Author Lily Burana has founded a burlesque school especially for military spouses. Free to spouses of all branches, Burana hopes to help those dealing with deployment.
The Idea Behind a Burlesque School for Military Wives
Lily Burana is the author of the memoir Strip City [Miramax, 2003] and the Western novel Try [St. Martin's Griffin, 2007]. In 2009 she published her third book, the memoir I Love a Man in Uniform [Weinstein Books, 2009] which chronicles her transformation from a former punk rock stripper to wife of an Officer in the United States Army.
I Love a Man in Uniform describes many of the challenges of a military wife, such as the complicated etiquette, the stress of deployment and the experience of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Towards the end of the book, Burana writes of her desire to help other wives of deployed soldiers. She writes, “I wanted them to feel confident that when they faced their husbands again, they’d be strong and sexy. But mostly I wanted them to be there for themselves.” To achieve this, Burana came up with the idea of “Operation Bombshell”, the world’s only burlesque school for military wives.
How Military Wives can be Involved with “Operation Bombshell”
Open to military wives of all branches, Operation Burlesque is a 90-minute burlesque class taught by Burana. The routines are choreographed by Jo Weldon, headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque. Burana stresses that there is no nudity involved in the burlesque routines and that classes are open to all levels of physical ability; no previous dance training is required.
Operation Bombshell is taught on military bases at the requests of military wives. In an interview with The Rumpus, Burana said “it’s really no more complicated than a wife emailing me with her interest in setting up a class and the two of us figuring out when and where to host the group.”
No background checks are required. If someone says that she is a military wife with a deployed husband, Burana says she believes her.
Benefit for Military Wives’ Burlesque School
Operation Bombshell is free to all military wives. To raise funds for the project, a benefit was held in May at Trader Vic’s in Los Angeles. Diablo Cody, Academy Award winning writer of the film Juno, hosted the benefit. The military themed event was sponsored by vintage-style clothing store “Pin-Up Girl Clothing” and featured burlesque performances by Maisumi Max and La Cholita.
School Helps Military Wives Leave Stresses Behind
Operation Bombshell continues to be a success with military wives all over the United States. Burana says of the project that it offers military wives “one hour to get out of their everyday lives to learn something new, to get in touch with their inner glamour girls, and to leave the stress of the military wife life behind, if only for a little while.”
Sources:
Burana, L. I Love a Man in Uniform. New York, NY: Weinstein Books. 2009.
The Rumpus Interview with Lily Burana, April 2009.
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