Yasmin Coral

What my show actually looks like

Classic burlesque is not about taking things off. It is about everything happening around it. I work with a metre and a half of feather boa, and that is my main instrument: it hides, reveals, turns around the body and becomes part of it. Anyone who has seen real burlesque knows the boa does half the work.

The show has three parts with pauses between them. An entrance in a long gown, a middle where the gloves come off one at a time, and an ending. The tempo is deliberately slow. I am 174 centimetres with a full figure, and I have learned to work with that without vulgarity, which takes years and is the difference between burlesque and ordinary stripping.

I bring my own music, usually swing and jazz with a little electronica underneath.

Who I suit

Premium private events. A villa or cabin with a large living room, a yacht party, an evening where guests are dressed properly. That is where my show looks the way it should.

A closed company event works well too, because burlesque is the one style you can put in front of a mixed group without anyone feeling awkward.

I do stag nights as well, but I ask in advance how much has been drunk. Burlesque needs people watching, not shouting.

Where it works

I need more room than most. The boa alone takes two metres. A high ceiling helps, a smooth floor helps more. A loft is perfect, a villa is perfect, a hotel suite is excellent.

A lot of my work is in Herzliya and north Tel Aviv, and a fair amount in Jaffa lofts. A two room flat is possible, we simply lose some of the movement.

What I do not do

Nobody touches the boa. That sounds funny until someone pulls it mid-show, at which point the show is over. No filming. And I do not do lap dance, which is a completely different craft — if that is what you want, ask for Tamar Gold, she is the best at it.

The show ends when it ends, with no afterwards. Same as all of us.

How I got into this

I started in theatre. Three years in a small ensemble, mostly playing the woman who walks in and changes the room. Then I saw a burlesque show in Berlin and understood it was the same thing without the text.

I bought the boa in my first year and had no idea how to use it. A metre and a half of feathers is like dancing with a partner who has opinions. It took two years before it stopped getting in the way and started helping.

Eight years in the work. For the last three I have turned down most club bookings — burlesque in a loud club is a waste, nobody is watching.

What I bring and what I need from you

The large boa or the small one depending on the space. A long gown, elbow gloves, a corset, high heels and my own music. I have the biggest bag of any of us and I arrive with it by car.

From you: room. Genuinely room, three metres by three of clear floor. A smooth surface, not carpet. Low light, and ideally one empty wall behind me, because half the show only reads against a clean background.

And one chair for the guest of honour, same as everyone.

Mistakes people make when they book me

Booking burlesque into a small room. I will perform and it will be pretty, but a third of it will not fit. Tell me the room size and I will bring the small boa instead.

Thinking burlesque is slow stripping. It is not. If you came to see the end quickly, take a different style and I will tell you which.

Putting me at the end of a long night. Burlesque needs people who can watch for twenty minutes straight. After four hours of drinking that is not my audience.

Asking to touch the boa. Sounds minor, and somebody pulls it every third evening. The feathers come out, and the boa costs about as much as a whole show.

Booking me

In the message: my name, the hour, the address, how many guests and what the space is like. I always ask about the space, because the answer decides whether I bring the large boa or the small one.

Standard price, no costume surcharge and no deposit. Closest to me in style are Lilit Morgan for a gothic version and Dina Klein for retro. Everyone is in the gallery.