Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.06.2018, Qupperneq 10

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Baltimore native Jacqueline
Boxx has created quite a wave
in the world of burlesque. She
is shattering stereotypes in
a commonly misrepresented
art form, and pushing the
boundaries of burlesque. “I
must have been six years old
when I started dancing, and
I've done all different kinds of
dance,” says Jacqueline. “I just
loved to dance my whole life.”
Now, she is a burlesque
d a n c e r, p e r f o r m e r, a n d
teacher of burlesque. But
what sets her apart from
other burlesque acts? Jacque-
line is a disabled burlesque
star, and performs while
seated.
J a c q u e l i n e ’s m o b i l i t y
started decreasing when she
was a student, and worsened
after she finished univer-
sity and moved to Tucson,
Arizona. This was exacerbated
by a broken leg, and things
went from bad to worse.
“I had to stop doing every-
thing dance related while
we hunted for an answer. We
finally found a doctor who
was able to diagnose me with
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.”
A heartbreaking
diagnosis
Her life came to a standstill
when her doctors advised
her to stop dancing for good.
One fateful day, she went
with a friend to see a perfor-
mance of a burlesque troupe
in Tucson. They had a sign-
up area for people that were
interested in being mentored
by the burlesque troupe.
Although she was still nerv-
ous about the strict advice
that her doctors had given
her, her friend encouraged
her to continue pursuing her
dreams, telling Jacqueline, “If
you sign up you're gonna find
a way to do it, and I believe
that you can figure out a way."
Through the help of the
mentorship, she was able to
develop an act that could
be performed while seated.
Jacqueline was initially
hesitant to use mobil-
ity aids, and remembers
thinking, “that could never
be for me, that's for other
people.” Eventually, she
gave in, and bought her
very own wheelchair. “My
mentors were the ones
who convinced me that a
wheelchair could be a really
positive thing,and that it
would help me have a more
fulfilling and active life,”
she says. ” I was spend-
ing all of my time hiding
inside, not being able to
spend time with friends or
go do anything because it
was too difficult. So, I got
my first wheelchair as a
result of that workshop.”
Sit down, be
humble
Jacqueline made her first
wheelchair into a throne,
by spray painting it gold
and making tufted cush-
ions for it. “I created an act
around my first wheelchair
and how it made me feel
because it was so positive,”
she says. “I got to spend
time with my friends and
stop hurting myself and
I was taking care of my
body for the first time. It was
like me coming into a seat
of power, and it changed my
life for the better. Ever since
then I was like, ‘I can still be
a performer, I can even still
be a dancer, even if I’m not
putting weight on my legs.
That’s not required in order
to dance’.”
Many years later, Jacque-
line will soon perform her
first international show ever
i n I c e l a n d .
“ O n e o f t h e
i s s u e s w i t h
p e r f o r m i n g
locally to me
is that it's very
inaccessible.
Baltimore's a
very old city,
which means
that a lot of
performance venues are in
very, very old buildings, so
they don't have elevators,
everything has lots of stairs,
so I have a lot of trouble find-
ing places that I can physi-
cally perform in.”
Iceland and
burlesque
Iceland is the perfect choice
for her first international
performance and first inter-
national burlesque classes
because of her special connec-
tion to the country, having
been here twice previously.
Jacqueline’s honeymoon was
in Iceland, and she and her
husband renewed their vows
at a ceremony in Hellnar.
“There's something about the
landscape of Iceland that is
so deeply meaningful to me,”
she says. “It's this feeling of
extremes. Like you have these
vast flat areas, ridiculously
tall mountains, volcanoes,
glaciers, and this beautiful
gray sky with black mountain
peaks, and black sand against
it.”
Margrét Maack, a pioneer
of the Icelandic burlesque
and cabaret scene, saw that
Jacqueline was in Iceland
through social media and
asked her to perform and
t e a c h i n I c e l a n d , t h u s
connecting her to the local
scene.
Subversiveness of
burlesque
Burlesque is not just a hobby
for Jacqueline. It’s much more
than that. “It's important
to me because it's a way for
people who have felt margin-
alised or disenfranchised to
speak on their own terms, to
decide what they want to say
and how they want to say it,”
she explains.
The stage of burlesque
has also become a site of
social justice. “People are
using it as an art form to do
difficult things and say diffi-
c u l t t h i n g s ,
and one of the
most difficult
things I think
is for women
to love them-
s e l v e s a n d
how they look.
T h a t ' s j u s t
n o t s o c i a l l y
a c c e p t a -
ble,” she says. For women,
burlesque has an incred-
ible relatability, and a power-
ful message that resonates.
“Being on a stage and saying,
‘I love how I look, and I love
who I am’ is one of the most
subversive things a woman
can do.”
Jacqueline
Boxx’s Subver-
sive World of
Burlesque
A groundbreaking stage artist
comes to Iceland
Words:
Juliana
Iluminata
Wilczynski
Photo:
Courtesy
Jacqueline
Boxx
“Being on a stage
and saying, ‘I love
how I look, and I
love who I am’ is
one of the most
subversive things
a woman can do.”
10 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 10 — 2018
Jacqueline takes to the stage