How To Become A Burlesque Dancer

Burlesque is a beautiful and seductive dance form, involving parody and grotesque exaggeration, sometimes. This exotic art became popular in Europe in the 19^th century and in America in the 20^th century. Eventually, burlesque dancing became associated with glitz and glam, where striptease was the chief attraction. The dance form includes scantily clad dancing girls, comedians and sideshow performers like sword swallowers. Apart from taking your clothing off, burlesque dancing is linked with fun and playfulness. In fact, an excellent burlesque dancer would remove no more than a glove or a stocking. Given here are some tips to learn the burlesque dance. Go ahead and capture some of the cheeky fun involved in this fascinating art form.

 

 

Learn and research about the history of burlesque dancing, before you commit yourself to becoming a professional burlesque performer. Read about some famous burlesque artists, such as Abbot and Costello, Fannie Brice, Kitten DeVille, Dita Von Teese, Catherine D’lish, and The Sweet Soul Burlesque Troupe from Vancouver. Also, watch clips of legendary burlesque dancers like Gypsy Rose Lee and Tempest Storm. The best way to get a close picture about what burlesque dance would be to visit a burlesque show to know how this art form is performed. Note how the artists meld strip tease and act to create a sense of seductive humor. Observe their costumes, props and music that create a mood for their show.

 

Join classes on dance, drama and stage work. Enroll yourself into dance classes of a wide variety of genres, such as ballet, modern dance and ballroom. Look out for troupes or shows nearby to join in. If you do not find one, start out in pole/strip clubs. You can also check out local bars and clubs that require performers for entertaining and drawing in customers in the nighttime.

 

A burlesque star has to be toned and should move well irrespective of whether she is skinny, curvy or plus size. Apart from joining ballet and modern dance classes, go to the gym and practice pilates and yoga. Make sure that you are in tune with your body, before you hit the stage with your burlesque dance.

 

Visit websites and lingerie stores that offer exclusive costumes for exotic dancers. As a burlesque dancer, you should have a sheer negligee; a pair of slippers or heels that have feathers or fluff on them; a pair of heels or stilettos in satin, patent, or covered in rhinestones or glitter; thigh high stockings in nude and black; suspender belts in the three base colors (red, black, and white) and a corset or waspie with suspender snaps. You should also have matching underwear and pasties, most importantly. If you are planning to strip a lot, pasties and nipple tassels are a must.

 

Be a vintage vixen and have curvy wiggle dresses, cocktail gowns and velvet gloves. Don pill box hats or hats with veils to create illusions in the minds of the audience around. You can also wear mini top hats or large hats with hair flowers and fascinators.

 

Always keep bold colored lipsticks, black colored eyeliner and matching nail polish handy. Look out for the vintage hairstyles in the eras of 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Go for cherry red lips and black cat-flicked eyeliner. Barrel-curled hair is the best that is done with nylon net rollers and pins. Always use bold colors. For example, wear blue nail varnish and blue lipstick, if you are donning a blue corset. Line your lip edges in black and blend for twilight to midnight look. Similarly, wear lilac lipstick, smoking purple eyes and matching nail polish with your lilac outfit.

 

It is very important to practice the burlesque dance in case you have not joined a troupe. Practice taking off corsets with one hand, dancing on your tip toes and extending arms and legs gracefully. Learn different things, depending upon the act that you would be performing. However, the basic idea behind burlesque dancing is that you should be able to take off your clothes and look good doing so. Practice dressing and undressing yourself with one hand, making sure that you keep your intimate parts covered. Learn some burlesque dancing tricks. Suspend yourself from a pole and slide down it V-legged.

 

Most important, let people know about you and build a brand for yourself. Distribute personal flyers and get bookings for parties. Create your own website and set up pages with your information and plenty of photos and videos. You can organize your own show at a decent budget, selling tickets at a reasonable cost. Hike up the price when you are in demand. Advertise through the local newspapers, radio, local news television and so on.