Boylesque superstar British Heart reveals all(!) and answers the question: what is boylesque? And yes, it’s as complicated and nuanced as its sister genre, burlesque…

What is Boylesque?

Male burlesque, aka boylesque is as varied and exciting a genre as burlesque – though arguably not as famous. And just like burlesque, male burlesque is equally misunderstood.

We turned to long-standing male burlesque performer British Heart for his take (as he also has an MA on the subject)…

What is boylesque? Boylesque is burlesque striptease (as are grrlesque, gorlesque and the lesser known Al Gorelesque) performed by individuals who identify as boys (or as Al Gores).

We are a member of the nocturnal adult entertainment world, a lamp lighted terrain of be-glittered, drunk figures that slip, suit case in hand, from tube station to cabaret bar to bar, to the floor.

How’s boylesque dancing like burlesque? Like the burlesque dancers, boylesque dancers construct and perform striptease acts. We are strippers, and we determine to make our image and bodies somehow dazzling, unruly, trashy, erotic, classic and even fierce, in a sense excessive.

Like the female burlesque performers, boylesque performer’s present a huge range of aesthetics, clown, fetish, circus, cowboy, vintage burlesque aesthetic, drag, glam rock, Victorian, sci-fi, grotesque, macabre, even goth.

And erm, like, what is burlesque!? Burlesque can be a performance through which the stripper focusses on parody. Boylesque dancers may ridicule any subject. Some attack popular film stars or politicians, others mock their own situations or bodies and some, hilariously don’t mock at all.

Image of British Heart and more information on the performer via his official website.

And now’s a quick opportunity to discover the history of burlesque with Burlexe’s key performers…