The history of Bla(c)k Burlesque
History was made at the 2025 Miss First Nation Drag Pageant last week, when Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi Draglesque performer Kitty Obsidian was the first competitor and winner in the Miss First Nations pageant who was assigned female at birth.
This week, Kitty continues their hobby of history making by being the first Aboriginal burlesque performer to be part of The Black Burlesque Festival in London.
It’s clear the present (and future) of Bla(c)k burlesque is safe with Kitty, but what was the space like before they refined their habit of carving paths and winning awards?
Burlesque is ‘the art of the tease’, a parodical, political and satirical playground in which performers entice, enchant and excite. ‘Behind the Burly Q’ explains that burlesque started as a “play that made fun of legitimate plays at the time” and that the striptease elements of the show date back to the Byzantine era. In modern days, we’ve seen burlesque evolve from its fully-clothed and vaudevillian background to a stand alone artform that relishes the power of women and queer folk and how far they’re willing to push the envelope.
When you attend your first burlesque class, your teacher will explain the importance of burlesque history and give you a brief recap of it. How it’s important to know why bump skirts and pasties are used, the ways the artform has evolved. Depending on what type of class you’re in (Classic, Showgirl, Neo, Comedy or something undefinable). The brief evolution and history of the specific sub genre you find yourself in may vary, such as, stage names you may or may not recognise and what books or resources you can and should use to learn more.
The history of burlesque is held with such importance, care and regard in every facet of the artform. The history keeps the artform alive and allows you to appreciate the long standing practices as well as the changes it’s seen over decades, and the paths burlesque legends and foreparents carved out for us. Learning history is just as important as learning a stocking or glove peel.
But what happens when part of the history, your Peoples’ history, was erased, not recorded or purposely obfuscated?
Subhead: Bla(c)k Burlesque History
Recently, I had a conversation with Wiradjuri Burlesque and Sideshow Performer Kitty Obsidian, in which we lamented not having a pinnacle of Bla(c)k burlesque. I remarked how almost every Bla(c)k Burlesque performer has a Josephine Baker reference somewhere in their career. While Baker is undeniably burlesque royalty who should be treated as such, it is sad to not have a similar hallmark for Aboriginal performers.
A portrait of Josephine Baker (Public Domain).
Turns out in the 1920s, Aboriginal women were often part of ‘Leg Shows’.
These were shows in tents that would travel alongside shows like circus and boxer tents. Almost every Aboriginal person has an uncle or grandfather who was involved with boxer tents, and their history is pretty well preserved. So it’s disappointing but unsurprising leg show tents weren’t treated with the same reverence.
Of course the history of Aboriginal peoples has not always been recorded or preserved, or was purposely destroyed. Family records destroyed or locked away and government policies that made it illegal to speak language or practice culture resulted in losses across communities. Aside from this, sex work is consistently surrounded by stigma and shame so it’s unsurprising that travelling sport tents and shows like boxing and rodeo garnered more support and interest than the Aboriginal ecdysiasts.
In my research, I discovered Aboriginal women in tents had to hide their racial identity to be seen as desirable, where Aboriginal men were somewhat accepted for it in boxer tents and rodeo shows; their Indigenous identities deemed only acceptable in the context of brute entertainment.
Bla(c)k women navigating racism in ‘leg shows’
During the time these ‘leg shows’ took place, Aboriginal women weren’t seen as objects of desire.
This led to many of the Aboriginal women who worked in the leg shows to adopt personas that hid their Aboriginality or masked it by posing as a different race. For example, researcher and theatremaker Kate Hunter’s research has found dancers ‘Fifi from Tahiti’ and ‘Gigi from French Polynesia’ were likely to both be Aboriginal women. Other dancers would pose as Fijian, Indian or Hawaiian.Some dancers would, in classic burlesque style, offer their stage identities with a wink of sorts, as it was apparent these women weren’t actually from distant lands or cultures and some members of the audiences actually knew, and would play along.
Outside of shows at the time, sexuality for Aboriginal women was taboo. According to Hunter, white audiences at ‘Leg Shows’ were all too willing to be led into a fantasy of these performers to be ‘dusky maidens’ from the South Seas. This was deemed more desirable “than to confront the extent to which Aboriginal women and white men had a sexual history and what their history represented for white settler Australians – at best, violent conquest.”
In a country built on a history of violent extraction and sexual violence of Aboriginal women, a context in which a Bla(c)k woman was in any way portraying sexual agency, and to even make a living from this, had to be accompanied by a fantasy that this person was not an Aboriginal person in order for it to be palatable for audiences.
For the sake of one’s social status, pretending the woman who was dazzling you and teasing you on stage was anything other than Aboriginal allowed patrons to enjoy the shows without the stigma being attracted to an Aboriginal person would bring.
“So full of loathing and disgust were portrayals of Aboriginal women’s sexuality in some of the outlets of popular culture” Hunter explains, noting that Aboriginal women were reduced to ‘a position of extreme dehumanisation in white eyes’ and that interracial relations existed at the time in a context of ‘unfreedom, exploitation and terror’.
For Aboriginal showgirls, it potentially allowed them a moment of visibility and desirability outside of the racist and colonial landscape Australia offered. It allowed control over their own bodies and sexuality, in a time in which it was either taboo to do so or it was forcibly controlled or used without consent.
Although I do question how much agency, autonomy and reclamation these women had of their bodies and sexualities if they had to pretend to be a different person the entire time.
Sexuality in Bla(c)kness
Unfortunately, due to this history, it is difficult to find or know who some of the Aboriginal path-makers and foremothers of burlesque were.
Bla(c)k Showgirls who do have a recorded history is Aunty Veronica Barnett, a snake charming, basket weaving, fire twirling burlesque dancer who had began dancing in Naarm when she was around 20. Aunty Veronica had a piece done about her showgirl past by the Melbourne Museum in 2022. The piece includes pictures from performances and an image of a show poster from one of her shows in Tahiti.
Anytime Kitty and I discuss our love and despair over this corner of history, Aunty Veronica is consistently brought up. Kitty believes Aunty Veronica is who we should be upholding and heralding as the hallmark of Bla(c)k burlesque (And personally, I think Kitty is up there too).
Aunty Iris Lovett Gardiner is another Bla(c)k Showgirl who has record of her showgirl history. In her own book, Aunty Iris detailed her time of working in and being around shows during the time of racial obfuscation. Aunty Iris writes that the travelling nature of shows provided an opportunity to see new Country and that Mob who lived the ‘showie’ life were always meeting up with each other.
Subhead: Bla(c)k Burlesque today
Between then and now, burlesque has become more accessible, and thankfully the Aboriginal people who take part in this fun and empowering art form no longer have to hide.
However, it can still take a moment to find other Aboriginal performers. I remember when I started Burlesque in 2019 I was often the only Bla(c)k person, or person of colour in classes.
I remember trying to find other Bla(c)k soloists and only finding three, who lived in different states from me; Wiradjuri performer Kitty Obsidian, Creme de la Crop (who has spoke about her tribute act to Black Burlesque Legend Toni Elling) and Kamilaroi and Torres Strait Islander performer Vudu Doll.
All three of these performers have had to do immense work to push the burlesque community to be as welcoming, warm and safe for Mob as it is now. Although, it’s been a slog at times.
2021 saw Mx Burlesque Australia revoke Scarlet Adams’ titles and instill a strategy to increase racial diversity in the competition. Australian Burlesque Festival also faced similar backlash, issued an apology and took action after a 2018 New Follies competitor took to the stage in blackface.
Both events and their producer teams have since consulted with performers of colour to ensure such mistakes don’t happen again and to encourage diversity in the shows. In 2023, Kitty Obsidian was a guest curator of the Australian Burlesque Festival, and yours truly placed 2nd runner up in the New Follies competition. Thankfully, now, the only blackfaces on these stages are those that are born with them.
Outside of these three there’s siblingship found in Bla(c)k Burlesque performers across the continent, with performers like Muninjali woman Dexi Daydream, Kabi Kabi performer Miss Phoria, Kalkadoon woman Honey Buttons, Bundjalung Woman Delilah Dusk and Violetta Harletta (and of course, more I haven’t met yet!).
2025 has been exciting for Bla(c)k showponies, with Kitty Obsidian having a year of accolades – taking out ‘Burlesque Performer of the Year’ at the Medeas in Naarm, Melbourne Rubber Person of the Year, Trans Worker of the Year at the Sex Worker Community Recognition Awards, Miss First Nation and Miss Talent at the Miss First Nation Pageant and mentioned on 21 Century Burlesque’s Top 50 ‘Ones to Watch’ global list.
More award winners can be found in Gamilaroi Woman Eros Mother, who won Dancer of the Year at the Sex Worker Community Recognition Awards, and this year’s Apprentease QLD, where place getters are Bla(c)k Showgirls – Vida Voltaire (winner) and the Wailwan/Wiradjuri Witch Salem Moon (runner up).
Despite the victories and community, it is hard to not feel a sense of sadness when comparing history of other Indigenous or Black showponies, or burlesque history in general.
For example, Brown Skin Showgirls is a movie, book series, show and exhibition that keeps the history of Black and Brown showgirls in America. And due to the nature of the underlying racism when regarding Aboriginal women as objects of desire, a lot of our histories have been lost.
In Canada, full show productions are based around Indigeneity in Burlesque and while here in so-called Australia we’ve had Hot Brown Honey, People of Cabaret, Caboriginal, Point of Change and Deadly Sinners. The cross artform style of Caboriginal and Deadly Sinners is fun and the cross-cultural casts of the other shows are beautiful, but none of these productions or shows are based solely around and cast entirely of Bla(c)k Burlesque performers.
Similarly, Black burlesque artist Po Chop created the Black Burlesque Directory as a tool for performers, curators and producers to be able to easily find Black performers.
In 2020 I found myself in the directory and asked to be removed as I felt I didn’t belong in a directory that was focused on Indigenous African folk and descendants of.
I’ve since lamented about the lack of a directory for Bla(c)k Burlesque, but am also filled with a sense of discomfort at the idea of record keeping Bla(c)k bodies.
The history of burlesque is held so delicately in the hands of those that love the artform, but it is difficult to find exactly where you fit into that history when the history received the same treatment as Bla(c)k history outside of the showtents. With a lot of digging and keeping in mind who’s in shows and on stages it’s possible to find icons like Aunty Veronica, Aunty Iris and Kitty Obsidian. Perhaps afterall, we don’t need a 1:1 of Josephine when we have these icons who have pointed toes and paved paths for us to be here today.
