26 Feb 2013
Posted by Whitney 
By Sheila Cosgrove Baylis
Feature Photo: The Wasabassco Troop by Luke Ratray
1. The dancers want to be there. Burlesque performers really want to take their clothes off for you. They’ve often trained at a burlesque school, and since landing a solo spot in a well-known show is no easy feat, many will take an entry-level job as a “kitten” doing prop set-up and costume pick-up in order to get a high-heeled foot in the door. “If performers have never been involved in a burlesque show, we have them kitten first so they can see how the show runs,” said Jenn Martin, a dancer with Purrrlesque! in Greensboro, N.C.
The scene heats up at a steamy Purrrlesque! show in Greensboro.
2. The Kittens. They don’t just sweep up glitter and pasties; they help the show—and your libido—to transition from one act to the next. “Not only does that person have to set everything up… and clean up afterwards, they have to provide interesting transitions between the numbers,” Martin said. These “interesting transitions” usually involve a lot of scouring on hands and knees and not a lot of clothes. Maid fetish, anyone?
3. It’s fresh. Strip clubs are not known for innovation, but burlesque performers are continuously coming up with new and different ways to turn you on. They are artists re-inventing and re-examining what is sexy. Going far beyond the solitary stripper pole, dancers have been known to incorporate food, flight, robotics, or any number of devices to get your attention.
4. Real boobs. No matter how high the quality, fake boobs just can’t spin tassels the way real ones can. Real boobs and real bodies reign in burlesque, a fact that is likely to be a turn-on for your date, a.k.a. reason number five.
“The Asian Sexsation” herself, New York’s Calamity Chang (Courtesy of Michael Webb)
5. You can bring a date! A strip club equals a date-night of doom, but a burlesque show is very couples-friendly. It’s theater, not a service, so the dancers are not looking to the audience for cash. This changes the power dynamic, according to Calamity Chang, a New York City based performer who calls herself “The Asian Sexsation”and can be seen at Nurse Bettie, Hotel Chantelle and Duane Park, among other venues.
“There is no exchange of money, and thus power, at burlesque shows,” Chang explained to ADANAI. “We are not hustling for the customer’s money by soliciting lap dances and other favors in the back room. We perform our act and we go backstage or say hello to friends in the audience,” she said. “It’s fun, friendly, and powerful. The sense of artistic fulfillment is intoxicating.”
But it’s not just the performers who feel empowered by the show. Burlesque encourages the women in the audience to see themselves as sexy. And women who feel sexy want to have sex. So, if you’re in a long-term relationship, you’re sure to benefit from the rousing atmosphere. If you and your date are just getting to know one another, you will quickly discover each other’s attitudes towards sex.
6. You can find a date. Burlesque shows draw a fun, stylish, mixed crowd in an exploratory mood, making it a damn-good place to find a sexually adventurous partner. Need we say more?
