Less is More
(or, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Taking My Bra Off”)
Written by Sallie Cinnamon
Photography credit to Alexis D Lea
If you had told me four years ago that I would one day be taking my clothes off in a room full of strangers, I would have assumed you meant I’d gotten over my fear of medical exams. If you’d also told me four years ago I would be openly referring to myself as a fat, queer icon I would assume you’d mistaken me for someone else much cooler. Now, if you told me I’d be doing all that to music for stages big and small across Melbourne and even Western Australia? Well, I’d wonder how you knew so much about me. Are you me from the future? Are you a Looper? Do you get that reference? Do people like that movie in 2024?
In a time before digital photography and social media I did a form of competitive dance called Physical Culture. Think leotards, aerobics, big hair, makeup, and beauty pageants and you’re getting the idea. If you also did Physical Culture, or Physie, you can probably smell the fake tan and hairspray as you read this. As I got older and fatter, I began to feel less and less welcome, or even confident in my own skin, in dance spaces. When I started high school in the year {redacted}, I decided doing Physie or any sort of dance was too embarrassing and basically gave up dance save for some Irish Tap Dance classes and a year of soccer. I think that was mostly for the kick line.
But I always wanted to go back to some sort of dance or performing. This need for attention and praise had to be put to use after all! An episode of Australia’s Next Top Model, an interstate move from NSW and just under a year of further agonising would lead me to Pole Dancing in 2016. Not only that, but it rekindled my love of leotards, big hair and makeup. I decided to perform in my studio’s pole dancing comp in 2018 and unbelievably won easily as I had literally no competition (I was the only one in my division who entered). I had the performing bug again and would go on to try Lyra (aerial hoop) and start performing in competitions for that too. I fell in love with using movement to create a narrative that made people feel something, made them smile and laugh. I wanted to keep doing it on a regular basis and try new ways of doing it.
I’d previously done one Burlesque workshop at my pole studio. It was taught by a wonderful performer named Velma Vouloir. The idea of simple movements, holding space and connecting with an audience through the playful nature of tease felt like a logical next step in my evolving performance style. At the end of 2019 I was resolved that I would try a class at Maison Burlesque. My first class was a Summer School workshop called Showgirl Shenanigans. I loved it so much I immediately signed up for a Teaser class for the following week and bought a pair of dance shoes right then and there.
Photography credit to EMC Photography.
I didn’t even wait for the Teaser class before I signed up for Term 1 – I was so excited about the idea of learning a routine in 8 weeks and performing it for a big crowd. I chose the class based on two things: it didn’t mention a pastie reveal (too scary for a baby Cinnamon), and it mentioned 60s beach party vibes. That class was Burlesque FUN-damentals with Domino de Jour. And FUN-damental it was. Who knew campy 60s vibes would become my entire personality? Domino did, probably.
I had a wonderful time learning something new – it gave me more confidence, informed my pole skills and most of all allowed me to be a campy, silly fool on stage surrounded by people of all ages, genders and body types. I’d been the only fat person in the room for so long I hadn’t realised how liberating it would feel not to be alone. While I started my first ever Cherry Poppers Showcase worrying my boobs would fall out I ended it wishing I had gotten them out on purpose.
I couldn’t wait to do more, couldn’t wait to apply what I’d learned to my Pole and Lyra performances, and most of all I was ready to think about considering trying maybe almost doing… a pastie reveal. These were the heady days of March 2020, and as we all know it passed uneventfully and nothing bad happened. Just kidding – it was a collectively traumatic experience from which we’re still recovering!
And even though I loved it - my motivation and physical ability to do aerials had been affected by the pandemic. I was finding myself becoming more and more a part of the Maison Burlesque community. It wasn’t long until I felt like I’d been a student there for years and signed myself up for Friday Night Live (In Your Laptop) – the online show that ran during the first lockdown/s of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
‘She Works Hard for the Pizza’, my debut Burlesque act, was born on 28 August 2020. Much like Jaida Essence Hall winning Rupaul’s Drag Race season 11, it happened in my living room. I was on a bill with Evangeline Snow, Zora Star, Lace Libertine, and Egson Ham. I was so nervous, so worried about my computer setup, so overwhelmed, but also so excited to connect with an audience again. She Works Hard for the Pizza is a reverse striptease to She Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer and Nightclubbing by Iggy Pop. I come home from a long day at work, strip out of my office clothes, and sensually put on pyjamas and slippers to lasciviously devour a pizza.
The first time I performed it I didn’t even have pasties yet, so I had to turn away from the camera when I removed my bra. And remember to close my blinds. It wasn’t perfect or smooth (what is first go?) and I turned away from my audience way too much, but I felt so good having performed and so grateful and empowered by the positive response and even a marriage proposal (Trixie Lah Dais and I will get around to that wedding someday) from the audience.
Sallie Cinnamon for ‘Mx Burlesque Victoria’ 2023. Photography credit to Shannon J Shaw.
Since that fateful Friday night, I’ve performed at some amazing venues in Melbourne with and for some absolute legends. I’ve expanded my skills, met some beautiful people, formed a duo, and even competed in Mx Burlesque Victoria alongside the very person who introduced me to Burlesque. I’ve been almost completely naked physically and completely naked emotionally onstage. I’ve been vulnerable, chaotic and unbridled, sharing not only my emotions but the weird ways my brain puts things together. I’ve done things I never thought possible and pushed myself in ways I didn’t think I could. And my debut act has travelled beyond my living room all the way to Albany in 2023 as part of the Perth International Burlesque Festival.
It is not hyperbole to say Burlesque has changed my life. It’s changed how I express myself and how I feel about my body. It’s given me a sense of community and belonging. It’s had a role to play in so many aspects of my personal life and renewed some of my other passions like film and writing. I think of myself, my place in the world and even my work differently and it is all down to Burlesque. It may have started as a new way to move and heck, even show off for people, but it is all that and so much more.
So many people in Burlesque inspire me. I think every single person I have met during this journey has inspired me and this is by no means an exhaustive list. Velma Vouloir, Domino de Jour, Bella de Jac, and Whisky Falls have taught me so much, provided invaluable advice, solo act mentoring, pep talks, a shoulder (and boobs) to cry on, and even wig styling. There’s people like Poppy Cherry, Ruby Slippers and Egson Ham who have believed in me, given me opportunities to grow and inspired me to explore new things, along with artists like Frenchie Holiday and legends like Winter Greene whose work I’m always excited by. I am constantly inspired by someone I’m delighted to call my best friend, burlesque wife and the other half of my duo Sugar and Spite – Rosie Bones. We talk art, burlesque, life, music, and share memes every single day.
I have so much I want to do next – a map of my goals for this year looks like a conspiracy theory wall, random images joined together by skeins of red yarn on a cork board with me standing in front of it trying to turn it into a checklist. I think the first thing I’d like to do next is get back to performing regularly while making art that surprises and scares me. I’d like to keep incorporating my love of writing and cinema into my burlesque in bigger and weirder ways. Oh, and I should also get around to doing those pesky medical exams.
The awkward fat girl in a baggy t-shirt and bike shorts attending her first pole dancing class in 2016 would not have stripped for a room of strangers. But I’m glad she took the steps she needed to so that I could in 2024.
About Sallie Cinnamon
Photography credit by 42nd Street Photography.
Have you met Sallie Cinnamon? She’s the original nice person with a lot to offer. She’s campy and fun! She’s cute and sassy! She has an unsettlingly comprehensive knowledge of popular culture!
Sallie Cinnamon is portable, travelling regionally as part of the Perth International Burlesque Festival and can be assembled quickly for competitions like Mx Burlesque and the Apprentease. Find her where all good burlesque shows are sold.
Sallie Cinnamon comes with cheesy showgirl moves, comedic timing, catchy music, and acute anxiety! Get yourself a Sallie Cinnamon today (while stocks last)!