Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.06.2018, Qupperneq 16

16 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2018
Margrét Erla's strange luck is what
initially led her to start dancing
burlesque. “In 2007, when I was 23,
in the same week I had my heart
broken and I won the lottery. So, I
decided to go to New York for three
months just to get it off my chest,”
she begins.
Margrét became involved in the
cabaret scene through belly danc-
ing in New York. Her cabaret debut
happened on one fateful night,
when a showgirl was sick at the local
variety club, and she was called in
to take her place because she fit
perfectly into her costume. “I got
powdered sugar and I stood there
with [my] tits out in tassels, blow-
ing powdered sugar like cocaine
over a little person who was imitat-
ing Marilyn Manson. And then I
just realised that this was what I
wanted to do for the rest of my life,”
she explains. After this gig, she was
encouraged to quit university and
make entertainment a full time
career.
The inception
of the scene
Now, more than ten years later,
the burlesque, cabaret, and adult
entertainment scene in Reykjavík
is thriving, in large part because
of Margrét’s initiative, and also
because of the city's budding drag
scene. Margrét was motivated to
create a burlesque scene when she
realised that there
was a need for it
in Reykjavík and
Iceland. “I realised
t h a t t h e r e w a s
actually a market
for it, something
that I could actually
pursue. I wanted
to make a scene
because I wanted
to teach burlesque,
because it's given
me a lot of body
positivity and just
a whole different
aspect of sexual-
ity. It is for you and
people are welcome
to join in on it, but
it's always on your own terms,” she
says. Another part of her motivation
was her frustration with not having
the artistic freedom to do what she
wanted. This frustration was shared
with her co-producer and magician,
Lalli. "Ok, we love doing what we
do, but we need a platform to do
whatever the fuck what we want to
do," she remembers thinking.
Margrét’s passion for burlesque,
cabaret, and entertainment in this
business is what
motivates her—not
the cash. “It's a hobby
that happens to pay a
little. It doesn't pay a
lot, no one gets rich
in burlesque. There
are three jobs in
burlesque and Dita
Von Teese has two of
them,” she jokes.
However, people
in Reykjavík are now
especially inter-
ested in cabaret.
Margrét explains
i t s n e w f o u n d
appeal , “Cabaret
is also perfect for
people l ike me,
with very short attention spans,
because you get a musician, and
then you get a drag queen, and
then a burlesque performer. You
don’t get bored, and you never
know what’s going to happen.”
Feminist burlesque
In the beginning, Margrét also had
fears about creating a burlesque
scene in Reykjavík and of putting
herself out there. “The main reason
I was so afraid to do it in the first
place was that I was so afraid that
it would attract the hard crowd
of dirty men. So, the first thing I
started doing was branding myself
as a feminist. I'm a columnist, so
that had to be the first part, brand-
ing myself as a hardcore feminist to
steer away that [crowd].”
Margrét is passionate about
body positivity and diversity in
the burlesque scene, and explains
her personal connection to body
positivity and burlesque. “I love the
burlesque that's happening now,
it's very welcoming to all sorts of
beauty. I'm not a skinny lady, and
I really want to do burlesque that's
just clever and beautiful but it's acci-
dentally very feminist and political
because I'm big,” she explains.
Body positivity
and self-love
The diversity of the burlesque
scene is reflected in the lineup
of Margrét’s shows, as I had the
chance to witness at her June 15th
show. There was stand-up comedy,
booty tricks, the woman who set
her boobs on fire, the aerialist, the
whipcracker, but most importantly
bodies both big and small, male and
female, represented in the show.
She is also clear in her intentions
with her shows. “I don't want to
make a show that is for everyone.
If you make something that is for
everyone, it's not a good show,” she
says. “My mantra is: you don't have
to be sexy.”
A turning point for her in her
journey to self-love was by connect-
ing to her roots. “Yes, I am like I
am, but I'm proportional, I'm lucky
in that way, and my body looks
exactly like my mother's body, and
my sister's body, the two ladies that I
love the most. Why should I hate it?”
No boundaries
It’s clear that Margrét’s vision of
burlesque is unique and individual,
and she encourages people that are
interested in cabaret to find their
truth. “It can be whatever you want
it to be, as long as it is adult enter-
tainment...It can be gender-fuckery,
it can be sexy, it can be completely
not sexy, it can be playing on the
idea of what it is. It's a very open
thing which can be really good but
also really bad. We are all children
with no boundaries.”
The Burlesque
Queen Of Reykjavík
The burlesque scene of Reykjavík is,
in large part, Margrét Erla Maack’s
brainchild, and it is now flourishing
Words: Juliana Iluminata Wilczynski Photo: Art Bicnick
She's got a ticket to ride
Grandagarður 7, 101 Reykjavík
“I don't want
to make a
show that is
for everyone.
If you make
something that
is for everyone,
it's not a good
show.”