# What is the ideal proportion of burlesque to poetry?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-ideal-proportion-of-burlesque-to-poetry/585200>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 12, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-ideal-proportion-of-burlesque-to-poetry/585200 "2011-06-12T05:52:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-ideal-proportion-of-burlesque-to-poetry/585200/1 "2011-06-12T05:52:22Z")

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Inspired by the Happy Hour Burlesque Troupe’s performance tonight, which was proceeded by (short) poetry readings. Also two bands, but adding music complicates things and I only have 10 options.

So, how much live poetry reading are you willing to tolerate if it comes packaged with a burlesque show? Alternatively, what proportion of poetry best highlights a burlesque show? All proportions judged by length. So if you take the 1 in 4 option, you’re talking about a 15 minutes of poetry set followed by an hour of curvy, be-corseted dancers doing things with chairs and feathered fans. And some guy doing abrasive comedy.

Personally, I’ve never found that a live reader improved poetry. In fact, usually the opposite. I wouldn’t go so far to say that overly complex lingerie actually **improves** curvy chicks, but it does no harm, and the playful, teasing environment lends a certain something.

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“You got your curvy be-corseted dancer in my poetry reading!”  
“You got your poetry on my curvy be-corseted dancer!”

OK, this was supposed to be a Poll. I’m an idiot.

The options should have been:  
Tolerate 1 part poetry to 4 parts Burlesque  
Tolerate 1 part poetry to 2 parts Burlesque  
Tolerate an even amount of poetry to the Burlesque  
Tolerate a great deal of poetry for a smaller amount of burlesque  
Enjoy 1 part poetry to 4 parts Burlesque  
Enjoy 1 part poetry to 2 parts Burlesque  
Enjoy an even amount of poetry to the Burlesque  
Enjoy a great deal of poetry for a smaller amount of burlesque  
I would tolerate the burlesque in order to gain access to the poetry.  
I just wanted to make a ‘Poll Dancing’ joke.

Sigh.

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-ideal-proportion-of-burlesque-to-poetry/585200/2 "2011-06-12T12:41:34Z")

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I’ll move this to Cafe Society (from IMHO) for you. You can run polls in Cafe Society as well, so if you want to do a new OP with a poll, go ahead and we can lock this one for you.

**twicks**

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**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-ideal-proportion-of-burlesque-to-poetry/585200/3 "2011-06-12T18:15:40Z")

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[Thanks.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=612156) If someone could lock this one, I’d appreciate it.

–  
I’ll try to keep the idiocy level down in the future. No promises.