Dames A’Flame – Atlanta Burlesque

Jeff McClure got a gig with this month’s Dames A’Flame burlesque show in Atlanta. Contrary to what you might imagine (and shame on you), Jeff was not decked out in the style of burlesque. No, he performed his magic act with some witty banter with the girls to get some laughs. It went well and he got his laughs. I think the audience really dug the act.

I was asked to film his part of the show for a demo in progress. I’ve never been to any type of burlesque show before, so I thought the opportunity sounded great. I gathered up the women folk (Jeff’s and mine) and we headed out for a night of unusual entertainment. If you don’t recall, I had done the 99x CAR-nival show on stilts recently. There I met several of the girls from Dames A’Flame, which were not exactly as I had imagined. So going to their show was going to be a good way to connect the people I spoke with to the entertainment they provided.

Once at the Vortex for dinner, we had a near miss of getting into the show entirely. They had only one ticket left for the 8:30pm show and I didn’t feel like going ahead while leaving the girls behind to amuse themselves for a couple of hours. After some discussion and rather long wait times at dinner, we decided we may as well stay for the 11:00pm show. And there was a Starbucks across the street which sweetened the deal.

The show was very funny, but in a low-brow sort of way. The campiness and general cheese of the whole show had me laughing through the whole of it. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect regarding nudity, but there was plenty of nudity or nudity+pasties if you don’t want to include that in the same category. I don’t know what the definition of burlesque is, but here’s my summary from exposure:

burlesque: Raunchy comedy for adults primarily surrounding the parody of sensuality.

It’s not for everyone, and that’s probably plain. But I can see where certain shows done by truly masterful performers could entice those who would shame the act into appreciating the art.