A month-long closure for renovations made Wild Bill’s Legendary Saloon a quiet place.Don’t get your knickers in a twist, however, as the venue reopens this weekend and taking to the stage Sunday (May 19) are the lovely ladies of the Butterfly Circus Burlesque troupe.
The troupe consists of dancers Ruby Demure, Katana Mae, Lady Bellatrix and Marla Muse, as well as MC Gasgon and stagehand Daisy DeVille.
Demure spoke on behalf of the group.
“We all love it, everybody’s so passionate about it,” she said. “The four founding members, we were all taking a burlesque-based fitness class, and after we did that for a while we were ready to step out on our own and form the troupe.”
Butterfly Circus was formed in Calgary two years ago, with every member coming to it for different reasons, said Demure.
“I’m a former dancer – I did ballet and modern when I was growing up – and then got injured and couldn’t pursue that as a career,” she said. “It took me six or seven years to get back into dancing of any kind and burlesque just fell in my lap.
“A friend that I danced with growing up, who does burlesque in Edmonton, had asked me to come do a solo piece for one of their shows. I had never done it before and didn’t know much about it, but she threw me on stage.”
She then returned to Calgary, found the burlesque classes, and was instantly in love.
“The thrill of being on the stage and entertaining people, and being able to be creative, it was all over for me,” she said. “It’s endless in burlesque, because you can do anything from a classic strip to neo-burlesque to performance art, and it all works within the burlesque framework, so it’s a venue for all of us within the troupe to be creative.”
As an art form, burlesque can be a liberating experience, she explained.
“For some there’s definitely the mindset within the burlesque community that it is very supportive, it’s about women of every shape and size, embracing their bodies and being proud and liberated to do the performance on stage,” she said. “For other people, truly, they just like taking their clothes off on stage, and that’s fine.
“We want to elate the audience; really, burlesque is the art of the tease. You can do it using comedy, using grace, and everything in between, but the point is to involve the crowd and get them excited.”
Having performed many shows over the last two years in Calgary and other parts of Alberta, the troupe is now looking to expand its range and use Banff as a testing ground.
“We knew we wanted to start travelling as a troupe, and we know we could go anywhere from Seattle to Toronto to New York, and be able to perform – we have colleagues that would love to have us there – and if they came here, we could get a show for them,” said Demure. “The thing with Banff is we wanted to have a show in a place where there’s not much burlesque going on.
“And it’s exciting, it’s such a vibrant town, there’s so many different people, we think a show like this will be really well received. To bring a new type of show is going to be awesome and will hopefully open a door to more.”
The Wild Bill’s show gets going at 10 p.m. and is subject to a $5 cover charge.
“The dancers are just captivating, it’s so exciting to watch, and we’ve got some really good numbers planned for Banff,” she added.
The group also conducts a Burlesque Brunch performance on the second Sunday of every month at Blind Monk in Calgary at 1 p.m.
“We’ve branded it ‘Bacon, Beer and Boobs’ and you come and have breakfast and hang out and watch our show,” said Demure.
For more info on the troupe, visit butterflycircusburlesque.com
