Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

The longer I've performed, the more serious I've gotten about dedicating a pair of shoes to a costume and not wearing them with anything else, no matter how strong the temptation. Once you cannibalize a costume for another costume, you begin the descent into costume hell--"Is the whole costume in the bag?" is not a question you want to be asking in a dressing room right before a show, or even on the subway on the way to the venue. I dedicated a pair of very special shoes to my Sherry Britton tribute, even though they wrong for the era--I knew Sherry would approve. Above: A costume fitting at Garo's . When I very first started dancing in strip joints (1981? it's all so fuzzy) I saw some of the dancers wearing amazing wood and metal heeled mules. I loved them but the heels weren't high enough for me. I was, in my late teens, excruciatingly self-conscious about being only five feet tall; plus, I drank a lot, which meant I could wear excruciatingly high heel...

I had started this scrapbook blog , but it doesn't make sense to run two at the moment when I haven't had time to do one, so here's a scrapbook post for the holiday. Happy Halloween!! Julie Atlas Muz's feet backstage at Wanted! Wild Bandits of Burlesque. Gal Friday and Bambi the Mermaid backstage at the Slipper Room. Rudy balances on one finger on a strap-on dildo. Click to view larger.

Evidently the threat of the terrible underboob is not enough to keep the Palms from allowing burlesque to attack yet again! Poker Stars and Movie Stars Shine at the PokerStars.net Burlesque Party to Celebrate the World Series of Poker at the PALMS famed nightclub RAIN. Dita Von Teese will perform her signature Martini Dance to celebrate PokerStars and its 2000 players at the 2008 World Series of Poker. You think it's not scary??? Check this out: a terrified onlooker fires upon the underboob of Bambi the Mermaid at the very dangerous Slipper Room show, Sealboy and the Blondes : Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque , for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com .

Costuming plays a unique theatrical role in burlesque. It establishes the character and tone of a piece, but even more interesting to me is that the manner of its removal can dictate the entire choreography of a number. Elements that almost instantly call burlesque to mind, such as feather boas, opera length gloves, and of course pasties, combine in a way to make burlesque costuming distinctive and irresistible to fans of glamour. If you go to Atomic Todd in Las Vegas, you can see many of the amazing costumes from burlesque's golden era, collected by Dixie Evans. Many burlesque performers really raise the bar when it comes to costuming. Dirty Martini works closely with David Quinn ; Bambi the Mermaid and Bunny Love , among others, have elaborate costumes made by Garo Sparo . Although few of my costumes are very elaborate, I make most of them myself--probably the only aspect of costuming on which I raise the bar is in making tails, but I have yet to cover one with rhinestones. ...