Developer riles burlesque troupe

[candyass cabaret]

welll who can that be? ;-)


http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Developer+riles+burlesque+troupe/1772795/story.html


Developer riles burlesque troupe

Lower Main project would displace nightspot

By MONIQUE MUISE, The GazetteJuly 9, 2009Comments (10)



Remarks by the president of a major development firm are ruffling more than a few boa feathers among members of a Montreal burlesque troupe.

In a recent email addressed to supporters of a new development on the Lower Main, the president of the Société de développement Angus (SDA), Christian Yaccarini, referred to the performers at local nightspot Café Cléopâtre as "so-called artists who organize a fetish night."

Yaccarini went on to ask his "friends and partners" to stand behind the proposed redevelopment of the city's unofficial red-light district, a block of St. Laurent Blvd. between Ste. Catherine St. and René Lévesque Blvd.

The proposed changes to the area would require the removal or relocation of Cléopâtre, which Yaccarini dubbed "a strip club with video poker machines," which has "managed to position itself as an icon of the Main."

Velma Candyass, the head of the Dead Dolls Cabaret burlesque troupe, that performs at Cléopâtre, said she was disheartened when she read the developer's comments.

"One person's art is not another person's art," she said. "This may not be your taste, but this is what we enjoy and we have lot of people come out to our events."

The email was allegedly sent just days after Yaccarini defended his plan at a public consultation, saying he would try to relocate the Dead Dolls and other performers currently taking to the Cléopâtre stage.

"I was very disappointed from a sociopolitical point of view," said éric Paradis, producer of Club Sin, a monthly fetish fashion show at the club. "That someone would be able to just defy a public consultation. I thought it was a bit sad that Mr. Yaccarini went over the normal procedure and decided to rally his political friends."

According to an Angus spokesperson, Suzann Methot, Yaccarini is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

Methot would only say Angus has been actively working with another area bar, Les Katacombes, to relocate to Ontario St. and St. Laurent. "As for the performers represented by Mr. Paradis, after meeting with him, SDA is open to receiving a proposition (for relocation)," she said.

Yaccarini is proposing three major projects in the Lower Main area with a total price tag of about $200 million. The first to be erected would be a $16.5-million, seven-storey building called the 2-22, which the developer says would eventually house various groups such as CIBL Radio-Montréal and the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec. Plans for the new structure include a glass façade fronting Ste. Catherine and a rooftop terrace.

Since the project's inception, however, residents, historians and owners of the few businesses that still dot the desolate neighbourhood have vehemently opposed the plans, saying the new buildings would not integrate well with their surroundings and would destroy the historic and cultural value of the area.

"We've seen many, many mistakes over the last few years," Paradis said. "It's very clear that the city of Montreal likes to build at great cost. They install fantastic water fountains and lighting systems and have very expensive architectural plans. But often they negate the artists."

But the Dead Dolls aren't heading for the morgue anytime soon, Candyass insists. "We are organizing our upcoming Fetish Weekend over Labour Day weekend," she said.

[e-mail]
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette