Swinging a boa helped Christine Vazquez walk the grocery aisle with a strut in her step.
Vazquez, 54, joined Brazil Bronze studios’ Burlesque Bikini Bootcamp, where, after the November Cher/Christina Aguilera film “Burlesque,” women are nervously stepping into classes — inspired that they, too, can nuzzle a boa and pull sparkles out of their bra.
“I think that regular women just want to do something that gives them permission to have fun,” said Sally Blenkey-Tchassova, the workshop’s creator, who is known as “Lady Chardonnay” in class.
Classes are packed to the 25-person limit, she said — so she’s quadrupling classes. More than 800 people bought a Groupon this past Wednesday offering a $49 package.
Next week, bootcamp will host a $150 “Santa Baby Workshop” in its Chelsea studios. White rhinestone-encrusted stockings are ready, and women will play with a white boa “that’s like snow,” she said.
“There are quite a few shy giggles at first,” Blenkey-Tchassova said of newcomers, who often
ignore the suggested clothing — ruffled panties, fishnets, pearls — and opt instead for sweats.
Boas, books fly off shelf
The Cher/Aguilera movie is empowering boas elsewhere, too. Jo Weldon, headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque — based at the Lower East Side cabaret bar, Slipper Room — said her “The Burlesque Handbook” is flying off the shelves.
“There’s nothing that makes people smile more than having a boa,” says Vazquez.
