I started this piece as an article for the NSRC, but wanted to flesh it out more here.
Never had I ever seen a pinata get fisted. Nor had I watched a human-sized pulsating vagina dance or a white baby's entrails get greedily consumed. But I saw it this weekend at the Brava Theater. Xandra Ibarra, aka La Chica Boom, produces Kaleidoscope Cabaret, a show centered on people of color performance and race positive sexuality.
The theater was full of queer folks, folks of color, fat folks, the glitter-donned, feather-accented and female impersonating throngs from every part of the country. To see so many queer people of color in one room made me feel like my heart was pumping pure pink glitter.
Being new to burlesque has made me privy to the depoliticization of parts of the neo-burlesque scene. Taking my clothes off is ok, but when I want to explicitly incorporate critiques about racism and religion, producers are not so keen on that. Saturday's show was all about sexy & explicit critique, and it was amazing.
Highlights for me: La Chica Boom, a self-proclaimed radical queer Xicana, who came out in a Lucha Libre mask and cape and proceeded to spank, humiliate and then fist an enormous pinata (wearing a latex glove of course). The second was a black performer (whose name I can't find) who ate a white baby (doll). The music in the background was accentuated with high-pitched baby wails and lines from Gone With the Wind: exchanges between Scarlett and Mammie. She tries to comfort the baby, breast feeds it (which sends the crowd into delighted screams) and then takes out enormous fork and knife to kill and eat it, letting its blood drip down her naked (save the pasties) chest and belly.
When I think of fisting pinatas or eating white babies, it reminds me of the way that we can exercise anger and violence and sexuality in performance as a means of destabilizing and satirizing the racism in our culture. These are moments of healing and empowerment for (some? many? most?) people of color. At least it was for me. There are times that racism feels atomized, like a faint impression. There are times that racism feels explictly personal, experiences that are humiliating and make me feel like I have been brought to my knees by a system so explictly created to privilege white people over brown people.
Performance (viewing and exercising) can be erotic and cathartic. Seeing brown people taking up stage space in order to entertain and critique and empower other people of color made my weekend fabulous. We need more brown performers exposing our tits and asses and ideas!
