached epic proportions and I felt the time was right to develop a high-profile event here in Asheville to showcase this upsurge of uniquely American creative expression. This city deserves great art with serious attention to production value. As more and more folks make Asheville their home, the city needs to fiercely nurture our vibrant, simmering, authentic art culture. That was the birth of the Americana Burlesque & Sideshow Festival.
My vision here has been to create a tremendous opportunity for local, regional and national artists to learn, perform, share and network. ABSfest offers three days of workshops, parties, vending and performance. All this entertains the public, emboldens the budding artist, and feeds the creative needs of our seasoned performers. Additionally, with so much incredible talent here in the Southeast, folks should not always need to travel to the West Coast or NY to excel and inspire.
In ABSfest’s first year, I pulled together threads from all my previous life experience - skilled swordfighters, circus pals, long-ago college buddies, bellydance colleagues, and more. It was then that we began to build bridges with Asheville’s arts advocacy organization, Arts2People. ABSfest 2007 was a very successful first-time event; 500 people came to the show at the Orange Peel, proving the genuine hunger for this edgy, empowering, performance art. 2008 was comparable, and that was when the educational component to really come to fruition with solid attendance at 14 workshops and lectures. That is very important to me. This is about the public, the artists, and the city growing together.
2. What is it about Asheville that has contributed to this event being so successful?
Though tiny by the festival standards of Burlesque, we live in a desirable destination city. In and of itself, that gives artists a reason to visit. An abundance of good food, a progressive atmosphere, mountains in the summertime and the hip boutiques on Lexington are all part of that. Being compact, the festival is also easy to navigate. I keep all the event programming for all three days localized to Biltmore Avenue, so it is all manageable on foot, even in heels. We put on a good show in a gorgeous place, endeavoring to do right by our artists, sponsors, and the public. Everyone wins.
3. (A similar question:) How is ABSfest reflective of the arts community and overall culture in Asheville?
What other small city could hope to support an event like this? The theatrical potential of music was nurtured here through the 90's by the Goodies and the political potential of burlesque by the now-defunct Rebelles. Asheville has now three independent, dedicated burlesque groups, as well innumerable artists involved in fire arts, circus and sideshow. We have both Twelfth Night and the Mardi Gras Parade, which are authentic, joyful expressions of Asheville’s funky nature. Kids have enjoyed classes at the Asheville Circus School. Arts2People’s annual LAAF Fest is an incredible grassroots event with over 6000 people attending each year. I host a nationally recognized four-day bellydance camp every fall in this area with a whole track of classes dedicated to circus arts. Now the Asheville Aerial Arts School has a new studio and director.Asheville is ready to take its identity as an ‘artsy city’ up a notch!
4. What are some of the workshops you all have offered/will offer as part of ABSfest? I noticed burlesque, boylesque and acrobalance listed on the website. What else?
We jury the classes to offer diversity to both the interested folk on the street and the professional community: This includes Burlesque, Boyleqsue and Go-Go, aerials arts (we see a huge upsurge in interest in the circus arts), hula hooping for fitness and fun, stage fighting and costuming, trick whips, stagecraft, and business classes for artists. Another popular class is our annual Fire Safety & Performance. We offer fresh classes every year.
5. What kind of press/attention/recognition has the event received outside of Asheville?
Due to our reputation and the power of the internet, 2008 saw serious momentum, drawing a teaching and performing staff of accomplished national artists, as well as write-ups in most of our local arts and news media. Tomorrow, the world.
6. Are there any kind of superlatives we can use to describe ABSfest, such as it's the only event of its kind in the Southeast, etc.?
It is the only event of its kind in the southeast. Most cities with Burlesque fests are large & metropolitan - New York, Vegas, Boston, San Francisco, Toronto...Asheville is far and away the smallest city to offer something like this both to artist and to the public. And that is Asheville all over: pleasures of a small town, cosmopolitan amenities.
For more: www.sideshowburlesque.org
|
