“The allure of burlesque is its message of acceptance,” explains Latest York-based photographer Natalia Neuhaus. “It’s a judgment-free zone, it provides a protected space where you might be capable of explore your sensuality through dance and teaches you that sensuality can’t be defined by age, a selected variety of body, or gender. Every thing we learned growing up about sex appeal and who it should belong to is challenged by every act. The media and the promoting industry proceed to idealise a selected variety of body and glamorise white cis straight people but burlesque is the counterculture to this dominant fallacy.”

Having been brought up in what she describes as a “conservative Latin household” with a devoutly religious mother and a father who “talked about women as in the event that they were objects”, burlesque offered the promise of liberation from the legacy of Catholic guilt she’d suffered from. Neuhaus first encountered the artform in 2019 when she attended the Latest York School of Burlesque’s graduation show at Coney Island. “It was love at first sight,” she recalls, responding to the medium’s “message of empowerment” and the artform’s exploration of sensuality through performance. 

Since then, she’s turn into immersed within the underground world of town’s burlesque scene, taking portraits of performers in a photograph series entitled Burlesque Mon Amour. In a conversation over email, Neuhaus tells Dazed, “That is the story of my community and family… a body of labor that began as a documentary project and transformed into a group of moments with those that became friends.”

“The media and the promoting industry proceed to idealise a selected variety of body… but burlesque is the counterculture to this dominant fallacy” – Natalia Neuhaus

The pictures reflect a relationship of trust that evidently exists between the photographer and the performers. After capturing their shows, she would ask to photograph them at home, away from the stage. The pictures in Burlesque Mon Amour appear to document quiet, off-stage moments of reflection or preparation. “I’d ask them if I could photograph them at home preparing. I feel that’s when I actually got to know everyone I’ve photographed on this community – on this intimate space where we shared stories from our past… how this past led us to burlesque but, more specifically, to this queer free-spirited bubble and, to a lot of us, a selected family.”

The allure and romance of Latest York is, partially, the febrile mixture of subcultures town accommodates. “The variety of NYC is the results of the minorities who inhabit this chaotic city,” Neuhaus says. “Inside this minority exists a sexual minority of LGBTQ and non-binary humans who also inhabit this burlesque community. It’s the one community where being straight is a real oddity.” Neuhaus describes the irresistible appeal of burlesque. “I don’t think anyone knew what they were stepping into after they began performing or took their top quality and suddenly all of them fell in love with this art form and its unique group of artists.”

Ultimately, Burlesque Mon Amour is testimony to the sphere of Latest York burlesque that celebrates multiplicity. “I’m talking in regards to the shows where there’s a diversity of bodies, representation of BIPOC performers, and the LGBTQ community,” she says. “They’re artists through and thru. They live their lives being honest with themselves and with who they’re. This truthfulness to oneself translates on stage into every act they create.”

Take a take a look at the gallery above for a glimpse of Natalie Neuhaus’ Burlesque Mon Amour.