Bright lights lit up a curious stage at the Corner Brook Center for the Arts and Culture last April: a laundry string strung across the central stage, adorned with a range of items ranging from the blinded flags of Newfoundland and Labrador to a knitted bikini.
Then Alana Miles’ Black Velvet screamed from the speakers and three dancers rushed off the wings for a night extravaganza called Ruralesque, a cabaret that uses burlesque to undermine the rural paths of Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Burlesque’s original idea was to parody, to exaggerate, to make fun of,” said Josh Murphy, co-founder of Ruralesque and one of the three dancers.
Burlesque is more than just stripping, Murphy said. It usually does not include complete nudity, but instead emphasizes insolence and celebration on stage. “It’s about including all bodies. “All bodies have value in burlesque,” he said.
Murphy has a long history of such performing arts: he created his burlesque alter ego Newfound Lad while living and working in Toronto and touring with Boylesque TO. COVID-19 stopped these stage shows and Murphy found himself back in his hometown of Corner Brook.
“I am from here and I have lived far away for a long time. And I really never thought I would live here again just because of the opportunities and being weird, “he said.
25:05 Undressing of Newfoundland
Three Corner Brook dancers take to the stage to reveal everything … at least as far as the Newfoundland identity is concerned. Go behind the scenes of a burlesque show about belonging in this Melissa Tobin documentary.
Now, 2 and a half years later, Ruralesque has been realized. Murphy and his two co-creators run a diverse show of soul-revealing monologues, a lobster mating ritual interpreted as a contemporary dance, and sexy, cheeky mummery.
“It’s about bringing in aspects of myself that I don’t always feel appropriate in Newfoundland, but they have to fit into Newfoundland because I’m from here. I belong here, all aspects of me belong here, “he said.
‘I never imagined it’
Rural style co-author Hilary Kni reflects this feeling. She left Corner Brook at the age of 13 to study dance in Halifax and then in Toronto, spending nearly 15 years on the continent dancing before the pandemic also saw her return home.
Knee never imagined she could create contemporary dance pieces in her hometown, and spending Ruralesque to the end is an emotional journey.
“I never imagined it. I didn’t know it was possible. It’s amazing how some things just come together and come together, “she said.
Pike, Murphy and Kni perform their Ruralesque stage show at the Corner Brook Arts & Culture Center on April 26. (Melissa Tobin / CBC)
Once, Knee and Murphy’s dance teacher, Candice Pike, a third rural contributor, agreed that their show was born out of a desire to express an art form that is not common in small towns. Pike also moved to the mainland, but returned long before Kni and Murphy were able to establish a teaching practice and career at home.
Ruralesque proved to be a turning point in her work.
“For the first time, I’m starting to feel supported, I feel inertia behind the work. It’s entering a new phase of my career,” Pike said.
In addition to personal satisfaction, Pike said, she hopes their show will expand ideas on traditional rural trails.
“In the Newfoundland context, we sometimes resell this idea of what our identity is or what it looks like,” she said. “So I try to be really careful… maybe I use the word ‘identities’ more and I understand that there are many different experiences and expressions of living in Newfoundland.”
The trio hopes to put Ruralesque back in the country in the coming months.
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
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