"Different Points of Value"

Last night was the second “Les Fleurs de Shanghai” show at Duane Park and it was another sold out show. I really am totally head over heels for this show. I am constantly thinking about it, still researching and digging up obscure film and reading material about Old Shanghai, and last weekend I took a four hour crash course on classical Chinese dance at Lotus Dance Studios - just out of curiosity. The class was extremely informative especially for me since I have no idea what “classical Chinese dance” was. The little that I know was from my experience seeing Shen Yun at Lincoln Center. In this class, taught by Ms Ling Tao who was extremely knowledgeable with ten years of dance experience behind her, I learned the basic postures of Chinese dance and the idea of balance. To go right, you go left first. There’s a push, then there’s a pull. A “punch” (jutting one’s shoulder forward) and a “lean” (pulling the same shoulder back in the opposite direction). We also learned three choreographed routines covering the basic foot and hand movements, one using Chinese silk fans, and the last one using ribbons. It was a lot of information for a Saturday morning and I would do it again. I was able to integrate some of the delicate hand gestures and poses into my burlesque routine with modification. To me, classical Chinese dance for women is very “girlish”. The style from the way one walks to facial expressions all evoke a young girl’s youthful frivolity and naivete. I prefer sultry and sensual for my dance styles so some of the more “girly” movements I modified for the acts I did last night at “Les Fleurs de Shanghai”.

In all my research I naturally come across Anna May Wong all the time. For those who don’t know who she was, AMW was the first Chinese-American movie star who starred in over 18 films in her career including both silent and sound films. She starred opposite Marlene Dietrich in “Shanghai Express”, and I think she was the only truly visible Asian-American female figure in the American jazz age. Unfortunately her film roles were heavily criticized for depicting Chinese women as “dragon ladies” or as scheming, conniving seductresses. As if SHE had any decision in how the scripts were written back in the old, white Hollywood days! A sample of these images include

Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong

As a Chinese-American woman raised mostly in the US with a BA in English from Cornell, a MFA from Columbia University, and armed with the alumni badge from the New York School of Burlesque (haha!), I don’t find these images offensive or demeaning instead I think they are powerful, glamorous, and fierce. Militant “Model Minority” types will object undoubtedly to my interpretation which then begs the question, at what point in history can an image be reclaimed to reflect the values of the people who perceive them? Perhaps the Chinese American women during AMW’s times objected to these images because there weren’t enough Asian American representation in the media which would be just limited to film and paper circulation, and so naturally they did not desire to see exotified and “orientalized” visual images from a Western imagination. But as a member of a newer generation, a generation that is post-feminist that distant herself from the militant feminism ideologies of the 1970’s, I am inspired by these images. Naturally I am drawn to the costuming. They exude the feminine mystique. They seduce me in its power and exotic-ness. Why is it political to be exotic? I am different than the majority. And frankly I am tired to the “assimilation” discourse found in immigrant mentality. I WANT to be different, exotic, and foreign than you. You are “the other” in my book. Not I.

Anna May Wong

In the burlesque world we celebrate and honor “The Legends” at annual festivals. These women are in their sixties and some nearing their eighties. They were straight up strippers in their days because before strip clubs and poles “burlesque” was stripping. It was not what us new kids will defend to our death pastie beds as an "art form" - it was stripping. We honor these women for paving the road in an era where women’s roles were limited. These women were bawdy, brazen, and many are the classic textbook example of women who come from an educationally disenfranchised background and went into adult entertainment due to lack of a technical skill (twirling pasties and ass popping do not count). The rhetoric is seductive. Pioneers. Ballbusters. Rebels. But at the heart of it, we are honoring older strippers, because meaning is fluid and it has changed for this generation. Every year, thousands of burlesque performers both established and beginners along with fans of burlesque flock to Las Vega’s Burlesque Hall of Fame festival to meet other performers from all over the world and to compete in different titles. In the burlesque world, this event is a BIG deal. It’s the unofficial Oscars of burlesque. We are celebrating the public display of theatrically removing your clothes in front of strangers!

Tammi True in her heyday - featured dancer at Jack Ruby's strip club The Carousel in Dallas, TX. Photography Nancy Myers. From D Magazine.

Tammi True performing with the Ruby Revue in Dallas in 2010. Photo by Ben Britt.

Tempest Storm poses outside a theater marquee in 1954. Read the article >

Check out this amazing MSN clip on Tempest Storm performing in Vegas in her 80s! 

This reminds me of HSBC’s campaign ‘Different Points of Value’ that you see in airports. The campaign puts the same image side-by-side with a different caption over each one. The idea is to show you how the same thing can have different meaning based on the culture, socio-economic class, education, etc.

HSBC "Different Points of Value" Ad Campaign

HSBC "Different Points of Value" Ad Campaign

If a stripper from the olden days can become a Legend in the now days, then likewise the meaning of images like Anna May Wong’s can be fluid. These images deserve a new interpretation relevant to women now, to women like me. It’s time to celebrate what she has accomplished on her own accord in a challenging millieu rather than through the foggy, scratched lens of the old times.

New Nude Photos for Purchase

I've finally reached 1,000 Twitter followers this week after enticing my fans with the release of a free nude picture of me. I know 1,000 isn't a big deal at all compared to celebrities and established performers. But it's a milestone for me and plus, I like the idea of giving away something free at every 1000.

The free download was only available online for 12 hours, after that, I disabled it. However, I have also released a series of four nude pictures that are available for purchase online. These are satin-finish, 8x10 color prints for $15 + $6 S/H to anywhere in the US.

These are my favorite photos ever. I love the elegance and contrast against the gray background. I wanted these to be tasteful, and it made me SO happy when I woke up the next morning to find that one of my fans have already purchased a print and said he was going to frame it and hang it up in his living room along with the rest of the decor as it could go quite well.

My prints are available here >

Nude prints available for purchase online - http://foxfatale.com/prints  Photo by Mike Webb Photography

Screenshots from Oddities - "Seeing Scars" Episode 9

*update: the online version is now live! http://science.discovery.com/videos/oddities-seeing-scars-videos/
Here are some screenshots from my recent episode on the quirkiest show on Science Channel. I'm Season 3, the most recent.
If you don't have premium cable, you can still watch it on iTunes like me for $2.99!
I'm not giving away what oddity Evan & Mike found for me so you'll have to just TiVo it or dip into your fun-fund to find out! It's ODD for sure! I never even knew such a thing existed!
Here's the online link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/seeing-scars/id485864364?i=501979706
They even got my laugh down!




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"Les Fleur de Shanghai" on Leap Year 2012

Don't miss this month's "Les Fleurs de Shanghai" on Wed. 2/29 at Duane Park featuring Shien Lee, DeeDee Luxe, myself, and guest er hu player Andy Lin. Our last show was sold out so don't wait til the last minute to secure your table.

Many people ask how much the event cost. The answer is there is no cover to come. But if you want to be able to get a good table to watch the show, you have to make dinner table reservations. If you are seated at the dining room area where you can see everything without craning your neck, dinner is required. 

If you want to take your chance and just "show up" like many non-committal New Yorkers do (ummm... new dating topic!), you will have to sit at the bar which only comfortably seats about 10-15 people and you won't get a great view of the show. 

Don't worry though. The dinner menu is not exorbitantly expensive. Everything is reasonably priced. You can order a salad or entree. Or even the truffle fries which are to DIE FOR. I personally love the herbed roasted chicken. I always get that. So delish. AND the portions are on the big side. Not like dining at some of the other "tiny portion in giant plates" rip off restaurants. 

Dinner & show RSVP required by calling 212.732.5555. Seating starts at 7:30PM. Show at 8:30PM.

Come dine and enjoy a beautiful show in an elegant setting on this auspicious leap year night. Leap year brings luck to all who attend!

Dallas Burlesque Festival 2012 & Lots of Other Info & Pics!

I just returned from my trip down home to Dallas, Texas to perform in the 4th Annual Dallas Burlesque Festival produced by The Ruby Revue, one of the biggest burlesque troupes in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area. One of the producers, Ginger Valentine, was just recently crowned "Queen of Burlesque" at the New Orleans Burlesque Festival. You may wonder, what's the big deal with the festivals? Well, you are not alone. You are asking the same question as my Mom! She was surprised when I told her that we don't get paid to perform in the festivals, if we are lucky, we get an honorarium which can vary from $25-300 depending on your level of "fame". The headliners (for instance, in the Dallas festival, they were Michelle L'amour (Chicago), The Schlepp Sisters (NYC), and Bazuka Joe (Chicago)) will usually have their airfare and accommodations covered by the show producers. The rest are responsible for their own transportation and accommodation. I could see my mom's reaction. Naturally her next question was, "What do you get out of it? You spend so much money! How come you girls don't have personal sponsors? Someone should start a 'scholarship' or something for you all to apply for to cover your costs for costuming and flying around."

All good questions which I tried to answer. I explained firstly, for me, I like to travel and go to cities I've never been to or cities where I have friends (and obviously family) in so that factor greater determines my application decision. Secondly, festivals are worth doing because you get to meet other performers and expand your network. As a producer I am always looking for established, out-of-town performers to shake things up here a bit. It's immeasurably valuable for me to meet some of the ladies in person and watch them perform in person. And thirdly, I think every performer secretly wants to win a title of some kind if they are performing in a pageant-based festival. These titles don't really mean much in the real world sense. They are only relevant in the burlesque community. Most civilians don't know what the titles are or care, but performers are still introduced with a string of titles they've won such as "Miss Coney Island", "Best Debut at the Burlesque Hall of Fame", "The Legends Award" so on and so forth. The creativity behind the titles are amusing. The biggest honor, however, is to perform AND be titled in the annual Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend in Las Vegas. This festival is THE Oscars for burlesquers. It's also like a weekend summer camp for performers and burlesque aficionados alike. I have never been but perhaps this year I will. 

The Dallas festival took place at the House of Blues, and the place was HUGE. I have seen the girls of Ruby Revue perform at the anniversary show last year and I thought they were all very talented, detail oriented, and super polished. So it was really awesome to meet at least three of them in person: Ginger Valentine, Missy Lisa, and Black Mariah (who I met in an elevator, drunk, when I was in New Orleans). The girls also had Tami True on the set list. If you don't know who she is, she's one of the legends from the olden days before "burlesque" is feminist and it was just straight up stripping. Tami True was one of the headline dancers at the striptease club The Carousel Club owned by the infamous Jack Ruby! She is now 70-something but still spitfire. We were both in the second set on Saturday night and we shared a small gripe backstage about how it was already midnight and we still haven't performed yet. If you look up anything related to Jack Ruby, she will show up. I even saw a documentary about Jack Ruby where her name was lit up in the marquee outside the Carousel.

On another smaller stage the "All Stars Weekend" boy band was playing. I heard that they are on the Disney Channel but there was a HUGE line of pre-teen and teenage girls lined up outside the venue at 430pm waiting for them! I don't know who they are but they seem popular with the teen girls. They were in another dressing room but seemed very curious about all the burlesque performers changing backstage. Hahaha. This was the biggest stage I've performed on besides the Colorado Burlesque Festival which is really good too. I highly recommend applying for both Dallas and Colorado's festivals! My mom, aunt, my brother and my man were in attendance on my night. And my old childhood friend came with a friend of hers. And I am happy to report that thanks to those of you (Dixie Rising in particular) who commented on my Facebook wall inquiring about the right color of stage lighting for Asian complexion, I asked for a pink light and it looked simply MAAAARVELOUS! 

(I've now started to watermark all my pictures front and center because people keep stealing my photos and not crediting who I am or at least who the photographer is. Sorry for the visual disturbance..)

And the dressing room is BIGGER than my old studio apartment in LES

I love going home to Texas. I don't take my computer so I am away from technology (except my iPhone), I don't have to think about what to feed myself every day (my Mom is a killer cook), and I sleep in every day and go shopping with my Mom and aunt. The biggest decision I have to make while at home is whether or not I should indulge in fast food dri-thru. It's so nice to give my brain a rest for a few days. We closed out the festival weekend at the Sunday Awards & Show at Dish Restaurant in a nice neighborhood that looked to me like the "Chelsea of Dallas". Everyone in my family came even my dad! I didn't perform so it was okay for him to be there. My sixteen year old cousin had to stay home with Chewie but he didn't mind. I don't think he knows what "burlesque" is yet. He just immigrated to the States from Taiwan less than a year old and teenagers in Taiwan are much less precocious than American teens. The food was delicious and so were the drinks! The show was really fun and had more sing/strip acts than the Saturday night show. I got to meet more girls from Dallas and elsewhere. My brother wanted pictures with everyone! My dad said afterwards that he wasn't very shocked but then again he was drinking whiskey straight up.

I am wearing Michael (on the right) and Haute Hippie dress (on myself)

Rockin out my vintage Norwegian fox stole

Group shot at the end of Sunday night's dinner & show! I have my finger inside Violet O'hara's cleave! Cha cha cha!

Back in NYC, I am happy to announce the return of "Drunken Dragon Nights" at Macao Trading Company on Monday, February 20! Two hours of open bar from 9-11pm with burlesque by myself, Gal Friday, Nikki Le Villain, and new to DDN, Tansy at 10pm! Kittening by Minx Arcana. It is a free event but you must RSVP to get past by our doorman Mauricio at info@macaonyc.com

Secondly, tonight, February 9, 2012 marks the 2nd year anniversary of my THURSDAY night at Nurse Bettie! Incredible, eh? I've never been committed to anything this long!

2nd year anniversary!

Thirdly (is there such a term?), "Les Fleurs de Shanghai" returns to Duane Park on Wednesday, February 29, 2012! Just so happens that this month's show lands on a leap year, how lucky for us! Last month's show sold out completely, even the bar was packed so don't wait til last minute and take your chances. Dinner & Show RSVP are required by calling Duane Park at 212.732.5555. I am extra excited this month to introduce our fans to an extraordinary musician from Julliard, Andy Lin, who will be playing the traditional Chinese instrument "er hu" which is absolutely and unbelievably haunting. It will bring tears to your eyes.

DeeDee Luxe (right) plays a mean hand of poker! "Les Fleurs de Shanghai", Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at Duane Park

Lastly, you can see me this Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 9 PM on the quirky TV series "Oddities" on Science Channel! If you are unfamiliar with the show, I highly recommend it! It's about an old antique shop in the East Village of NYC and all the quirky characters who come in looking for particular items. They are not your grandmother's kind of antique shop. Tune in to my episode called "Seeing Scars"! (Read my earlier post about being filmed for the episode here)

"Seeing Scars" on ODDITIES, Saturday 9PM, February 11, 2012 on Science Channel

Did you know...

Wednesday, 1/25/2012 at Duane Park

Did you know that the cabaret hostess ( ) in Shanghai during the 30s epitomized the beautiful yet dangerous modern girl who enjoyed the exalted status of wealth and fame much like Hollywood stars of our time! There was even a publication called "Crystal"that reported all the minute details of where the more famous hostesses were working at, who their lovers were, and various gossip completely dedicated to Shanghai's nightlife. The cabaret hostess became a figure of that embodied Shanghai's changing political and cultural climate during that war-torn time. Even in this tumultuous environment of multiple wars both civil and national, Shanghai became the hub of several artforms including Chinese cinema and Chinese popular music.
Here's an old photograph of cinemas from the 30s in Shanghai from Liangyou magazine another famous nightlife tabloid.

Blue+Yellow = Purple

In my pursuit to find the PERFECT stage light colors for my yellow Asian complexion, the latest discovery is this blue hue which doesn't look sooo bad but it does make me look a bit purple. I've seen red lights on me in pictures and they look good. The worst I've ever seen (besides fluorescent but that looks terrible on everyone) is a blue and gold contrast they used at an unnamed venue - and it turned me GREEN! Any fellow stage lighting masters out there who can offer some magic advice on flattering lighting on Asian skin for live performances?

Tina Tassel's "Meat My Friends" at Full Cup, Staten Island, January 2012. Photo by Mr. Vinyl

Tina Tassel's "Meat My Friends" at Full Cup, Staten Island, January 2012. Photo by Mr. Vinyl

My Experience of Shen Yun at Lincoln Center

I just posted a new entry at Asiance Magazine about my experience seeing Shen Yun for the first time this weekend. It was inspiring and also not what I was expecting! I was thoroughly inspired though to adapt the traditional Chinese "water sleeve" dance to a burlesque version. Read more here http://www.asiancemagazine.com/2012/01/16/my-experience-of-shen-yun-at-lincoln-center.