City eyes bawdy bylaw exemption for burlesque

THE

CITY IS LOOKING at giving burlesque dancers the right to strip satirically in Hamilton.

Hamilton prompted a bawdy brouhaha in 2016 after it charged two burlesque dancers in Hess Village for engaging in unlicensed adult entertainment.

Ashley Keefer and Kayla Kunkel fought the charges, arguing the act was art, not stripping. But the Toronto-based dancers gave up this spring in the face of rising legal costs, opting to pay fines of $350 each.

Outraged satirical stripteasers across Canada lobbied the city to change the “outdated” bylaw definition for adult entertainment, arguing the language outlaws everything from belly dancing and beauty pageants to theatrical plays that include nudity.

A new city report going to the planning committee on Tuesday recommends drawing a new bylaw line based on whether the “intent” of the entertainment is “sexual arousal.”

That sounds encouraging to the organizer of the Hamilton Burlesque Society, who goes by the performance moniker Miss Cadence. “Treating it like stripping never made any sense. They are two totally different industries with totally different objectives,” said Miss Cadence, who only offered her performance name.

“The problem with the current bylaw is it is so open to interpretation. It could just as easily ban a wrestler in a speedo, or a belly dancer . ... You need (a rule) that recognizes there are some nuances here.”

The current licensing definition for adult entertainment is “services appealing to or designed to appeal to erotic or sexual appetites or inclination,” with a particular emphasis on nudity and event advertising that includes such words as “nude, naked, bottomless, topless or sexy.”

Miss Cadence, an event producer, said the city has become a “dead zone” for burlesque performances since the bylaw dust-up. The society’s Facebook site specifically warned dancers not to perform in Hamilton for fear of running afoul of the “antiquated” bylaw.

“If this change goes ahead, I’d love to start producing local shows again. I’d love to start next week,” she said, adding that prior to 2016, local burlesque performances were fairly common at festivals, pop-up events and at the now-closed Auntie Boom’s café.

Former burlesque dancer Lydia Greenly, who previously made a formal pitch to council to change the bylaw, said she is hopeful Hamilton “will become a safe space for burlesque again.”

“I’m excited, but also frustrated about the timing,” she said, noting the proposed change came too late to save Keefer and Kunkel the “money and stress” associated with the bylaw battle.

The Spectator was unable to reach the performers on Thursday. Supporters raised money to cover their costs at a Toronto burlesque show in the spring dubbed “Too Hot for Hamilton.”

“The important thing is, if this goes ahead, we can start rebuilding the burlesque scene in Hamilton,” Greenly said. “I’d consider getting back into it if I knew there wasn’t a bylaw ticket waiting for me at the end of a performance.”

The report suggests a new, separate definition for burlesque: “a type of variety show or performance, including comic or musical sketches that may be both provocative and comedic, and that may feature minimum costuming, sexually related dialogue, witty remarks and dancing for the purpose of entertainment, ridicule, satire and humour, rather than the sexual arousal of its audience.”