A new documentary feature film pulls back the curtain on today’s new wave of burlesque.

Filmed on stage in a Portland theatre, this film interviews a diverse range of performers (including Angelique DeVil, Isaiah Esquire, Zora Von Pavonine, and the queer-identified Babs Jamboree) to reveal the naked truth about the world of burlesque, a place where performance is the conduit for discovering and being the authentic self. As Angelique DeVil says in the film, “Burlesque doesn’t make me feel alive. Burlesque makes me alive.” For these performers, who might feel marginalized by society in other ways, onstage it’s their bodies, their rules, their boundaries.

For Babs Jamboree, whose routine involves undressing as a burrito, the performance act is not so much about trying to be sexy as it is about self-confidence and “a full commitment  to being ridiculous.”

Producer Julie Livingston was inspired to make the film after taking some burlesque classes and getting to know some of the local dancers and performers. Irrespective of the identities and sexualities of the performers, the film’s intent is to reveal “what drives their creative process, what they are trying to achieve in terms of self-expression and the kind of audience response they are hoping to create,” says Livingston. “In Babs’ case, sexual orientation wasn’t the main motivation behind the acts she was describing or the story she most wanted to tell about herself as an artist.”

“I think burlesque appeals to women in general because it fosters an environment of acceptance and empowerment,” says Livingston. “And it definitely celebrates the female body.” While Babs is the only featured performer who is a lesbian, many of the secondary performers throughout the film are also lesbians.

Burlesque provides a space where diverse sexualities can come together and Livingston has noted from the hundreds of shows she’s attended that the form draws both straight and queer women.

All the artists featured in Glitter Tribe perform on the national and international burlesque circuit, sometimes separately, sometimes together. Many of the performers appear at burlesque festivals – especially the Burlesque Hall of Fame, BurlyCon and the Caribbean Burlesque Festival. The Stage Door Johnnies tour as a troupe and Jett Adore toured with Dita Von Teese this year.

Glitter Tribe is currently doing the festival circuit and a release date is yet to be confirmed.

For more information visit the film’s Official Website

Watch the trailer below

Glitter Tribe – trailer final – 1.31.16 from Brightwater Media on Vimeo.