Jo Weldon

Jo Weldon (born 1962),[1] commonly known as Jo Boobs or Jo Boobs Weldon, is a performer, author, activist, and educator based in New York City. Weldon's body of work centers around stripping and striptease. She established and runs The New York School of Burlesque and wrote The Burlesque Handbook.[2] She is an advocate for sex-worker rights and freedom of sexual expression.[3]

Jo Weldon
Jo Weldon at Miss Exotic World Pageant in 2009
Weldon in 2009
Born1962
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Burlesque performer, author, photographer,
Children1
Websiteschoolofburlesque.com

Early career

After moving to New York in 1997, Weldon took part in burlesque shows at The Blue Angel and Coney Island and was inspired by performances from Angie Pontani, Bambi the Mermaid and Remy Vicious. Weldon's academic career includes a degree in Business Administration, with her graduate work in media ethics. During her internships, she worked writing summaries of House of Representatives activities and writing scripts for CNN.

Burlesque
Weldon performing at Miss Exotic World Pageant in 2007

Weldon's burlesque style spans classical burlesque to avant garde performance art. In her signature Godzilla act she strips from a monster costume to a mashup of Blue Öyster Cult's song "Godzilla" and sound clips from the original Godzilla movie. Weldon describes herself as "an absurdist and a surrealist as well as a lover of glamour."[4] She has performed internationally and in unusual venues such as the New York Public Library, where she performed a tribute to Gypsy Rose Lee as part of the Gypsy Centennial celebration.[5]

Weldon is co-executive director of education at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has judged and coordinated judging for the Hall's Miss Exotic World Pageant. In 2012 she was awarded the Sassy Lassy Award for Recognition of Outstanding Contribution to the Art of Burlesque.[6]

Weldon was inspired by the sideshows and burlesque shows of Coney Island in the mid-1990s, and has moderated the Wild Women Panel, among others, as part of Coney Island's annual Congress of Curious People.[7] Weldon has produced shows for Coney Island's Burlesque at the Beach series, including her annual Follies Fromage, a show based entirely on cheese, and the autobiographical God-Damned Women show. She is the coordinator and lead instructor of the Coney Island University Master Class in Burlesque.[8]

Teaching and The New York School of Burlesque
Weldon performing at BHF in 2010.

Weldon is an educator and authority on the topic of burlesque.[9] She is the founder, in 2003, and headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque. The school has taught disabled performers at DaDaFest in Liverpool, UK, and taught breast cancer survivors through its Pink Light Burlesque program.[10]

Weldon is the founder of Pink Light Burlesque, an organization to provide burlesque classes free of cost to breast cancer patients and survivors.[11] The first Pink Light Burlesque showcase in December 2011 was featured in TIME.[12] Pink Light Burlesque classes have been held in Seattle, New York and New Zealand.[13]

Published works

The Burlesque Handbook

Weldon is author The Burlesque Handbook (HarperCollins/ItBooks 2010), which developed from a compilation of her class handouts and from a 50-page ebook that she had already produced covering technique and performance.[14] It has a foreword by comedian Margaret Cho.[15]

Weldon taking photos at Miss Exotic World (2007).

Fierce: The History of Leopard Print

Weldon's second book is Fierce: The History of Leopard Print (Harper Design; Illustrated edition (June 26, 2018) Fierce chronicles the history of one of the world’s most beloved fashion patterns, leopard print, celebrating its beauty and place in couture, and the women who have dared to wear it.


Blogging

From 2001 to 2010, Weldon produced the website G-Strings Forever, a collection of photographs and articles about stripping and burlesque.[16] She maintained a LiveJournal account from 2004 to 2010 where she wrote extensively on burlesque, sex work, and women's issues.[17] Since 2007 Weldon has written the burlesque blog Burlesque Daily. From 2010 to 2011, Weldon answered burlesque questions on her Formspring account.[18] She writes a burlesque etiquette column for Pin Curl Magazine.[19]

Other

Weldon publishes essays and articles on the topics of stripping, sex-worker rights, burlesque history, and burlesque performance. She has consulted for, and was profiled in two webisodes of, the movie Burlesque.[20][21]

Sex-work advocacy

Weldon supports and works for the rights of strippers and other sex workers. She has attended and spoken at academic conferences, including the 1999 Socialist Scholar's Conference,[22] the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting, the International Congress on Prostitution, and the United Nations Beijing Plus Five Conference, where she lobbied for the adoption of the term "sex work" and for a distinction between forced and voluntary sex work.[23] Weldon has written articles on sex work and sex worker rights.[24] Weldon also toured with the Sex Worker Arts Show,[25][26] and co-produced W.O.(e).R.D., Women of experience Read Downtown, a performance reading of literary works by undomesticated women.[27]

Television and film appearances
YearAppearanceRoleNotes
1999Time Square Clean-UpHerselfTV, Documentary
1999–2006SexTVHerselfTV series documentary
2005Leonard Cohen: I'm Your ManBurlesque BeautyDocumentary, biography
2006Monja satanicaEstudiante AmoreShort horror
2006Tales of Times SquareAnna TurnerDocumentary
2006Alison Lapper/Spread Magazine/Lust CircusHerselfTV, Documentary
2007What Not to WearHerselfTV, Reality
2008, 2009Gossip GirlTV, Drama, Romance
2009No Strings AttachedHerself – Jo BoobsShort
2010Dirty Martini and the New BurlesqueHerself – Jo BoobsDocumentary
2010The Real Housewives of New York CityHerselfTV, Reality
2011Show Me How You BurlesqueHerselfWebisodes, Documentary

Books, essays and DVDs

Essays

  • Editors: Brewer, Gwen; Bullough, Vern L; Douglas, Jeffrey J; Elias, James E, Elias, Veronica Diehl. Porn 101: Eroticism Pornography and the First Amendment (Prometheus Books, 1999) Collection of essays including: Weldon, Jo. Topping from Below: Does Female Dominant Pornography Endorse the Rape of Women?
  • Editors: Egan, Danielle; Frank, Katherine; Johnson, Merri Lisa. Flesh for Fantasy: Producing and Consuming Exotic Dance (Seal Press 2004) Collection of essays including: Weldon, Jo. Whipped Cream, Fire Eating, and the Other Delights of Feature Dancing
  • Editors: Kramer Bussel, Rachel; Tyler, Alison. Hide and Seek: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists (Cleis Press, 2010) Weldon, Jo. Forward: Opening Doors

DVDs

  • Director: Weldon, Jo. Featuring: Weldon, Jo. Honey and Spice: Sensual and Fierce Burlesque Studio: World Dance New York (2009) DVD / instant video
  • Director: Weldon, Jo. Featuring: Weldon, Jo. Silk and Feathers: Burlesque Fan Dance Studio: World Dance New York (2009) DVD / instant video
  • Director: Weldon, Jo. Featuring: Weldon, Jo. Striptease for Burlesque, Exotic Dance & Every Day Studio: World Dance New York (2009) DVD / instant video

Books

  • Weldon, Jo. The Burlesque Handbook (It Books, 2010)

References
  1. Kahn, Eve M. (April 28, 2016). "Dressed to Kill: The Power of Leopard Prints". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved February 5, 2017. ...the year of her birth (1962...
  2. Lewis, Steve. My Intimate Interview with Burlesque Queen Jo Boobs Weldon Archived October 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, BlackBook, November 4, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  3. Johnson, Holli-Mae (September 13, 2011). "BurlyCon – Past, Present and Future". 21st Century Burlesque. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  4. Weldon in "Jo Boobs". Java's Bachelor Pad. July 2006. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  5. "Here she is, world!" Celebrate Gypsy's 100th Birthday with The New York Public Library, Bust Magazine. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  6. Droganes, Constance (June 8, 2010). "Burlesque diva Jo Weldon wants you to take it off". CTV News. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  7. Mixson, Colin (April 16, 2012). "Weird sisters: Sideshow women talk feminism in Coney". Brooklyn Paper. Archived from the original on February 22, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  8. "Sono Varieta". Coney Island University. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  9. Author Jo Weldon, Harper Collins Publishers Retrieved on March 30, 2013.
  10. "Presenting Jo Weldon! (Rim shot, please!)]". Ravenous.Journal.com. May 3, 2011. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  11. Pink Light Burlesque Archived December 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Official website. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  12. Santa Cruz, Lauren. Pink Light Burlesque: Breast Cancer Survivors Strip Down and Celebrate, Time, January 26, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  13. Shadwell, Talia (February 3, 2013). "Burlesque a confidence boost for cancer survivors". Stuff. Manawatu Standard. Palmerstown North, New Zealand. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  14. Devotchka, Divertida (October 31, 2010). "Jo Weldon". Pin Curl. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  15. Lewsis, Steve. "My Intimate Interview with Burlesque Queen Jo Boobs Weldon". Archived from the original on October 4, 2013.
  16. Internet Archive for http://www.gstringsforever.com, Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  17. Weldon, Jo. Eau de Jo Archived March 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, LiveJournal, December 22, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  18. Weldon, Jo (May 24, 2011). "Ask me anything about Burlesque!". Formspring. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  19. Weldon, Jo (March 31, 2012). "Backstage Etiquette with Jo Boobs". Pin Curl. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  20. Show me how you burlesque – episode 1 Archived December 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Christina Aguilera official website, December 8, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  21. Show me how you burlesque – episode 2 Archived December 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Christina Aguilera official website, December 22, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  22. Ditmore, Melissa Hope (2011). Prostitution and Sex Work. Greenwood. p. ??.
  23. "A Life's Work: The Stripper's Advocate". Nerve.com. May 12, 2004. Archived from the original on December 16, 2009. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  24. Weldon, Jo. "Sex work research needs to focus on money". TheScavenger.net. Archived from the original on May 12, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  25. Huang, Karen (February 2007). "Sex as Work". F News. Archived from the original on September 1, 2014. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  26. "Jo Weldon". Sex Worker Arts Show. Archived from the original on November 28, 2009. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  27. Ikard, Theresa (April 3, 2010). "Burlesque's Jo Weldon on Feminism, Fluid Sexuality, Domestication Drag". Carnal Nation. Archived from the original on November 20, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
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