An adventure!

A friend of ours is in a dancing group in Edmonton…a burlesque dancing group! I’d never been to a burlesque show before, so we decided to spend the night in Edmonton and take in this unique form of entertainment.

For those of you who think burlesque is synonymous with “stripping,” let me set you straight. The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes burlesque as a “dramatic work that seeks to ridicule by means of grotesque exaggeration or comic imitation…theatrical entertainment of a broadly humorous often earthy character consisting of short turns, comic skits, and sometimes striptease acts.”

The acts are usually quite funny, involve fantastic costumes, and, at the end, bared breasts with spinning tassels. All in all, a great hoot. There are four such groups in Edmonton, and each is a kind of feminist collective. They work for free, and any money they take in goes to the group for costumes, which they make themselves. The members range in age from 20 to 60; there are psychologists, mechanics, and bank clerks who are members.

What does any of this have to do with recovering from a stroke? Let me tell you… it was an adventure. After a morning of whipping Beatrix from home to Dr’s office, to Devon for an ultrasound, (a whole ‘nother story, some other time) to home again for a funeral, and then to Edmonton, it was a reach. We stayed at a lovely B&B, ate on an outdoor patio between rainstorms, and got to the event early enough to have a long conversation with the bar owner – “Brittany” – about the perils of business life in Edmonton.  It was way outside my comfort zone, and a chance to see another side of life for people who seek self-expression and joy! The show finally got underway at about 10:30 PM – already past my bedtime! – and ended around 1 AM. The dances were funny, beautiful, sexy and, above all, joyous. These women were proud of their bodies, even though none of them were perfect 10’s; they enjoyed ‘displaying’ themselves to an appreciative audience. They sat among us, and we were able to visit with them along the way. For each of them, there was a sense of purpose in their dancing, a sense of doing something valuable to themselves and their audience. Above all else, it was fun! One dance was unbelievably beautiful, complete with glittery golden wings!

For me, the ‘recovery’ part related to the sense of joy I saw in each woman’s performance, and the sense that this was, in a way, part of what they were called to do, a moment in their lives to which they had to respond. There was vocation there; I saw the self-expression as a revelation by each of the women of what they had been given in life, and they shared it. I would go again in a heartbeat.

In bed by 1:15 AM, exhausted and happy, we slept well, ate a wonderful breakfast, and then returned to our real world. We have talked together a lot about the experience, and what it meant to us, and to the performers. Each of them was a lovely young…or not so young…woman, who was saying “this is me; I am beautiful; I want to share this beauty with you. Enjoy!” What could be healthier or richer than that?