Photo : © Joe Warling

Over the last century, attitudes toward female nudity have oscillated between taboo and a statement of high art. In an era when nudity is being embraced by the mainstream, Burlesque dancer Anne Mehlinger talks about the stories she tells with her body and the journey of discovery she took to tell them.

My first introduction to Anne Mehlinger, aka Anna Venture, occurred at a feminist comedy festival in 2024. She was invited to perform because her feminist burlesque acts are known to be rich with humour and femininity.

I sat in the cosy basement room of a bar in Limpertsberg. With its art deco wallpaper and comfy booths, I half expected Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan to waltz into the room. The lights dimmed, a familiar song played, and Anna Venture entered the stage wearing a glamorous gown and satin gloves. The audience was mesmerised by her every movement. We didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I had a strong feeling that by the end of the song, she wouldn’t be wearing those gloves anymore.

“I love the Titanic Act,” she tells me five months later when we meet for a video call. It’s a scene she developed after watching the 1997 movie, in which she playfully mocks memorable moments from the love story between the characters played by Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet.

“If you watch a movie, sometimes there are scenes that stick in your memory. Often I’ll take the key scenes. I might workshop the dance or put on some music and see how it develops,” she says of her creative process.

During our conversation, I’m marked by Anna’s creative discipline but also her delightful, self-deprecating sense of humour, which sets her aside from mainstream Burlesque performers. As was the case in the show, I laughed a lot during the call.

“Most burlesque has this element of humour, even if it’s just a wink,” she says.

Her sets are reminiscent of the kinds of comedy sketch humour you might find on Saturday Night Live. But, instead of verbal narratives, Anna tells stories using her body, mostly her hands, which guide audiences where to look. The humour is often eked out in her facial expressions and the building and release of tension. She says that even with more conservative corporate shows, the tension is still palpable. “Sometimes you might peel off a glove, and that’s exciting, because people wonder: is something more going to happen?”

Anna is a master or mistress of movement who first learned to use her body for artistic expression through oriental dance, which she began as a teenager. Here, though, her creative expression felt restricted. “When we performed in restaurants, I didn’t want to intimidate couples, so I was the friendly dancer with a big smile. Then when I saw my first burlesque show, I thought, ‘Wow, this woman can bring her whole sexuality and do it so big and powerful!. I want to try that!’”

She had her first taste of burlesque at a birthday party in 2014. At the time there was no burlesque scene in Luxembourg, and so she attended a show in Cologne, sitting in the front row. Within weeks, she landed her first spot with the show organiser, who went on to become a colleague. A decade later, Anna’s repertoire of acts is rich and growing as she pursues burlesque full time.

Yet the journey to becoming a professional burlesque artist has been challenging, and not only because of society’s attitudes toward nudity. The barriers often came from within. In the early stages, she said she was reluctant to tell people what she did. “I realised there must be shame there on my part.”

She began to explore and become comfortable with her personal shame and, in the same way comedians do, learned to work it into her sets.

“For me, it’s about expressing myself and seeing what kinds of stereotypes I have about myself,” she explains. For example, she says that she didn’t identify with the classic, untouchable glamorous diva stereotype and so invented her own. “Whenever I play the diva, she’s a freak. She’s a little bit too much, and you wonder if she killed her husband last week!” She laughs.

By peeling away the layers of her own personality, she is able to be more “unapologetically authentic," to the point that she feels comfortable onstage, even if things go wrong.

Rooted in folk theatre

Throughout its history, Burlesque has served different audiences. Rooted in a kind of folk theatre that often focused on political satire, it developed into the variety performance we know today through circus performers, with the pretty dancer accompanying freak shows. During the US prohibition era, artists were forced to get creative to circumvent nudity bans, leading to the feather fan dance. When they banned the public display of women’s nipples, colourful nipple tassels became a feature. There followed the pin-up era and Las Vegas show girls, which, though not strictly burlesque, are part of the same family. The 1990s saw a revival and reinvention with neo-burlesque, which encompasses a wider range of performance styles like striptase and comedic scenarios.

As a woman watching burlesque, it feels as though the art form has thrown down the gauntlet on the male gaze as women use it to own their sensuality onstage.

“In some people’s minds, maybe it seems that a woman performs on stage for the pleasure of men. No, it’s for my pleasure!” She says, adding, “I let you see it and experience it as the audience. But it’s my choice.”

Anna is not alone in this way of thinking. She has given burlesque workshops to women who say it has helped them feel safe and connect with their own bodies. At the same time, watching empowered women being their authentic selves can also be hugely empowering and fun, as I discovered in Luxembourg. Anna recalls a moment she was approached by an audience member who, after seeing her Titanic act, had tears in her eyes.

“I think many women say it’s nice to see another woman feel at ease playing onstage and showing herself,” she says.

And the art is evolving to include men through the growing boylesque events in Luxembourg.

Interest in burlesque has exploded thanks to movies like “Burlesque” and a nostalgia for the glitz and glamour of the 1920s. Cologne, with its history of carnival and its LGBTQI+-friendly reputation, makes it a natural burlesque hub. Even Luxembourg has its own scene since the creation of Luxembourg Burlesque in 2019.

Today Anna splits her time between the two locations, dedicating her weekdays to rehearsals and costume creation, while weekends are reserved for shows and private parties. Bookings range from weddings and corporate gigs to kinky cruises and saunas. In one striptease at the wellness center in Differdange, she performed behind glass to a naked, sweating audience.

“It was the first time I performed to people who were more naked than me!” She laughs.

More recently, it is Anna’s Drag King acts that have been attracting attention, in particular a number inspired by “Magic Mike”, the 2012 movie about a male stripper. “This all began when my best friend had a hen party and she didn’t want a male stripper [...] So, I gave her a lap dance as a male stripper,” she says, adding: “It’s fun to explore what are considered strong and powerful male movements!”

Anna Venture will perform in Luxembourg at the fifth anniversary event of Luxembourg Burlesque. While the event is sold out, there will be a second chance to see her Drag King performance at the Boylesque Movember show at Le Croque Bedaine on 30 November. 
Anna Venture will perform in Luxembourg at the fifth anniversary event of Luxembourg Burlesque. While the event is sold out, there will be a second chance to see her Drag King performance at the Boylesque Movember show at Le Croque Bedaine on 30 November. 

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