Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

Stripper/Balcony Reference 

The Balcony takes form of a simple three step stage in the mystical shape of a trapezoid.  In the rear consisting between two openings in the wall covered by a lengthy red cloth, a mirror sectioned off creating its own 180 degree visual for our center of attention.  Two vertical bars creating the front of this platform and just below our visual enhancement a horizontal bar creating an illusion of flexibility.  Our object of desire for the evening is young, supple, not out of the ordinary, smooth, and round in only ways that seem to enhance the beauty of this form.  She is distant in practice but her movement is rhythmic.  Her strategy seems to create her own individualistic manner but on repeat, for a “V” no matter how faced, is a reminder that formality is never new.  The sights and sounds are creating the illusion of dualism; it’s just you and I in the room.  Flashes of blue, purple, red and white stream from overhead enhancing the soulful, unique, unspoken word of seduction, innocence and the desire that intellectually stimulates our imagination to lust after the view presented for us as an act, or play.  The noise that invokes foot-tapping links her movement to the voice of another quietly disbursed through her lips as her body sways back and forth as if to do the “la la dance,” an erotic hypnosis on her audience.  Swarming an array of dress from top to bottom, she is “a woman, rather young, highly made up and wearing a lace dressing gown.” (pg.7)  Not quite, try again.  Is she, “a woman, young and beautiful, chained, with her wrists bound for her muslin dress is torn, and her breasts are visible and perhaps, standing in front of her is the executioner?” (pg. 13&14)  Her uniform a tease to later reveal a skin in which we all share but for her, this society will be her last until the new form a day, she owes her body to the man who sits below her heel but her mind is hers for the sake of sanity and the nightly game which consumes her lifestyle.  Suddenly a shift to a darker side, her movements become more violent and less traditional.  Her domination seeps from the soles of her boots.  She is in charge, and with a quick glance through the glass, she sees him, for she is, “near him, looking very indifferent, a very beautiful red-haired girl.  Leather corset, leather boots.  Naked with beautiful thighs.  A Fur jacket, she is waiting. So is the man.  He is impatient, and nervous.  The girl is motionless. (pg. 28)  The man toys with this element of fantasy by baiting this young apprentice for her reward.  She takes it like an animal even though her instinct may say otherwise.  That is what she is here to do, to appease those who lack the power of knowledge, for she is not the dog as he is the rodent caught in a chase.  As this dramatic series of interactions play to an end, this stage is now, “a public square, with patches of shadow.  In the background, at some distance, we perceive the façade of the Grand Balcony, the blinds of which are drawn.” (pg. 55)  The exit is that of sweet release as we find ourselves back in reality.  The gentleman’s club is that of his own atmosphere.

P/S I have all sorts of notes, so if anyones really curious about the club, don't hesitate to ask, I can scan and post those too!