Burlesque, alive and kicking. (News).

If you want to be a burlesque dancer, there are a few things you should know. First, invest in a hot-glue gun: It's an essential tool for crafting pasties and affixing feathers to headdresses. Your gloves should be removed slowly, one finger at a time, preferably with your teeth. If you're dancing the twist, it's all in the windup. Need cheap but fabulous vintage costumes? Check eBay. And never, ever work for free--unless it's a benefit.

Participants got hip to this and more at Tease-O-Rama 2002, the second annual national convention devoted to reviving burlesque, go-go dancing, and vaudeville. Thirty-six acts performed to sold-out houses the last weekend of September 2002 in San Francisco. Working performers and the curious flocked to daytime workshops and evening shows, which were organized by members of two troupes--Alison Fensterstock of the SophistiKittens and Baby Doe of the Devil-Ettes--with event planner Liftoff! According to Fensterstock, the convention turned "a modest profit"; by the third installment, she said, organizers hope to secure a sponsor.

Burlesque, like swing, reemerged in the last decade, layered with new influences and meaning. At the panel discussion "Risque Business," moderated by film documentarian Rick Delaup, veteran dancers described burlesque as a socially stigmatized but decently paying job when their professional and personal options were limited. But contemporary burlesque dancers, for the most part, credited their motivation to a genuine affection for the form and the era from which it came. The new burlesque is both nostalgic and deliberately campy, a place where MGM musicals, Ziegfeld girls, Sally Rand, and cocktail kitsch meet punk rock and PVC fetish-wear. Many of today's performers have had more formal dance training than their predecessors, embellishing the old bump-and-grind with samba, tap, belly dancing, jazz, hula, even capoeira.

After two consecutive five-hour nights of burlesque, the performers who offered more than standard striptease stood out. San Francisco's fourteen-member Devil-Ettes delivered snappy combinations of go-go steps--the mashed potato, the jerk, and the swim--in Busby Berkeley-like formations. New York's World Famous Pontani Sisters, able tappers, did a Fosse-styled bit with bowler hats, while San Francisco group Hot Pink Feathers, in feathers and ruffles, put a Brazilian spin on burlesque with samba hip switches and shimmies. There were retro musical numbers--Denver's Burlesque As It Was gave the nod to Sweet Charity with a high-kicking "Hey, Big Spender"--and belly dancing interludes from Seattle's scimitar-wielding Gun St. Girls and Portland's Kitty Diggins, who danced a veiled homage to Salome. Empire Burlesque Follies, from Vancouver, British Columbia, evoked French cirque with a shadow dance behind a lit screen, accompanied by accordion and chanteuse.

Headliners included Dita Von Teese (with significant other Marilyn Manson in tow) and veteran dancers Dixie Evans and Dee Milo; L.A.'s Baggy Pants Burlesque Revue provided corny comic relief, and at the closing-night gala, Roky Roulette of the San Francisco Burlesque Orchestra gave something back to the ladies, stripping from a full suit to his skivvies as he bounced across the stage on a pogo stick.

The Pontani Sisters sounded a wakeup call Saturday morning with "Go-Go Aerobics," leading their charges (some still coated in a fine film of glitter) through a lively number called "The California Sun." The Pontanis began their dance training around preschool; first tap, then ballet, jazz, and break-dancing. They've managed to parlay burlesque into a full-time career, teaching, touring, and appearing on talk shows. According to Angie Pontani, the sisters' dancing childhood inspired their act: "It's a continuation of the dance recital with the big costumes," she said.

Performers who hoped to follow the Pontanis' lead got plenty of practical instruction, including costume and pastie-making workshops and the panel discussion "How to Be a Burlesque Star for Fun and Profit." The Hot Pink Feathers' Kelly Garton encouraged performers to make contact with local event planners, clubs, and corporate event planners; the Gun St. Girls' Victoria Renard, a photographer by day for Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger advised the assembled how to put together a media-ready press kit and get good, inexpensive press photos (hire an art school student). She also suggested that performers protect themselves legally and financially by copyrighting ideas, opening a bank account in the group's name, and discussing with venues how the group should be paid, for tax purposes. The panelists agreed that above all, performers should have clear intentions--be it preserving, melding, or creating styles--and stick with them. It was sound advice for dancers, burlesque and otherwise.