Alizah Salario

the amazing Dita Von Teese

For a long time I’ve wanted to do something thrilling and just a little bit saucy with my life. Today, I finally did: I danced burlesque. Well, sort of. I’m just getting the basic bumps, grinds and shimmies down. I’ve wanted to pursue burlesque since I tried a one-hour class nearly three years ago. Of all the dance forms I’ve tried, burlesque feels the most natural. Chicago burlesque, according to my teacher Frenchie Kiss, is the most classic  compared with the rock’n'roll style of LA and the arty vibe in New York. Little did I know there are three walk that involve different ways of swaying the hips: elegant, cutesy, and the bump and grind. Don’t get too excited; there’s no feathers, boas or pasties involved – yet. The emphasis of this slow striptease is on the tease. What remains a mystery is always more exciting.

This afternoon I watched base jumpers glide down from the Trump Towers from the vantage point of my nearby 18th floor office.  I looked down onto Michigan Avenue, and it was bumper to bumper for blocks. I watched taxis flip illegal u-turns on Wacker after being stuck in the same spot for five minutes.  The scene was accompanied by a soundtrack of what sounded like fake machine guns blasting. It was a city under a siege. Even it was only make-believe chaos, the drama in Chicago this weekend was most certainly real.

Read the rest of this entry »