female announcer: This program contains nudity.

Viewer discretion is advised.

♪♪♪ female: We are adapting our styles, and we're subverting even what the ideas of this scandalous, you know, rebellious woman art form, what that even is.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Low key, low key.

♪ You should really get to know me.

♪ ♪ Low key, low key.

♪ You should really get to know me.

♪ ♪ Yeah, I know you got some things.

♪ ♪ That you could show me.

♪ Low key, low key.

♪ You should really get to know me.

♪ ♪ I see you looking at my body very closely.

♪ ♪ But there's a lot of things about me that you don't see.

♪ Jezza Belladonna: I feel like the burlesque space is a very safe space.

Our art is not catered towards the male gays, I don't feel at all, which is a large part of why and how women have been viewed as sex objects.

We're not making our act for looking a certain ideal or fitting in with society or hoping that the guy in row 3 is going to think I'm cute.

Like, that is not the motivation of any burlesque performer that I know personally.

We are choosing how we're being seen on stage.

We are choosing which parts of ourselves to expose or to hide.

Jennay SeKwa: It was more toxic just being a young girl wearing normal clothes in the world than I've ever felt taking my clothes off on stage.

Jezza: What I would like people to understand about our art is that it is art.

I think that people have these preconceived ideas about burlesque or taking your clothes off for public, entirely.

And it's really a performance art.

Jennay: For me personally, if I would have been able to discover burlesque at an earlier age, I think it would have made a bigger difference in my own self-esteem, for how I looked at myself and versus, like, how the world also was looking at me.

Jezza: Just being able to see someone who looks like a normal person, like, with a normal person body, the fact that I think we are giving that example, you know, of we look like this and that's okay, and we have female friendships and that's okay.

I think that's just really powerful too.

Jennay: A lot of our sisters are plus size, and we don't--it's not on purpose, you know, we just, some of us have fluffed up.

It's not all of us have always been this voluptuous.

I just wish that as a younger person, I would have been able to see women confidently showing off their bodies that do not look like any bodies you see on TV, in magazines, in movies.

Jezza: It's also, "Hey, look at this.

This is beautiful, even if they out there will tell you that it isn't."

Or not even that.

I mean, I feel like, you know, walking through the world as a woman in my 30s with an extra 20, 30, 50, 100 pounds, whatever, it's not even the disdain, it's the ignoring entirely.

And burlesque, we are shedding ourselves, and we are presenting our art, and it is beautiful, and it is glorious, and I am not going to look like the people that you see on the magazines and does that mean that I am worth any less than they are?

No, and then that also gives them the chance to reflect on, "Well, wait, maybe that means I'm not worth any less than the people on the magazines as well."

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Clair Fuxabull: Doing burlesque has definitely changed me in-- I want to say a better way.

It's helped me become much more confident in myself and in my body.

Before I did burlesque I definitely had a lot of self-confidence issues, a lot of self-doubt, definitely issues that everybody goes through from being bullied growing up to being told you're ugly, gangly, whatever it might be, and it forces you to come to terms with how you feel about yourself and rethink about yourself in a more positive light and go, "I'm pretty dang hot.

I'm an amazing person."

I have absolutely nothing to not love about myself.

This person got me through everything I've been through, got me through that bullying situation and got me through hard times in school, at work.

It got me through whatever near-death experience I might have gone through, and I love every scar, every supposed flaw on me, and you're loving it too.

Getting that praise back from the audience definitely solidifies your newfound love of self that you can find through the path of burlesque.

Jezza: What I like most about performing is the acceptance.

I do different things with my performance.

I am not a skilled dancer.

I cannot make sexy faces.

A lot of my acts are nerdlesque or cosplay or funny or in some way I'm communicating with the audience, "Hey, this is a thing that I really think is cool."

And a lot of times they think it's cool too.

Ha, ha, ha.

Jezza: There's sort of a relationship with the audience.

There's this safe space that we have created that it is.

This is this performance art, and this is this experience.

And you are going to behave.

[laughing] Jennay: And I think there's a respect there too, like, you're going to watch, you're going to like it, and you're going to respect us.

Or you can leave.

You know, historically, women, we have had to fight for literally everything.

The fact that we are at a place where we can say--where we are allowed to say, "I'm going to choose to take my clothes off, not because you want me to but because I am choosing to."

Having that choice and that power over your own self, your own body, especially when it's being taken away piece by piece.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Yvonne Cantrell: What I would like people to know about my art is that when I'm performing it, I'm doing it because I want to take you on a vacation.

I want to show you something beautiful.

I want to show you me.

I want you to share so totally and completely in my joy for 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

It's the gift of myself to you, completely and totally on that stage, vulnerable, everything off, everything that I have made for you and for myself, is on the ground, hands up in the air and there's a huge smile on my face because I would rather be nowhere else than right there with you.

But you're not me Been hanging around ♪ Old man cold is bringing you down ♪ ♪ Six feet under getting under your skin ♪ ♪ Cabin fever is setting in ♪ ♪ Stir crazy, stuck in a rut ♪ ♪ Oh, you could use a little pick me up ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ I know what it is you crave ♪ ♪ A little something from the good old days ♪ ♪ I got wind right here in a jar ♪ ♪ I got the rain on tap at the bar ♪ ♪ I got sunshine up on the shelf ♪ ♪ Allow me to introduce myself ♪ ♪ Brother, what's my name?

♪ My name is our lady of the underground ♪ ♪ Brother, what's my name?

♪ My name is our lady of the underground ♪ ♪ Brother, what's my name?

♪ My name is our lady of the upside-down ♪ ♪ Brother, what's my name?

♪ I'll tell you my name [audience cheering] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Come here, brother, let me guess ♪ ♪ It's the little things you miss ♪ ♪ Spring flowers, autumn leaves ♪ ♪ Ask me, brother, and you shall receive ♪ ♪ Well, maybe these just ain't enough ♪ ♪ Maybe you're looking for some stronger stuff ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ When's the last time you saw the sky?

♪ ♪ Wipe away your tears, brother ♪ ♪ Brother, I know how you feel ♪ ♪ I can see you're blinded by the sadness of it all ♪ ♪ But look a little closer ♪ Everything will be revealed ♪ ♪ Look a little closer [audience cheering] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You want stars I got a skyful ♪ ♪ Put a quarter in the slot you'll get an eye full ♪ ♪ You want the moon, I got that too ♪ ♪ Right here in my pay-per-view ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ A little moonshine ain't no sin ♪ ♪ One at a time, boys straight line ♪♪ [audience cheering] [audience cheering] ♪♪♪ audience: Whoo!

[audience cheering] Jezza: It doesn't just make you in this creation, right?

I mean, we start off with, "Oh, well, what if I did this with colors in my costume," or "Wait, I really could do something with this chorus," or "Hey, I have this idea."

And basically just the--this motion of taking this idea out of our heads and then creating an act, creating a costume, getting our feedback, putting it on the stage and doing it.

And it can be so easy.

I know, you know, I work 40 hours-plus a week.

It can be so easy to set aside creativity, to set aside color, to set aside, "Well, what if I have this really silly idea, but then I do this thing, and then it's this ridiculous thing that has no value to anybody but myself and the people in this room?"

And that's what I love about performing.

It's an excuse, I know for me, a lot of times, I will not create unless I have a show coming up.

It's so easy to just get in the motions and so--and even though I will be ripping my hair out and cussing, throwing things at my sewing machine usually, I'm still really happy to have created some art at the end of the day.

Lucy Lovelace: Yeah, 'cause I feel like even, like, when I was little, I would always, like, make little dances of different songs and invite "Mom, come watch me," you know, set out everyone and as an adult, you can't do that.

But wait, you can.

And so I'm like, "Oh, let me listen to this shark song.

Oh, we're going to-- we're all going to listen to this shark song now.

Have a seat.

Now you're here.

♪ Baby shark doo-doo-doo-doo-doo ♪ ♪ Baby shark doo-doo-doo-doo-doo ♪ ♪ Baby shark doo-doo-doo-doo-doo ♪ ♪ Baby shark ♪ Baby shark doo-doo-doo-doo-doo ♪ ♪ Baby shark doo-doo-doo-doo-doo ♪ ♪ Baby shark doo-doo-doo-doo-doo ♪ ♪ Baby shark ♪ Mommy shark ♪ Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo doo-doo-doo-doo-doo ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [audience cheering] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Jennay: I was drawn to burlesque because I wanted to fill my life with things that reflected my best self back at me.

I had been a long-time goer to Va-Va-Voom shows, and I enjoy glamour, and I enjoy high camp, and I enjoy wigs, costumes, makeup, the whole shebang.

And making just everything just a little bit more sparkly around me.

Jennay: So when I did Boot Camp, I had zero intention of joining the troupe.

Jezza: She tried to tell me that she wasn't going to it.

Jennay: I said, "I am not joining.

I'm going to do this 6 or 8 weeks, then I'm out of here, and I'm going to watch."

And then I was so in love by the time that we graduated and thankfully I made it in.

I can't imagine doing anything else, and I want people to experience that, to just be able to come, experience it, create within themselves, and just to learn to love themselves in a different way.

Jennay: I am Jennay SeKwa, and Jennay SeKwa is here to give it to you.

You paid money, and I'm going to give you everything that you paid for, even when my costume gets caught in my hair, even when I almost lose a pasty, even, you know, all these things are happening that are outside of our control or even anything that we would ever consider to happen that's never happened in any rehearsal in any time ever.

Jennay: What I love the most about performing is the reactions from our audience.

I like that when they see something that we have put so much blood, sweat, tears, and glue, and hot glue burns, and sleepless nights, to make something beautiful or creative that they are, like, feeling what we have done and their reactions to it.

Them cheering for us is so great.

Like, don't get me wrong, I love the dollar bills so much, so, so much.

But it's the cheers that, like, will really keep you going.

It's like, your 3 minutes on stage feels like an eternity and it's terrifying and nerve-wracking and exhilarating and glorious.

♪♪♪ [audience cheering] Yvonne: What I love most about performing is transformative self-love through burlesque.

Because if you do not accept yourself completely, totally, wholly, the moment that you walk out on that stage and you present yourself, everybody can see through you.

They can all see through you.

So why not nourish yourself, fill your cup, fill your oats, get glamorous, completely and totally love me from the skin outside to my little tiny gallbladder.

You know, you gotta feel it all.

You gotta feel it all.

And sometimes it can be--it can come off as conceited, but it's not.

It's just filling yourself up from the ground up with complete and total acceptance and love and pride.

Jennay: Since doing burlesque I have a very healthy self-respect.

I will not allow someone, anyone, to talk to me disrespectfully.

I know who I am, I know what I will and will not accept and before burlesque it was kind of--I don't have a small personality, but it was more subdued, and I was, like, "Okay, well, this is-- this is how it is, so I just have to accept it."

No, I really don't.

Jezza: By experiencing that acceptance from my burlesque sisters, from bringing my art out into the open, from exposing parts of myself that I never would have exposed before, and that does not mean the skin parts, having the courage and the confidence and the audacity sometimes-- Jennay: And we do have the audacity.

Jezza: And we do have the audacity.

Bringing that forward, and opening up those parts of myself, and feeling that acceptance, has allowed me to accept myself as I walk through my everyday life.

Lucy: Yeah, I don't remember any of my performances.

I remember the bad things when I mess up, and I was like, oh, man.

Okay, I know what I have to do next, 'cause this next beat's coming up, but everything else, I don't remember.

And then I'm backstage with my girls and it's the sisterhood, and I love all of them.

I value my friendships a lot more now because I know what the girls, like, in our sisterhood will go through for each other, especially, like, when we're having a hard time, and if we need something.

Like, backstage especially, we are in a panic, we are on a time crunch.

We have things to do, breasts to be seen.

And you know, if something happens, we only have each other to rely on back there.

Foxx M. Good: We're going to try for, like, 8:15, before 8:30.

We open till late, I'm gonna hold it a little bit.

We're going to try for 8:15.

That puts us at over 30 minutes.

female: Okay.

Jezza: Give yourself an opportunity to think about women stripping in a different way, to think about women being beautiful in a different way, think about allowing the possibility of this being okay.

Yvonne: I think that our performances are actually a microcosm of a greater paradigm of active refusal of these social norms.

I, personally, grew up with a lot of people, a lot of women who were in the martyr Olympics and--where every day, it's like, "Oh, how much can I suffer?

How much can I suffer?

How much can I suffer for the glory of God, for the glory of my husband, for the glory of my children," and I saw so many women just lose themselves in this and just get sucked away.

And now I get to be a part of this community, I get to share this performance, but what we're doing at the North Coast Repertory Theater is not just happening in the North Coast Repertory Theater.

What we're doing is happening everywhere in the minds and hearts of young women.

Jezza: Do we have our film crew?

Do we have everyone?

Is everybody ready?

Dear glitter gods, please hear our cheers.

Keep the things on we want to keep on.

Take the things off we want to take off.

Jennay: In their proper place.

Jezza: Keep those nipples hidden, and let's have a great -- time, you guys.

All super-rockin'.

I'm really excited for the show tonight.

I'm super-super-super- super-super proud of you all.

On count of three, we'll do "Va Va Voom."

One, two, three.

all: Va Va Voom!

♪ What you want, baby, I got ♪ ♪ What you need you know I got it ♪ ♪ All I'm asking is for a little respect ♪ ♪ when you get home ♪ Just a little bit ♪ Hey, baby, just a little bit, ♪ ♪ when you get home ♪ Just a little bit, mister, ♪ ♪ just a little bit ♪ I ain't going to do you wrong while you're gone ♪ ♪ Ain't going to do you wrong 'cause I don't want to ♪ ♪ All I'm asking, oh, a little respect ♪ ♪ Just a little bit ♪♪♪