Burlesque festivals are more popular than ever in 2024, and many times students ask me if it's too soon for them to go to a festival if they're new performers. It's never too soon! Festivals are a great way to discover performers, producers, and venues, and to meet new people. They are a concentrated networking opportunity that includes amazing shows and often with unique classes by headliners and locals. They’re usually expensive to travel to, but with this list you might be able to find some within driving distance, so you can get your first few festival experiences without a major inves ..read more

The New York School of Burlesque is so excited and honored to have Alek Paliński as a guest author this month! With his 7 years of experience in burlesque, Alek has performed all over the world and contributed to the creation of many burlesque acts. He's worked with iconic burlesque performers, such as Dita Von Teese, Dirty Martini and Zelia Rose, to name a few. Enjoy Alek's comprehensive guide to filming your burlesque act for performance submissions. We get so many questions about this topic and this guide is just what performers need to put their best work forward when submitting for an ..read more

Hello Burlesquers! I've been inspired to update my Burlesque Festival List, which includes dozens of festivals in the US and around the world, as well as links to social media accounts that keep their own lists so you'll always get the latest information. Check out my burlesque festival list now! Looking for tips on making your best impression when applying to burlesque festivals or other shows? Follow the instructions on the application and BE PREPARED! Photo: BurlyCon 2013 , by Don Spiro ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 Sinclai ..read more

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 ..read more

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, ins ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more