This year's show features Margaret Cho, who The Sissy Butch Brothers met while filming their documentary on the history and reveival of burlesque.  Cho, who began dancing burlesque relatively recently, is currently developing "The Sensuous Woman," a live variety show featuring vaudevillian comedy, burlesque, and bellydance. Showcasing an impressive and ever-changing lineup of comedians, bellydancers and burlesque superstars, "The Sensuous Woman" is currently playing monthly in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and can soon be seen in New York, Minneapolis and Miami. Says Cho, "There's a lot of gender swapping and gender play. It's the gayest show you could have with women stripping in it." Always incorporating activism in her comedy, Cho recently received the First Amendment Award from the ACLU of Southern California. She has also been honored by the National Organization for Women (NOW), GLAAD, Lambda Legal, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) for making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity. In the past five years Cho has launched four sold-out national tours, turning each into a concert film. In 1999 her groundbreaking one-woman show, "I'm The One That I Want," became a best selling book and a concert film that grossed more per print than any film in history. Her 2001 "Notorious C.H.O." tour culminated in a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall, and in 2004, the CD of her "Revolution" tour was nominated for a Grammy. Last year Cho took her "Assassin" tour through the US , Canada and Australia . A revamp of her politically charged "State of Emergency " tour of the swing states of the 2004 Presidential election (hailed as "Murderously Funny!" by the New York Times), "Assassin" is her most political and topical work to date. In 2005, Cho also wrapped her first narrative feature, "Bam Bam and Celeste," which she has described as a fag and fag hag "Dumb and Dumber." "Bam Bam and Celeste," directed by Lorene Machado and written by and starring Cho, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in late 2005 and has since played at the AFI Fest and at Fusion. Margaret's second book, "I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight," is a collection of her essays on all subjects political and pop. Praised as "Raw. Blunt. Passionate. Empathetic, yet no-holds-barred," by the Star-Telegram, it's now on paperback from Riverhead Books.

The show also will feature the thoroughly modern Julie Atlas Muz.  Crowned Miss Exotic World 2006 and Miss Coney Island 2006, this New York artist startles audiences with her modern-day twists on burlesque, satirical wit, and social commentary.   Described as "pure Ms. Muz: bawdy, satirical, and unadulterated theater,"  by The New York Times, as "a bronco," by Time Magazine , and as "the most conceptual of the new guard burlesque," by The Village Voice , Muz has been at the very center of the burlesque resurgence.  One of the most acclaimed and prolific conceptual performers and choreographers in New York City , Muz sucker punches the boundaries between performance art, dance, and burlesque with dark, twisted, come-hither performances that have secured her place in the underworld of nightlife as well as the bastion of the art world.  On any given night in New York City, you can see Muz peeling off the outlandish costumes she dons, or covered in fake blood in the basement of a gay bar or co-hosting America¹s Favorite Burlesque Gameshow This or That!-- in essence, expressing her bawdy, irreverent and unexpected sense of humor. As a 2004 Whitney Biennial Artist Muz contextualized, recreated, and celebrated her role as the "The Bemused Blonde of Downtown Performance Art." ( The New York Times , 5/23/03 ).  As a 2005 Valencia Bienal Artist, Julie swam as a mermaid in Europe¹s largest saltwater aquarium with 450 tropical saltwater fish, 2 sharks and 1 eel. Muz has presented her work in museuems, galleries, theaters and nightclubs all over the nation and the world. A Lambent Fellow 2005-8 and an Ethyl Eichelberger Award 2006-2007 recipient Muz has been awarded Artist- in-Residency status from Chashama (2002), Joyce Soho (2001), Mondo Conne Artist-in-Residency at Dixon Place (2000) and Movement Research Artist-in-Residence (1998-99). Look out for her upcoming shows: WOMANIZER, a group fine art show co-curated by Muz and Kembra Phaler at Deitch Projects opening January 6, 2007 and the Divine Comedy of an Exquisite Corpse a solo evening length performance at PS 122, NYC opening Jan 27, 2007.

Joining Cho in Gurlesque Burlesque will be a rare appearance from living legend Satan's Angel (The Devil's Own Mistress).  Having recently come out of retirement  to perform at Miss Exotic World, Angel is one of the most recognized names on the international burlesque scene.  Known for her signature act, twirling five enflamed tassles, she tells Chicagoans, "If you want to know if the ol' gal still has it, come see me at The Vic."  Her recent play about her life documents her travels around the world as a burlesque dancer, getting hit by a semi-truck, performing in Bob Hope's USO Tour in Vietnam , and surviving a cocaine addiction.  Angel has performed in South America , Asia , and Europe and been featured in Time Magazine and on The Johnny Carson Show.

It could be the elephant trunk attached to her crotch, or the dozens of blown up latex gloves surrounding her torso, but you just know that sultry bombshell on stage isn't your uncle's burlesque dancer.  She's Miss Indigo Blue -- and get ready, because she's one comely coquette that will leave you panting for more.  Sexy, funny, irreverent and ingeniously clever, Miss Indigo Blue flirts with the edgy, exotic and erotic fringes of burlesque.  She is more than just a great practitioner of the ol' bump and grind; she enlivens her performances with a heady blend of brainy and bawdy that makes audience's mouths water, as their minds whirl.  Miss Indigo is known for her creative and hilarious surprises, erotic dance skills, detailed and authentic retro 1930’s-1960’s costuming, and naughty reformulations of favorite characters like Holly Golightly and Wonder Woman.  Miss Indigo has performed across the globe including with Twisted Clits in Amsterdam ,  Va Va Voom Room in New York   and  San Francisco , Gurlesque Burlesque in Chicago , Burlesque As It Was in Denver ,  Kit Kat Follies in Los Angeles , and BurlyQ in London .  Seattle 's burlesque stalwart, Miss Indigo is a three-time award-winner at the annual Miss Exotic World competition, co-holding the "Little Miss Aftershock" title from the Miss Exotic World 2002, the "Most Beautiful" title from the Golden Gams Miss Exotic World 2003, and currently holds the First Runner Up title from the Jennie Lee Tassel Twirling Contest. Miss Indigo founded BurlyQ Queer Cabaret in 2002, which is now in Seattle , New York and London .  Miss Indigo Blue is also the President and Chief Twirling Officer of TwirlyGirl.net, creating exquisite pasties for discriminating nipples, and the founder and Headmistress of the Academy of Burlesque in Seattle .  Based in Seattle , she also teaches in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London. 

Straight from the womb to the lime light, Alotta Boutté has been performing since her first breath. The first stage she set foot on was in church, but we all know what happens when good Catholic girls grow up. Itching for her own little niche in this glamorous world, she went searching for a place that was right for her. She found it in the stories of her moonshinin' grandpa and brazen matriarchy. Alotta relishes her rich creole family history and the dirty blues of the deep south. All of that was then refined in her queer as hell family, vibrant with drag of all kinds. You can find this bawdy, brassy, juke-joint mamma performing with class and sass solo and with Harlem Shake Burlesque throughout San Francisco .

Community Sponsor