w/ Jacqueline Boxx, Ruby Rockafella, & Tempete la Coeur
This is our rate for those who are Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), and it will always be available! Select this rate if this applies to you.
This is our rate for those who are Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), and it will always be available! Select this rate if this applies to you.
Pay full price starting February 1, 2025.
Pay full price starting February 1, 2025.
Pay full price starting February 1, 2025.
Pay full price starting February 1, 2025.
Our team of experienced burlesque instructors will guide you through becoming a burlesque performer inside and out. We will progress through act creation from start to finish while incorporating mindful techniques for both on and off the stage. Essential Tease is the ideal starting point for truly transformative acts! This eight-week in-person workshop series is conducted at Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD, and concludes with a ticketed, live student showcase!
Registration includes eight weeks of prepared lessons, out-of-class coaching and one-on-one mentorship, complimentary costume add-ons and crafting sessions, access to an online community with your peers, as well as the opportunity to rehearse and perform in a PAID student showcase on the Creative Alliance main stage!
Essential Tease welcomes ALL gender identities, abilities, ages (18+), body types, sexualities, races, religions, AND experience levels. All humans welcome!
Class: Sundays, Apr 27 – June 15 | 11AM – 2PM (including an optional crafting day)
Rehearsal: Thursday, Jun 19 | 6-9PM
Showcase (and final class): Friday, Jun 20 | 8PM
Unless otherwise noted, classes will take place in the Dance Studio in the Creativity Center at 3137 Eastern Ave., just across the street from The Patterson. Instructors will confirm location prior to each class.
BIPOC Rate $400
This is our rate for those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), and it will always be available! Please select this rate if this applies to you.
Early Bird $600
This is our discounted rate that will be available until January 31, 2025. Save $70 by signing up now!
Full Price: $670
Pay full price starting February 1, 2025.
(Creative Alliance Members get $10 off all ticket rates)
Jacqueline Boxx is an award-winning performer and has headlined and been featured in burlesque festivals across the world, including Vienna, Adelaide, Montreal, Minneapolis, and New York City. She has performed twice at The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender in Las Vegas, becoming the first performer to ever compete in a wheelchair for a title at the Tournament of Tease. Jacqueline has also taught burlesque workshops and lectured on panels about mindful movement and adaptive performance across the country. Her decades of experience include training in ballet, swing dance, bellydance, aerial arts, clowning, musical theater, and more. Most recently, she was crowned Monarch of the 2023 Pacific Northwest Burlesque Festival.
Ruby Rockafella is an award-winning burlesque performer who has been performing and producing burlesque for nearly a decade. Known as a “master of character and costume” (TheatreBloom), Ruby began teaching in 2015. She is especially focused on helping performers explore their emotional range through facial expression and eye contact. She has always loved the storytelling aspect of burlesque and is fascinated by the transformations that can occur in just a few short moments on stage. While she appreciates the classic nature of burlesque, she also adores weirdness, the grotesque, silliness, and pushing the boundaries of what is considered sexy and stageworthy. The lessons Ruby has learned from burlesque have touched every aspect of her life and fundamentally changed her perceptions about both body and soul. She hopes to share this magic with students for years to come!
Tempete La Coeur Known as the “Temptress in a Teacup”, Tempete La Coeur began brewing as a tiny dancer while growing up in the wetlands of Maryland’s eastern shore. Years later, she quietly stormed her way onto the DC and Baltimore burlesque scene at the beginning of 2015 and has joyfully twirled her way around to stages all over DC, Baltimore, Virginia and beyond! A master of the unexpected, Tempete has been known to surprise audiences with her clever twists on classic and her moving and sometimes hilarious take on neo-burlesque. Batten down the hatches, because this petite powerhouse will make you giggle and think with a wiggle and a wink and you might get a little wet in the process!
Essential Tease classes expand the definition of what a burlesque class can be. As seasoned burlesque performers, producers, and instructors, we know that burlesque can empower you to improve your relationship with your body, stretch your artistic boundaries, and tell your personal story. Our teachers are each uniquely experienced in achieving the fusion of mind and body for diverse body types (size, ability, range, skill) and have professional backgrounds in highly varied performance styles.
Here’s what some Essential Tease participants have to say:
“Enrolling in Essential Tease is hands-down the best thing I’ve done for my confidence! I’ve always been self-conscious, especially when it comes to my body, and I knew this class would force me to face (and hopefully overcome) those fears. I could not have chosen a more nurturing, encouraging, and empowering environment. Over and over again, I stepped out of my comfort zone, safe in the knowledge that I had a group of amazing, loving classmates cheering me on. Even after I finished my performance and became an Essential Tease alum, the instructors and my fellow students have continued to lift me up. The relationships I have formed through this experience are some of the most meaningful I’ve made since I moved to Baltimore and I feel tremendously lucky. Look, I’m not saying it’s a cult, but it will change your life and you’ll want to recruit every cool person you know. Join us….”
–Phaedra Phox, Spring 2023
“To say this class is transformative is an understatement. My friend has been encouraging me to take the class – at least 3-4 times – and every time I had said no because I wasn’t in a good place with my body. Finally, this most recent time I decided to sign up. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t even know if I’d perform in the student showcase. This class challenged me in all the best ways. Week after week, I came more and more out of my shell and began to embrace parts of myself I had tried to hide away. I forged new friendships and deep connections with other women in the class, some of whom have become my closest friends. I had healing relational experiences that allowed me to face some of my biggest fears, and do so with a loving and supportive community surrounding me. What I learned about myself in this class continued to surprise me. I was able to shed so many assumptions I had about myself. I thought I would be petrified to perform, but when the moment came I felt excited and calm. It was such an empowering experience. My body? Love her. My body is a burlesque body. I’m sad I denied myself this incredible experience for so long, but happy I finally took the leap. I finally found a hobby that brings me such joy, confidence, and allows me to exercise my creativity. Numerous friends have commented on my increase in confidence and love for myself. This has transformed my relationships, my outlook on life, and me. I had such a powerful experience that I decided to take the class a second time, not just for the chance to perform again (its like tattoos, you can’t have just one!), but because I wanted to have this experience again with my new found confidence and perspective.”
–Foxy Minx, Spring 2023
“I cannot say enough about Essential Tease – the class exceeded my expectations in every way!! I joined the Fall 2022 class quite pregnant and it was one of the most liberating, connecting, and empowering thing I did for my pregnancy and my life in general. The depth of the class was incredible – we connected as a group in a truly meaningful way with the guidance of Ruby, Jacqueline, and Tempete, who are as phenomenal as facilitators as they are performers. I feel I truly received an education not just in how to perform burlesque, but the roots of the art, detailed tips for costuming, cultivating an “inner” burlesque, and connecting with the audience. I also felt free and empowered to trust my own creative process and craft my performance in a way that was authentic to myself, which was an amazing experience! And finally, the performance at the end of the class was for a totally packed house of wonderful, affirming souls and I felt completely supported by my teachers and co-performers. This was not just a student showcase – this was a for-real performance! My freedom and confidence on stage spoke volumes to the incredible support and preparation we received. If you love burlesque or are even curious, I couldn’t recommend Essential Tease more highly.”
– Nadia Love, Fall 2022 Series
“I’ll be forever grateful I decided to sign up for Essential Tease. The class was more than a class for me. It was an experience. The instructors were exceedingly thoughtful and supportive and were very clear about their desire to make the class a safe space. And that made me feel comfortable about opening up and being vulnerable pretty quickly. It was a great opportunity to learn not only about burlesque history, but about other people’s experiences. It was also so fun to create an act and then feel confident and supported enough to perform it on stage! The class gave me an invaluable opportunity to jump into a fulfilling art form that I love. And I’ll always treasure the connections I made through Essential Tease.”
– Mary Muse, Fall 2021 Series
“Approaching burlesque performance from such a global perspective was amazing, exploring and caring for the interior and exterior of each student. I felt challenged to strengthen and broaden my performance and sense of myself as a (student) performer, but in all ways felt safe and supported. My ultimate goal was to be present and enjoy my performance and to connect with the audience, unlike previous performances where I was so nervous I didn’t remember being on stage. With the help of the Essential Tease teachers, I was able to meet that goal and ended my student experience light years from where I started.”
– Beatrix Inferno, Winter 2019 Series
Location: The Creativity Center
Location: The Creativity Center
Location: The Creativity Center
Location: The Creativity Center
