Talk:Lottie 'The Body' Graves Claiborne

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Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 00:16, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

[Untitled]

Hey, it's your partner Shantel. I really like the topic you selected. I would suggest possibly looking at burlesque dancing as a whole and how it affected Lottie's life dancing in the 40's. Also I would look at Black pinup and singers and how lots of burlesque dancers did a multitude of acts on stage. Sberkley (talk) 20:40, 19 October 2016 (UTC) It seems you go to lengths to describe lottie as not a stripper, then you finish the paragraph with “ecdysiast” a synonym for stripper. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1eeeeeeew (talk • contribs) 21:08, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

Unsourced material

Moving unsourced material here. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 03:38, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Career

According to the interview for her chapter in the book of memoir stories, 'What We Talk about When We're Over 60' (2014)', Lottie began dancing with Herbert "Whitey" White's Lindy Hoppers. Later she performed at Idlewild, a black resort in Michigan, and then with several theatre troupes. Lottie traveled as a performing dancer all throughout the United States before she settled into Detroit, in what used to be recalled as Paradise Valley. After she moved to Detroit, Lottie began dancing at the Twenty Grand nightclub. It was rumored that Lottie might've even been the inspiration for the Pink Poodle nightclub, which was created by a racketeer hailing from Indianapolis.

Lottie was just as well known for her classical moves spiced with an Afro-Cuban essence as she was for her eye-catching costumes. Lottie's costumes were always known for their flare, and how much attention they drew to her. Lottie was skilled in the SoCal, Chi-Chi, Calypso and various Cuban styles.

Her first marriage was to Harlem Globetrotter Arthur "Goose" Tatum for six years. Lottie, Goose, and the Globetrotters visited Cuba before it was a communist country. She has said, "A young Fidel Castro met our plane and I thought he was a very sweet man. He was very gracious to us" (What We Talk About, 2014, p. 256). The City Council of Detroit often commemorated Lottie for increasing the city's entertainment and tourism. Lottie was also known for her connections with the big names like Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong, T- Bone Walker, B.B. King, Maurice Taylor, Solomon Burke, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday and the aforementioned Fidel Castro.

After her marriage to Goose Tatum ended, Lottie married Robert Graves. He died when they were in their sixties. She later married Willie Claiborne. So, she has been known as Lottie Tatum, Lottie Graves, and Lottie Claiborne. As of 2018, Lottie and Willie Claiborne continue to reside in Detroit. Lottie turned 88 years old on October 31, 2018.

Lottie "The Body" Claiborne was one of the most notable Black Burlesque and Vaudeville dancers of her time, and of any time. Her talents even transgressed to white clubs during the segregation period in the U.S. Lottie is known as a famed Black Burlesque dancer alongside Aida Overton Walker (Queen of the Cakewalk), Josephine Baker, and Toni Elling (Satin Doll). African American performers of Vaudeville like Lottie "The Body" broke through racial tensions during the height of segregation and open racism.

Lottie was not considered a "stripper" or even an "exotic dancer" like those in her time. She was regarded more as an ecdysiast, an entertainment artist. She was different than the other dancers of her era in the way that she was known for being quite the performer. Generations later, she isn't remembered for just taking off her clothes. Her dance style and body techniques are praised as uniquely her own; notably, something that many dancers could not and, to this day, cannot pull off.

Needs a total rewrite

This article reads like blathering fandom, and as such has no place on Wikipedia. Is this person even notable enough to deserve an article? Sd31263 (talk) 19:57, 26 March 2020 (UTC)