Hi Janet, tell us who you are?
I am Janet Fischietto, a Burlesque performance artist. I am a huge fan of vintage and everything that reminds me of distant, mysterious, exotic worlds. I embody The Tatooed Lady of the early 20th century, precisely because my body is completely tattooed with Traditional tattoos that tell of circuses, fairs, lions, tigers and mermaids. I have all these references and this world behind me, and I have been influenced by Fellini, Jodorowski, and Old Hollywood of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Glamour, bizarre, and circus-like elements meet in me.
How did you get into the world of performance?
I got into the world of performance around my 18th birthday, when I started working for the Milanese underground scene. I worked in a club called Gasoline, and it was a place where anything was possible. A place inhabited by characters, personalities, and experimental performances. There was an unbelievable freedom and desire to create. It was there that I experimented with the first burlesque shows without even knowing what burlesque really was, because it wasn't talked about in Italy yet. It started with Dita Von Teese in San Remo, around 2010. Then, unlike America, where the first burlesque shows emerged on Broadway in the second half of the 19th century, we never had anything like that in our background, in Italy. I took my first steps thanks to Virgil Riccomi from Voodoo De Luxe (www.voodoodeluxe.com), who is my agent. We met in the club where I worked. He came to bring two burlesque performers, one French and one English, who had started a few years earlier. At that time there was a European wave, but we were all at the beginning, so in Italy I was one of the first to create the scene we know today.
Your shows are real historical reenactments. What are your inspirations for creating a show?
My world of reference is that of the turn-of-the-century circus, especially the 1920s and 1930s. I adore these bizarre atmospheres, but also dreamy, fun, and at the same time melancholic ones. My inspirations are certainly the world of early 20th-century art, silent cinema, circuses, smoky variety theaters, and cinematographers. All this fermenting and curious world. But also the experimental cinema of that era, with Melies and the first special effects, the first bizarre characters that come to life through acts of magic. That's what I like to tell, to bring my spectators into my visions and dreams.
Who are the women/masks you portray in your performances?
In my performances, I portray masks, characters of women from distant worlds, surreal worlds, not yet visited, not yet discovered and unveiled by anyone. I also like to portray the world of seduction in a way not yet revealed. It's all in the art of the gesture, a gesture that energetically starts from my body and expands infinitely, encompassing every spectator present in the room. I am a great admirer of German expressionist dance, typical of the 1930s. A dance far removed from the schemes of all socially accepted dances, such as any traditional or classicist and academic dance.
Do you have any muses of reference?
I refer to wonderful dancers like Mary Wigman, Gret Palucca, Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham. These are all women I recount and embody, whom I bring back to life in my narratives. Then, certainly, the silent film artists, the Italian and international vamps, who exaggerated their acting with their whole being, with their whole body, with all possible facial mimickry, emphasized by makeup and encouraged by soft clothes that revealed their flexible bodies. Super explosive towards the camera to reach the audience. These actresses had a theatrical education, and it happened that their gestures therefore lacked naturalness, and that's what I like most.
What does light mean to you? Or what is your light?
A metaphor that I really like to use and that I truly feel is mine is that of the tree. I like to think and behave by taking reference from nature, which is absolute perfection. The metaphor of the tree is about staying rooted, having strong roots firmly planted in the ground. The most impetuous river can pass by, a global pandemic can happen, but we must remain rooted. Our only goal is to be directed towards the light, towards positivity and towards our future. Light is improvement, an avant-garde that mainly concerns ourselves. Being curious and thirsty for what is not yet there but which we, humanly and artistically, have a duty to tell and create for our audience. A justice that we bear the burden of towards those who use our product. It is an extension of ourselves, it is our art. This, for me, is light.
Can you tell me about your beauty routine and/or your wellness ritual?
I've been a vegetarian for 15 years, and I believe my beauty routine largely comes from what I eat, so lots of colorful fruits and vegetables. I firmly believe that beauty starts from within the body, both from an energetic and dietary point of view; it's important to load up on vitamins, proteins, and healthy fats. I don't have extensive beauty rituals, also because I'm not a very routine-oriented person. Although, I do have one small certainty: toner and double face cream. This is my only true pillar in that regard.
Photos: Janet Fischietto
Instagram: @janetfischietto
