Rhinestoned Rebellion

Peek behind the curtains of Boulder’s burlesque scene

Story and Photos Matt Maenpaa

When you think of burlesque, what comes to mind? Rhinestones and glitter? Lascivious ladies with ostrich feather fans preening across a Vegas stage? You’re on the right track, but burlesque can be so much more. It is self-expression, self-acceptance, and an opportunity to rebel against societal norms.

The roots of burlesque stretch back a couple hundred years to Victorian England, with ribald parodies of popular plays. It became part of vaudeville, along with drag performances and cabarets. American burlesque has ebbed and flowed but has seen a resurgence that pushes the boundaries between mainstream culture and the underground.

“It’s not just a Vegas thing or a New York thing, it’s really popular [on the Front Range],” says Valkyrie Rose, producer and casting director of the Blue Dime Cabaret.

Valkyrie, who daylights as an English professor and writer, has been performing burlesque for nearly a decade. She’s one of three producers for the Blue Dimes, all three of whom are women over the age of 50. Their cabaret started performing at Full Cycle in Boulder around 2018 and are a regular feature of Boulder Arts Week, taking home the People’s Choice award in 2025.

Valkyrie and her co-producers work hard to foster a culture of diversity in their cabaret, which includes comedy, poetry, and drag, alongside a wide variety of acts representing the art of the tease. All body types are welcome, all ages represented, the only mandate is that the performances be unique and creative.

“There are a lot of burlesque troops that are still centered on young white women, even around here where we’re very proud of being called inclusive,” Valkyrie says. “We want to show the most talented and beautiful performers, and beauty comes in all kinds of different forms. You can see that on our stage every show.”

The audience responds to it, and burlesque troupes like the Blue Dimes sell out shows across the Front Range. There’s a sense of liberation, for both the audience and the performers, when people can embrace their whole selves. In that liberation, there is an act of resistance and rebellion shared from the stage and the seats.

“When everything is trying to get you to be the same, and there’s one sort of conservative cultural image of what a body should look like trying to be forced and it can’t be,” she explains. “So, we have all these diverse types of bodies, these different performers, and displaying that in public is this act of rebellion.”

Boulder venues like the Dairy Arts Center, Junkyard Social, and Roots Music Project (RMP) host live performances, including music, theater, and comedy festivals, providing a locale for these cabarets and troupes to express themselves. The Gentlethems Club, hosted by Lavender Juice Productions, is another diverse cabaret flaunting its way up and down the Front Range and hosts quarterly shows at RMP.

Lavi, who also performs as The Lavender Sleaze, has been dancing for most of her life and found her way to burlesque around 2019. After growing frustrated with the rigidity and suppression of professional ballet in college, the theatrics and expression of burlesque drew her in, she explains.

“It was so empowering and beautiful,” Lavi says. “I met so many amazing people, many with backgrounds that didn’t even include movement. It was more than just dancing to perform, it was about connecting with your inner self, your inner weirdo and getting to be so creative.”

The theatrics, the story, and the rhinestones captivated her, eventually leading her to form Lavender Juice Productions with her partner, Juice the Clown. Their first production at RMP was a burlesque telling of “Alice in Wonderland,” and The Gentlethems Club has been selling out shows there ever since.

“I think in this world—in this society—burlesque is an act of rebellion because it’s an avenue and a safe space to be so unapologetically you. It is a space that is so accessible, anybody can do it if they set their mind to it,” Lavi says. “In a world that tells us to be small, and to just go through the motions, burlesque is the opposite. It’s a platform for you to make a statement, an opportunity to be witnessed for however long your act is in a space where you can’t be silenced or interrupted.”

The Blue Dime Cabaret will be returning to Boulder Arts Week on April 3, with a show at the Dairy Arts Center. They can also be seen monthly at the Westminster speakeasy, Odde’s Lounge. The Gentlethems Club is hosting a Valentine’s cabaret at the Nederland General Store on February 14, followed by a performance at Roots Music Project along with the band Avasso on March 20.