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Taking Your Clothes Off 101
Burlesque class taught me to love my body
For as long as I can remember, I had no confidence in my body. In my mind, I was a large, fleshy pear waddling down the street. Trying on jeans was an exercise in masochism. The sight of my pale thighs glaring even whiter off the fluorescent lights as they tried to squish into jeans one size too small (because, for some reason, every shop sizes them differently) was agony for my anxious brain. We are not taught to love our bodies. We are taught to fix them. I hated my shape and thought it would never be able to do anything that qualified as sexy.
And then I saw burlesque.
If you’ve never seen burlesque you are missing out. From amateur performances with few props to stunning professional shows with enough rhinestones to make you go blind, it’s a spectacle. Dancers train for weeks to memorize choreography, but are able to make it seem almost improvisational by the nonchalant way they throw a glove into the crowd.
There is one burlesque club in my city. When I heard they were offering classes I — someone who wore shirts two sizes too big and baggy jeans — signed up. I didn’t think anyone could teach me how to be a burlesque dancer, but I wanted to try.
