And yet, what workout would fit the title neo-burlesque, which refers to a movement: a resurgence of the once napping 20th-century burlesque.Īnd what does it mean for anyone to say “It’s burlesque!” today? What is burlesque at this odd, unprecedented moment in the history of the art? Guerrero, who teaches classes spinning burlesque in colorful ways in a variety of settings, promotes his lessons with an elliptical, cryptically telling maxim: “Any scene can be burlesque … and any burlesque can be a scene.” Ben Trivettīut everyone nails the routine’s final pose, pretending to pop open their blouses to those well-known lyrics “It’s burlesque!” That ending phrase remains the sole callback to the theme of the class, which appears absent of anything neo-burlesque. And there is a familiar state of puzzlement, one that happens when examining the fragile ecosystem of female empowerment, where performative femininity and criticism of it both feel misguided.
The class atmosphere frantically toggles between fierceness and foolishness, as the lesson races through choreography that is faster than most can keep up with. The choreography, packed with body rolls, booty shakes, and hair flips, is so ferociously paced that two students slink to the side and resort to clapping on the beat and gyrating enthusiastically in the corner.
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“Pretend your last pose is the final group picture for Instagram before you go to brunch.” Pow : Cocked hips, sumo squats, snapping fingers.…Ĭhristina Aguilera’s “Express,” from the soundtrack of the 2010 movie Burlesque, fills the studio on a loop while Tony runs through a routine. “Our goal today is kick ass and be hot,” Guerrero says, blowing a kiss into the mirror. Solid-bodied and 40ish, he pants as he screams “go girl” encouragement -“Fierce! Confident! Sassy!”-at the mirror reflections of 18 women striking titillating poses.
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The instructor, Tony Guerrero, is an all-around pro dancer and choreographer who once worked with Taylor Swift for a New York Knicks halftime show. “From, like, Nelly Furtado to Britney Spears!”
“Now I know it’s so much more,” she continues, her eyes widening. “I used to think burlesque was just jazz,” says a middle-school teacher as she waits to change. In hour-long sessions, held seven nights a week, the studio offers multiple fanciful, relentlessly playful variations on the exaggerated drama of burlesque dance and other feminized styles of movement: Fierce Feminine Hip-Hop, Sultry Street Jazz, Flirty Floorwork, and Bedography (a live-streamed dance class you attend from your bed). Today’s class is “Neo-Burlesque,” one of two workshops in the SassClass Burlesque Performance Program, where “future starlets” can learn burlesque dance techniques and get toned in the process. A nutritionist, a business coach, and a pharmacist chirp like morning birds as they stretch out and snap a few puckered-lipped selfies in the floor-to-ceiling mirror.
Tucked between a Best Western and Wow! Custom Tees on West 36th Street, in Manhattan, the SassClass Studio is a haven for hard-working millennials looking to swap their loafers and blazers for stilettos and an attitude. Baby-powder deodorants and fruity perfumes mingle in the air with commuter sweat, as women with overflowing tote bags queue for the single bathroom. It looks like a rich girl’s dorm room: white shag furniture, scented reed diffusers, amethyst geodes, and girl-power posters. Jo Weldon leads alum from the New York School of Burlesque in a performance at Coney Island.
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