On Friday of last week, I attended my very first burlesque show.  As you can see from the flyer to the left, it was called "Naked Planet," and as you might guess was SF-themed. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was quite a lot of fun.

The show was setup as a Star Trek parody, with the crew of the humorously named spaceship whose actual name I cannot remember, travels to the titular Naked Planet to interact and make peace with its natives. The first problem they ran into was communication: the first emissary from the planet they encountered seemed to only be able to communicate via a series of complicated body movements which required her rather shapely (and tasseled) breasts to move in a circular motion. Fortunately, one of the female crew was up to the task of trying to speak the language.

There were more humorous bits like that, as well as parodies of other SF franchises, including a Flash Gordon number to Queen’s Flash–ahhh! theme, which involved some actual flashing, and a Doctor Who skit I didn’t get since I don’t know much about the good doctor or his exploits. Oh, and there was a Darth Vader bit too. Half-naked woman wearing a Darth Vader helmet–what’s not to like about that?

But by far the most impressive performance of the night was by a woman who was fully-clothed (albeit in a skin-tight leotard): Miss Saturn. She did this amazing routine involving numerous hula-hoops. She’d get two going around the waist, have one in each hand, have them all going around in different directions. Without missing a beat, she’d kick more hoops up from the floor and work them up her legs until they’re around her torso as well. She’d stab her hands in and out of the swirling rings like a magician practicing sleight of hand. And all of this is done with the most placid look on her face–as if this were all child’s play.