Classes

Each season we offer a mix of classes ranging from performance progressives to dance & burlesque skill-building classes, to workout and dance conditioning classes. Join us for varied training that will bring some sparkle to your life!
In the event of another COVID-19 shutdown, classes will continue via Zoom.
All in-studio classes require mandatory mask-wearing to keep our students and teachers safe.
Scholarships: Sponsored BIPOC spots are available. Email us to claim a spot.
Accessibility: The VBC is located on the second floor of a building with no elevator access, accessible via a wide set of stairs.
Payment Plans: Payment plans are available. Please email us with any questions.
Classes

Each season we offer a mix of classes ranging from performance progressives to dance & burlesque skill-building classes, to workout and dance conditioning classes. Join us for varied training that will bring some sparkle to your life!
In the event of another COVID-19 shutdown, classes will continue via Zoom.
All in-studio classes require mandatory mask-wearing to keep our students and teachers safe.
Scholarships: Sponsored BIPOC spots are available. Email us to claim a spot.
Accessibility: The VBC is located on the second floor of a building with no elevator access, accessible via a wide set of stairs.
Payment Plans: Payment plans are available. Please email us with any questions.
Current Offerings
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Burlesque: An Introduction
$95.00 Instructor: Ariel Helvetica Dates: Thursdays, September 7 – 21 Cost: $95 SOLD OUT. Please email vancouverburlesqueco@gmail.com to be added to the waitlist. Join Ariel Helvetica for a fun 3-week course of shimmy, shaking good times! Dip your toes into the sparkling world of Burlesque and the Art of the Tease. This 3-day course will introduce you to our sassy art form – starting with Burlesque’s history, classic movement and styling, and moving through striptease peels & reveals. You will focus on poise & posture, walking in heels, and some fun bump’n’grind movement, and will then layer our striptease skills on to this foundation. You will also learn a fun choreo along the way to help put your newfound tricks together. Everyone welcome – whether you’re brand new to burlesque or you’re a burlesque student who wants to learn more – there will be something for each showpony living inside you! -
Burlesque: A Debut
$270.00SOLD OUT
Instructor: Ariel Helvetica
Dates: Tuesdays, October 3 – 24 and November 7 – 28 *no class on October 31
Time: 7:45pm – 9:15pm
Cost: $270Pre-requisite: Burlesque: An Introduction
Have you finished our Burlesque Introduction course and unsure where to go next? This is the class for you!
In this 8 week course, Ariel Helvetica will prepare you for your first burlesque group performance. We will build upon our current foundations including history and movement to take your tease factor to the next level. Learn how to work in a group setting to create a cohesive classic burlesque routine.This class will lead up to a group performance at a VBC Student Showcase, Saturday, December 2 at The Rio Theatre – we will be working together to create a full routine, complete with costume and striptease.
**Cost includes notions for your costumes. You will also receive professional stage photos and video from the showcase.
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Lyrical Tease
$270.00REGISTRATION OPENS MONDAY, AUGUST 14 AT 6PM
Instructor: Androsia Wilde
Dates: Fridays, Sept 22 – Nov 24 *no class Oct 27
Time: 6pm – 7:30pm
Cost: $270This 9 week performance progressive with Androsia Wilde explores how the art of striptease can be used to speak to the spectrum of human emotion through dance. Combining elements of contemporary movement with an emphasis on musicality, deliberate yet restrained movement, and the power of a well-honed slow burn, students are invited to tap into their bodies, slow things down, and really sink into the idea of daring to be both emotionally vulnerable and captivating all at once. Be prepared: this class will make you *feel things*.
You will be performing on our VBC Student Showcase on Saturday, December 2 at the Rio Theatre. You will also receive professional stage photos and video from the Showcase.
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Island Gyal Flow
$270.00REGISTRATION OPENS MONDAY, AUGUST 14 AT 6:30PM
Instructor: Androsia Wilde
Dates: Sundays, Oct 1 – Nov 26
Time: 1pm – 2:30pm
Cost: $270Pre-requisites: none
You know how to move, but do you know how *you* move?
ISLAND GYAL FLOW is a unique, open-level 9 week progressive where Androsia Wilde leads you through a more experimental, decolonial and deeply personal approach to movement: born from the philosophies of her own ancestry and dance practice where Movement is meant to be authentic, unshackled, and inspire rapture from those lucky enough to witness it. Develop the courage to freestyle to rhythms on the fly, seamlessly course-correct if you ever forget your choreo, and decode your body’s unique movement choices through experimentation and trust. Perfect for dancers at any stage of their movement journey, this course encourages you to just…flow.This class works up to a performance at our VBC Student Showcase on Saturday, December 2 at The Rio Theatre. You will also be supplied with professional photos and video from the show.
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Burlesque: Ingenue
$270.00REGISTRATION OPENS MONDAY, AUGUST 14 AT 6:30PM
Instructor: Cherry OnTop
Dates: Sundays, October 1 – November 26 *no class October 29
Time: 3pm – 4:30pm
Cost: $270Pre-requisites: Burlesque Intro & Burlesque Debut
This 8 week course focuses on Classic Burlesque Movement and delves deeper into the skills learned in Burlesque: An Introduction and Burlesque: Debut.
Continue to build on your foundation of Poise & Posture, walking in heels and more traditional burlesque style. Learn how to showcase your personality while building your burlesque movement library.
This class will lead up to a group performance at a VBC Student Showcase on Saturday, December 2 at The Rio Theatre – we will be working together to create a full routine, complete with costume and striptease.*Costumes will be needed for the show – we will do our best to make it affordable and accessible for everyone. Be prepared to do some crafting and to hunt and gather for affordable pieces at 2nd hand stores or lingerie stores.
**Cost includes notions for your costumes. You will also receive professional stage photos and video from the showcase. -
Burlesque: Starlets
$270.00SOLD OUT. Please email us for waitlist: vancouverburlesqueco@gmail.com
Instructor: Cherry OnTop
Dates: Sundays, October 1 – November 26 *no class October 29
Time: 5pm – 6:30pm
Cost: $270Pre-requisites: Burlesque Intro, Debut & Ingenue + one other VBC group performance class (or the equivalent through another school)
Join Cherry OnTop for 8 weeks of digging deeper into burlesque movement, while incorporating more sensual striptease and stage presence elements.
Cherry’s Starlet Level is geared to an advanced dance level and will be pushed at a harder pace. Together we will practice and refine our striptease, practice giving “face” plus work on the elements that drag the audience into the seduction of burlesque. Learn more about drawing people in and projecting your energy out.
The main goal of this progressive is to work together on a group performance where we can showcase our new skills in an exciting, interesting and undeniably sensual way!
You’ll be performing at our VBC Student Showcase on Saturday, December 2 at the Rio Theatre.*Costumes will be needed for the show – we will do our best to make it affordable and accessible for everyone. Be prepared to do some crafting and to hunt and gather for affordable pieces at 2nd hand stores or lingerie stores.
**Cost includes notions for your costumes. You will also receive professional stage photos and video from the Showcase. -
Cabaret Chair Dance
$240.00REGISTRATION OPENS MONDAY, AUGUST 14 AT 7PM
Instructor: Chelsea Hart
Dates: Thursdays, October 5 – November 23
Time: 6pm – 7:30pm
Cost: $240Pre-requisite: Intro to Chair Dance workshop with Chelsea *(unless you have taken Chair Cabaret before)
In this eight-week progressive we will live out our Cabaret fantasies, dive into some dance fundamentals, learn a sizzling and somewhat cheeky piece of choreography with our beloved dance partner: the chair. Think classic, smoky, dimly lit, speakeasy vibes. This is an open level class – past dance experience is not required. Come as you are and let’s get steamy!
This class will lead up to a group performance at a VBC Student Showcase on Saturday, Dec 2 at The Rio Theatre. You will also be supplied with professional stage photos and video of your act.
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Advanced Cabaret Chair Dance
$240.00REGISTRATION OPENS MONDAY, AUGUST 14 AT 7PM
Instructor: Chelsea Hart
Dates: Thursdays, October 5 – November 23
Time: 7:45pm – 9:15pm
Cost: $240Pre-requisites: This is an advanced level – you need to have taken at least 2 sessions of Open Level Cabaret Chair or been given approval from Chelsea
This eight week progressive is for those who have past dance/chair-dance experience who want to lean into the sultry, character driven world of Cabaret. Classical jazz lines combined with chair tricks and theatrics – this progressive will be an extra saucy experience.
Your class will lead to a group performance at our VBC Student Showcase on Saturday, December 2 at the Rio Theatre. You will also be supplied with professional stage photos and video of the show.
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House of Grind
$180.00SOLD OUT. For waitlist please email vancouverburlesqueco@gmail.com
Instructor: Cherry OnTop
Dates/Times:
Sundays, Aug 13 – Aug 27: 5pm – 6:30pm
Sunday, Sept 10 & 17: 3pm – 4:30pm
Cost: $180As if from the dark alley in a Frank Miller movie or a dive bar full of suspicious characters in a Tarantino film, you’ll join Cherry OnTop for a 5 week progressive class and make your way towards a stage that lies on your mind: where you will gyrate, bump and hair flip your way into your starring role as the baddest, most seductive bitch in town.
Inspired by the dancing babes of some of our favourite movies, combined with the deep sensuality of burlesque’s bump’n’grind, this class will have you letting loose like never before. Cherry will drill you on body isolations and shimmies before leading you down a sensual path into a choreography that will shake you from head to toe. Class is all-levels but will be a cardio and choreo challenge.
This round we’re doing an ode to everyone’s favourite Salma Hayek movie: Dusk to Dawn.*This progressive ends in a performance on Sept 22 at the Rio Theatre. You will also be supplied with professional stage photos and video of the show.