Back row l to r: Constance Morewood, Kitana Louise, Melissa Vinson, Delilah Demure, Meghan D’Amico
Front row l to r: Brooklyn Belle, Shan de Leers, Freya West, Vivi Vendetta, Kinetic Kristen
On the covers of countless fashion magazines, you'll see limbs that are disproportionately long, waists that have been taken in and breasts that have been enhanced from A cups to C cups. Mass media has a tendency to advertise a certain ideal, and that ideal is tall and skinny.
At Nashville's newest dance studio, there will be none of that nonsense.
Delinquent Debutantes, a burlesque school that's subleased spaces throughout the city since its founding in 2010, opens its own studio on Charlotte Avenue in West Nashville on Oct. 3. The company's cofounder, Nashville native Freya Potempa — better known by her stage name Freya West — attended college in Chicago, where she honed her skills with renowned burlesque star Michelle L'amour. (Full disclosure: West is also a friend.)
West moved back to Nashville in 2009; after performing with Music City Burlesque and hearing several women say they wanted to dance like her, she founded Delinquent Debutantes with another dancer, Bianca 13, in 2010.
Over the years, as the school grew from holding one class a week to five, West became the sole owner of the company, and a successful Kickstarter campaign raising $10,000 ($4,000 more than the original goal) helped fund the new space.
"This is a space where we have full creative control over what we want to do with the show," West says. "Especially when you're dealing with a subject that's controversial or taboo, everyone wants to have creative control over what you're doing, and it really inhibits the innovation that can happen."
That control means performers can technically shed as much clothing as they want, since the studio isn't bound by a state law restricting how much skin can be shown in venues that sell alcohol. But as the Franklin native points out, nudity isn't necessarily the main goal of burlesque.
"Most of the time, burlesque is about the sparkly bits, and it's really tongue-in-cheek. Like, 'Underneath all my clothes, I'm not naked — I'm rhinestoned!' " West laughs. "I do shows in a merkin, so it's just a triangle of rhinestones there, which I think is more funny and more ridiculous than being nude."
According to West, burlesque is an art form that doesn't tell practitioners they're "too fat, too tall, too short, too black, too whatever to be in a class." Rather than producing assembly-line choreography, it celebrates each person's unique way of moving. West has her students perform in small groups for each other so they can see how differently each person interprets the same dance.
This kind of acceptance was formative for Delilah Demure, a Delinquent Debutantes graduate who requested to be identified by her stage name for professional reasons. Originally taking classes just for fun after getting out of an abusive relationship, Demure recalls feeling "scared to death" at the first class and shyly hanging out in the back of the studio. But with West's support, she eventually brought her dance moves to the stage. The experience was empowering.
"I had all these other women that were coming up to me and complimenting me because I am a curvier woman," says Demure. "I'm not slender. But I know how to work my curves, and that's one of the things that Freya helped me with. ... The fact that I'm getting respect for having the balls to get up on stage, as opposed to people saying like, 'Oh, she shouldn't show that part' — I'm overwhelmed by that."
Taking classes with Delinquent Debutantes has also had a healing effect for students with traumatic histories: women who have survived domestic violence; mothers who have lost a child; former dancers who once suffered from eating disorders. Some of these women have hugged West and cried after class. "It's just a release for them," says the 29-year-old, who plans to offer free classes to cancer patients and survivors. "I'm really, really honored to do that work."
In addition to being a form of art therapy for some, burlesque is also a largely DIY culture. West produces her own shows, creates her own choreography and frequently makes her own costumes — a fact that she believes negates the male gaze. "I am completely in control of how I am presenting my sexuality to an audience. Nothing of that has anything to do with the male gaze. If anything, I'm subjecting you to my female gaze of myself."
Which isn't to say the Delinquent Debutantes studio will be reserved for female students alone. West also wants to nourish the subgenre of burlesque involving male performers, also known as "boylesque."
"[Boylesque] is on the fringes of things, because it's like, 'Oh, other straight men couldn't possibly see another man take his clothes off in a sexy way. That might turn them gay.'"
Down the road, she hopes to offer drop-in classes for men to gauge interest and possibly develop a curriculum for male dancers. For now, however, she's focused on establishing her studio to help women feel more secure in their normal, non-Photoshopped bodies.
Email arts@nashvillescene.com.
