The World Famous Pontani Sisters are a dance act and burlesque revue based in New York City, consisting of three sisters: Angie Pontani, Tara Pontani, and Helen Pontani. They have been billed more recently as Angie Pontani and the World Famous Pontani Sisters.
The three sisters, who had danced and performed informally since childhood, got their professional start during the late 1990s swing revival craze, as a side act of the popular swing band The Flying Neutrinos.[1] They have since taken part in burlesque-style performances and revues on the East Coast and throughout the United States. The sisters dance in a wide and eclectic variety of styles covering much of twentieth century dance, but often in a high-energy "go-go" style to instrumental Rock and Roll. The sisters perform in a variety of exotic costumes featuring ostrich feathers, tassels, sequins, and fancy headdresses, many of which they design themselves.[2]
The act was conceived by performer/costume designer/choreographer Angie Pontani, the youngest of the three dancing sisters. She described the beginnings of the act in an interview: "The Pontani Sisters were literally [sic] born dancing on the boardwalk in Coney Island. I had been performing in a burlesque show in Manhattan almost direct from high school. When that show closed, I didn't know what to do with myself, so I turned my curtains into costumes, made three headdresses out of my plastic fruit kitchen table centerpiece, threw them on my sisters and we went to Coney Island and danced on the boardwalk. Within a month we were performing four nights a week throughout NYC. It was really kismet."[3]
There is also a younger sister in the family named Dana, who, according to the Pontanis' official website, occasionally performs with her sisters as a singer.
The sisters have toured Europe and the United States extensively, often with Los Straitjackets. The Pontanis appear on the cover of the Los Straitjackets album Twist Party!!!, also credited to "Los Straitjackets with the World Famous Pontani Sisters and Kaiser George", and appear on an accompanying DVD. They have performed several times with Los Straitjackets on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The Pontani Sisters were the subject of a 2004 documentary film by Rebecca Shapiro, Showy and Five Foot Two.[4]
The Sisters have released two DVDs combining dance instruction with aerobic exercise- "Go-Go Robics" & "Go Go Robics II".[5]
Since 2008, Angie Pontani has also been performing as a solo artist, and all three World Famous Pontani Sisters have been prominently involved in a movement to save historic Coney Island in New York from developers.[6][7]
The Pontani Sisters were awarded the title, "Best NY Based Dance Company", in 2002 by Show Business Weekly, "Best Super Hot Dancing Trio", by The Village Voice in 2006 as well as "#1 Burlesque Attraction in the Nation" in 2006 by AOL.com.
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or exotic dancer.
Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper and vedette famous for her striptease act. Also an actress, author, and playwright, her 1957 memoir was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy.
Heather Renée Sweet, known professionally as Dita Von Teese, is an American vedette, burlesque dancer, model, fashion designer, businesswoman, and author. She is credited with re-popularizing burlesque performance, earning the moniker "Queen of Burlesque".
Sugar Babies is a musical revue conceived by Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby, with music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Al Dubin and various others. The show is a tribute to the old burlesque era. First produced in 1979 on Broadway and running nearly three years, the revue attracted warm notices and was given subsequent touring productions.
Los Straitjackets is an American instrumental rock band that formed in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1988. Originally comprising guitarists Danny Amis, Eddie Angel and drummer L. J. "Jimmy" Lester under the name The Straitjackets, the band split up soon after forming, but reunited as Los Straitjackets in 1994 with the addition of bassist E. Scott Esbeck. Esbeck left the band in 1998 and was replaced by Pete Curry. The current lineup also features Greg Townson on guitar and Chris Sprague on drums.
Robin Antin is an American actress, entrepreneur, singer, dancer, choreographer and clothing designer. In 1995, she founded the modern burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls. By 2005, she diversified into various media including a pop recording group with international hits, a Las Vegas nightclub venue and floor show, various merchandise, and a reality television series. Since then, she has gone on to create other girl groups, including G.R.L., Girlicious and Paradiso Girls.
Jubilee! was a Las Vegas Strip-based spectacular revue. It opened on July 31, 1981 at an initial cost of 10 million dollars and was originally produced by Donn Arden. Donn Arden set the standard for all the spectacular Las Vegas shows that celebrated female beauty, in combination with a demand for only the best; in costumes, set, and talent. When it closed in 2016, this resident show at Bally's Las Vegas was the longest-running production show in Las Vegas. The Jubilee! showgirls were an icon of old Vegas. The show used costumes designed by Bob Mackie and Pete Menefee. UNLV Special Collections houses many of the original costume design drawings which can be accessed online through the Showgirls collection from UNLV Digital Collections. Many of the show's sets dated back to the original production and include the sinking of the Titanic and the bull used in Samson and Delilah. The bull was 27 feet tall and collapses down to 13 feet after it has been destroyed. The bull was the heaviest single piece of scenery in the show weighing 3 tons. It took 9 stagehands to move it from one position to another. Jubilee!'s longest serving principal dancer from the opening night until her departure 23 years later was Linda Green. The final closing cast consisted of 3 female singers, 3 male singers, 18 male dancers, 23 topless dancers, and 19 female dancers. Within the female covered and topless dancers, they were further categorized as "short" and "tall" dancers. A "short" dancer is a female dancer between 5 ft 8 in and 5 ft 9 in and a "tall" female dancer is between 5 ft 10 in and 6 ft 2 in. One may have been surprised at how tall the dancers were because of the proportions of the stage, which was three and a half stories high, giving the illusion that the performers are smaller in relationship to the stage.
Neo-Burlesque, or New Burlesque, is the revival and updating of the traditional American burlesque performance. Though based on the traditional burlesque art, the new form encompasses a wider range of performance styles; neo-burlesque acts can range from anything from classic striptease to modern dance to theatrical mini-dramas to comedic mayhem.
Hinda Wausau (1906–1980) aka Hinda Wassau, Hinda Wasau, or Hindu Wausau, was a star stripteaser in burlesque. She claimed, and has been credited with, inadvertently inventing the striptease around 1928 at either the Haymarket or State-Congress Theater in Chicago when her costume started coming off during a shimmy dance.
Elaina Satana is a Las Vegas-based burlesque performer and pin-up model. She's the founder of The Sin City Grind Kittens, and specializes in eating both fire and glass on stage. She's also known for performing to and alongside rock-n-roll and punk, self-designed ornate costumes, her tattoos, and her hourglass bombshell figure.
Jennie Worrell was a burlesque actress of the 19th century from Cincinnati, Ohio. She was the youngest of three Worrell sisters who appeared in Broadway productions from 1867 to 1872.
Angie Pontani is a contemporary burlesque dancer, choreographer, producer, and blogger based in Brooklyn, New York. She was crowned Miss Exotic World in 2008.
The Alesha Show was a 17-date 2009 concert tour of the United Kingdom by Alesha Dixon, to support her second album, The Alesha Show. The Alesha Show is Dixon's first headlining tour as a solo artist. Dixon said in an interview before the tour's announcement that her biggest goal would be to embark on a concert tour, saying, "The whole concept of a stage show is the most exciting part of what you do so to tour it would be fantastic."
American burlesque is a genre of variety show derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows. Burlesque became popular in America in the late 1860s and slowly evolved to feature ribald comedy and female nudity. By the late 1920s, the striptease element overshadowed the comedy and subjected burlesque to extensive local legislation. Burlesque gradually lost popularity beginning in the 1940s. A number of producers sought to capitalize on nostalgia for the entertainment by recreating burlesque on the stage and in Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1960s. There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s.
The New York Burlesque Festival is an annual four-day event that takes place in New York City each fall.
Garo Sparo is an American couture design house based in New York City. Its founder and head designer is Gary Spampinato, who goes professionally by Garo Sparo. Sparo is also a television personality who has starred on Unleashed by Garo on the Sundance Channel and as a contestant on Bravo's Project Runway.
A vedette is the main female artist of a show derived from cabaret and its subcategories of revue, vaudeville, music hall or burlesque. The purpose of the vedette is to entertain and captivate the public. The vedette has to know how to sing, dance and act on stage. Particularly accomplished artistes are considered super vedettes or first vedettes. Vedettes often appear alongside groups of dancers, flashy and revealing costumes, magicians, comedians, jugglers, or even performing animals. Vedettes specializing in burlesque generally do striptease and may also perform nude on stage.
Lesburlesque is a British troupe of over thirty burlesque performers that perform on the cabaret circuit. They are notable for being the first and only burlesque troupe in the UK that performs lesbian burlesque. Following on from the success of Los Angeles-based girl band and dance troupe, the Pin Up Girls, Lesburlesque appeared on the burlesque scene in September 2010. They came to wider public attention in 2012 for having performed at a former church and continue to incorporate traditionally lesbian specific cabaret entertainment, such as drag kinging to broadening its appeal to the wider cabaret circuit.
Jo Weldon, commonly known as Jo Boobs or Jo Boobs Weldon, is a performer, author, activist, and educator based in New York City. Weldon's body of work centers around stripping and striptease. She established and runs The New York School of Burlesque and wrote The Burlesque Handbook. She is an advocate for sex-worker rights and freedom of sexual expression.
Brian Newman is an American jazz musician, singer, and trumpet player. He is most known for his numerous performances with Lady Gaga and her surprise appearances at his performances in New York City. Newman currently holds a residency at the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City and is married to American burlesque performer Angie Pontani.
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