What burlesque does for us

Beneath the satins and the sequins, the feathers and the fripperies, the stockings and the stilettos there’s a serious reason for dancing burlesque. It’s amazing how much better it makes you feel about your own body.

Years ago, we Burlicious three went to our first class in track suit bottoms and exercise tops, and skulked about shyly in the back row. And then, week by week, class by class, we started to wear a little less and reveal a little more. Now we’re strutting around in our basques and knickers and loving every minute of it.

So what’s changed? Have we suddenly each acquired a perfect body? Nope. But we’ve all learnt that we can be fabulously gorgeous, sexy women in the body that we already have. Honest. I know this sounds like a cheesy self-help book, but it’s true! 

The clearest proof of this comes from our public performances. If you’re in your showgirl finery, dancing a beautiful routine, and looking like you love it, nobody notices your (in my case) bingo wings or podgy knees. They look at the whole woman and applaud your loveliness. And, boy, does that feel good!

And that’s what we do in class – have fun whilst getting much more comfortable with how we look. It's magical stuff.

Right, that’s it - serious point made. Next week we’ll talk about something daft!

Yours, unzipping our inner minx, Burlicious x

Love your beauty spot

Some women are nervous about joining a burlesque class because they think it’s all about stripping (ours most certainly isn’t!) or that you need the body of a post-surgery, post-starvation-diet, celebrity before you can take part.

I was thinking about this as I watched our luscious lovelies dance last night. 

Now, there isn’t a single showgirl in our troupe that fits today’s (boring, unfeminine) size zero ideal.

And every woman in our troupe will tell you that there are things that she really dislikes about her body.

But, trust us, every single woman there has something absolutely gorgeous about her…if not several things! 

Have a look at the pictures on this site. They are all photos we have taken of our showgirls. Not a single shot is airbrushed or re-mastered in any way. And I’ve already started sidling up to showgirls who we haven’t featured yet, asking them if we can photograph something particularly lovely about them for a future post on this site.

Now, try and tell me that those legs we put on the last post aren’t beautiful, or that the sequinned bum on the right here isn’t delectable, or that there isn’t something lovely about that nice back in a laced-up corset. And these women are normal mothers, office workers, shop workers, teachers….just like the rest of us.

Honestly, ladies, every single one of you has something gorgeous to show off. And a fun, safe, supportive burlesque class is the best place we know to learn how to show it off with pizazz!

Yours, trying NOT to look like perverts as we get into strange positions to photograph women in their scanties,

Burlicious x

These are a few of our favourite things

No, you haven’t accidentally landed on the Sound of Music website. Nor are we going for a sort of burlesque “sexy nun” thing (trust us, there’s something very wrong with that!). Nope, we’re just bubbling over after a fab class with things that we love about burlesque dancing.

Last night’s troupe had the lot:

• Experienced regulars, each of whom is developing her own showgirl style – dramatic, dreamy, cheeky, sassy….we choreograph the moves and our beauties then add their own individual touch;
• Absolute beginners, discovering to their surprise and delight that they can actually dance a burlesque routine and that it looks and feels great;
• Last week’s new joiners, strutting their stuff in newly-acquired showgirl finery – you look gorgeous, girls!

Add to that the absolute delight of seeing a constellation of burlesque starlets, stepping out beautifully in time to the music, and you can see why we love what we do!

Fan me with a feathery fascinator, someone, I’m all overcome!

Yours, bursting with pride, Burlicious xx

Goodness me, but you're gorgeous!

What a fabulous start to the new term! Last night we had a bevy of beautiful burlesque dancers, all shimmying their stuff to Little Spender (our brutally shortened version of Big Spender). We promised them that a complete beginner could master (mistress?) this 90 second gem of a routine in just an hour...and we were right.

I can't tell you how lovely it is to see seasoned showgirls and complete beginners making such a superb job of the routine. If we can do that with Little Spender, ladies, we'll look amazing when we do Lady Mamalade next week!

Cheekily yours, Burlicious xx