NAT SOUND: Aislyn Roads singing a song from the burlesque show.

KINSEE MORLAN: A traditional burlesque performance is all about women. It's about the empowerment and celebration of women - their bodies, talents, personalities, sense of humor and skills. And yes, the women take their clothes off, but don't expect to go to the Bare Bones Burlesque and Salt Fire Circus shows this week to see a simple striptease. Here's Bare Bones director Julie (WHO-DACK).

JULIE HUDAK: Burlesque is more the art of the tease and the art of seduction. And so not taking all of your clothes off right way but really drawing attention from the crowd in a really slow and methodical way. I think the culture we live in now, we're so used to seeing everything right off the bat and this show is more about slowing down the pace, celebrating the female form and focusing on the art of the tease.

KINSEE: The tease is done this way: The girls, which, in the recent Burlesque revival that's been happening over the world over the last decade, are not your traditional toothpick model types. They're usually more punk-rock than Barbie doll, showing off just as many tattoos and piercings as curves and satirical sense of humor. They usually take on a theatrical persona and do things like shadow dances behind see-through screens, they pretend to be getting ready for bed, or they do some other sort of show involving a little acting, a little dancing and, yes, they do eventually remove their costumes. The costumes themselves, by the way, are works of art. The whole do-it-yourself vibe is big in burlesque, and Bare Bones is keeping that traditional alive with handmade costumes sewn by local artist Meisa Chase. The Bare Bones girls do eventually and seductively bare it all, but they don't get down to anything less than cutesy full-bottom panties and pasties. And as if that wasn't enough to piqu your interest, there's more.

JULIE: Burlesque came out of vaudeville - it was sort of the naughty side of vaudeville. We have a five-piece band, we have four voluptuous singers, we have an MC and, in addition to the burlesque performance, we have the circus element. So we're gonna have a juggler and two aerial artists doing trapeze in the show .

KINSEE: Julie, who'll be going by the burlesque name Julie Blue Eyes, also mentioned something about Acro Yoga, a Bettie Page tribute and a French maid. But before we divulge too much detail about the upcoming Bare Bones Burlesque and Salt Fire Circus show, we'll stop short of bearing it all and leave you with some more vocals by Bare Bones vocalist Aisland Rhodes as a tease. You'll have to see the shows yourselves, which start tonight at 8 p.m. and continues at the Durango Arts Center through Saturday. © Copyright 2013, ksut