The New York Burlesque Festival is an annual four-day event that takes place in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

each fall, where performers from all over the world appear on stages for musical acts, burlesque shows, and other performances.

History

The festival premiered in 2003 and was founded by Jen Gapay of Thirsty Girl Productions along with

Angie Pontani Angela Pontani is a contemporary burlesque dancer, choreographer, producer, and blogger based in Brooklyn, New York. She was crowned Miss Exotic World Pageant, Miss Exotic World in 2008. Biography Andrea Louisa Pontani is originally from Trento ...

, Tara Pontani and Helen Pontani of

The World Famous Pontani Sisters The World Famous Pontani Sisters are a dance act and burlesque revue based in New York City, consisting of three sisters: Angie Pontani, Tara Pontani, and Helen Pontani. They have been billed more recently as Angie Pontani and the World Famous Pont ...

. Actress and burlesque artist Pearls Daily has been on the Production Team as Volunteer Coordinator since 2016, in addition to performing as part of the event.

Festival venues and performers

The festival features over 100 burlesque and variety performers from around the world, making it one of the largest international burlesque events. Burlesque is attended by featured performers in addition to live music, comedy and

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

Venues

The four nights of the festival take place at various venues throughout

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. In addition to live performances, all shows feature interactive elements where patrons get burlesque makeovers or purchase paraphernalia such as

pasties Pasties (singular pasty or pastie) are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They originated as part of burlesque shows, providing a commercial form of bare-breasted entertainment. T ...

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

s and

corsets A corset is a support garment commonly worn to hold and train the torso into a desired shape, traditionally a smaller waist or larger bottom, for aesthetic or medical purposes (either for the duration of wearing it or with a more lasting effe ...

. Venues for the festival include B.B. King Blues Club in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

, the

Highline Ballroom The Highline Ballroom was a music venue and nightclub located at 431 West 16th Street in Manhattan in New York City. Description Primarily featuring musical acts, its capacity was approximately 700 people hosting diverse concert programming fr ...

Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn Bowl is a music venue, bowling alley and restaurant in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2009, it is located in the former Hecla Iron Works Building at 61 Wythe Avenue. It is known for its high-tech green co ...

and The Bell House. Previous venues have included

Le Poisson Rouge (Le) Poisson Rouge (often referred to as LPR) is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of the Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street. The performance space was ...

, The Maritime Hotel,

The Limelight The Limelight was the name of a chain of nightclubs owned and operated by Peter Gatien. It had locations in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, London and Hallandale. Context During the 1980s, club culture had died down because of the AIDS ...

and the Supper Club.

Performers

Performers have included the following names: * Dirty Martini *

Jo Weldon Jo Weldon (born 1962), commonly known as Jo Boobs or Jo Boobs Weldon, is a performer, author, activist, and educator based in New York City. Weldon's body of work centers around stripping and striptease. She established and runs The New York Sch ...

Jett Adore Jett Adore is an American burlesque dancer. He has performed as part of Stage Door Johnnies, Chicago's only all-male burlesque troop. Due to his career success, Adore has been referred to as the Prince of Boylesque and is an inductee of the Burle ...

* Jonny Porkpie *

Julie Atlas Muz Julie Atlas Muz (born Julie Ann Muz on May 30, 1973) is a New York City-based performance artist, dancer, burlesque artist, stage director, and actress. In 2012, she married English actor Mat Fraser. Muz is best known as a performer in the New Y ...

* Murray Hill *

Nasty Canasta Nasty Canasta is a cartoon character and antagonist of the '' Merrie Melodies'' and '' Looney Tunes'' series who made appearances in three cartoons. Created by animator Chuck Jones, Canasta is depicted as a tough, hulking, and brutish-looking o ...

* Pearls Daily * The World Famous *BOB*

References

{{Reflist

External links