Latest / Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel / Dita Von Teese: Small Town Dreamer to Burlesque Icon

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Dita Von Teese: Small Town Dreamer to Burlesque Icon · Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel

• 0:00
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  Speaker 1: real conversations in a new language today. Welcome back to Misunderstood,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I'm Rachel Uchitel. Okay, so I feel like you guys
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: all probably know her name, Dita Von Teese. She is
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: somewhat iconic, and if you're not really sure what she represents,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: you're gonna love this show. So for a long time,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I've heard her name, I know her face, I know
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: her look, it's an iconic look that she's had, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: it really hasn't changed. We all know that she was
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: married to Marilyn Manson, but what do we really know
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: about her besides the image that's in our minds of
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: her laying seductively in a martini glass. So I think
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: you're really going to like this episode because we really
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: get to know who Dita is behind the headlines. She
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: grew up in Orange County, California, and at an early
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: age was heavily influenced by movies and movie stars of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the 1940s. She began dressing in vintage and played around
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: with makeup and hair color, perfecting her look. And before
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: she became the Dita we all know today as the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: queen of burlesque, there were lots of stops along the way.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: There were strip clubs, fetish photo shoots, and even her
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: own pay website before things like Cameo or OnlyFans existed.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I think most people really got to know her when
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: she had that Betty Page haircut and started being seen
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: on the red carpet with her then-husband, Marilyn Manson. But
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the truth is she was always an entrepreneur. She saw
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: a space for herself doing something no one else was
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: doing and created a brand. Last year, Dina's iconic martini
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: glass dance was featured in the film Don't Worry Darling
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: with Harry Styles and in Taylor Swift's video Bejeweled, not
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: bad company to be in. I got to talk to
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Dita about Taylor, the show she's currently performing in at
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: the Jubilee Theater in Vegas, the evolution of burlesque, and
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: how she played a huge part in bringing it all
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: back to the masses. Personally, I really had no idea
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: about the history of burlesque or even exactly what that
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: was before talking to her. She's such a style connoisseur.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: It makes me want to redo my whole wardrobe and
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: redecorate my house. So sit back, enjoy getting to know
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a more personal side of Dita Von Teese. Nita, thank
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you so much for joining me on Misunderstood. It's so
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: exciting to have you here.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Nice to meet you. I'm excited to be here.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to start by asking you what it
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: was like for you, because I know you as a
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: child is very different from you now. So what was
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: it like growing up? You're from Michigan and then in
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Orange County, right? Tell me what that was like. Yeah.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Well, I was born in Rochester, Michigan, and then moved
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: to a town called West Branch, which is a very
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: small town with like 2,000 people. And then I moved
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: with my family to Orange County, California when I was
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: about 12. So yeah, that's like the beginnings of it.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, I was like.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Siblings, like what's your family like?
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: I have two sisters, one older and one younger. And
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: my parents were married till I was like.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: 16, I guess.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: What else can I say? I don't know what's interesting
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: and what's not.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: No, what's interesting is that, you know, you've created such
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: a persona now.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: And I'm curious because I've seen pictures of you as
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: a child. You were blonde. Your name wasn't Zita. You know,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: so I'm just curious, like, what, you know, how.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: You got to the.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Position you're in now, like were you enamored by old movies?
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Like what was it that got you where you are?
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: Well, back in Michigan, my mother loved to watch old
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: films from the 30s, 40s, and 50s.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: So there was that. And she also was a big
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: collector of antiques.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: So we were always going to antique shops and things
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: like that together. So that kind of started my love
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: of old things and vintage movies.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: And my mother is a manicurist.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: So I'd watch her do people's nails in our home.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: And my father was a machinist. often out of work
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: when I was little. But yeah, I think it had
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: such a big imprint on me, these classic films. And
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: I grew up kind of just feeling like, oh, that's
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: what I was going to dress like when I was
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: a grown woman. To me, that was what I wanted
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: to look like. And I was very, very clear in that.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I'm curious what your friends from high school would say
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: about you.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: What did they see you as? Yeah.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: Um, I, in high school I was still blonde. Um,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: I did not play with my hair colors yet, but
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: I was in high school. I was working in a
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: lingerie store and I had like one best girlfriend and she,
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: we both had long-term boyfriends. Her boyfriend was older and
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: went to another school or wasn't in school anymore or something. And, um, Yeah,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: we were kind of like this birds of a feather,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: and I worked in this lingerie store, and we already
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: kind of started dressing in vintage, and I used to
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: wear little bustiers with my pants and skirts and things.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: So it just kind of started like that. And of course,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: anytime there was a homecoming or prom or something like that,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: I would really turn it out and.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Wear vintage looks. So it kind of started there. And
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: when I graduated from high school, I.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: uh I went to my first rave party and met
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: all these club kids and drag queens and kind of
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: like opened up a whole another world for me where
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: I really started like playing with my hair and my
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: makeup and my clothes even more and I first started
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: dressing in vintage because I couldn't afford like the you
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: know my parents weren't weren't buying me like designer jeans
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: and all that kind of stuff so Um, it started
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: with kind of like a necessity because back in the
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: eighties and nineties, I don't, you know, vintage clothing was
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: not the big cache it is now. So that's really
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: where it came from. And just, um, yeah, I just
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: always felt like I could, I gained, I gained a
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: lot of confidence from dressing up.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: The way that I liked. And I felt like I could,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: you know, like, um, kind.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Of creating this, this mythological femme fatale, um, persona that
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: kind of counteracted my shyness.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: And is that when you finally, like, did you play
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: with your hair? You said you were playing with your hair.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Did you finally go black and you were like, this
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: is it?
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: This is the style. And you never went back? Or
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: how did that become? It's kind of gradual.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Like, in my, like, 19 to 21, I was wearing
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: my hair.
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  Speaker 2: It was still blonde, but I wore it in, like,
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  Speaker 2: a beehive hairdo.
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  Speaker 3: And I used to put all these, like, things in
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  Speaker 3: my hair, in my beehive, like a jeweled uh, butterflies
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: and rhinestone things and everything. So it was kind of
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: like doing this sixties thing with the sick black cat eye.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: And then I kind of shifted person, you know, shifted eras, um,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: but from like a, like a late sixties to like
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: a fifties, like, you know, I dyed my hair bright
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: red and I wore it in a flip and then
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: I cut it into like a black Louise Brooks, um,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: bob haircut right after that and then once i went
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: with then i grew along and i was very into
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: betty page so this is like you know i was
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: like all of this happened in the course of like
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: 19 to 21 um and yeah and then i kind
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: of i started because i became very uh interested also
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: in the swing dance scene it was like in orange
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: county the swing dance scene was really like bubbling up
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: there because a lot of the dancers that worked at Disneyland,
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: which like if you grew up in Orange County, you know,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: a lot of people should do Disneyland, especially back then
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: when it was you know, you could just go there
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: on a whim and it was like $ 25 to get in.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Very different.
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  Speaker 3: But like a lot of my friends and people in
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: the dance world worked at Disneyland. And that's kind of where,
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: you know, we started learning how to swing dance was
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: kind of like.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: In that whole scene.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: And so then I became really into the forties, like
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: thirties and forties and bought my first vintage car. And
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: I was dressing head to toe in forties clothes and
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: going out swing dancing. And that was like, you know,
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: the like 1994, Right.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: So I read that you were classically trained as a
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: ballet dancer. Is that true?
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: I know the word classically trained is a little bit
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: funny because I, you know, I started taking ballet classes
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: in West Branch, Michigan, a little ballet studio that was
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: not much. And then in Orange County, I was You know,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: in both there and in Orange County, I was cleaning
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: the bathrooms in exchange for ballet classes. So I wouldn't,
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: I'm not, I don't come from like a fancy ballet school.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: And I was, you know, like, I think star in
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: the nutcracker or something yeah I know I mean I
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: was like a snowflake in the like little rinky-dink ballet
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: production in Orange County you know like I was that
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: kind of dancer like struggle always struggling I always loved
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: ballet I love dance but sometimes when I see it
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: on paper and they say she comes from classical ballet
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: and I was like oh lord I'm not like I
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: listen to all these podcasts about the showgirls, and they
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: come from all these famous ballet schools all.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Over the world. I'm like, oh, no, that's not the
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: kind of ballet that I did. Okay, well, thanks.
• 10:32
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• 11:06
  Speaker 2: So I see that you started working at a strip
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: club though, when you were 19, is that like your
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: first job that required some sort of dancing and movement?
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Kind of.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: There's, I was doing, I was kind of like, I
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: had so many jobs worked in the lingerie store when
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I was 14, just tagging things that I was a
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: sales girl. So I worked in lingerie and, um, Then,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: like I was saying, I worked in the rave scene
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: like I was a go-go dancer. That was kind of
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: my first like onstage thing. And then I wandered into
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: a strip club with some friends.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: And I was like, I'm going to do this too.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: So I was working like all these jobs at once.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: And for a little while I was graduated from, I
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: was working in a department store selling lingerie and I
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: wanted to work in beauty. So I went in to
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: work in, in, at the Shiseido counter, um, while I
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: was doing all the other things, working at the strip club,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: working in the rave scene. Cause I always kept like
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: a legit job because I was like, well, this is
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: just all stuff that I'm doing for fun. Like the
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: strip club and all of these things. Um, at the
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: same time I was, um, the most famous fetish model
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: in the world, which is.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Very like, you know, big fish in a little pond, right?
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: But I was on the cover of all those magazines
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: because I was, you know, kind of rehashing the whole
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Betty Page aesthetic, doing bondage photos, but doing it all
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: in a vintage way.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: So I was famous all around the world for that.
• 12:33
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  Speaker 2: So that's really interesting though. Like how did that come about?
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: It just, that's a hard thing to become like the
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: number one girl in that business.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: Well, it started with first, like, it's so hard. Cause
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: it's like, there's the timeline is like all over the place. I,
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm dressing vintage. So I'd have like, but
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: photography students, come to me and say, can.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: I take your picture? You look amazing.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: And I'd be like, sure.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: So I'd take these pictures.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: And then meanwhile, I'm working in the strip club. So
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, let's take pictures of my corsets. Let's
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: do these pinup photos. And I had the first pinup
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: website ever on the.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Web, on the internet.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: When my, I remember my boyfriend at the time was like, Hey,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: there's this thing called the worldwide web and we should
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: put you on it. And so I sold little postcard
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: sets of me posing as a pinup girl and you'd
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: have to like send in your check. And then I'd
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: like sign your little cards and then send it out.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: So that was like the first ever, it was one
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: page when you could have one page on the internet.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: And, um, it's like my space meets only fans kind of.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: But way before any of that stuff. So this is
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: like very early years and, um, Yeah.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: So I was definitely like the first pinup girl on
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: the web, on the internet. And then I, my, so
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: I got bigger and I was one of like the first,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: I'd say the first like, like 10 or 20 people.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: To have like a membership site.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Like it was when all that, but it was bubbling
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: and up, up and all the like playboy girls were
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: making these membership paywalls where you would take pictures with
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: the other girls and we'd all like share the pictures
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: and put them on our paywall. So I had that too.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: So I'd say I became famous because I, was connected.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Like I would fly to Germany and shoot for this
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: magazine called marquee magazine.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: And I do their little like fetish videos, you know.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: It's like wearing corsets and walking around and, you know, uh,
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: wearing rubber, trying on rubber outfits, trying on shoes, you know,
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: very like, you know, non, um, you know, just, I
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: just became like the, the, the famous and the modern
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: answer to Betty page like that by doing all these
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: like glossy fetish magazines all over the world.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: They were mostly like in London.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: And, um, there was one magazine, uh, in LA and
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: orange County areas and performing at these fetish parties.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: And, you know, everybody in that world knew me at
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: that time.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Do you think it's because you had your own look
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: that was kind of more romantic than this? Like, you know,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: wickedly sexy type of girl that can be threatening.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: Do you know what I mean?
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Like, you seem more romantic and soft. I remember.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: very well how it all started um too and I
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: forgot about this part but like so I I I
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: was I was working you know I was working the
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: lingerie store and I wanted to have a corset and
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: somebody gave me an address on a piece of paper
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: like here's where you can buy a corset and I
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: walked in and there was this super nice guy sitting
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: behind the counter and all these like you know a
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: rack of corsets and and tons of magazines and like
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: opera gloves and boots and all this like fetish gear everywhere.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: And I remember like I spent hours there and I
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: was talking to this guy who became a lifelong friend.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: And he showed me pictures of Betty Page.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: And so I'm looking at all these pictures of Betty
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Page and I'm looking at the modern fetish magazines and
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: they were all like tattooed, pierced, bald girls, like really
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: like in your face. And I was like, how come
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: no one's doing this though? And he's like, it's wide
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: open for you.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: And that's what I did.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: Like nobody, nobody was doing that. And so I kind
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: of set my mind to do that.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: It's so interesting because it's like, it was coming from
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: an earlier age and it was very raw and real
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: who you were. And then it seems like it turned
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: into something that people, there was really an opening.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: For that kind of thing.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I'm really curious because I have had a decent amount
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: of women on here who are strippers or porn stars
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: or sort of in that world.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: And they have felt very misunderstood. Their families disowned them.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: You know, there was all sorts of, you know, stigma
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: that they had to have some like sexual trauma to
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: go into that field.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: You know, you work with so many of these women.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: You started in that kind of environment. What do you
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: feel about that? Does your past have anything to do
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: with it?
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: I don't know if my experience is like having known
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: many women who were.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Hardcore porn stars or soft core porn stars.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Or playboy models or legit actresses or like all of
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: these things, people, I've known lots of these people and
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: I feel like it's across the board. I mean, I
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: feel like, Every woman I know has a story, like
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: a me too-ish thing or like, oh my God, I
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: didn't even realize it, but like I was date raped
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: or whatever. Like, I feel like there, I do not
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: know one woman who doesn't have some kind of story
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: where they're like, oh, that was weird. Now I look
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: back and I'm like, that was not cool. But I
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: don't think that that's like the gold standard of like
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: that abuse makes you turn to sex work. I don't
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: believe that at all.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: And there's nothing.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: For me, I didn't become a stripper dancer for any reason.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: I just wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: I realized that my obsessions with ballet... I have an
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: imprint on me. I had this vinyl record from the
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: 50s of Tchaikovsky. It had a ballerina from the 50s
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: on it. She had fishnet tights, pointe shoes... like a
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: pale blue platter, tutu, the dramatic makeup, the tiara, the
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: black hair pulled back. And I was like, I was
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: obsessed with that. And I realized though, like somebody asked
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: me once, I said, what was it that you never
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: would do, never got to.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Do that you wanted to do?
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: And I was like, well, I wanted to be a ballerina,
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: but I wasn't good enough, you know? And they said, oh,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: what about it that you loved? And I said, I mean,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: it was just like the idea of like the pointe
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: shoes and the beauty and the femininity and the exaggeration,
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: the drama and like the makeup and, you know, and
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: I'm saying all these things and he says, Don't you
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: feel like you got everything you asked the universe for,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: but in a very different way?
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: And I was like, yeah, because I never heard you
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: say once.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: That you just love to dance. And I was like, no,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: I didn't love to dance because I was not good
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: at it. I just wanted to move and I wanted.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: Don't miss the USL Championship Final on CBS, November 21st
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: at noon Eastern. Will the Pittsburgh Riverhounds retain their crown
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: or will a new title winner emerge? Don't miss the
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: conclusion to the 2026 season, Saturday, November 21st at noon
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Eastern on CBS.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: I love the hands and the head and the pointing
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: the toes and all of these, the emotion and feeling
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: of dance. But I was never like, God, I feel
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: free when I dance. So there's a lot of things
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: in my life that I realized, things that I saw
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: in my childhood or experienced in my childhood that made
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: me want, that all laid the groundwork for what I
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: do now.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's like a proud obsession, all of it.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: And it's interesting because the women that I have talked to,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: and I've lived in, I lived in Vegas for years.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: You know, the women that I knew that did this,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: they all came from a place of feeling very powerful.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: They did it, chose to continue to do it because
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: it made them feel beautiful.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: It made them feel powerful. And yes, everyone had a story,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: but they, you know.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: They knew exactly why they felt better on stage doing
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: that and then they could go home to like their
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: real life and they almost loved that that stage life
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: right to them it was the closest they were going
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: to get to being a famous actress and idolized by
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: someone right so um i i love hearing that from people.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: What were you feeling yeah same thing your family were
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: they supportive of you um in the grand scheme of
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: things yes, but there were moments that they were questioning
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: me and you can't blame them.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: Listen, I was literally 20 years old, you know, working
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: in a strip club and like paying my own way,
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: by the way, like.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: I had credit cards paid with very self-sufficient. And, um,
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: but my parents were, you know, maybe they challenged me
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: a few times, like, what are you doing? And I
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: was like, I want to do this thing like Betty page,
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: you know, cause I'm doing all the bondage photos and stuff.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: And, you know, they wanted to know how you were
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: going to turn this into a real living.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: I had like, cause there was no blueprint for that.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: And there was no living blueprint.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: Like what gypsy Rosalie, it hasn't happened in 75 years
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: that there's been a famous bondage model or like burlesque star.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: So it was very much against the odds, which I think,
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: you know, I never had any lofty ideas of, of,
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: fame or that I would have a show in Vegas
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: of this magnitude, like nothing. I never thought anything like that.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: I was just having a good time. And, um, it's
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: just like, you know, I didn't, I didn't make this goal.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: Like I'm going to show you, I'm going to be famous,
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: you know, but however, at the same time, you know, the,
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: the time when my father finally accepted me, um, And
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: what I'm doing was, you know, I was on the
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: cover of Playboy and like for that generation of men
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: and that to the time I was on the cover
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: of Playboy for the most, the biggest, the second biggest
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: issue of the year, the play me of the year
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: after was the Christmas issue.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: Like Sherilyn Fenn and Sharon Stone.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: And Drew Barrymore and all of these like women had
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: been on the cover of Playboy. So like, it was
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: the first time my dad was like, okay, Um, so
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: it was kind of weird to me that like fame
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: legitimized me.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Cause I was kind of like, well, this is what
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: I've been doing all along.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: You know, it just like, just because you didn't get it,
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: that's not much, you know? Right.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: No, I understand.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Um, so how did you become, go from Heather Renee Sweet? Like,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: how did you pick the name Dita Avanti?
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: Um, I was working in the strip club and I was,
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: like I said, I was just a fetish model with
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: the name Dita. And like anybody walks into a strip club,
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: you pick like an alter ego.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: It's part of the fun of it, you know?
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: And also, so you, people don't know your name and
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: can find out where you live or whatever. So, but
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: the Monty's came from the first time I was in Playboy.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: I was in the play in Playboy in the nineties
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: as well. Um, and, um, They have like these book
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: of lingerie they used to have that came out every
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: other month and it was all like girls, you know,
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: from all over the world. And so I was in
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: that and I said, well, I'm just Dita. And they go, no,
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: you have to have a last name. I was like, why?
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: Like Madonna, Cher, I want to be like a one
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: name person.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: And they said, no.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: So I remember I was sitting at the bar and
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: pulled out the phone book and looked under. I was like,
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Vons have cool things. And I was looking under the
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Vons and I found the name Von Treece and I
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: called Playboy and I said, I'm going to be Dita
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: Von Treece.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: And they're like, okay.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: And then, you know, a month and a half later
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: or whatever, I go to the liquor store to pick
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: up my issue and I open it up.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: And it says D to Von T's. And I was like,
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: that's not right.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: And I actually called them and not even smart enough
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: at that point to think like, this could be good.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Von T's.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: No, I call them and I say, Hey, you guys,
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: you've got it wrong.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: It's Von trees.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: There's an R in it. And so then they go, yeah,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: we'll get.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: It right next month.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: And then next month it is the same.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: And finally I was like, whatever.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: So it's like a very not calculated thing. If I
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: had to do it all again, it would probably be different,
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: but yeah, you know.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: Well, it seems perfect though.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I would have thought that they, they changed it for
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: you on purpose. I don't even thought that, I don't.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Know what they thought.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: They didn't say so if that was deliberate, but I
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: feel like that is like that, like a series of
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: things that were not like calculated. Like I never thought
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: that I was, there was all these things that happened
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: that were never like my lofty goals.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: They were just like, Oh, I mean, this is great.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: And like getting secretly excited, like, oh, this is, you know.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: Like I remember being like headlining a strip club in Pittsburgh,
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: you know, at a truck stop with a billboard and
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: being like, huh, my name, I have all the pictures
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: to prove it to you. Like, here I am proudly
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: standing in front of my strip club billboard in Pittsburgh,
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: you know, or Wichita Falls.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: And that to.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: Me, I was like, this is my moment. This is
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: the pinnacle of my life.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: This is as good as it gets.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: Like, and I genuinely believed it. And I was genuinely,
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: grateful for it, like for everything I was doing.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: And it made it so that everything I did, whether.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: It was doing my little feather fan dance and a
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: beat down strip club for whoever, I was having fun.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: And I feel like I don't mean to be like
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: all universe, but It is like I didn't ask for
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: anything more. I just did my best and enjoyed what
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: I was doing at the time and appreciated the moment,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: no matter how small it seems now.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: I was going to say you come off as being
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: very grateful and kind. And, you know, there are people
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: that are total hustlers and will do anything they can
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: to make it to the top. And it's like when
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: you got to the top, you thought that was the
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: top of the mountain. But those are just little hills.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: And you were just on it for the ride. I
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: love that. That's such a good thing.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Tell us what burlesque is. How would you describe it?
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: Okay. It's confusing to some people because burlesque is a
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: term that's been really thrown around and capitalized on in
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: recent years. So burlesque was a variety show that was
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: kind of a spinoff of vaudeville. Like a vaudeville show
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: was a variety show that happened like in the early,
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: you know, 1900s and 2000s.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: And in America and.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: A burlesque show was kind of started in like the
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: 30s and it was a little bit more of a
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: racy show and the stars of the burlesque show were
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: strippers and it was kind of like a in in
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: the the comedy and striptease together like you'd have like
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: famous comedians that would come and or before they were
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: famous actually before they were like movie stars were playing
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: burlesque houses and And it was just like more of
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: a raucous kind of show than a vaudeville show like
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: vaudeville is considered more legitimate. And they say like striptease
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: was kind of born out of like somebody doing a
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: quick change before they were still in view of the
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: audience and the crowd going crazy and then the manager
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: saying keep doing that thing where you take off those
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: things before you leave the.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Stage so it kind of turned into this.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: Show where the stars of the burlesque show were striptease stars.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: So there were big stars that came out of burlesque,
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: like Gypsy Roselies, who many people know because of the
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: musical and the film Gypsy, starring Natalie Wood in 1962.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: And Lily St.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Cyr, who is like another very famous striptease star, more
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: in the 50s. Sally Rand, who famously did the Feather
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: Fan Dance in 1939 at the World's Fair in Chicago.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: So there's like a few like very famous names that
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: people may or may not know, but you would recognize
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: like there was a movie called The Right Stuff that
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: had a little bit of Sally Rand fan dancing. And
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: so like if you, sometimes when I say things like that,
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: people go, oh, I get it now. I remember that.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: So um, yeah, it's, you know, there have been like
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: little burlesque resurgences, but it never as big as it
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: is now. It's been, it's, I feel like in my,
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: my career, which started in the early nineties, um, Hey, cats, um,
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's really I've seen like a major evolution
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: just in not only just like my audience, you know, my.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Audience was mostly male in the 90s.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: And when I came out with my first book.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: And like around the time or just after I was
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: on the cover of Playboy. I wrote about why I
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: love burlesque, why.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: I look to it, what it means to me, how
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: I felt empowered, you know, in this world. And I
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: had a whole new fan base of women. And still
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: to this day.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: Don't miss a minute of United Soccer League action. The
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: USL Championship and USL League One are on CBS Sports
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: and ESPN platforms. all season long with additional coverage on
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: Sirius XM FC channel 188 and select matches available in
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: Spanish on 2DNA. It's your time to take part in
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: building what's next. Visit uslchampionship.com or uslleague1. com for complete listings.
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: Find your local club and be part of what's next.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Mostly my audience is mostly female, which I feel very, again,
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: like so lucky for that, like, you know, I'm... I
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: have this like longevity that probably wouldn't exist if I
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: had just been beneath the hetero male gaze, you know, right. Right.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: Different story.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: And it came from me sharing my story. And I
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: think other, other people, um, like saying, I want, I
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: want to do that too. I want to be like
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: that too. I want to be in control of my sensuality.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: I want to liberate myself.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: I want to, I want to, I feel, I.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: Like to be inspired by a show like this. My
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: show has always been about diversity and inclusion since I
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: first started touring 15 years ago. And it was kind
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: of just like a natural thing that came from burlesque
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: where I was like, that person is an amazing performer.
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: And I felt like I always wanted to present performers
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: that people can feel like they'll change their minds about
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: what a burlesque show is like, instead of having a
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: show full of like, pin up girls. How do we,
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: how do we change people's minds about what this is? Like,
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: you know, so that's something I did before it was
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: a buzzword before it was cool.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: And change people's minds about what beauty is kind of,
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: because I was going to ask you about self-esteem and
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: body image and the size of women, right? Many years ago,
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: stick thin, now it's all shapes and sizes.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: So how do you sort of talk to the people
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: that work with you and that are in your show
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: about what is normal and good and looks good?
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: And how do you stay in shape?
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, I just think, I think a lot about
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: strength and power and ability and like, you know, although
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: I've played with that in the past too, where I've
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: had in my show, non-dancers that just capture your gaze,
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: that just like capture your attention.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: And I really like look for that.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: And even in casting this Vegas show, we had these
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: huge auditions and there were some people that I was like,
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: can't take my eyes off that person.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: And maybe somebody on the choreo team was like, they're
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: not the strongest dancer.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: And I was like, I'm sorry, can't take my eyes
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: off that person.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: And then they, I put them in the show and
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: guess what?
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: I'm right. You know, 90% of the people go, couldn't
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: take my eyes off that one person. And I was like,
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: I know, because it isn't always about like this show
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: off the dancing or, or circusy thing or whatever you're doing.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: That's like, it's sometimes you just, you can't really explain
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: why someone draws your eye.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: And I'm very interested in that. And I always have been.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: It's, I feel like it's one of the things that
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: I love about burlesque and what I do and that
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: I can break those rules and go against what people say,
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: you know, you should hire, you should have this kind
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: of person. I don't agree, you know, cause like also
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: I'm not, you know, I come from the, everything I
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: do is born out of the things that you could
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: perceive as my downfalls or the things that are my,
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: that I'm not good at.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: But if I had been good at those other things,
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: I would not be the world's most famous burlesque star.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: Like I would not be doing any of this. And
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: I feel like I picked the right path and I
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: persevered and I didn't say, Oh, I can't, I'm not
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: as good of a dancer as those people.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: So I can't dance. No, I was like, I'm going
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: to do it in my own way. And I, I
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: just am.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: Very, I feel like I, even when I think about
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: the artists that I love, like whether it's someone who's
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: a singer, there's always something I feel like this in
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: this thing that draws you to them. And sometimes it's
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: the imperfections. Like I'm like, I don't like I have
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: a very like particular like taste in like music or singers.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: Like I love the way someone like, you know, Frank
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: Sinatra communicated. Right.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: Or I love. I loved Amy Winehouse.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Um, but like, I can't stand like really like vocal
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: gymnastics type, like synthesized pop-ish stuff.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: I can't, I can't listen to it.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: You know, like I like people that have a distinctive
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: voice that is about like something more, a different.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Kind of depth, if it makes sense. Yeah, of course.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: It's interesting because, you know, there's been a real push
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: like in gyms.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: This is such a dumb thing to say, but like,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: you know, there are classes now on stripper poles.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: They're sort of.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Everywhere about how to be more sexy and you don't
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: necessarily have to know how to dance like that or
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: act like that, but they teach you all sorts of
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: things like eye contact and just being confident in your
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: own skin can be sexy.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: I'm curious for people.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: That are listening, what someone like you, who is like
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: the epitome of sex appeal, would say to give advice
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: to someone who might not be, you know, physically, they
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: might not feel like they're the sexiest or they might
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: not be a great dancer.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: How can someone be more sexy?
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: Right. Well, I mean, it's always about, it always starts
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: with the, with you and how, what makes you feel sexy?
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: Because the first problem people have is when they ask somebody.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Like me, what I think is sexy.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: Like it's, you have to really get to the essence
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: of what you as an individual feel and go into that.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: So if that for you is like, I'm going to
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: go take that pole dancing class, you know? And that's
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: like where you find yourself and you're like, I feel powerful.
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: But like some people might go to that class and
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: be like, I was wildly uncomfortable. Like I would be
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: wildly uncomfortable there. I would, um, You know, even though I've,
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: you know, I've had a pole on my stage before,
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: you know, but I just am saying like there's certain
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: kinds of dance that I would feel like really like
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: doesn't feel doesn't feel like me. It doesn't get to
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: who I am, you know, like a hip hop class
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: or something, you know, like there's something I just feel like, oh,
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: my body doesn't know how to move like that. I
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: think it's like just noticing what it is for you
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: and finding other, trying out different things and finding where
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: you feel like you belong and putting yourself in that
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: place where you.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Might feel uncomfortable.
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: You know, you might be like, whoa, that was crazy,
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: but I tried it. And then just, you know, maybe
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: that wasn't for you, but we're taking a tassel twirling
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: class with one of the amazing tassel twirlers that's in
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: my show. You know, like I think there's fun things
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: that you can do.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: And I think it's.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: Also really great to like, you know, find places where
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: you can be around other women who are there just being,
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: you know, playing and having fun. That's what I think
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: is the key. I think like part of being sexy
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: is when you are, you're having a good time, you're
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: reveling in what you're doing. And like, for me, that's
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: even the basis of every burlesque show is like, does
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: this look fun? Is it fun?
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: Is it playful?
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: Is it about fantasy and spectacle, but with a lightness
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: to it? Yeah.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: And I think it's interesting because so many people, I
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: think so many women are get it wrong because they
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: think sexy is like having on the least clothes as
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: possible or, you know, looking a little bit, you know, too,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: too much. And sometimes that just turns people off. And
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's more about feeling
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: comfortable in your own skin and liking what you're doing
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: and having fun.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: And I think that, I think you're right. I mean,
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: the conversations I've had.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: And also conversations with men, they are more attracted to
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: somebody who's confident and, and feels good and, in what
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: they're doing or how they're representing themselves.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: The good men. Anyway, you can say there's definitely some
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: that will be like, do not want you to find
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: your power and confidence, you know, generalization is, you know.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: But I think in terms of feeling confident in yourself. Yeah, yeah, totally.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: You have to always have you and know that you're
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: never going to please everyone.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: I always, I have a famous quote, you can be
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: a juicy ripe peach and there'll still be someone who
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: doesn't like peaches.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Like that goes for everything. I know that's true for
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: what I do.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: And I never pretend that it's got to be, you know,
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: globally accepted and like, and further that I always think
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: if everyone.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: Likes it, it's probably pretty boring. Okay. I love that.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: If you want to, If you weren't working in burlesque,
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: what do you think you would be doing?
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: I probably would be, I always say that like a
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: big part of my job, I'm an aesthetic control freak.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: I'm very like, I notice every detail. And I remember
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: like watching this woman that I was on a photo
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: shoot for Vanity Fair, like sometime in the early 2000s.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: And I was like, oh yeah, that's the job I
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: would do. And her job was like overseeing an entire production.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Like is the hair, right. Is the makeup light, right.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: Is the clothes, right. Is that thing tied?
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: Like I see all the details, you know, I would
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: be that person. I'd be, you know, an aesthetic control freak.
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: I don't, I don't want to even say stylist. I
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: would be like beyond stylist because I'm, I can, I
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: see the hair, the makeup, the clothes.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: That, everything details so I'm curious there are people that
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: you know are a certain person when they are their
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: brand but then when cameras are off they'll put their
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: sweatpants on their hair in a bun you know they'll
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: eat Doritos and you know they'll sit on the couch
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: are you Dita Von Teese all the time.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Like we've never seen you in the magazines, like celebs.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: They're just like us. We never see you going to
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Wegmans or to.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: Albertsons or whatever. Do you shop for yourself? Do you
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: wear these clothes when you're shopping? Like, tell me, tell
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: me what you were like when the cameras are on.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, first of all, Dita Von Teese does
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: eat a cheese puff at home and like with the
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: orange fingers and everything, you know, like I'm, I don't see, like.
• 40:35
  Speaker 5: Don't miss the USL Championship Final on CBS, November 21st
• 40:40
  Speaker 5: at noon Eastern. Will the Pittsburgh Riverhounds retain their crown,
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: or will new title winners emerge? Don't miss the conclusion
• 40:48
  Speaker 5: to the 2026 season, Saturday, November 21st, noon Eastern, on CBS.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: The thing is, though, like, I'm wearing my.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: I'm wearing a robe.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: Like, this is what I would be wearing, you know? Like,
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: I just... Yesterday, I went grocery shopping for the holidays,
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: and I was wearing just like a sweater and a skirt,
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: but I put on a really nice 1940s.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: Coat because it's not hard to put on a coat.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: It's cold out.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: And people all day were like, wow, that coat is beautiful.
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: Wow, that's amazing. I'm like, thanks. You know, I just
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: feel like I love putting on something, even if I
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: throw that coat over my athleisure so I can go
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: to my, you know, workout and then, you know, put
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: a coat over it. I just, I just enjoy presenting
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: myself like that.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: And it's not hard.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: And it's like, an old 1940s coat that I paid
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: less for than a modern.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Coat, you know?
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: I just enjoy it. And it's not hard for me.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: I'm well-practiced in it. I don't have like an alter
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: ego or like a secret person that I don't want
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: people to see. Hey, do I, I don't want people
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: to really see me like, you know, eating the cheese puffs,
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: you know, like sit with the fridge open, like eating the,
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: you know, of course I'm not like, if you can
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: get the feeling from just talking to me, I'm not
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: like speaking to you in a glamorous way. That's my
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: beautiful life. I really don't like that kind of thing.
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: I'm just like, you know, I, I, I enjoy like
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: wearing red lipstick and like, yes, no, I get it.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: It's innately you. I mean, I get it, but not like.
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: I, cause I, cause I've met and I've actually met
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: like other burlesque dancers that do.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: This, like this, like I am.
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: So they have like the accent and they try to
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: be like glamor glamor. And I'm like, Oh, so it's
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: just very like, tiresome for me.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: And it's not authentic.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: And you can, I can see right through when people
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: are putting on airs as like this persona.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: To feel, be sexy, be glamorous. And it's like, as
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: soon as you are trying to be sexy.
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: You have failed because you don't understand what it is.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: Um, you spoke before about music that you, um, genuinely
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: like a couple of those people you mentioned are dead.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: Do you have someone who you listen to now that's alive,
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: that we would be interested in hearing what your music
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: taste is.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, my music taste is across the board.
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: I did this thing once for Spotify. They called up
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: my agent one day, and this is like a couple
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: years ago, a few years ago. They're like, we want
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: you to come to Cannes, and we're going to listen
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: to your... to they have this big convention called can
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: lion it's in the south of france we want we're
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: going to look at you're going to analyze your listening
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: history and like don't try to be cool.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: And listen to like try to change.
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: It we already got you we already know what you
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: do so i had to sit there while they analyzed
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: my listening history and they were just like this is
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: outrageous you know because i listen to like electronic music
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: because it reminds me of my like you know rave
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: days um And I listen to like Amy Winehouse, George Michael. I,
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: you know, I love many kinds of music, you know,
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: but I like music that I can listen to someone's
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: album the whole way through and I don't have to
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: skip through things because I can't be bothered to make playlists.
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: But I like a lot of different music. Lately, I've
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: been listening to this Barbra Streisand audio book, which is
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: really great. And I've been digging into her first, like
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: the songs that she was singing in nightclubs before.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: And she never even had a singing teacher ever.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: And it's like really interesting to listen to her young
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: voice when she was just starting out with no formal training.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: So I know you were in, okay, everyone's going to
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: freak out if I don't ask you this, because you
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: were in one of Taylor Swift's videos, Bejeweled. How did
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: that opportunity come about? And obviously you have to tell
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: everybody what it was like to work with Taylor.
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah. Well, I was just sitting here one afternoon
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: and I think I, my, My PR was like, oh,
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: Taylor Swift's people reached out to me to try to
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: talk to you.
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: Her people called me and I'm talking to them. They're like,
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: Taylor wants to do this thing. Taylor wants to do
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: this thing. And then suddenly Taylor comes on and then
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: we're talking. And she knew everything about what I do.
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: And she was very like, I love what you do.
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: And I want to showcase what you do because I
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: think it's so great. And, you know, cause usually like
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: people I'm used to people coming to me and being.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: Like, Hey, can I borrow that glass?
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: Thanks. You know, or like, they just, you know, they just,
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: I'm on their mood board, you know? Um, but you know,
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: it's one of those very times that she, and she
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: said to me too, she goes, I see people like
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: mimicking you and copying you and they.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Don't give you credit.
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: And I was like, okay.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: So she said, you know, I want to be side
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: by side with you and I want to learn from
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: you and I want you people to see what you do.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: And I was like, wow, cool.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: And it was amazing. And she's, you know, she's an
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: amazing woman. And I was like, one of the, it's
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: one of the few times that I've been approached in
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: that way, you know, cause it's usually just, you know,
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: take it.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Are you surprised at how big, especially this year? I mean,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: she's always been relatively big, but this year she is, Totally.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: Become one of the biggest stars, if not the biggest star.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: And, you know, I don't think a lot of people
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: would necessarily say she is like the best voice, but
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: she's one of the best performers and her her repertoire
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: as a songwriter is so unbelievable. And, you know, I
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: brought my daughter to her concert beginning of the year
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, and my daughter is still asking to go
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: to another concert next year.
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: It was like the greatest day of her life. And
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: I just, you know, I love performers like that. We
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: don't have that anymore.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: Like in our generation, like I listened to Michael Jackson,
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: George Michael, you know, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Um, but you
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: don't have stars like that.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: I don't think Prince.
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Like I feel the same way. I was
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: just like, Oh, there doesn't, it doesn't feel the same,
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: but you know, then when you, when you're like every
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: generation talks about music in a way, like, well, we
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: had David Bowie and we had, you know, Prince and,
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, you know, the younger people just don't,
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: they won't hear it at all. Um, But yeah, I
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: feel like that always happens, you know, but yeah, she, I,
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: that was a long, I'm, that was a long concert.
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: I remember like it was like four hours and I
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: remember I was sitting there like, you know, like in
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: their little VIP area and her people were like, you
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: should go now. like before the show ended I was
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: like but I didn't see the bejeweled part yet and
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: they're like no if you don't go you're gonna be
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: here for like three more hours and I was like.
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah right because getting out of there is like
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: yeah getting out of there was like major but yeah she's.
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: She's amazing and she's yeah it's yeah I'm very happy
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: for her because she is I you can feel her
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: um authenticity and kindness. And she cares, you know, I
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: feel like she cares about her fans and she's, she's
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: a good, a good person and a smart person making
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: that video was an incredible operation. You'll notice none of
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: it got leaked. I mean, the song was never played
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: on set at all. Like it was super secret. Like
• 48:04
  Speaker 3: we'd go into this little secure tent and she put
• 48:07
  Speaker 3: the headphones on me and.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: Say, this is the song.
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: And then it was really, um.
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: She's an amazing director.
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: Um, you are also in don't worry, darling, which of
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: course became sort of, you know, tabloid fodder because Olivia
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: Wilde was the director and she was dating Harry Styles
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: during that.
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: Do you have any good gossip from being on that?
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: Um, I think, I mean, I don't, I don't know.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember if I knew about it.
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Um, I just remember a long time ago,
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: it was like a Burberry show in London and I
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: was sitting next to Harry Styles.
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: And I'd never heard of him before.
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: And the next day I had all this like hate mail,
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: like email, all these girls emailing about, about like stay
• 48:55
  Speaker 3: away from Harry and all this stuff. And I was like,
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: I don't even know what they're talking about. And then
• 48:59
  Speaker 3: I had to ask somebody to go, Oh, it's Harry Styles.
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: I was like, Oh, I don't know.
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: And he was just like the lovely guy.
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: And, um, and then I got to the makeup trailer
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: that morning and it was like the first thing we
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: shot after, you know, like the first, one of the
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: productions to start up again, um, after the COVID thing,
• 49:17
  Speaker 3: And he like was so lovely and immediately remembered me
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: and everything and I was like you remember me he's
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: like of course but he's like a real gentleman you
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: know even when I was like in the glass doing.
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: The performance which was just crazy because it was.
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: Like First thing back and I haven't performed in a
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: long time and I'm wearing this like blonde wig because
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: it tied in with the story and everyone's going crazy
• 49:39
  Speaker 3: like all of the stars of the movie and it
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: was like a really intense like intense scene. But really
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: like a fun moment it's a shame there was so
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: much like. drama around the film because I don't really
• 49:53
  Speaker 3: know why there would have been you know I.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: Mean listen at the end of the day I think
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: it sent people to the theater to.
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: See well it's true so did Olivia actually direct you during.
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: That scene yeah yeah she did yeah and it was
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: like I just kind of did my usual thing a
• 50:11
  Speaker 3: few takes and then she said okay now we're doing
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: one take where you know this thing and you're going
• 50:16
  Speaker 3: to lock eyes with Florence's character and like it was
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: like very much like just me doing my thing until
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: we did one final take which was kind of like
• 50:26
  Speaker 3: a you know uh the kind of it's it's a
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: pivotal scene in the.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: Movie it's like a moment where he figures everything out
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: so right it was me just being me but.
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: Um uh you know still an important part of the
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: movie even if it was short and i'm pretty sure
• 50:43
  Speaker 3: it's like the best swarovski crystals ever looked on screen Yes,
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: I think so. It's like, yes, that's what it's supposed
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: to look like. Whenever they show like some pop star
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: at the Super Bowl, like with, they have a rhinestone
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: microphone or whatever. And you're just like, that doesn't, it
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: doesn't show up at all. But that is how Swarovski
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: crystal is supposed to look on screen. Right. Okay.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about how people can come see you
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: live now in Dita, Las Vegas, a jubilant review.
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: You're playing in Las Vegas at the Horseshoe.
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: The horseshoes used to be valleys.
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: And we're in this the Jubilee Theater, which was this
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: legendary theater. The stage is half the size of a
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: football field. It's got, it was the great showgirl theater
• 51:32
  Speaker 3: with all of the things that come out of the
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: floor and out of the ceiling, chandeliers that come down
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: with showgirls on up.
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: It's just like all these.
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: Bells and whistles and the Rat Pack played in there,
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: played there as well.
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: So it's kind of this legendary space.
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: And I'm, I have a feather in my cap is
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: that I'm using all of these incredible costumes that were
• 51:56
  Speaker 3: in that review, all the Bob Mackie vintage costumes.
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: And it's, you know, it's millions and millions of dollars.
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: Worth of feathers and rhinestones and um it's a big
• 52:06
  Speaker 3: you know it's a it's a little my version of
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: a the classic las vegas review with show girls and
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: show guys and more feathers than any show in las
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: vegas and that's a guarantee more feathers and rhinestones than
• 52:19
  Speaker 3: any show in las vegas for sure did you have a.
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: Choreographer did you really have a hand in all of
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: in all of the show um I had.
• 52:28
  Speaker 3: A choreography team who worked with the cast and a
• 52:31
  Speaker 3: lot of it is like my, it's like my life's work,
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: like all of these different numbers that I've done besides
• 52:36
  Speaker 3: the glasses, but we have all my glasses on stage
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: at once, including.
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: The Taylor's glass.
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: And so like, like my bird, I have a birdcage act.
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: I come out of a big powder compact.
• 52:47
  Speaker 3: I have all these other things, like tons of like
• 52:50
  Speaker 3: my life's work, but we have other performers doing these numbers,
• 52:53
  Speaker 3: like for some of the lesser known acts that I've.
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: Done over the years. And what can people expect to see? Like,
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: tell us just a little bit more about it. I mean,
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: is it, does everyone get naked?
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: Does everyone, you know, for people, again, into something like
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: this and are wondering what they should see when they're
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: in Vegas?
• 53:11
  Speaker 3: Well, they are extravagant stripscapes. So there is definitely striptease.
• 53:16
  Speaker 3: It has that, you know, that I think there's a
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: difference between like the classic Vegas show girl and the
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: burlesque performer.
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: Like the burlesque.
• 53:23
  Speaker 3: Performer is a striptease star and has a little bit
• 53:26
  Speaker 3: more like inviting you in and sensuality and eroticism and
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: the show girl is a little bit like more cool
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: there's a there were a lot of rules about the
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: topless show girl however they were completely topless um and
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: in burlesque we do the pasties with the tassels and
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: and whatnot so it's kind of like combining the two
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: together and bringing my favorite bits of both um of
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: both worlds together. So it's definitely sexy. It's there's the
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: biggest burlesque show in the world that ever there was.
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: So I'm very proud of that. And I'm glad that
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: we can, you know, we're the last, we're the only
• 54:00
  Speaker 3: show where you can see that true classic Las Vegas, because,
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: you know, there's other shows in Vegas and they have their, their,
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: their feathers, but this is like, these are the, you
• 54:10
  Speaker 3: will never see costumes like this anywhere else in the world.
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: Amazing. It runs through April, correct?
• 54:19
  Speaker 3: Yes. I believe we're going to add some more dates. So,
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: but right now we have dates through April. And it's
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: just Friday and Saturday nights?
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: Thursday, Friday, select Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: And then we're on New Year's Eve weekend, 28 through 31.
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure when this airs, but.
• 54:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: Okay. So it'll be after that, but that's fine.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: And then just quickly tell me like when you're in Vegas, how,
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: like what's your day in the life? Are you guys
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: practicing all day long and then you go into the show?
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: It's kind of like a little bit of both. I
• 54:53
  Speaker 3: come in on Thursdays on the same day of the show,
• 54:56
  Speaker 3: so I'm usually doing some tech stuff.
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: And rehearsal things. There's always a lot to do.
• 55:05
  Speaker 3: And then I usually have time on like Friday and
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: Saturday before the show to kind of like go to
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: lunch or, you know, I drive, I drive a vintage
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: car on stage during the show. So I'll usually take
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: that car, rip around the strip every once.
• 55:18
  Speaker 4: In a while.
• 55:18
  Speaker 3: So you can kind of see me doing that every
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: so often. So I'm just getting my bearings in Vegas
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: and there's definitely things that I want to see and
• 55:26
  Speaker 3: places I want to go, but I just haven't had
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: too much time on my hands yet, but I will.
• 55:33
  Speaker 3: Is there a.
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: Show in particular that you'd love to see in Vegas?
• 55:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, there's a lot that I would love to see.
• 55:39
  Speaker 3: I'm definitely going. I was, invited by you two to come.
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: See the sphere.
• 55:44
  Speaker 3: So I would love to come and see that that's
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: on my list of things to do on.
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: My days off.
• 55:48
  Speaker 3: And Adam Clayton from you two came to see my
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: show and Bono is a big fan of burlesque.
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: And I had a whole conversation with him about burlesque once. Um,
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: so yeah, I'm trying to think of what I did see.
• 56:00
  Speaker 3: I love seeing the magic shows. I really want to
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: see David Blaine do that show when he's, yeah.
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Have you seen David Copperfield? No, I haven't. I'd
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: love to.
• 56:11
  Speaker 3: I really want to see the magic shows. Yeah. Yeah.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: When I lived there, my most favorite thing that I
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: saw was Celine Dion. She was just, you know, her hater.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: She was just amazing in concert. I saw Britney once.
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: That was pretty great.
• 56:26
  Speaker 3: It was interesting to listen to her audio book and
• 56:31
  Speaker 3: all this stuff about Las Vegas. Wow.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Love Britney. Always a fan.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: Um, All right, so for anyone who's listening who finds
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: all of this very interesting, who has had an interest
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: in burlesque, how would you say that they can break
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: into this?
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: Are there classes? Is there something they should study? Is
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: there a place they should go?
• 56:53
  Speaker 3: Well, there is the Burlesque Hall of Fame is in
• 56:56
  Speaker 3: Las Vegas and they have my original martini glass on
• 56:59
  Speaker 3: display there at all times.
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: But I would say that would be a good resource
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: to go.
• 57:03
  Speaker 3: And there's a big event there that happens every year.
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: Like there's like a They have like the Legends Showcase where.
• 57:11
  Speaker 3: They have some of the old-time burlesque stars, and then
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: they have a competition for all the new burlesque stars.
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: And then there's also Viva Las Vegas.
• 57:19
  Speaker 3: There's a big burlesque showcase there, which happens, and the
• 57:23
  Speaker 3: big car show.
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: I think that's in April.
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: So, um, but yeah, there's a lot of local burlesque
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: talent as well and small and small burlesque shows to
• 57:31
  Speaker 3: come to go see, you know, what the local burlesque shows.
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: Are like as well. I haven't been to any of
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: them yet, but I know a lot.
• 57:37
  Speaker 3: Of the performers and we have Dirty Martini, who's a
• 57:41
  Speaker 3: great world famous tassel twirler is in my show.
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: And so she's, you know, she.
• 57:46
  Speaker 3: Always keeps me abreast of what's going on in the
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: tassel twirling world.
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: Interesting. And I'm just curious, how does it work with
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: you finding your talent?
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: Like, is it kind of like the chorus line where
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: people are, you know, applying all the time and you
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: get to see these new interesting dancers that you're finding
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: out of nowhere?
• 58:04
  Speaker 3: Um, I mean, I look for burlesque talent that way,
• 58:07
  Speaker 3: and I have representation of authentic burlesque performers that are,
• 58:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, in this show. Um, but I have a
• 58:14
  Speaker 3: lot of like dancers, like that we've, that we did
• 58:18
  Speaker 3: huge auditions in LA and in Las Vegas and cherry
• 58:22
  Speaker 3: picked the best of. So it's like a balance of, um,
• 58:26
  Speaker 3: professional dancers and burlesque performers. Amazing.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: So everyone should visit you when they're in Las Vegas
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: at the Horseshoe, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday nights.
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: Through at least April. And then where can they find
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: you if they're interested in just following you, like your Instagram,
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: your website?
• 58:44
  Speaker 3: I'm very active on Instagram and semi-active on Facebook. But
• 58:50
  Speaker 3: it's just at Dita Von Teese with the double E's
• 58:53
  Speaker 3: in it.
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: So find me. And do you read your DMs if
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: people DM you?
• 58:57
  Speaker 3: No. Sometimes.
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: We won't guarantee a response, but people can find out
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: what you're doing.
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: On there.
• 59:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: Okay, Dita, thank you so much for joining us. I
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: really appreciate your time. And good luck. If I go
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: to Vegas, which I do often, I am going to
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: come see your show. Very good. I hope you will.
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Thanks.
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to Misunderstood. I'm your host,
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: Rachel Yucatel. Please be sure to subscribe to the show
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: and give us a five-star rating and review. You can
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: support the show by joining our Patreon at patreon.com slash
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: misunderstood with Rachel Yucatel. Do you have ideas for the
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: show or want to reach out? Email us at infomisunderstoodpodcast
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: at gmail.com. That's spelled M-I-S-S understood. Thank you so much,
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: and I'll see you next time.
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