Morgon Sedusa

"Why Queer Burlesque?"

I started burlesque in 2019 as a way to deal with my gender dysphoria. When I transitioned into womanhood, I knew if I did not learn how to shape my own identity, then I would suffer the narrative of a dominantly cishet culture, unforgiving of transness. I had no role models at the time, no examples to follow… so through burlesque, I channeled one: Medusa, reincarnated as a trans woman. I asked her what she would say about our world, which continues to blame victims, police women’s bodies, and simultaneously shame and obsess over women’s sexuality. I named her Morgon Sedusa. Morgon wasn’t just powerful and sexy… she was determined. She was going to reclaim her sexuality, rather than simply bid for society’s acceptance. She didn’t relish conflict, but she wasn’t afraid of confrontation. She wouldn’t choose to be feared by men, but she owned her identity in spite of it. She was proud, and unapologetically angry. So understandably, Morgon was the person inside of me that wanted to come out, but couldn’t. The world simply doesn’t permit women like Morgon to exist. I had the radical hope that maybe, a queer burlesque stage would.

No one remembers how my legend began, before men clad in bronze brought their War, then dragged me to their wordsmiths, because murder wasn’t enough for a woman. They had to change me. Now the end of my myth sits on Athena’s shield. It is the cursed visage of my decapitated head, robbed from my body, and even in death still turns men to stone. The Greeks shamed me for my womanhood, then after taking it from me they punished my body, and only returned it after naming me: Medusa, the woman who cannot be looked at. And for that, they call me monster.

"What would Morgon say?”

I didn’t mean to found a troupe. I just wanted a place to reinvent myself. I think many queer folx could find self reinvention through burlesque. But traditional burlesque is only queer accepting in the way of certain kind of femininity, and I wanted queer burlesque to mean encompassing all queer identities. I think about that obstacle, how it manifested as a queer performer and producer… how I struggled to find my own persona, develop my own style and image… how much outspoken skepticism and discouragement there was about making a queer burlesque show… After producing my first show, I thought to myself, if I can overcome these obstacles on behalf of my queer community, so that for as long as I'm doing this, no one else has to fight for their place in burlesque, then I feel it is my responsibility to hold that space.

My co-founder, kim g, found me through one of my earlier shows… and they believed in my vision. Three months later, we gave our debut show on January 2nd of 2022, “Surprise! It’s a Genderqueer Reveal Party.” It sold out by word of mouth alone. I know that I’m not the only one who needs queer burlesque, and from that group of people who felt the same need and shared my vision, we founded Quiver & Tempt Society.

“Why did you start Quiver & Tempt Society?”