Home of The Burlesque Handbook

GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!
Offered four times a year.
March/April available now!
Develop your own original solo routine under the guidance of the author of The Burlesque Handbook!
Headmistress Jo Weldon will guide you through choosing your own music, assembling a costume, and developing your own routine.
Concludes with the option of performing in a student showcase!
Details and Registration

BURLESQUE IMPROV AND CHOREOGRAPHY
In-Person in NYC
Get Moving with Gigi Holliday!
January Registration is Open Now!
Gigi will teach you basic burlesque moves and get you into showgirl form in this introductory class! Designed for all levels, it's the perfect way to begin your journey into this sexy and playful performing art.
Dress for movement and comfort, heels optional.
Registration and Details

KITTEN HEELS
Online on Zoom
Instructor: Edie Nightcrawler
Ready to give burlesque a try?
This class makes burlesque easy, with accessible moves for beginners with no dance experience. You'll learn burlesque style and movement, and you'll learn a full routine with the opportunity (but not the requirement) of performing in a live student showcase in NYC!
Details and Registration.

THE WILD WITHIN
In-Person in NYC
Instructor: Miss Aurora BoobRealis
Step into a bigger bolder version of yourself! This class begins with a sensual and playful warm up to get you in the mood. Then through movement exercises, fun theater games and easy to learn choreography you will discover/uncover your own version of sexy and connect with your erotic power.
Details and Registration

GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER
In-Person in NYC
Instructor: Headmistress Jo Weldon
Create a solo routine with the option to perform onstage in a student showcase!
In this series, Headmistress Jo Weldon coaches students through all the steps of coming up with ideas, choosing music, assembling costumes, and developing choreography.
Details and Registration

ESSENTIAL BURLESQUE
Instructor: Headmistress Jo Weldon
In-Person in NYC!
Registration Open Now
Sundays, 1-2:50 pm
This is the introduction to burlesque you've been looking for!
In this month-long series you'll discover the distinctive props and techniques of burlesque! Learn how to do an unforgettable striptease, a seductive chair dance, a fabulous fan dance, and a titillating tassel-twirl -- using our props and your own clothing.
You'll do a full routine the very first day, using your own clothing! All in a supportive and playful environment.
Details and Registration

FAN DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY!
In-Person in NYC
Looking for pure glamour?
Check out our fan dance workshop series with Mia the MVP!
Registration Open Now!
Details and Registration

PRIVATE PARTIES
Looking for something unique to add to your bachlorette, birthday, or other celebration? Check out our private party offerings!
Details and Pricing

Previously recorded class: IF YOU MUST MAKE A MESS
Let's discuss the pros and cons of making a mess onstage! Jo will give tips on how to prepare the stage and backstage for various pours, how to talk to producers and venues about them, and various approaches to cleaning up after them. We'll talk about the logistics of using confetti, fake blood, bath shows, and more; as well as how to use tarps, towels, and kiddie pools. Learn from Jo Weldon, who spent decades making huge messes on strip joint stages and never left a drop behind -- because she would have gotten her ass kicked if she did.
Watch online!
Find more pre-recorded classes at BurlyPod and at World Dance New York.
Find links to FREE articles, resources, and videos at our blog.

Burlesque-Curious?
Check out our free articles!

WHAT I WORE TO WORK

Jo Weldon's long-anticipated one-woman show -- part memoir, part fashion history -- continues in 2025!
More Information

JO WELDON'S BURLESQUE BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA!
Details and Tickets

PAST CLASSES AND EVENTS
Join our email list to be notified when any of these are offered again!

LAP DANCE PARTY
Instructors: Peekaboo Pointe and Headmistress Jo Weldon
You'll get tips on what to wear, how to create an atmosphere, how to choose music, and how to do the moves that devastate! Students will perform lap dances for each other in a playful and supportive environment.
Details and Registration

TRAPLESQUE WITH ZYRA LEE VANITY
One time only, September 17 2023!
Zyra will teach you how to own all of that as well as do the burlesque basics (such as bumping and grinding), but to trap music! This class is choreography based and is designed to help you bring out your inner bad and bougie traplesque goddess.
Details and Registration

BURLESQUE FOR POLE
SOLD OUT
August 27, 6.30 - 8 pm $40
At Everybody's Nimble
Burlesque and pole dance make great partners!
Learn how to use techniques of audience connection, mindful body presentation, and tease to make your pole performances even more memorable.
Dress for pole, and bring a robe or button-down shirt.
This class works for all levels, as you will begin by doing your favorite moves and Jo will help you add a layer of burlesque style and movement to what you already know how to do.
SOLD OUT
Details and Registration

SPECIAL WORKSHOPS WITH MISS POISON IVORY
JULY 22, 2023
Miss Exotic World 2016, Miss Poison Ivory, will be presenting TWO special workshops in July!
Finesse That Floor Show is designed to equip participants with the skills and finesse needed to dazzle audiences in a mesmerizing floor show performance.
In Dare To Be Sexy will you'll learn how to captivate your audience in ways that have nothing to do with fancy costumes or clever themes. Details and Registration

A HISTORY OF LEOPARD PRINT
July 28, 5.30 pm, Online
The leopard is an apex predator: powerful, adaptable, and impossible to domesticate. Leopard print is an apex fashion statement: powerful, fluid in meaning, and impossible to ignore. From being the most prized insignia of kings and warriors, to a pop culture fashion staple that is so common we now take it for granted, this is the story of leopard print, and how a pattern adapted by nature has never lost its bite.
Details and Tickets

CORSET DISCOVERY
July 29 2023, 1:45-2:45
Curious about corsets but don't know where to start?
Tried corsets and found them intimidating?
Just love corsets and want to know more?
This is for you! With three decades of experience wearing and performing in and out of corsets, Jo Weldon has the expert knowledge you need to successfully navigate the confusing world of lacing up.
Covers: Shopping for corsets, Sizing, Busk vs Zipper front, Laces, Embellishing, Getting into Corsets, Getting out of Corsets, and more!
You will learn how to make removing a corset onstage a glamourous event instead of an awkward struggle.
All bodies welcome!
Bring your own corsets if you like!
Registration and Details

MASTER CLASS IN BURLESQUE AT CONEY ISLAND
Sign up for 2025 coming soon.
There's no burlesque class in the world like the Coney Island Master Class Series! Spend six weeks with the author of The Burlesque Handbook, Headmistress Jo Weldon of the New York School of Burlesque, while she teaches you how to create a themed burlesque number the Coney Island way. This unique class is taught in the Museum at CIUSA. You'll learn how to come up with ideas on a theme, pick the best possible music, bring together a costume on a budget, how to make pasties, and how to twirl tassels -- taught in front of funhouse mirrors!
You'll develop your number and your choreography with an ace team of guest speakers, featuring some of the best burlesque performers in the world. Speakers TBA, but regular participants have included Dirty Martini, Angie Pontani, Gal Friday, Bambi the Mermaid, Fem Appeal, Tigger!, Miss Coney Island, and many others at the top of the burly game. Best of all, you'll get to finish the series with a performance at the legendary Sideshows by the Seashore! There will be homework and video assignments to watch for discussion, related to class material. All styles of burlesque welcome, from disturbing performance art to sultry glamour. Open to all genders, ages, and bodies.
Culminates in a student showcase performance on July 31 on Coney Island's famous Sideshow stage!
Details and Registration

JO WELDON RECEIVES A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
March 6 2023 at Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center
"The GANYC Apple Awards celebrate those who make New York City great! Over a dozen awards are given out each year to individuals & organizations from across our five boroughs. In addition to these main nominated categories below, we also award a Lifetime Achievement Award to Jo Weldon, a NYC burlesque legend, and our Guiding Spirit Award, which will go to Susan Birnbaum!"
Details

The NY School of Burlesque combines direct training from the most glamourous performers of the 1940s-1960s with the freshness, mischief and creativity of the most prolific neo-burlesque scene in the world! All of our instructors are working, internationally-known professional performers, and our environment is warm, supportive, and inclusive. We offer a wide range of classes for entertainment, exercise, or training to perform, depending on your level of interest. Plus, you can request a private class for you and your friends at any time!