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Art: Photography Robert Adler: Burlesque

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Like '60s cocktail culture and swing dancing before it, burlesque is currently undergoing a revival. Photographer Robert Adler's series Burlesque focuses on the grit behind the sequined pasties and feathered headdresses. By the time Deep Throat (1972) hit theaters, burlesque was dying off, and Adler chose Philadelphia's rundown Troc Theater, a relic of vaudeville's glory days, as his subject. The ladies in Adler's untitled photographs are working girls, their faces and bodies reflecting their hardscrabble lives — but they're not without a certain pride. In one photo, a dancer exits the stage with roses in hand like a pageant winner or opera diva, both revered and objectified.

– Matt Sussman