Burlesque Tourism With Michael Prior

Los Angeles burlesque darling La Cholita growls at the crowd and spins her tassels counterclockwise. Across the Pacific, Australian sirens throw on American drag and mix tight gingham blouses with sailor hats. Photographer Michael Prior gets the best shots from the footlights.

Based in Melbourne, Prior travels to international burlesque shows and photographs the dancers on and offstage, capturing the joy of performance as well as the athleticism involved in keeping those pasties from launching into the crowd.

His new book "Titzen Blitzen!" is an available-light travelogue through London's week-long Burlesque Festival, which drew an international roster of dancers. Sado vamps to naughty maids play to crowds that range from elegant to rowdy, which says a lot about burlesque's place as a living art form, as a "body type"-neutral treat, and as a mirror of class structure.

And that's all well and good, but I liked the women.

Prior's site also contains a wealth of studio shots of burlesque performers without those awkward nipple-obscuring impediments.

· Michael Prior (michaelprior.com)