Let's dance: Saskatoon burlesque show pays tribute to icons lost in 2016

Jackie Latendresse from the Rosebud Burlesque Club says 2016 was a difficult year for the Saskatoon company's performers. 

She said the deaths of a number of iconic musicians and pop culture figures last year dealt a blow to the dancers and artists.

"As artists, when we lose other artists that inspire us, it does leave quite a mark," said Latendresse, who is also known as Head Mistress Cheripop Purr.

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With so many of the performers mourning the loss of artists who enriched their lives, the company decided to honour them with a series of original performances.

Saturday's Gone But Not Forgotten show honours David Bowie, Prince, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen and Gene Wilder, among other performers and artists who died in 2016.

Gone but not forgotten

Latendresse said it was partly a venue to talk about death and loss in a way that was fun, lively and entertaining.

She said the Saskatoon artists will be performing tributes to the icons they were most inspired by.

Her own performance will be to the David Bowie song I'm Afraid of Americans.

Latendresse started creating the performance during the U.S. election campaign in 2016.

"My piece has a little bit of a socio-political undertone, which is one of the things that I love most about burlesque," she said.

"As a performer, it gives you a platform for talking about what your own personal beliefs are, and I think that's important and I think it's important to do it through art."

Lost artists were 'boundary pushers'

Karen Hardy, or Chloe D'Light, will also be performing a tribute to David Bowie with a performance to the song I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spacecraft.

"All of the artists in this show have been boundary pushers and a lot of their work has been controversial and on the fringe of society but it has helped to shape what society has become," said Hardy.  

"And I think that's why people love these performers so much, is they don't do it for commerce, they don't put themselves into a box in order to sell anything, they really do what they love."

Gone But Not Forgotten is on at the Remai Arts Centre Backstage Stage at 8 p.m. CST on Saturday.

Tickets are still available through the Persephone Theatre box office. The show is for an audience aged 19 and over.