RIVERSIDE - Twirling to the rhythmic strains of calypso, a young woman shimmies out of her Hawaiian grass skirt and doffs her coconut shell bra to reveal cotton puff pasties underneath. Cheers erupt in the basement of the Back to the Grind coffee shop in Riverside, where Kitten de Ville, 41, is teaching burlesque - and the tease at the heart of the dance. The 15 students - who include a housewife, an entrepreneur and an archaeologist - have gathered to learn a dance perfected on America's stages since the 1800s.
"Burlesque comes in every size, age and style," said Melissa Pyle, 35, of Riverside. "It's exciting and it's about women bonding. Every single type of person can dance if they want to.
" Burlesque has enjoyed something of a comeback in the past decade, to the point that celebrities around the world are joining in - or at least watching with interest. Comedian Margaret Cho is one of burlesque's best-known personalities. She regularly performs "The Sensuous Woman" in Los Angeles, and a version of her show is about to open off-Broadway in New York.
Sting and David Bowie recently solidified plans to open a burlesque club in New York. Other celebrities have been seen at Los Angeles' Forty Deuce and other clubs, enjoying a night out at a burlesque show. "There are misconceptions about burlesque," de Ville said.
"When I got started, I spent five or 10 years explaining or defending what I did. "People would classify it as pole dancing. But it's not that.
It's more about what you don't see than what you do see." Men are getting into the act as well, in shows commonly referred to as "Boy-lesque." Bobbie Burlesque of Hollywood, a sinewy, dark-haired young man with striking features, uses music and powerful images to present his vision onstage.
"It's a way to express yourself," he said after a recent show at Biacci's Restaurant in Upland. Male dancers make up only a small percentage of the nation's burlesquers, but they are often included in major events, including the Miss Exotic World pageant. "I love the boys, the girls, all the movers and the shakers who come to our show," said Dixie Evans, 80, widely known as "the fairy godmother of burlesque.
" As the founder of the Burlesque Hall of Fame and the Miss Exotic World Pageant, she has worked to keep burlesque alive. "It's not just stripping. That's easy to do," Evans said.
"(Burlesque) has so much more to it - play-acting and fun and teasing. Strippers all grab a pole and do the same thing. Every burlesque act is different.
" The shows usually have a mix of dancing, live music and comedy. Their success depends on fans - both aficionados and the feathered kind. Like Sally Rand before her, de Ville has become famous for using the oversized feathered prop.
"I'm credited with starting what is known as `modern burlesque,"' de Ville said, and she has the resum to back up the claim. She is one of the original members of Velvet Hammer Burlesque in Los Angeles. After placing second in the Miss Exotic World Pageant in 2000, she came back to win the whole thing in 2002.
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