If you've ever seen Immodesty Blaize perform, you don't have to ask what burlesque is; she's it. With a larger-than-life stage presence and a smoldering charm offstage, Immodesty leaves a warm, curvy, sensual impression wherever she goes, and leaves every person she encounters with a happy yearning. Without further ado, I present the neo-legend that is the UK's gift to modern burlesque, Miss Immodesty Blaize.

When did you first see burlesque?
I blame my mother. We watched Gypsy [Lee Rose] together when I was very young, 5 or 6, I think. Obviously, Natalie Wood was beautiful, but I thought Mazeppah was the coolest lady I had ever seen. I liked her humor and even then I knew she was HOT.

Were you a performer before you began doing burlesque?

I never went to stage school; however, I used to travel the country as a little girl doing national dance competitions with modern, disco, and rock 'n' roll styles. It was all very "solid gold," but I loved the sequins, spandex, and the smell of hairspray!

I racked up an impressive shelf of trophies, but it was tough doing the elimination rounds. Once you had experienced being knocked out of the competition and having to leave the dance floor with your tail between your legs, you quickly found more inventive ways of really sparkling for the judges and letting your personality shine — along with ratting a bigger bouffant.

During my late teens, I took up both Latin and Arabic dance. I often find even now that I incorporate some of my Arabic shimmies, or a salsa step into my acts.

When I first performed burlesque circa ’98, there was no great awareness of the genre in London, or any kind of performance community yet. I had to literally bang down doors for stage space, and explain every five minutes what burlesque was and what my act was.

There wasn’t that much footage of the legendary performers readily available at that time either, just books mostly. I used to be inspired as much by Hollywood movies and actresses, Busby Berkeley musicals, and kitsch icons like Liberace, Divine, Grace Jones, Betty Page, and Dalida.

I also remember studying the "great effect" scene in The Graduate for hours, hoping I’d somehow master the dynamics of twirling a tassel by osmosis.

I don’t like to look at other performers’ acts for ideas unless I am consciously creating a tribute like my reverse striptease bath-time tribute to Lili St Cyr. Even then, I’ll add my own interpretation and choreography. Instead, I find ideas on my travels — maybe a new piece of music, or a piece of amazing fabric for a costume, or a scene in a book — anything, really.

My act with the six-foot vintage telephone came from listening to Blondie’s "Hangin’ on the Telephone" in my dressing room. I had a brainwave, then dismissed it as ridiculous.

After my show, I realized I had been sitting, staring at my autographed picture of Betty Page talking on a small black telephone and decided that it was a sign. I scribbled some drawings on the back of a napkin and sent it straight to my propmaker to see if my idea was possible.

Then came the fun part of watching every film noir movie I owned to distill the ultimate femme fatale. It took about a year to complete the act through concept, research, design, construction, and choreography before it was ready to unveil.

Where did you learn classic moves?

I owe that to my mentor, Basil –- a true show boy with a pedigree par excellence. He’s the real deal. He was on the road from the age of 14, performing with all the European burlesque greats from the '50s onward, in notorious theatres such as The Windmill, the Leeds City ("Titty") Varieties, the Talk of The Town, the Friedrichstadtpalast, etc.

He even performed with Liberace for three months when he came to UK to do The Palladium.

Basil tracked me down at one of my shows. His stories were amazing and we just clicked right away. He cracks the whip over me if he sees me holding my hands in the wrong way.

He even gave me special tips that he learned from Marlene Dietrich. He can parade as well as any model on the catwalk and fan dance as well as Faith Bacon, but with ten times more camp. He’s a gem.

I also really pay attention to the movement styles of legends like Lili and Blaze. They all had such different, diverse, and unique ways of moving. And whilst it’s good to learn tricks of the trade from them, I also think it’s absolutely essential to develop your own unique body language, style, and "isms" -– little moves special to you. That’s what makes you individual and is part of your unique persona.

At Tease-O-Rama 2002, I had a front row seat for Dita Von Teese's performance with her giant moon prop, and you may well resent me for that.

It was a gorgeous performance, with Dita obviously having a good time, and at the end of the number, a cannon shot a shower of silver mylar stars over us, hundreds of which I carried in my camera bag for at least a year after the show.

In her book Burlesque and the Art of the Teese, Dita describes Liberace as the ultimate showman, whose art "is creating spectacle and inspiring dreams." She surely succeeded in her goal that night, and I'm sure on hundreds of others. Fifty years from now, people will still be talking about the stupefying glamour of Dita Von Teese.

Whenever someone tells me they're a Dita fan, or they're fascinated by burlesque costumes, but they've never joined Dita's website for even a month, I am completely baffled. I doubt that they are truly fans.

Even if they join for only a month, they'll get to see amazing video, spectacular photos, read her archive of journal entries, and can ask Dita herself for tips on how she does what she does.

One of the things I find most fascinating about her is her entrepreneurialism and her ability to make perfect decisions. In many interviews, she talks about how carefully she selects her jobs, her costumes, even her lighting (she has even begun bringing her own lighting gels with her).

And she has run the business of being Dita in a way that makes me think of the career of Gypsy Rose Lee, while her style onstage refers perhaps more directly to Lili St. Cyr.

But really, knowing there's an interview with Dita coming up, do you want to hear any more from me? No? Smart cookie! Let's get to it.

When you began modeling and performing, there was little if any burlesque community and not much notice of burlesque in the media. Did you ever expect your career to take off like this? Was there ever a point at which you thought your career might be based in anything else?

I never, ever expected any of this to happen. And it was a very slow climb, a snowball effect of sorts. I feel like one thing led to another since I was in high school.

Well, maybe even before, if you get into my childhood and being a middle child that went unnoticed, blah, blah blah…but that's one I should tell while lying on a sofa in therapy maybe!

Anyway, let's not go back that far for now! My first job was as a lingerie salesgirl at age 15 at a chic little boutique in Orange County, California. I had been obsessed with lingerie my whole life.

To me, it was this secret among women, like the most feminine thing that existed, a rite of passage. I was always sneaking into my mother's lingerie drawer and secretly wearing her bras from a young age.

And so when I was about 15, I was desperate to work in this little pink and black shop that was near the beauty salon where my mother worked, so I just kept on going in there and offering to do any kind of work they had for me in that little shop.

When they finally gave in and let me work there as stockgirl, I immersed myself in the job, and I got really into learning about lingerie, and even the history of it, and that was one thing that sparked my interest in vintage style lingerie.

Of course, I became a sales girl, eventually a buyer, and a few years later, I managed the lingerie department of a big department store.

How did you get interested in burlesque?
I was working for Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan on their biography of Frank Sinatra. One of their research requests for me involved Lili St. Cyr. I became fascinated and started reading a lot about her and the other women of burlesque. I was surprised to learn how the men of burlesque were still well-known names — Abbott and Costello, Jackie Gleason — but that for the most part the general public didn't know much about the women of burlesque.

What does burlesque mean to you?
There's so much to it. It can be campy and kitschy. It's funny and saucy. It can be downright sexy. But it's always about the tease, whether it's the comedians giving a verbal tease or the dancers with a visual one.

What was your first experience with live burlesque?
I believe my first live burlesque show was one of the Miss Exotic World (MEW) competitions. Or it might just have been such a spectacle that it's the first one that really stands out in my mind. It was when MEW was still in Helendale and it was a blast. I've since been to Burlesque-A-Pades several times. I've seen Trixie Little and Evil Hate Monkey a few times. And I've been back to Miss Exotic World. Each show has been a lot of fun for very different reasons.

What is one of your favorite experiences so far?
I really have loved them all. The first time I went to MEW was such a treat because it was still new to me. I got to meet a lot of the performers I'd spoken to over e-mail or the phone. And I got to see the Lili St. Cyr memorabilia in the museum. This year's MEW had such a mix of performers playing to every element of burlesque — from the hilarious to the classic — that it really stands out.

Do you travel to attend shows?
I travel to watch different shows. I've been to MEW both in Helendale and Vegas. And I've seen shows in LA, Vegas, NY, and of course, DC. And when I was working on my book, I traveled to LA, Vegas, NY, and Montreal to do research and interviews. I've taken burlesque workshops because I wanted to get a feel for what it would be like even at the most basic level, but I've never performed.

Who inspires you most, and why?
Lili St. Cyr. She's the reason I know about burlesque and got involved with it. Writing the book has been an amazing experience and I've gotten to know a lot of really fun, interesting people.

What is your favorite aspect of burlesque as it is now?
I love that the performers are putting the tease back into the strip. Lili believed that the imagination was more powerful, more titillating than the actual reveal. Performances like Vivian Velvet's fan number at MEW was really wonderful for just that reason. At the same time, I love the humor in a lot of the new burlesque. And I like that there's room for all of it.

Can you show me one of your favorite photos of Lili?
I have a couple of favorites in the book that I don't believe I can send yet. They're ones that haven't been seen or haven't been seen much. One of them is actually a contact sheet from a photo shoot of Bernard of Hollywood. Lili is dancing around a swan. Since they were nice enough to let us publish the whole contact sheet, you really get a visual sense of her movement.

I also have a picture of one of her mug shots. She looks unbelievably beautiful and glamorous, especially considering what our celebrities today seem to look like when they get "mugged." And there are also some fun personal, private photos of her in the book from when she was child and then throughout her adult life.

There's also a photo, which sometimes pops up on Ebay, of Lili performing on a swing. Ronald Regan is in the crowd. It's not in the book, but I do love it. That one and another one of Lili with Eleanor Roosevelt are great.

So, all of that is not answering your question about my favorite photo in terms of one you could use … I love this one:

She looks so beautiful and glamorous. There's something so private about her being on the bed, but she looks so untouchable. It definitely captures that look-but-don't-touch aspect of burlesque. She's exuding sexuality and it's easy to see why Marilyn Monroe would have been inspired by her.

I also love this one:

- Jo Weldon

Jo Weldon is Headmistress of the award-winning New York School of Burlesque and is a regular burlesque performer. Visit burlesquedaily.blogspot.com to read her daily blog.

Kelly DiNardo: thecandypitch.blogspot.com