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Burlesque dancer Roxy Velvet could face a ban |
Hurley Burley: Dancers in licence row
BURLESQUE troops have been left tied up in ribbons of red tape – and it’s nothing to do with the nipple tassels on their costumes.
Licensing chiefs have sent out a warning to one of Camden Town’s most fashionable venues that they will treat attempts to host the theatrical art form in the same way as they handle lap-dancing clubs.
The Proud Gallery in Stables Market has been told it must drop Burlesque acts – where the titillating entertainment is supposed to all be suggestive – from its trendy “Be” club night on Saturdays or apply for a strip licence.
Council officials insist the practice should be classed as “adult entertainment of a sexual nature”.
Alex Proud, the bar’s owner, said: “It seems to me that the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law is being enforced. It seemed lacking in common sense that it was somehow illegal or lewd for Burlesque girls dancing to an obviously mixed, obviously non-striptease crowd. Proud is a million miles away from a strip club. The spirit of Paul Raymond does not live here. Although I am as ugly and as hairy-chested as that man, I do not intend to emulate him in any other way.”
According to Camden’s licensing policy, performers can walk on stage in nothing but nipple tassels and a g-string, but they can not take their clothes off on the stage, a rule which can interfere with some performances.
Mr Proud added: “Camden is one of the centres for Burlesque in the whole country. A lot of these girls are going to be out of a job now if this is enforced across the borough.”
Roxy Velvet, a regular Burlesque dancer at Proud, said: “I’ve worked professionally for five or six years all over the country and I’ve never had a problem before.
“The kind of performances we were doing at Proud were very classic Burlesque, very innocent. It is nowhere close to performing a lap dance.”
Miss Velvet, who also appears at Holborn’s Volupté club, added: “You are doing something to tantalise and tease, but you are only crediting the idea of something, you’re not actually performing it.”
A council spokeswoman said: “Camden is not preventing Burlesque troops from performing in the borough. Camden’s licensing policy, which was widely consulted upon and approved in 2008, states that any premises in the borough that wish to offer entertainment involving nudity, striptease or other entertainment of an adult nature will need approval from the Licensing Authority – Burlesque falls within this criteria.” |
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