I have been interested in burlesque dancing for YEARS and recently got plugged into the Denver scene and met performer Kitty Crimson. This week I chatted with her about the craft, her story, and the culture of burlesque.
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When I met Kitty Crimson through the Colorado Burlesque Festival, I was struck by the sheer range of what I saw onstage. Some acts were glamorous and sensual. Others were funny, political, theatrical, or delightfully nerdy. The energy among the performers was just as memorable: people seemed genuinely invested in cheering one another on.
In this Kitty Crimson burlesque interview, I wanted to understand the art form. Kitty is a longtime burlesque performer, emcee, and producer who has helped create opportunities for artists throughout Colorado. Our conversation explored burlesque history, body confidence, personal boundaries, and Denver’s wonderfully vibrant performance community.
Key Takeaways
- Burlesque is built around tease, character, storytelling, and theatrical performance.
- Burlesque and stripping overlap more than many people assume.
- Classic burlesque, neo-burlesque, and nerdlesque offer very different creative possibilities.
- A performer decides how much to reveal and which boundaries feel right for them.
- Seeing different kinds of bodies presented as sensual can affect both performers and audiences.
- Denver has a thriving burlesque scene with shows, festivals, classes, and creative communities.
- You can borrow some burlesque confidence without ever stepping onto a stage.
👉👉Push play, AND make sure to go show Kitty Crimson some podcast love.
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What is Burlesque?
When I asked Kitty what burlesque actually is, she described it as the art of the striptease. The important word there is art. Although removing clothing may be part of an act, the performance is built around how the artist creates anticipation, develops a character, responds to the music, and communicates with the audience.
When Kitty began performing, she was not comfortable facing the audience after removing her top. She developed an exit in which she turned her back and tossed her bra onto the stage as she left. The moment was still suggestive and playful, but it respected the boundary she had chosen for herself.
That story captures something essential about burlesque: performers do not all reveal the same amount, move in the same way, or create the same kind of experience. An act can be sultry, funny, political, highly choreographed, or thoroughly strange. If you came for Transformers, burlesque may have you covered.
A Brief History of Burlesque
The history of burlesque helps explain why the modern art form is so difficult to squeeze into one tidy category. As Kitty explained, the term has roots in parody and the theatrical mockery of more serious forms of entertainment. That satirical spirit remains visible in acts that play with politics, gender, cultural expectations, or familiar characters.
Burlesque later became associated with vaudeville, where dancers appeared alongside comedians, magicians, musicians, and other variety performers. Over time, the dancing became more provocative, helping establish the striptease traditions associated with celebrated performers such as Gypsy Rose Lee and Tempest Storm.
As film and television changed entertainment habits, burlesque lost some of its earlier prominence. Its eventual resurgence drew from several performance traditions, including the work of club dancers who began incorporating more elaborate costumes, characters, and stories into their acts. Those influences helped shape the expansive modern culture we now call neo-burlesque.
Classic Burlesque, Neo-Burlesque, and Nerdlesque
Kitty’s first experiences were rooted in classic burlesque, with vintage music, period-inspired costumes, and traditional concepts. Her understanding changed when she attended Tease-O-Rama and encountered performers using rock music, bondage imagery, comedy, and performance art. She realized burlesque did not have to remain inside a vintage-glamour box.
Neo-burlesque takes that freedom and runs with it. Artists may perform to electronic music, create surreal characters, or turn an ordinary scene into a striptease with a plot. Kitty still considers herself a fairly classic, sultry performer, but her musical choices can be much less traditional, including a Nine Inch Nails cover.
Then there is nerdlesque, which gives familiar characters from television, movies, comics, and games a cheekier alternate life. The festival acts we discussed included Transformers and Tina from Bob’s Burgers. Kitty has even performed a Strawberry Shortcake act, because apparently childhood nostalgia can grow up and make some very interesting decisions.
Burlesque and Body Confidence: Kitty Crimson’s Story
Kitty did not enter burlesque because she already felt entirely confident about her body. In fact, she initially refused the opportunity.
In 1999, a Denver producer approached Kitty at a rockabilly bar. With her black hair and short Bettie Paige bangs, Kitty looked right for a character the producer wanted to cast. Her immediate reaction was that she could never get onstage and perform that way.
Kitty had grown up in Southern California around family members who were models and beauty queens. She did not feel that her own body matched the image of beauty she had absorbed. After thinking about the offer, however, she decided to perform once. Despite her fear, she wanted to prove that she could do it.
The audience’s response after that first performance changed everything. Women approached Kitty and told her that seeing someone with hips, curves, or a belly helped them feel differently about their own appearance and sensuality. They recognized themselves in the body being celebrated onstage.
Kitty’s decision began as a personal challenge, but it became a form of representation. Her presence allowed other people to imagine beauty and sexuality in a way that included them.
Confidence From Establishing Your Own Boundaries
Burlesque and body confidence belong together in Kitty’s story, but not because performing eliminated every insecure thought. She was refreshingly honest that she does not wake up each morning, look in the mirror, and feel dazzling. Stage presence and permanent self-assurance are not the same thing.
There is a meaningful difference between pushing one of your own boundaries and allowing someone else to push it for you. Burlesque gives each performer control over that decision. Having supportive people and safe environments can make it possible to experiment while remaining firmly in charge of your body and choices.
Inside Denver’s Thriving Burlesque Scene
Kitty entered the Denver burlesque scene through Michelle Baldwin, whose performance name was Vivian VaVoom. Kitty describes her as a major figure in the city’s neo-burlesque resurgence. Her troupe, Burlesque As It Was, staged ambitious productions at venues including the Bluebird Theater and Gothic Theatre.
After encountering the creative range of neo-burlesque, Kitty and a friend founded Ooh La La Presents. She describes the group as a home for misfits: performers of different sizes, shapes, aesthetics, and abilities could develop acts without being required to imitate one narrow model of sexiness. A very thin woman who felt insecure about not having curves deserved that opportunity just as much as a full-figured performer who rarely saw her body celebrated.
Kitty eventually expanded beyond performing to hosting and producing. She and her partner, Shannon, produce local shows through Crimson Burlesque and are involved with the Colorado Burlesque Festival. That work allows Kitty to offer other artists the same kind of opportunity that changed her own life.
The Denver burlesque scene is larger and busier than many locals realize. Shows happen throughout the city, and the wider Colorado burlesque community contains performers working in classic, comedic, political, nerdy, and experimental styles. You do not need to fly to New York or Las Vegas to encounter inventive burlesque; plenty of it is happening right here.
An Inclusive Community Built on Mutual Support
One of the qualities Kitty values most is the camaraderie among performers. Some of her friends entered burlesque after watching her perform, while other friendships began inside the community itself. Those relationships became sources of artistic encouragement as well as genuine personal connection.
Burlesque’s roots in parody and protest also make it a natural place to challenge restrictive ideas about bodies, gender, sexuality, and who is allowed to command attention. Kitty spoke about the community creating space for different body types and gender identities, along with artists who possess very different kinds of performance experience.
I felt that culture of support at the Colorado Burlesque Festival. People were rooting for one another, and that collective enthusiasm changed the atmosphere of the entire event. Encouraging another person’s confidence does not take anything away from your own; very often, it strengthens the conditions in which everyone becomes a little braver.
How to Bring Burlesque Confidence Into Everyday Life
You do not have to become a performer to experiment with burlesque energy. I adore the fashion, attitude, and unabashed presence of it all, but I am not currently preparing to leap onto a stage in pasties. There are gentler ways to begin.
Kitty suggests occasionally trying something that makes you slightly nervous. Perhaps you avoid a particular dress because you have decided you are not “sexy enough” to wear it. Putting it on once, in a setting where you feel safe, gives you real information about the experience instead of leaving the fear entirely in charge.
This connects naturally with my work as a breakup and dating coach. When someone feels uncomfortable approaching people, dating again, or allowing themselves to be visible, I want to identify the specific fear rather than bury it under vague advice about confidence. From there, we can find a manageable way to play with the discomfort.
You might experiment with clothing, posture, makeup, dance, flirtation, or simply attending a live show. The goal is not to force yourself past your limits. It is to choose one small action, remain responsible for your boundaries, and taste whether something might be unexpectedly right for you.
Burlesque is bigger than a striptease. It can be theater, satire, sensuality, comedy, protest, community, and one beautifully controlled act of courage. Kitty Crimson’s career shows how facing a private fear can provide a experience for other people to see themselves differently.
Listen to my full conversation with Kitty Crimson on Sex and the Solo Girl for more about her performances, creative evolution, and Colorado’s burlesque community. You can also follow Kitty on Instagram, and Facebook. Then find a local performance wherever you live, cheer the artists on, and see this bold, strange, sexy, supportive art form for yourself!
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