To Brulée or Not to Brulée

I went out for coffee Saturday morning at Aroma Café. In the window was an ad for an event at the Canopy Club called "Voulez-Vous Brulée?"

The photo is of a woman naked slightly covered in feathers (click on the link and you'll see what I'm talking about). But what intrigued me, was the description that was totally meant for people who aren't your normal clubbers: "Voyeurs, exhibitionists, freaks, and wallflowers welcome. Costumes encouraged."


And I thought, Well, hell, I'm all four of those things in a way. Plus, this is a totally appropriate venue for the corset. 


But then I talked to my new friend Cor about it and I wondered if it would be me, at 35, with a bunch of 19-21 year old kids. I didn't want to show up and feel old and ridiculous (or I should say more old and ridiculous than I feel on a daily basis).


This was reinforced today when I was in the "fun" t-shirt section at Target and X-man pointed out that Daddy couldn't have an Operation Game t-shirt because this was the section for "high-schoolers." He then pointed to the poster at a display next to us to an 18-year-old kid. Yeah, okay. Even my 4 year old gets it.


But tonight I went to the Canopy Club web site to look up more info. Turns out Ginger Brulée is getting an MFA in dance from the U of I (no lie). Not only that, but this event is part of her thesis:
By virtue of our collective gaze, we, as a society, bestow upon the beautiful young woman (performer) an intoxicating sexual power— a power that is creative, generative, and, ultimately, addictive. Though she has us in thrall, the nature of her power rests in her own exposure, an exposure that all too often renders her vulnerable to exploitation and violence.

When she matures, she will be expected to relinquish the hold she enjoys over us in exchange for the procreative power of motherhood, the nature of which is still rooted in seclusion. Not unlike the separation of church and state, 21st century American society still maintains that these two powers, that of the creative and the procreative, or, in the words of Simone de Beauvoir, the productive and the reproductive, cannot be held in one female body simultaneously.

Through dance, music, narrative, and comedy, and within the context of third wave feminist discourse, I will ask: Why not?

And that pretty much represents most of the women that I know around town. So maybe I'm not crazy, but I've also never been to the Canopy Club, and it's a school night. 

But I was wondering, if anyone else might be up for going with me? It's on March 17 from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and the ticket is $5. And I'd probably be able to go from 9-11 p.m. If it completely blew, we could head over to Boltini. They'd never look at us weird. :-)  I'm not a dancer... but it says wallflowers are welcome. And really, I'm just -- curious.