Foxy’s Den new to local burlesque scene
A half dozen dancers take the stage for the first number, but this is just the introduction. The show really kicks off with a tequila shot. For the dancers, not the audience. Between the big band swing, the garters, suspenders and fedoras, I assume we in the audience have been transported to an underground speakeasy in the 1920s. Or maybe its just a fashionable now.
Either way, this is Foxy’s Den, one of the latest recurring burlesque shows to grace the stage of The Venue on Virginia Drive. The generically named theater is home to a variety of cabaret and burlesque productions, most of them straddling a spectrum of degrees of sexiness.
“I love that everyone is unique and different,” says Foxy’s Den creator Lanie Hoxie. “And I love that this town embraces burlesque and goes out to support it.”
Hoxie started in the scene roughly 14 years ago with Orlando’s godmother of burlesque, Blue Star. The owner of The Venue, Star has had her pointing toes in a lot of local burlesque pies. Hoxie was part of Star’s original show Ladies of the Peek-A-Boo Lounge.
The dancing experience shines through in Foxy’s, which Star also dances in. The choreography is tight, even when the performers are choreographed to be informal. Eventually, Hoxie says, she’d like to bring the audience in on it more. “I want it to be very interactive, almost as if you went to see ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ ” she says.
This is my last week to focus on the things in Central Florida for which I am most grateful, and it would be hard to leave our burlesque scene off that list. And yes, savvy readers will recall my girlfriend is part of that scene, but I don’t like burlesque for her. If anything, it’s part of why I like her.
Orlando is home to more troupes than most people can name, and more every year. From Big Bang Boom to VarieTease to Emerald City to Corsets & Cuties to Blacklist Babes and on and on, this town is full of people looking to strut their stuff. Burlesque doesn’t require a body type to be a leading man or lady. It just allows people to share their voices, their moves, their visions of themselves as the baddest people they can be.
“It’s very empowering,” says Hoxie. “And so good and so much fun to have everybody watching you.”
Foxy’s Den returns to The Venue on Dec. 17. Details for that and other upcoming shows can be found at thevenueorlando .com.