Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

Above: Jo Weldon performing at The Burlesque Hall of Fame. Photo by Tigz Rice. Many students come to my classes with the intention to perform professionally. Not all who want to perform want to become fulltime performers, but they'd like to get onstage now and then. I work in the field of what I call "Independent Burlesque," where most performers are creating individual acts that then get booked into variety or burlesque shows. People also sometimes hear about a theme for a show and then create an act based on that theme, or start producing a show for which they then create acts. There are as many different approaches as there are people to come up with them. However, for this article, let's focus on what most of my students are asking me about, which is how to get booked as a solo performer in a burlesque show that already exists. I'll also be focusing mostly on how things work in New York. Traveling to work is a separate topic, but I'll have an article...

Above: Miss Poison Ivory winning the Burlesque Hall of Fame pageant, 2016. Photo by Don Spiro. Image via burlesquehall.com. BY JO WELDON NOVEMBER 19, 2014 This article was originally published at https://21stcenturyburlesque.com/12-tips-supporting-friends-burlesque-competitions-jo-weldon/ In the world of burlesque, ballyhoo is part of the fun. Taglines and titles pique the audience’s curiousity and make for vivid introductions by emcees. Pageants and competitions offer opportunities to make things up and then invent value for them. It should always be in a spirit of fun, but of course it can get much more complicated than that. In a spirit of support and compassion for competitors, I’d like to offer the following suggestions for being a good friend to someone who is participating. You know your friends best, and some of these suggestions might not work for everyone, but I hope they help friends of competitors think about the best ways to be supportive. 1. Feel free to pampe...

Our student showcase is tonight at DROM NYC! Headmistress Jo Weldon is in COVID quarantine, but Gigi Holliday is taking up the mic so the students will be in good hands! Tickets are at https://dromnyc.com/event/new-york-school-of-burlesque-2/ And if you're thinking about performing yourself, you can sign up for the next Act Development series now: http://schoolofburlesque.com/actdevelopment.shtml Below are a few pictures from Katherine Whitehead, who'se been our official NYSB photographer for 2022. Check back for more student photos and quotes! Above: Amanda Poise Above: Stiletto Sinclair. "This whole experience exceeded any of my wildest dreams and expectations and has only strengthened my desire to explore more of this beautiful world that is burlesque! Working with Kathryn was also a dream: she was very easy to communicate with and gave stunning images in a very timely manner. I can't wait to work with the NYSB and Kathryn again in t...

Above: Burlesque Performer Rosie Cheeks as many different characters. Rosie is also an excellent classic showgirl performer! When I'm teaching, I differentiate character and persona in a specific way that relates to the necessity for most burlesque performers to have a consistent stage name. Your stage name is for your persona. This is your general presentation. This presentation may have multiple variations -- you may do classic, comedy, horror, and political burlesque under this persona, but it's all under the same stage name. Your character is someone (or something) that you portray in that persona. For instance, if you do nerdlesque, you might have a Catwoman and a Fitzwilliam Darcy number; those are characters you portray under your stage name, so the producer is booking your persona (your stage name) to portray that character (the name of someone who isn't you). It could also be a character you've invented, like The Angry Milkman or The Passive Aggres...

Did you know that I coached Blair (Leighton Meester) for the Victor Victrola episode of the first season of Gossip Girl in 2007? while I was working with her and the director, we did lots of planning around the costume and the choreography. However, when her dress arrived for the shoot, it had an inset side zipper rather than the back zipper for which we had choreographed, and we had to figure out how to get it to drop to the floor as we wanted it to -- and get that shot! We decided to have her do the choreography without the zipper and break at the point where she would have unzipped, instead spending extra time focusing on the designers shoes that had been provided for the scene. Then, with cameras off, she removed the dress over her head, stepped back into it, and lifted it above her knees to let it drop in silky folds around her feet. The film was edited to make this look fluid. You can see the end result in the video above! Check out what Leightton Meester is up to now -...

Did you know that you can rent or purchase the streaming version of my fan dance workshop video program at any time to study in the privacy of your own home? It's designed to get you started with marabou fans, silk veil fans, and ostrich fans (the big feathered ones all the headliners use)! It's available at https://worlddancenewyork.com/products/silk-and-feathers The world Dance website also hosts my video programs in striptease, burlesque dance, and chair dance, so take a look at all the offerings!

Above: The poster for my 2019 birthday party show at Coney Island USA. Poster design by David L Byrd. I always encourage my students to produce their own burlesque shows! They make new friends in class and build new audiences at student showcases -- their fresh energy is just what burlesque needs to stay exciting and relevant. Here are a few tips to get you started. There are many, many ways to produce burlesque shows, so if you read this and disagree with it, at least it will have given you an idea of what you don't want to do! If you have questions about a particular type of show, please ask in the comments. Also feel free to share your experiences as a producer, performer, or venue if you have different expectations or preferences than I'm describing here. Before you even start producing, visualize and manifest your show. Make a poster for it, even if it's just a sketch on a pad. Make a private online or print vision board with pictures of how you want it to ...