League of Exotique Dancers explores vintage Burlesque's world of fun, frolic, and feathers, yet also turns the spotlight | dG1fYm5jZlpJcXVlR1k
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00:00I always wanted to be a model and my mother said I couldn't do that because
00:07devils did that and they showed their underwear and everything.
00:10Boy, she got a surprise now. I show more in my underwear.
00:17One of the nicest things you can do for your body is to put on some music and dance.
00:21If you can dance naked, even better.
00:24I started in Maleska in 1959.
00:27We were feminine love goddesses. That's basically what we were presented.
00:31There was very few jobs a woman can do in 1960s.
00:37I was bored with my life. I wanted to be memorable.
00:44I found myself on the stage and I know who I am now.
00:48The women of my generation, I'm proud to say this,
00:51gave you guys the freedom that you've got now.
00:54There was a sense of empowerment and so I got to be a bad girl.
00:58I didn't know I was pioneering. I just knew I was working.
01:05We were making burlesque history. We were becoming stronger women by doing that.
01:09This is my moment. It has come.
01:11It was an adventure.
01:13Those years were the happiest years of my life.
01:15I also did a lot of drugs and drank a lot of champagne.
01:19No, I really shouldn't be alive now, but I am alive.
01:26I recently received a phone call from the Burlesque Hall of Fame,
01:30inviting me to perform.
01:32And I said, are you out of your mind?
01:35It seemed impossible to go back after 33 years,
01:38when I left it that long ago, feeling old then.
01:42It's transformative. It's absolutely magical.
01:45At 73, I do feel I want to be provocative sometimes.
01:54This is it. The 66-year-old strip.