Neo-Burlesque veteran Peekaboo Pointe is an interdisciplinary performer, artist and choreographer, with a MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Art from Brooklyn College.
In addition to being a proud stripper and burlesque headliner in nightclubs and festivals around the world, she choreographed and performed in Taylor Mac’s A 24 Decade History of Popular Music, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama (2017), and is a dancer for the revolutionary punk band, Pussy Riot.
She has been listed five times in The Burlesque TOP 50, has won seven New York Burlesque Festival Golden Pasties, and has performed at The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend nine times. She is also the subject of several documentaries including Play Me Burlesque and Getting Naked, and has featured in the Washington Post, Wall St. Journal and Cosmopolitan. She is a regular guest teaching artist at New York University, and her video art has been presented at the Jean Cocteau Cinema and the NMSU Art Museum.
Here’s her 21…
1. How would you define yourself in three words?
Shy, goofy, rebellious.
2. Who would play you in a movie about your life?
Nineties Parker Posey, with bleached hair of course.
3. What is your biggest strength?
My self determination. Call it capricorn power!
4. What is your biggest weakness?
I’m painfully shy! It has been one of my biggest hurdles, but the burlesque community and working as a stripper really helped me learn to navigate my shyness.

5. When are you most happy and inspired?
There are a few places that make me the most happy. Being onstage. Being in the rehearsal room with a group of people collaborating and supporting each other in the creative process. And travelling and exploring the world all by myself (and sometimes with my wife).
6. What is your favourite on-screen burlesque moment from film or TV?
Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles singing ‘I’m Tired’. I saw this movie when I was about eight and I’m pretty sure this scene changed my life forever. I wanted to be exactly like her!
7. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
If you’re afraid of something, it probably means you should walk through it. The most important things you’ll do in life are also the scariest! Push through – failure is a gift.

8. If you could switch lives with one person for a day, who would it be?
Maria Abromovich.
9. What’s the biggest myth or misconception about burlesque?
That it’s glamorous! We may have beautiful costumes, but the behind-the-scenes life of a performer is far from glamorous. If you know, you know. You have to have a rough-and-tumble side and a passion for your art so big that it pushes you through the really difficult spots – especially if you want to tour!
10. If you could only perform to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Nightmare – the way the Duane Park Band plays it for me!

11. What surprisingly useful things do you have in your show case?
My case is far from organised, so I have lots of random things in there, but having a spare sparkly g-string is one of the most important things to have! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed one, or another performer has needed to borrow it.
12. Do you have a backstage ritual?
When I first started performing I forgot to put my pasties on before a show once and realised as soon as the curtain went up! I went on with the show and made a joke about it during the performance, but I was so embarrassed! So now when my name is announced I always touch my pasties. Then I take a deep breath!
13. What advice would you give to new performers starting out today?
Be yourself! Don’t try to be like another performer, find your voice and do it in your own unique way. Burlesque is about showing the world who YOU are – reveal yourself!

14. What is your proudest achievement?
Honestly, my career. When I started performing in 2003, I never could have imagined the places that Burlesque would take me. I’ve travelled all over the world, met incredible people, and created works of performance art that I didn’t think I would ever get the chance to. I’m so amazed and grateful that I get to do what I do everyday!
15. What is your biggest regret?
I don’t really believe in regrets. I believe that every decision you make is made for a reason. Any failures or mistakes along the way just inform your next step, or your next piece of art. Failures can be the most magical life moments. I have had some pretty dark ones, but I wouldn’t want to get rid of them; they made me who I am today.
16. What is the biggest challenge facing today’s burlesque scene?
As we grow as a community, we have to work harder to grow together as a unit. The more we support each other as individual performers, all working toward the same goal, the more we will all succeed. I want to see us all lifting each other up more! The stronger we are as a community, the stronger we will be as individual performers! Share information, help each other out, recommend your favourite performers for gigs, and tell people you like their work!
17. If you could go back and tell yourself one thing when you started out in burlesque, what would it be?
Get WEIRDER!

18. What is a cause or issue that’s very important to you?
I am very passionate about amplifying the voices of sex workers and strippers.
19. What are you currently reading, watching, and listening to?
I’m reading Crash, a truly unhinged book from the seventies. I just finished watching Squid Game, also unhinged. And I’m listening to one song over and over; when I get a new act in my mind, that’s literally all I can listen to for weeks on end until it gets onstage.
20. If you could share a dressing room with one performer for the rest of your career, who would it be?
I’d have to say Tansy! We toured Europe together for six weeks, and I never got sick of her. She’s a dreamboat.
21. What would you like your life and career to look like in 10 years time?
I still want to be stripping! I never want to leave the burlesque stage! But I would like to extend my performance practice into the visual art world. I’ve been creating installations and video art which are an extension of my performances in burlesque. I hope in 10 years I’ll be doing more gallery and theatre shows.
I would also like to be writing. I have always been a writer and now I am beginning to share my stories. I would love to work on a book!
Visit ilovepeekaboopointe.com and follow Peekaboo Pointe on Instagram. Peekaboo Pointe has a new monthly show in New York City, Tales from the Strip, true stories told by strippers about the lives of people who work without clothing.