Burlesque Beauties, a "celebration of the female form in all her sparkling glory", debuted last night as part of this year’s Dunedin Fringe Festival.
Producer and performer Verona Vega said the show depicted a traditional, classic and "very glamorous" style of burlesque featuring five established dancers from around the country, two based in Dunedin.
"It will be a very glamorous night."
They would be imitating what the art form was like between the 1920s and 1940s.
There would be sparkling costumes and big feather fans, performed to mainly pre-1950s songs — a lot of traditional jazz and "vintage music", but also some more upbeat and modern tracks.
"You want people to feel like they’ve kind of stepped back in time a bit, into an old music hall or something, and you’ve got your burlesque dancers there.
"We’re not necessarily always dancing to those eras of music, but our costuming and our styling and all that is very traditional, very vintage."
While burlesque was more of a niche performance art, it was definitely getting bigger in Dunedin, Ms Vega said.
There were regular shows at least every other month, along with other variety shows.
There was a lot of demand for it.
"The best way I describe it is that it’s theatrical stripping.
"Obviously, there is the stripping component to it, there’s the tease component to it, but you’re kind of telling a story and taking the audience on a journey."
She hoped people who had not attended a burlesque show before would leave feeling good, with their "minds opened" and an appreciation of the art form for what it was.
Burlesque Beauties is showing tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 10pm at Te Whare o Rukutia, in Princes St.
