Portia Favro is a professional dancer who jetéd into Burlesque eleven years ago. An award-winning choreographer and performer, Portia led (quite literally in fact) her troupe Pin-Up Posse to victory as Best Large Group at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend 2023, won ‘Most Erotic’ at the 2025 Hollywood Burlesque Festival, and was voted #13 in the 2024 Burlesque Top 50.
Here’s her 21.
1. How would you define yourself in three words?
Disciplined, passionate, silly.
2. Who would play you in a movie about your life?
Stanley Tucci.
3. What is your biggest strength?
My gut instinct has never failed me. I trust my instincts and know how to balance them with logic and reflection.
4. What is your biggest weakness?
Oh, definitely overworking. While running Pin-Up Posse full time and teaching full time, I pushed myself hard, creating sixteen group programs between January 2024 and May 2025. This showed me the importance of work-life balance, and I’ve been intentionally stepping back from group program creation to recharge and work more sustainably.
5. When are you most happy and inspired?
Being around other creatives makes me light up. Whether it’s burlesque, dance, drag, concerts, museums, or traveling, I feel most charged up when I’m surrounded by art and people.
6. What is your favourite on-screen burlesque moment from film or TV?
Flashdance, hands down. The final audition scene when she does ten pirouettes and the opening sequence shot of her heels with the bows both live rent-free in my mind.
7. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Trust the timing of your life.
8. If you could switch lives with one person for a day, who would it be?
Britney Spears specifically at the 2000 VMAs when she performed Satisfaction into Oops I Did It Again in the nude sparkly outfit.
9. What’s the biggest myth or misconception about burlesque?
That it’s easy/simple/glamourous. I have one foot in the professional dance world and the other in Burlesque, and I hear these misconceptions a lot. Slowing down, mastering striptease, and building a full fantasy through costume, hair, and makeup takes far more than the five minutes you see onstage. I can throw myself around dancing – but burlesque is hard.
10. If you could only perform to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Careless Whisper by George Michael and/or In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins.
11. What surprisingly useful things do you have in your show case?
Band aids forever!
12. Do you have a backstage ritual?
I try to find a quiet place and take a few moments for breathwork. I alternate breathing through each nostril – 13 breaths per side – about 15–20 minutes before performing. It grounds me, calms my body, and helps me step out of my head – especially if I’m also producing a show on top of performing (which is often).
13. What advice would you give to new performers starting out today?
Don’t rush the process and cross-train! Take a burlesque class AND maybe consider also looking at acting, drag, comedy, ballet, Pilates, whatever, to keep expanding what I like to call your ‘Performer Tool Kit’. There are so many online resources, from free and donation-based to paid coaching.
Stay passionately curious, keep learning, and remember: no one’s going to hand you anything.
14. What is your proudest achievement?
Not quitting.
During the pandemic, when things felt impossibly dark, I nearly walked away until I tried one last idea – Pin-Up Posse. What began as a small mentorship for sixteen performers grew into a professional BHoF team, live floorshows in Vancouver, and now a full training program serving over 100 students. I’m so glad I tried.
15. What is your biggest regret?
I honestly have no regrets. Every challenge, risk and detour shaped my growth as a performer and creator, and I wouldn’t be where I am without any of it.
16. What is the biggest challenge facing today’s burlesque scene?
Hot Takes: Venting vs. Gossiping.
It’s totally healthy to process your feelings, whether with a trusted friend, in therapy, journaling, etc. Venting/clearing can help us reflect and build understanding instead of drama. Gossip, on the other hand, is talking about someone behind their back in a way that doesn’t help anyone.
We’re all learning how to grow together, especially in such an intense world. If you have an issue, go to the person directly and keep it constructive.
We’ve all made mistakes and we’ll make more. This is a commitment to learning we’ll be doing for the rest of our lives.
17. If you could go back and tell yourself one thing when you started out in burlesque, what would it be?
Oh girl, get weirderrrrrrrr.
18. What is a cause or issue that’s very important to you?
Sex worker rights. I worked at a drop-in centre for street-based sex workers in Vancouver, which was only a few blocks away from the studio where we ran burlesque classes. Seeing that contrast firsthand was eye-opening.
Sex work is work, and we wouldn’t be here without the labour of our Legends, our local communities, and our history.
Feeling hopeless about the world? You can make a difference right now. Donate a package of socks or underwear to your local shelter – women’s, men’s, or any shelter that needs it. Especially in the months outside of December.
Small actions ripple out in ways you can’t always see, but they matter.
19. What are you currently reading, watching, and listening to?
This summer, driving across Canada, I completely fell in love with house/EDM. I totally get the ‘flow state’ and the vibe now.
My partner and I just set our 2026 reading goals: three fiction and three non-fiction books. Drop your recs!
20. If you could share a dressing room with one performer for the rest of your career, who would it be?
My bestie, Tina Bo’bina. We’ve been dancing together since high school, nearly twenty years, and now we both do burlesque. We haven’t lived in the same town since 2008, so any time we get to hang, let alone perform together (and if neither of us is producing the show – bonus!) it’s a real treat.
21. What would you like your life and career to look like in 10 years time?
I hope I’m still having fun, my friends are still having fun and that I’m able to continue passing the baton to new teachers, producers, etc., to continue on our legacies for shows and classes.
Visit Portia Favro at portiafavro.com and follow her on Instagram.