Jo Burkholder explores the spaces between aerial dance, clowning, drag, and burlesque. They bring their work as anthropologist and gender scholar to the very serious business of immersing audiences in joy and wonder. Jo wrestles, sometimes literally, with taking off and putting on an identity often placed in a specific time, gender, and character.
Tonight, they reprise the character of Tommie La Bouche, originally created for a murder mystery show in 2025. Tommie’s character draws inspiration from the likes of Vesta Tilley and Ella Shields (illustrious “male impersonators”) as well as from the stories of the burgeoning night club scene of 1920’s Paris and other jazz-age hot spots. The music is vintage 1926, and to the extent that aerial work allows, costume pieces are based on period patterns.