Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

Showgirls, Showboys, and Vegas-style Burlesque With Grant Philipo Saturday, June 1, 2015 3:30pm - 4:30pm $5 at the door, advance tickets here Drawing from his extensive experience as a producer, writer, choreographer and designer in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Grant Philipo shares historical and anecdotal information about the trajectory of showgirls, showboys, and burlesque dancers in the Vegas area. To attend this presentation, visit: http://bhofweekend.com/schedule-of-events/bhof-finishing-school/ Born and raised in Iowa, Grant Philipo is the youngest person to ever produce a full-scale, 35 plus cast member, multi-million dollar spectacular for a major Las Vegas Strip property.  His "90 Degrees & Rising" premiered at the Dunes Hotel & Casino to rave reviews.  Most impressive is the fact that "90 Degrees & Rising" was produced for a fraction of the amount spent on similar Strip extravaganzas.  www.RisingIncSpectaculars.com Grant...

Andrew Davis teaches at Otis College of Art and Design and is one of the few people for whom the label “straight man” is a job description. He is the taller, more sophisticated half of the comedy team of Doc and Stumpy, and has performed classic burlesque comedy in Los Angeles and at burlesque and vaudeville festivals around the U.S. He holds a M.A. in Folklore from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from NYU. He is the author of America’s Longest Run: A History of the Walnut Street Theatre (Penn State Press) and he operates the website BaggyPantsComedy.com. I interviewed Doc about his spectacularly detailed, informative, and entertaining book,  Baggy Pants Comedy Burlesque and the Oral Tradition. When did you publish this book? How long did it take? The book was published in 2011.  It was actually my doctoral dissertation, which I completed in 2000.  I’d gotten another book contract in the meantime, so I delayed a few years in revising the dissert...

Miss Nude Universe 1975, Tiffany Carter began her burlesque career at the infamous Pink Pussycat in Hollywood, California. An active, in-demand entertainer with Sparky Blaine’s American Showgirl agency, Tiffany toured the U.S., Canada, and Japan from the late 1960s through the 1980s. Tiffany has came out of burlesque retirement and become one of the most beloved and booked burlesque Legends within the international neo-burlesque community! Are you performing at BHOF this year? Yes, I am performing on Friday night! I am doing a great old classic song to begin with and I am just saying how much I love everyone! What are some of your favorite things about the BHOF Weekender? I love getting to meet all the new people in this show biz group!   Have you taught a class before? I taught a class 2 years ago "Panels and Negligee’s and it was my favorite thing that year. I want to give back to all the new people coming into this business. One of the best things about teaching is to b...

Ms Toni Elling got her name from Duke Ellington, a close friend, when she began performing in the 1960s. She became known for her originality and her skillful strut. She worked throughout the US Northeast and in Japan. She created a huge stir with the way she walked across the stage upon her return at BHoF in 2006, and has brought her signature style to stages from Detroit to New York. Today she is known for teaching the Three P’s: Parade, Pose, and Peel. Are you performing at BHOF this year? I will not be performing at BHOF this year; however, I will do the Walk Of Fame What are some of your favorite things about the BHOF Weekender? I love being able to see old friends and making new ones!  Have you taught a class before? Yes, I have done classes before. It makes me happy to share my knowledge.   What do you hope students will get out of your class?   I hope to show students how panels can be used in an act! See Toni perform! http://youtu.be/vX8h...

Delilah Jones was born in Berlin, Germany at the stroke of midnight on a full moon in 1941. She began performing in 1959 and worked with Lili St Cyr at the El Rancho in L.A, Sally Rand in 1965 in Hollywood, Tura Satana, and many other luminaries. She toured North America for two dazzling decades and retired from burlesque in 1980. Her knowledge of the different eras is extensive and her perspective is wry and insightful, with a clear understanding of context, time, and place. She is part of a lovely crew of Las Vegas local legends who make sure to spend time together in the spirit of striptease sisterhood. She will be taking the stage at the Burlesque Hall of Fame for the first time this year. Are you performing at BHOF this year? I’ll be performing on Friday! What are some of your favorite things about the BHOF Weekender? I love being with friends, all long time legends, under one roof. Have you taught a class before? If so, what do you like about te...

Camille 2000 was the first burlesque queen to introduce Aggressive Art to burlesque with her tribute to Marquis De Sade. With the tagline “The Girl for Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow,” she’s a performer no one can forget. She posed for elite photographers, travelled with trunks of costumes and props, and once had a Japanese television crew follow her, reality TV-style, long before that genre ever became popular. Her 20-year career includes acting roles in movies and television shows — alongside Burt Reynolds in B.L. Stryker, 13 episodes of Miami Vice, appeared in Porky’s II and Alan Carr’s remake of Where the Boys Are. Her emotionally powerful fan dance marked her return to the stage in 2011, and her S&M themed act with Tigger! made the audience roar at the BHoF Weekender in 2012.   Are you performing at BHOF this year? Which night? Do you want to give us a hint about what you'll be doing? I am performing on Sunday night and will be doing a number with...

Before there was The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender in Las Vegas, there was Exotic World on a goat farm in the desert in Helendale, California. There, performers such as Dirty Martini, Julie Atlas Muz, Tigger, Miss Indigo Blue, and Kitten Deville, who at that time had been doing burlesque professionally for just a few short years, performed alongside Living Legends of burlesque whose careers spanned the 1940s-1970s. The living legends inspired new performers with their fierceness, their skills, and their story-telling. The performers who learned from them show a special fire and a rare sense of accessible humor mixed with high expectations of entertainment ability that created the new era of burlesque, in which these performers travel the world headlining festivals, media gatherings, and art events. Whether you are new to burlesque or an instructor, the Burlesque Hall of Fame Finishing School offers you the opportunity to add ...