Imagine being the spectator of a world where everything’s possible. A world made of retro suggestions teasing your fantasy. A world of alchemically harmonious perceptions and senses that amaze you whilst recalling circus art and dance. A world resembling the remote times of freak shows, silent films, exoticism and bizarreness of the first 1900s.

 

 

A sensual, ironic, seducing and transformative attitude. A sinuous, breezy, elegant body adorned by bold colours which narrate exotic far away worlds. Between fatal and extravagant. Mesdames et Messieurs let me introduce you to Janet Fischietto: the first artist ever to combine circus art to burlesque.

 

 

Janet’s shows hypnotically engage the audience with seducing soft winks and comedy, fire games and trapeze. During her performances, the audience is conducted into a magic journey across time, counterposing parallel visions hanging in the balance of oneiric and surreal atmospheres.

Every time is new, every time is different. Janet reveals one mask at a time, with yet another mask beneath it, and one more and so on. Her chameleon-like capability of embodying multiple roles and characters is extraordinary: Cigarette & Candy Girl, The Snake Charmer, The Flying Queen, Trapeze Folies and The Fire Goddess to name a few.

 

 

Janet Fischietto during her show ‘The Fire Goddess’

It’s no coincidence that Janet Fischietto is part of the most appreciated European burlesque artists in the Top 10 Burlesque Hall Of Fame.

Janet Fischietto during her pièce Trapeze Folies

 

Her performances have been showcased on the most important stages and festivals of the genre both in Italy and abroad: Summer Jamboree, Apollo Dancing, Royal Burlesque, Le Balajo in Paris, Le Cirque Rouge in Vienna, Apolo in Barcelona, the Roxy Club – Istanbul, Teatro Parioli in Rome, the Friedrichsbau Theatre and Dinner Show in Stuttgart, Teatro Nazionale in Milan with the musical “Les Follies Burlesque” and on TV at X Factor with a trapeze performance.

Many are the collaborations with fashion brands too: Dsquared2, Phillip Plein, Hotel Amour, Guess, Dolce & Gabbana.

 

I observe her enchanted and I suddenly feel captured and catapulted into another époque. I’m overwhelmed by her amusing agility, her charming look, intense make-up and astonishing costumes which unveil and reveal at the same time.

 

 

.  .  .

 

WHY
why and how did you end up in your career path?
I approached this profession ten years ago. It was around 2007/2008, I was working in a club called Gasoline in Milan and a man who then became my agent at the time, had brought two Burlesque performers in Italy for the first time. It immediately appeared to me as something avantgarde and different. At the time I used to use MySpace and he, a professional and cultured person, saw it. I was already fascinated by the the vintage culture, retro entertainment, bands and burlesque which were all areas he worked in with his business. Furthermore, I was studying visual arts at NABA, and the teachers weren’t only strictly teaching academic materials but also giving students a global and international vision which then brought me to develop an interest in the queer subcultures. All these factors put together brought me to discover burlesque. In 2008 Dita made her first performance in Milan. In January 2009 I did my first show, but in the years that followed and now in particular I have more of an inclination towards the world of circus art. I have also taken inspiration from Santa Sangre by Jodorowsky, The Clowns by Fellini, the Barnum Circus, The Circus by Charlie Chaplin, Freaks. I like the idea of an emblematic tattooed woman who embodies a long lost exotic place.

WHO
how would you describe yourself in a few words?
An artist with no limits. I truly draw inspiration from everything. Infact the sentence which really represents my true life style is: “Live your life as the greatest show ever”. It was my graduate thesis title which then became my personal motto.

WHAT
what is your source of inspiration?
I don’t have a unique source of inspiration. All the circus and performative arts worlds of the beginning of the century: Claude Cahun, expressionism, surrealism, Méliès‘ visions.

WHERE
where do you go to when you need a break?
Nature relaxes me a lot; that’s where I find peace and relief. It’s a sort of mind-resetting activity which brings me back to earth, to what is real. My profession brings me to create parallel worlds and visions, which are the ones I then give to the audience on stage.

WHEN
when and what will your next steps be?
I always have many in my mind! Every morning I wake up with so many ideas, though it’s a sort of implicit vision; my subconscious does that because it gathers images all day and the brain creates, manipulates and elaborates everything! For the moment, I am holding a burlesque course in Milan from a more academic point of view. I want to give a real idea and a complete vision on the world of burlesque. During the course I offer lessons on the history of retro entertainment from the end of the 1800s, make-up and grooming lessons from the ’20s – ’50s and dancing.

**WILDCARD
a musical piece which represents you?
A piece I use for my performance: Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin.