I’m a ticket holder for the Balé Folclorico da Bahia show this Friday at the Flynn MainStage. So I was one of the people who received an email notice this afternoon, as follows:

‘We have just been informed by the company that two pieces in the program will contain male and female nudity as dancers portray certain gods. We wanted to let you know in case it affects your decision to attend. We will honor refund requests due to this development.’

Does anyone else besides me find this hilarious? I’ll tell you how I’m ‘affected’: I’m making a note to self to bring along my opera glasses!

Normally, people are even more psyched to see naked bodies — especially buff dancer-type bodies — than clothed ones (unless, of course, they appear in an American Apparel ad on the back cover of Seven Days). I’d think the Flynn could be selling more tickets ‘due to this development.’ Ah, well, guess they gotta cover all the possibilities.

Anyhoo, my second reaction is, what gods are these, exactly, who roam creation in their birthday suits? I thought gods had robes and stuff. Maybe Brazil is too hot. Whatever. If a god wants to take it all off, who are we to say no?

I sure won’t. I’m just going to enjoy this professional, award-winning, world-acclaimed folk dance company, whose passionate performances and soulful narratives are based on African slave history, samba, capoiera and carnaval, and comes from one of the most sensual places on the planet.

Nudity, schmudity.

 

This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2011.

Pamela Polston is a contributing arts and culture writer and editor. She cofounded Seven Days in 1995 with Paula Routly and served as arts editor, associate publisher and writer. Her distinctive arts journalism earned numerous awards from the Vermont Press Association, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and the New England Newspaper & Press Association. Pamela was inducted into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2021, the Vermont Arts Council presented her with the Walter Cerf...

21 replies on “Nude Brazilians at the Flynn!”

  1. @BBOMG. Thoroughly convinced of your own moralistic generalizations and sterotypes much? Just cuz you read a book? Exactly how did you become an authority on the self-esteem of strippers? Jesus, get over your self-righteous self and accept the possibility that your one-size-fits-all and authoritatively-expressed viewpoint may not in fact be the only correct one.

  4. So, the Brazilians aren’t being objectified? They are dancing naked after all, it must be because they have low self esteem. Naked Brazilians with low self esteem dancing for Vermont’s opera glass wearing elite. I demand an investigation!

  5. Tim: Attendance at a strip club is nothing more than an attempt to objectify women.And JCarter: Blatant racism and blatant feminism are two different things entirely. Maybe your friends are the exception to the rule, or maybe they put up a good front. Whatever the case, it is naive to think that most of the women who strip aren’t doing so because of self esteem issues, or, alternatively, that their employment doesn’t negatively affect their self esteem. Here’s a great book if you’re interested in learning more: http://www.nyupress.org/product_info.php?products_id=4741Yes, strippers are people too, but they’re exploited and objectified ones. And I would go so far as to say that pretending otherwise is akin to thinking that racism is no longer an issue in this country because we elected a black man as president.

  6. ” Stated simply, the audience at a strip club is attending for the nudity whereas the audience at the Flynn is attending for the art.”Not all nudity is art? For some art is a $75.00 balcony seat with (no offense to Polston) opera glasses.Slapping a fiver on a sweaty stripper’s ass however is… what exactly?

  7. BB I’ve met and known a few strippers personally and really most of what you post is a false sterotype. A lot of the girls are the exact opposite, with high self esteem and who take their job/art seriously. When will we be able to see people for who they are and not what some stereotype says they are. Seeing a stripper as some low self esteem drug addict with Daddy issues is no different then crossing the street when you see a young black man with dreadlocks. Strippers are people too

  8. I’ve got to agree. Our experience with Rocky Horror was that warnings about adult content and nudity helped to create buzz and sell tickets (even if it was only puppet nudity).

  9. What’s the difference between Brazilian folk art and a strip club? The self esteem of the dancers for starters. Then there’s the intent of the performance, the intent of the audience, and the interpretations of the performance. Stated simply, the audience at a strip club is attending for the nudity whereas the audience at the Flynn is attending for the art. That’s the difference.

  10. I agree with you. Yet I must remark that the very idea of nudity sends the American psyche into incoherent fits. For example high brow Brazilian folk art at the Flynn is above reproach, but a Montreal style club for blue collar nudity fans would be a travesty and the everybody would be up in arms. At the end of the day what’s the difference?

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