Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
Lola Van Ella
Last year’s TEDxGatewayArch event sold out quickly, so get a move on if you want to catch the redux. This year’s event features a roster packed with scientists, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and all manner of movers and shakers.
TED (technology, entertainment and design) is a nonprofit devoted to “ideas worth spreading.” Its best-known output are TED Talks, where thought leaders have 18 minutes or less to plant an idea with the audience. The organization is run by the Sapling Foundation and has its roots in a 1984 event that became an annual conference series beginning in 1990. Jane Goodall, Bono, and Bill Clinton have given TED Talks, and a sample from novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk on feminism made its way into Beyonce’s song “Flawless.”
TED has gone local, with independently organized TEDx talks happening all over the country. Offshoots agree to a few principles for use of the TED imprimatur. This year’s event, Confluence II, happens Saturday at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Eighteen local speakers fill the day.
Amy A. Hunter, director of racial justice at the YWCA Metro St. Louis, will look at the impact our ZIP codes have on our destinies. Paul Lee, CEO and cofounder of Rovity, will talk about using technology to disrupt outdated practices for choosing sports gear. Peat Wollaeger, the artist in residence for TedXGatewayArch, will discuss making art while keeping an eye to the streets. Naturalist and writer Carol Davit, executive director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation, will make a case for tall grass. Shanti Parikh, associate professor of anthropology and African American studies at Washington University, will explain how social services don’t improve equality without structural change. And Lola Van Ella will make the case for the body-positive shaking of bon-bons and removal of sparkly dresses.
Burlesque phenom Van Ella runs Van Ella Studios, a school devoted to teaching and performing the dancing, decadent art of striptease. She produces numerous festivals and travels all over, bringing shows and education with her. TED Talks are serious business, but don’t expect to see Van Ella in sober pinstripes for her talk.
“Someone asked me, ‘Are you going to wear a pantsuit to the event?’” Van Ella says. “Um, no, the sparkly costume I’m wearing is my business suit. My business happens to be pretty glamorous.”
Van Ella is going to discuss the inherent feminism behind the act of the theatrical, costume- and music-heavy world of burlesque dancing. She’ll talk about burlesque as a welcoming and body-affirming art for women and men of all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors. Performers claim sexuality through sexy, fun, and sometimes entirely goofy dance, and subvert the notion that women can be smart or desirable, mindful or H-O-T.
But don’t expect a PowerPoint. “I am the literal and physical representation of what I’m talking about,” she says. “What I do is a very physical and visual art form.” A portion of her allotted time will give the audience a very clear view of just what burlesque is, followed by a history lesson and some conversation about her studio.
“I’m trying to do my small part in my small corner of the world,” she says, "through body-positive, sexually positive, and just people-positive performance art. If I can make people laugh, if I can make people forget about their issues for 10 minutes, that’s what entertainment is about.”
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