Filmmaker's Vision

Like many people, I'm tired...

Tired of neurotic, stick-thin, over-tanned, over-airbrushed, over-bleached, over-surgified women; tired of violent content on TV, in films, in magazines, and on the Internet; and tired of a culture that doesn't cherish music, glamour, dance, intelligence, and a sense of humor.

Time and time again I've asked, where is all the fun in today’s entertainment?

Then, I found burlesque.

Who knew there was a burlesque renaissance shyly peeking its head in America's back-alley bars and burgeoning cabarets?

As I began to explore Seattle's scene, one of the capitals of burlesque’s rebirth, I found men and women of all ages and all body types boldly throwing down hilarious and beautiful striptease acts – peeling and revealing their way through stories and songs that made me laugh, triggered me to cry, and sometimes just left me wondering, "How did they do that?"

I wanted to learn more. Then I found Seattle's Academy of Burlesque, founded by the savvy and beautiful Miss Indigo Blue. She was smart, she was sassy, and she was teaching sold-out classes to students who were exploring their own sexuality in ways that lived only in the memories of yesteryear's audiences.

And I knew I had to make a film.

I had to chronicle her students as they followed their own burlesque journey, redefining how they felt about their bodies and their erotic selves behind red curtains under a shower of glitter. And I had to highlight some of Seattle’s pioneering performers for people who don’t know how much fun is out there, beckoning them to be seduced.

It was time for a modern-day musical documentary that celebrates the glory of the female form and leaves toe-tapping audiences begging for more.

Welcome to A Wink and A Smile.