Creating a Documentary

Producing a documentary was a welcomed challenge, in which allowed our team of journalists to be creative and experiment with a different style of television production.

A documentary requires a journalist to think outside of the box and to find something that the public are not educated about, but in which, they would find interesting.

Having acquired a contact, Amber suggested that we do the documentary on burlesque dancing. This was a favourable choice throughout the team, as it was certainly something unusual and has been misunderstood throughout the years.

As a team, we aimed to highlight that burlesque is not simply about stripping and in fact, should be seen as an art form. Dita Von Teese, being the icon of burlesque, shows herself that it can be somewhat sophisticated. With this is mind, an obvious title came apparent to the team; 'Burlesque Undressed'. A clever play on words, it suggests that there is something to be discovered.

Annie Young is a contact of Amber's. Annie is otherwise known as 'F-Annie Whiskers', she is a burlesque dancer, teaches burlesque and makes burlesque costumes. Annie let us into her world of burlesque and introduced us to Rubyz Cabaret Club, in Bournemouth.

Filming on a number of days, we attended Annie's Burlesque sale and Rubyz christmas pantomime production of 'M-Alice in Wonderland'. As a result of these visit's, we discovered exactly what burlesque is. We interviewed a number of burlesque dancers, including Miss Lottie Bon Bon (Charlotte Blake) and Dame Kitty, the owner of Rubyz.

These burlesque dancers, proved that burlesque is not sleazy, in fact, it does not even have to include stripping, the art is to tease. Burlesque can be anything and so can the dancer. From teacher to mother, burlesque is often just a fun hobby.