NeoL

Age is just a number and there is no clear definition of being what is an adult and every person is different. We can’t define it, so everybody is looking for their own answers in life. 14 is a sensitive age. It’s when you start thinking about your own future, so we wanted to make a series of age 14. After the Tokyo and New York issue, we selected 15 people in Berlin who have very diverse background, different ages and professions for 14 Issue in Berlin.
Twelfth interview is with Japanese Burlesque dancer Erochica Bamboo. She had experiences in a cabaret and nightclub in Japan and won the Best Award “Miss Exotic World 2003” at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in California in 2003. 35 years into her dancing career she is still a legend moving across the world of show biz as a dancer. She opened a path by herself full of vitality. What is her stories at 14?

—Could you tell us about yourself when you were 14 years old?


Erochica: I was shy and preferred to stay alone. My father often went out with his camera and my mother was a ballroom dancer and came back home with the last train. I often used to go out alone to watch concerts and movies. My aunt introduced me to some music like the Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival so I was into foreign music. People around me liked Japanese singers like Seiko Matsuda but I didn’t like these Japanese love songs. I was fascinated by the beautiful melodies of foreign music and listened to it everyday. There was no Internet, only TV and magazines. I bought an American teen magazine “Seventeen” and liked to make sandwiches from the recipe page, dreaming of foreign countries, different races and beautiful colors. There was an opportunity to go to school abroad, but my parents didn’t allow me to because they felt it was too early for me. Every Saturday I watched “Afternoon Cinema” by Tokyo 12 ch (currently TV TOKYO) alone at home. They screened international B-Movies like Russ Meyer. Since then I became more interested in independent culture than the mainstream.


—What did you do in those days?





—What did you think about at age 14?





–It seems you were crying every morning.


Erochica: I was a bright and dreamy girl but I felt lonely and sad at the same time. I used to wake up at 5AM every morning and looked outside the window and cried, but could decide when to stop. I was able to go to school with a clear mind after crying because of my loneliness. I wanted to be ennui and be like the cooler children but I knew I couldn’t. However I felt lonely and had to go to school. Emotional and optimistic but sensitive.


—Please tell us your most memorable moment at age 14.


Erochica: At home economics class there was a task “What kind of life do you have when you got a child?”. The others around me were excited to talk about it but I thought “Why? I don’t know if I want to have a child or not”. My classmates told me I looked like a good wife. “Chika will get married quickly and have a nice family”. I felt “What? You don’t decide my future!”


—What did you want to do when you were 14 years old?


Erochica: An Artist. I really wanted to be an artist only.





—Then you became a burlesque dancer.


Erochica: At first I didn‘t want to be a dancer who would be naked in public but I learned a lot in the first three years of doing it. I decided to continue and love it. I really hated it at first and only thought about quitting until then, haha.


—When did you start your dancer career?


Erochica: I was scouted when I joined a camp at a Butoh dance company. It was really hard physically and there were some dropouts. I majored in oil painting at art university back then but I couldn’t imagine my future doing that. In the end I belonged to this company because I was attracted to the world of dancing. But I got my money from doing cabaret shows. It was the bubble era in Japan. Many dancers left quickly and everyone could go on stage immediately so I practiced for only three days and made my debut. I was chubby, couldn’t do my make-up by myself, my costumes were second hand. The audiences booed me, but I couldn’t escape because the schedule was fixed for the following three months. You can’t believe it now, right? Haha. One day I gave up on this. I can’t dance, my face is ugly, I look fat and like an auntie. I wanted to make the original auntie dance instead.


—You changed your negative part to your strength.


Erochica: Thanks to being booed at I realized that I could change something negative to something positive by myself. I’m original, so it’s ok to have my own style! I changed my style to comedy and then became popular. “Well, all good”. I know normally we can’t do this comedy dance but “I can’t stop it!”, haha. I broke the old rule that only beautiful people can be on the stage. After three years of having a hard time I decided to be a dancer. I became a real show dancer and started to love the shows. After all I have to enjoy my favorite B-culture world called cabaret! Then the company broke up and I was alone. I did some shows with Drag Queens and went overseas after that. I have been to various places like Taiwan, North America, Japan, Europe.








Here is her burlesque life：https://www.designstoriesinc.com/writers/erotica_bamboo/


—What good and hard things have happened to you since you started your work?


Erochica: Actually I don’t feel it’s hard but it’s tough for me to carry lots of luggage, haha. I had a hard time for the first three years and couldn’t find my own style but I really didn’t have anything else besides that. I was about to be deceived by the Yakuza but I made a solution. It’s interesting to be able to meet different people. From the Imperial family to the Yakuza, doctors and CEO’s to an old guy who is a daily worker. I worked as a dancer since I was a teenager have always been traveling soI learnt about society all around the world. Also I could see the energy. When I danced I could see the atmosphere of the venue and noticed that the colors changed depending on myself. If the audiences are powerful, the energy will grow and return to me. If they’re all tired I will get tired as well. The German cabaret show “LET’S BURLESQUE” has a vortex like a typhoon. The feeling of a live performance that is not transmitted in the picture, it’s something that you can feel only at the place. Dynamic, glamorous and powerful. It’s the most fun to taste it. Burlesque is originally rich in variety. Only good proportions, using corsets and tools are not burlesque.





—What inspired you at age 14?


Erochica: The autobiography of Yokoo Tadanori and “Almost Transparent Blue (1976)” written by Ryu Murakami. It was shocking to me at the time. I liked 60’s pop music like the Beatles, especially John Lennon. I still have his book called “In His Own Write (1964)”. Actually I don’t understand his world, haha. He told me that it’s better to be original and independent. And of course B-Movies. I remember fragmented scenes of movies, not stories. A boring wilderness with a cowboy, a dark big house in the rain, the fashion of a woman who works in a country side diner and the steaming coffee she made. I could smell it! That’s why I’m doing burlesque because I can put various elements there. It’s just a collage, then I turn into something original.





—What do you want to tell you in those days?


Erochica: You will get a lot of emotions like anxiety, chaos, fun and so on. You can taste them only at that time, so enjoy it. All leads to the present hope. This sensitive time is very important for finding your life goals later on. It’s kinda fun that you can’t find the answer.


—Is there anything you would recommend to 14 years olds?


Erochica: Choose your favorite thing. Be honest what you want now. However someone will interrupt you enter upon life. Say “Shut up!” and go ahead. You don’t have to follow others. Polish the important crystal in yourself. I still don’t know what it is but I always follow the crystal. Feel free to enjoy your life including hard and shameful times! Like Otojiro Kawakami said “Sow freedom to your heart, Oppekepe!”. And go abroad if it’s possible. You can see Japan objectively.


—Do you have any upcoming news that you want to share with the readers?


Erochica: A tour of the German cabaret show “LET’S BURLESQUE” will start from September. I’m organizing a pop-up hostess bar called “Snack Jinsei” for Berlin based creators twice a month in Berlin. I want to do it in Tokyo as well in the future. I think there are still some misunderstandings about burlesque in Japan. Please come and watch our show if you still haven’t seen it. Performance requests from Japan are always welcome, feel free to ask me anytime!

photography Chihiro Lia Ottsu
text Yukiko Yamane


Erochica Bamboo
@erochica_bamboo_：https://www.instagram.com/erochica_bamboo_/