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Huge milestone this Saturday — burlesque show turns six

Huge milestone this Saturday — burlesque show turns six
Photo by Luke Ratray

Wasabassco Burlesque’s anniversary extravaganza is more than just burlesque.

When it celebrates six years of scintillating entertainment on Nov. 6 at the Bell House, there’ll be a healthy amount of striptease, as well as bullwhipping cowboys, go-go and belly dancing, snake charming, trick-roping, crooning, hula-hooping, aerial acrobatics, a 20-person sci-fi number, and numerous large-scale theatrics.

“This show is about quality and scale,” said founder and Park Sloper “Doc” Wasabassco. “We’re always aiming for our anniversary events to be bigger and better than previous years.”

And with illustrious names like GiGi La Femme, Vikki Likkerish, Nasty Canasta, Victoria Privates and Legs Malone on the bill, it really would be a dirty shame to miss this seductive show.

Burlesque began as a sexy offshoot of vaudeville in the mid-1800s, developing well into the 1950s before teetering off with the advent of the strip club. Most remaining burlesque shows were a one-hour tease in some cramped Lower East Side bar. That is until Wasabassco hit the scene. Now events run upwards of three hours and are burgeoning with eclectic entertainment.

Long before he was the “Doc” of burlesque, Wasabassco was working as an illustrator and pin-up artist. He got the break of a lifetime after making a full-time investment in a burlesque show he was doing to promote his art. The lingerie, stockings and boas have been flying ever since.

“As it turned out, creating the burlesque show was infinitely more fun than illustrating,” said Wasabassco. “The show became the greater focus, the illustration fell to the wayside and I’ve never looked back.”

Wasabassco Burlesque’s Sixth Anniversary Extravaganza at The Bell House [149 Seventh St. between Second and Third avenues in Gowanus, (718) 643-6510], Nov. 6 at 10 pm. Tickets $20. For info, visit www.thebellhouseny.com.

And, of course, Nasty Canasta will be on hand.