SPOTLIGHTING VENUES & PERFORMERS CLOCKTOWER CABARET’S BURLESQUE IS TAKING OFF BY GILES CLASEN ELVIS PRESLEY DIDN’T WRITE THE SONG “Hound Dog.” He made it famous, but the song was written and originally performed by Big Mama Thornton, a Black R&B singer. Selene Arca wants to make sure her audiences know this historic detail before Coco Bardot dances and undresses on The Clocktower Cabaret stage to a remix of Thornton’s version of the song. “We have the microphone, and we have the opportunity to bring to light things that society either doesn’t want to talk about or is not sure how to talk about. And that’s kind of what burlesque has always been,” Arca said. Arca owns The Clocktower Cabaret with her husband Jeff Arca, and the two have been including subtle and notso-subtle messages about acceptance, empowerment, and diversity since they took ownership of the venue. As the original MC and a writer for The Clocktower Cabaret, Jeff Arca helped set the tone for the theater, as it was finding its identity. Some cabaret performances are all fun and undressing. The Arcas realized burlesque could be something more. The performers at The Clocktower Cabaret are a diverse group of individuals and body styles, who bring different dance genres, messages, and motivations to the stage. To Ande Sailer, who performs at The Clocktower as Bender Flames, burlesque can help bring personal change for those who see the show and also may help push communities toward a wider acceptance of all people. “I think people have a very narrow idea of what change is,” Sailer said. “Often, people think change is this big, crazy, and sexy thing. But, I think change is something that happens in small incremental steps. Over time, it adds up, and you look back and see how you were different or how society was different years ago, and that can be mind-blowing.” Burlesque is an art form that blends satire, comedy, and provocation with extravagant costumes, dance, and strip tease. Sailer simply describes The Clocktower performances to his audiences as “a bunch of former theater kids taking their clothes off.” Sailer, who is gay, said he tries to be his authentic self on and off the stage. It wasn’t always safe for the LGBTQ+ community to be out, and there are environments where it still isn’t completely safe. But Sailer said he feels he can be himself because if there is pushback to his being queer, there is a whole community in Denver that supports him. “I’ve been given acceptable space as a white cisgendered gay man because of what others fought for,” Sailer said. “I think my role now is to push that space [to be] big as possible. Our job then is to help make room for those that haven’t been accepted yet.” These heavy ideas don’t weigh down the shows at The Clocktower. If anything, they enhance the fun. AERIAL ARTIST MAURGUERITE ENDSLEY SWINGS FROM CHAINS AT THE CLOCKTOWER CABARET. CREDIT: GILES CLASEN 6 DENVER VOICE July 2023
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