Learn, Monroe County. If you don't learn, then you're gonna die. Hello and welcome back to another episode
of Learn, Monroe County. Today I am joined by a good friend of mine. This is Clementine Delight, who's
gonna teach me all about burlesque. But first, I don't know anything about burlesque. Can you tell me
a little bit about the history of dancing and being sexy?
can so I don't know too much about the deep so the history burlesque is very long and rich a lot of
people when you look into it they'll say that it goes all the way back to like the ancient Greeks really
yeah that I can't verify I'm not a historian I do know that in America the history burlesque goes back
at least to like the 18 well in England it goes back to like the 1840s okay and America it goes at least
back to like the
late 1800s but it became really popular in the turn of the century so like 1910 so like Edwardian era
to the 1920s with vaudeville. People loved getting naked and dancing back. They did. Now is it true
that burlesque was invented because porn hadn't been invented yet and people needed to see women dance
all sexy like on stage is that true? Porn had been invented by that point actually. I thought porn was
invented in the
50s along with fluoride toothpaste. Is that when fluoride toothpaste was invented? I don't know. Every
fact I say on this show is not true. That's fair. Check your facts, folks. Fact check, Ethan. I am doing
this for you so you can become more media literate. Now porn was invented in the 50s. Continue, please.
Sure, sure, sure, sure. So yeah, so burlesque. Burlesque became popular primarily in
early 20th century so that the 1920s you had a lot of vaudeville performers you had people who were
traveling around some of which could kind of you almost all like in a circus shows which were kind of
considered more like seedier shows like you had like full nudity which wasn't necessarily kosher we'll
say yeah but then you have
more bottle shows that had more like the extravagant costuming where like people would did like strip
down but not strip down all the way. So there are types of burlesque out there. There's more like you
know like the you-hoo sort of one and there's more of the artistic bada bing sort of one. Right yes
and burlesque today obviously like
is more akin to, I like to say that it's like stripping meets theater has a baby. I love that. Yeah.
Okay, so we're gonna learn how to strip for the theater audience. Yeah. Okay, and off camera, Clementine
was telling me that we are gonna have to, there's set rules, and what was the word you used? Routine.
Yes, there's a routine. There's a routine that we must make. Sorry folks, it's early, it's six a.m.
So we're gonna,
We're gonna drop that off. How long you been doing burlesque though? I started doing burlesque in August
of 2022, so I'm three years into it. Now do you, is it like, what's the drive there, you know? Yeah,
so it started out, I had always been interested in burlesque. I'd always been drawn to it, but I never
really thought that I could do it. And then a friend of mine, Lucid Dream, looked them up on socials.
L-O-U-S-I-D, dream, was doing an open stage at the back door here in Bloomington and was like, hey,
do you want to do this open stage with me? And I said, sure. So I threw an act together in like two
weeks and jumped in, did an open stage, fell in love.
And then a producer friend of mine saw me at that show and asked me to be on another show like that.
That's cool. Shortly after and was like, oh, I want to book like this act to be in a different show.
And it just kind of like steamrolled from there. I love that. Yeah. I love that. I feel like finding
new artistic outlets is always something someone could use. Yeah. You never know what you're into until
you do it, folks. That's what my grandpa always would tell me.
anyway we're gonna we're gonna we're going to learn how to do burlesque I'm gonna come up with a routine
and then at home everyone can come with their own routine send them in along with your sketches in your
fan mail please we have we have bags full of mail and we want more are you reading the mail I'm reading
every single one most of its Unabomber similar like Unabomber vibes you know and occasionally it's
It's a man from Eastern Europe who's telling me how beautiful I am. I've got some love letters. I'm
big in the prison system out there. Anyway, we're going to figure out this whole thing. We'll cut to
the dancing. Burlesque, as we stated previously, you need a routine. And I don't have an imagination.
I've never been sexy for others. So Clementine's going to show us a classic Clementine delight routine.
and we're gonna get hot. Let's do it, take it away. Perfect, okay. And we're dancing to an Arctic Monkeys
song, which will be probably blocked out due to copyright, so just pretend. Okay, and, all right. It
starts with hands on the head. You're gonna bring your hands down. Down the neck.
We're going to get out of the chair. Walk around the chair. Cross the chair. Back to the side of the
chair. Little leg action.
Move to the front. Do you want to show off your butt a little bit? Of course I do. And then, this is,
I would usually straddle the chair, but these chairs are not great for that, so we're going to pantomime.
Gosh. And then, I don't know, I have a corset, so this is where I start to take the corset off.
I can pretend. You can pantomime.
Move to the front. So with burlesque, you always want to make sure that if you are going to want to,
even if you're pantomiming, you want to make sure that if you want to touch your body, you actually
touch your body. Sure, deliberate, sure. Deliberate, sensual movements.
Okay, and then we're going to do a little sneak peek, a little reveal. Always cheat back to the audience,
give them a little cheeky smile. Turn sexy. And then this is the floor work routine. Let's do it.
and I'm trying to remember how exactly it goes. I think we already need to be on the floor by this point.
Let me refer back. I haven't done this routine in a minute. It's going to... This is why I videotape
everything so I can remember what my routine is. Sure. Yeah, I think that's fine.
Okay, so we're down on the ground. So what we're gonna do, we're gonna take our hands, we're gonna feel
our way down, we're gonna lower, and then we're gonna move to the ground, and then we're going to swoop,
slide, and then press back up. Oh yeah, bend and snap. Yeah, the bend and snap, classic. And then we're
gonna move over here, this way, a little leg action up there,
It seems like slow, deliberate movement. It's all, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you have a slow routine, you
definitely wanna make sure that you're really taking your time to really feel the slow, deliberate movements,
really tease the audience. Sure, this should be titillating. Titillating, exactly. You're getting it.
So, let me slide. We're gonna do a little bit of like, fun little leg work. Okay. So you put your legs
up, you do a little swirly down this way, a little swirly over this way.
Little fan kick this way and then back up and then this is the really fun part where you have to like
figure out how to Sensuously get back up to your feet That's a way to do it And then okay and then
your you know your your your costume. Thank you. Impeccable, beautiful. Thank you. Yeah, it's great.
I would say pro tip for when picking out costumes for burlesque. You want to pick out clothes that are
interesting to take off.
Okay, sure. No one likes a sock being taken off. No, people love socks being taken off. People love
socks being taken off. Better if it's like a thigh-high sock. Sure. Get a nice stocking peel. Pop it
up on a leg. Pop the leg up there, there, slowly peel it off. Okay.
and then like pull it. I can bring my stockings out and show you how to do that. We can try that. Did
you get a good old fashioned stocking feel? But yeah, so like when it comes to like shirts, t-shirts.
are fine but it's not like the easiest and most visually appealing to like pull a t-shirt off unless
you do it right in the right way. What if you had seven t-shirts on and each one of them was maybe a
little bit more transparent than the last? Does that work better? If that's what you're going for. Okay cool.
I want my nipples to be
Protect protect people from nipples, nipples and genitalia. Yeah, so biggest killers in this country
that you can. You can strip down, but you have to strip down to like panties in a pasty or what or like
a Merkin in a pasty Merkin. Yes, so like a Birkin. No, it's well. So traditionally the word Merkin is
like a term for a vagina. OK, we can cut that. We don't know. Maybe we'll leave it in. I didn't know
there was such thing as a vagina.
a lot of people are learning right now but now it's it's a type of like cover all that doesn't have
any like it just like adheres to the body and so it doesn't have any like straps to hold it up so you
kind of just like just exists tape it to yourself on your on your your private yeah okay
And that's called a workin? A merkin? Merkin. Yeah. Not a berkin bag, a vagina wig. Yeah, merkins were
used in Hollywood as a wig for pubic hair. I like that. Well, I don't know if I like that. I like that
I know the facts now. I can drop that and people think I'm freaking weird. We're talking about vagina
wigs, Ethan. I learned it, that's why.
Um, OK, cool. Yeah, so no nipples, no nipples, no genitals, no genitals. Yeah, I'm keeping it in my
pants in my shirt. Yeah, so unless you have pasties, right? Which I did not bring you. It's OK, I should
have brought my own. Yeah, it's OK. They're like $10 at Cerrillas, so Cerrillas. Yeah, yeah, where is
Cerrillas? So this is on the West Side. OK, it's by Hoppy Wobbles.
It is by Once Upon a Child, which is a weird place for a TV show. That is a weird one. I've been there
when I was a child. I haven't been there in many years. Yeah, you haven't been a child in a long time.
I'm 30 and doing burlesque. Perfect. Where are we now?
So you want to wear interesting clothes that are like our clothes that are interesting to take off.
So like button down shirts perfect because you can like slowly unbutton them. I did bring a button down
if you want to play with a button down shirt. Sure, why not? Let me put it on. OK, it's a men's button
down so it'll fit. I love this. Oh yeah. I feel sexier already.
I feel like I, I'm sure there's more song to show, but I wanna also, I wanna just try it on my own and
see how close I get. And I can use this and unbutton. I wish, I love having cameras around. You buttoned
it wrong. You buttoned it wrong. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that.
This button goes nowhere. This button. Those are the extras. Yeah, those are the extras that I don't
take off the shirt. In case I lose one. Of course. I feel like I'm in a lab. A sexy lab. I'm not talking
about AirBud either. Alright, we're having fun. We're having so much fun. Okay. Alright. Teach me more.
Okay. So, um, what would be like a good, okay, let me see.
We're going to cut the music, so it doesn't really matter what song we do. And we just got up after
we did our floor thing. Yes, so we just got up after we did our floor thing. So... We'll move this one
back a little bit. So you just really just want to feel the music. Yeah, there you go. You're getting
it. Oh, that's good.
You turned on Monroe County. And I would almost like I would almost like the last button I would. I
would do behind the camera and then so you could do like a little like flash and like shimmy it off
your shoulders very like slowly. Maybe a little too fast and then like look back on them. Give a little
cheekiness, you know. Yeah, that's maybe too cheeky. I guess extra spicy for them, but.
them too hot and heavy there Ethan. I don't want to do that. You're supposed to learn not be turned
on. Get your morals correct, Monroe County. And then do you freestyle after that? So ordinarily, so
the routine, once you're kind of done and the song ends, usually the stage cuts to black and then you
exit the stage. Okay.
Typically speaking. Okay. Yeah. I like that. I would like. At that point you're usually completely
de-clothed. Okay sure. Yeah. Minus your merkin and pasties. Yeah or like panties and pasties. Or panties
and pasties. I ate pizza this morning. Anyway, I want to try this one on my own. Can I do that? Here's
the deal, Monroe County.
Clementine Delight taught me so much that I'm ready to do my own burlesque. Little Ethan style,
you know? Cue the music! Benny Hill!
shoes off. I could have taken my shoes off. Play it again. From the start that you stopped.
And then it cuts to black, and I leave. So one more thing we have to go over. Yes. You need a burlesque
name. Okay. All right. Now, is there a specific, like, parameters? Get in frame. Let's talk about this.
Okay. I've learned burlesque, but, and listen, no counting, you need to get in shape and want to feel
hot, dance it out, okay?
Clementine has let me know that I need to come up with a burlesque name. Is there something that inspires
those usually or is it just like whatever you're fucking with? It's pretty much whatever you're fucking
with. So like for example, I think I told you earlier, so my name comes from the inspiration as a bearded
lady because I have an affinity for bearded ladies. And so mine was named after Clementine Delay who
was a bearded lady from the 1890s in France.
And then some people, you know, they like to be punny with it. Some people just like to be, like, sensual
with it. It really, I feel like you put maybe kind of a punny name because it's you. Sure, sure. I also
am thinking, I usually, my alias often is Gucci Warhol. It's named after two of my favorite artists,
Gucci Mane and Andy Warhol. So I was thinking, what if we kind of switch it up? My burlesque name could be Andy.
Andy Mayne.
Andy Warhol, Gucci Mane. I like that. Andy Mane is here to dance. Eat your heart out Monroe County.
I think that's great. You know what though? We couldn't get this done without the library, right?
That's true. So important. Yeah, support your local library. Your local library. Get your library card.
I want to thank everyone for letting us do this. Clementine Delight for being such a fantastic instructor.
Twin Lakes Recreation Center for letting me be almost nude in here.
talent everyone else back to the studio have a wonderful night thank you everybody thank you I felt sexy