Cat Scratch FeverHowever, most of the dancers on the scene agree that burlesque's rise in popularity has helped the scene to get bigger and better. "I think it's healthy for it to grow and everybody's interpretation is a little different. That's what makes it fun," says Kitten DeVille. "It's great that it's everywhere now. If I want to travel, I just call up a gal in another city and I can be in a show there."
One thing all the girls are happy to agree upon is that that the mainstream public is finally beginning to understand the difference between a burlesque dancer and a stripper. "Those of us who have been performing burlesque for awhile have had to always make the distinction that this is the 1950s art of striptease, NOT the kind of dancer in the neon thong who gets paid in tips," says Martini. "Now I don't have to explain it so much because everybody seems to know what burlesque is."
Burlesque is now popping up with troupes
in most big cities including New Orleans, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Las
Vegas, so wherever there are girls into a little glamour and a little tease,
expect burlesque to be waiting for a chance to shake it. Or as Dixie Evans puts
it: "The ladies of burlesque love the audience � and the audience loves them.
That's the key."
Photo Credits: Heels in fishnet by Charchi Stinson, Michelle Carr & Rita D'Albert by Scott Lindgren, Ianna of Velvet Hammer by Charchi Stinson, Kitten DeVille by Marc LeCureuil