Kayla-lynn St-Coeur had only been part of Fredericton’s Saints and Sinners burlesque group for a handful of months before her first public show at iRock in April. One number in that show had St-Coeur dancing in just dress pants, a bra and a vest. Then, the vest came off.
She didn’t know her mother and boyfriend were in the audience that night.
“At first I thought my mom was going to disown me,” she said. “But they ended up loving it. They saw how happy I was.”
St-Coeur is a fourth year St. Thomas student majoring in human rights and psychology who alsohappens to enjoy a little bit of burlesque.
The 22-member Saints and Sinners group combines elements of dance, theatre, comedy and tragedy into one sexy package. Amanda Steeves started the group nine years ago while she was at STU. She said the general public might see burlesque as skanky, but her group is interested in more than baring skin.
“(Burlesque) has a naughty, dirty image. While there is an aspect of dirtiness or naughtiness, what we do is a lot more dance and entertainment,” said Steeves.
Steeves doesn’t want to make the audience too uncomfortable, she just likes to see a little bit of squirming in the seats. The group doesn’t do nude or topless pieces right now, but they have in the past and it could still be on the table for members who are willing. Steeves said if anything the Saints and Sinners do pushes the envelope, it’s the couples numbers where men and women dance together.
“They’re basically sex with clothes on,” said Steeves. “They make the audience a little uncomfortable in just the right way.”
Off-stage, opinion is mixed. Steeves comes from a Christian background and her mother thought it was “slutty”. But most of the people who think burlesque is dirty have never seen a show. Steeves said the public makes assumptions about what burlesque entails and they’re shocked when they attend a show and actually have fun. She said the crowd varies from polite and supportive to drunk and rowdy. They’ve had shows where loud drunk men have had to be physically restrained from jumping up on stage. And in other cases, certain crowd members have heckled or inappropriately cat-called the dancers.
“One year, we had guys who were shouting not nice things at a few of us girls who were bigger,” said Steeves. “But then we had other people who stood up in the audience and told them to shut up because we are beautiful.”
St-Coeur has been dancing since she was seven or eight years old, but she never felt she had the thin and tall traditional body type of a dancer. She struggled with that standard when she was in dance. Now, she can love her dancing and love herself at the same time.
“We have such a variety of body types and just learning to embrace it was really nice,” said St-Coeur. “This is me in this outfit, and I’m going to dance in it and it’s going to be great.”
The group consists of men and women ages 19 to 35 with all body sizes and shapes. They don’t hold auditions and never will. Steeves pushes a message of self-love and sexiness for everyone; no woman or man is too big or too small to feel like a sexual being. She’s seen members join who were initially shy and reserved who’ve grown to own their bodies and sexualities.
“You can’t be really happy until you’re happy with yourself in the inside and the outside,” said Steeves. “It’s about finding your own sexy.”
