LIVE REVIEW: The Irish Burlesque School at The Button Factory

Feather fans fluttered, hearts raced and the everyday Dubliners of Lisa Byrne aka Lisa Darling's burlesque school put on a show miles above your average dance recital.

And before you make any assumptions, know that the routines offered much beyond silk gloves and sex appeal. Burlesque began centuries ago as a means to mock popular culture and infuse dance with comedy, a tradition kept alive Saturday night by tempered temptresses such as Judy Bang Bang.

Ms. Bang Bang’s costume was split down the middle, one half portraying her as a stereotypical pig of a tuxedo-ed man, the other half as an often-portrayed coy mistress in a corset and tutu. Switching between characters by only angling one half or another at the audience, Ms. Bang Bang acted out a date between the two. And while I always cherish a good lesson on sexual consent, the ensuing performance was one of the highest caliber.

Ms. Bang Bang’s male personality became unwelcomingly handsy during the dance, and she mimed getting kissed against her will. Lip-syching to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” as her female persona put the guy in his place, she ditched him then her tutu and ended the act with her heels on the dinner table.

All of the tutus and various costumes were intricate and exquisite, but Ari Allure’s apparel took sparkle to another galaxy. She came out onto the stage wearing a space suit and what I believe was a bedazzled Storm Trooper helmet accessorized with a silver ray gun. I didn’t expect to see a dancer act out a Kung Fu fight with imagined aliens to Beastie Boys ‘Intergalactic’— which lends itself surprisingly well to sultry dance moves—but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t still totally into it.

Critics of burlesque be damned, all of the performances were just as entertaining and nothing but high class. As the ladies of the night explained to me before the show, burlesque is not about the strip. It’s the tease.

Only about half of the acts bared down to bloomers and pasties, and when they did, it lasted for a brief shimmy before they immediately exited stage right. Regardless, performer Bella Donna delivered the most sexually-powerful dance of the night as a mere dancing silhouette from behind a dressing curtain.

The school’s courses are billed as fitness and skill activities, which was exemplified no finer than by Blonde vixen Remi La Rouge, who tumbled, handstanded and spread-eagled with acrobatic ease and control.

Such control was the apparent theme of the night. Even the music seemed only to advance as the performers wished it. Although the girls are not professional dancers, they were certainly powerful, and it was a pleasant evening spent as their captive audience.

Check out Amber Nixon’s gallery of live shots from the night here , and look for a Hot Press Frontline feature on the Irish School of Burlesque in the upcoming issue!