by Constance Garcia-Barrio

Who could resist the idea of a burlesque show along with brunch? Four of my girlfriends nixed the prospect as too risque, too boring, too crazy. Their responses pushed me to go solo to the performance. Curiosity played a part, but in addition, going by myself meant venturing to a new place, L’Etage , 624 S. 6th St., alone. As a woman in her 70s, I expect the coming years will mean relinquishing possibilities of even local travel due to physical infirmities or mental cloudiness. Why give in before I have to?

Josh Schonewolf, the host, greeted me in a bright pink suit and matching hat with what looked like lipstick prints all over them. “Look at the bar and at the tables for a space with your name on a sticky note,” he said.

I circled practically the whole room — and found it clean and well appointed — before I found my name. I would share a tiny table with Eric C. and Donna S., who, it seemed, had also decided to come by themselves.

While I waited for Eric and Donna, I ordered a crepe with eggs, cheddar cheese and spinach for $13 a la carte. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being perfect, I would rate the crepe at 8.5. Golden brown and generous in size, it could have been tastier and hotter.

I was enjoying my first forkful when the first dancer slithered into the room with what looked like 100 balloons wrapped around her. During her sensuous dance, she popped the balloons with a feathered dart to reveal a dazzling skimpy costume.

Another performer wore a fire-engine red spangled gown and moved her lush body — her hips wide enough to have borne children — with grace.

A guest took a selfie with a performer, who then used the cell phone to take a shot of her own backside as a souvenir before returning it to the guest.

When Josh Schonewolf, founder of the burlesque brunch, did his own lively dance, I nerved myself up and put a dollar bill in his shiny black singlet.

With the show well along, Eric and Donna still hadn’t arrived. Everyone else had come with friends and in some cases with their grown children. I felt glum. Then two couples sitting nearby “adopted” me.

“My husband and I have three kids,” the wife of the couple on my right said. “This is only our third date in seven years. How about you?”

“I’ve been a widow for a while,” I said.

“Children?” she asked.

“A grown son with mental illness.”

“Our middle child is mentally ill,” she said.

We had an instant bond and window into each other’s lives.

The couple near them introduced themselves, too. The wife, who’d had a few mimosas, stood for a moment and did some moves that rivaled the performers’ routines. We all applauded her.

I found that the usual barriers of age, race and class didn’t apply here. The five of us — the two couples and I — represented Black, White and Latino heritage, decades of age differences, and working class and middle-class roots. I had expected to find laughter at the show, but the hopefulness of stretching past differences buoyed my spirits in a deeper way.

Begun in December of 2018 and held the third Sunday of each month, the Burlesque Brunch has proven popular, I saw from the packed room. “I’ve always liked burlesque, and brunch is my favorite meal, so I thought why not combine the two?” said Schonewolf, of South Philly, who belongs to the all-male “Bearlesque” dancers. “Did you see that the dancers came in all shapes, sizes and colors?” he said. “I wanted to more than a bunch of skinny white bodies. Every body is sexy. This show is very body-positive.”

One of the dancers, Miss Chi Chi, found her way to burlesque through a love of movement and dancing. “I did cheerleading,” said Miss Chi Chi, who majored in journalism at Penn State. “I’ve always loved to dance. I had gastric bypass a while ago, and I now I find that burlesque is a great confidence-builder. I want my act to bring joy to people. I want to see them smile while I’m doing what I love to do.”

Once more, I shared an unexpected connection. Miss Chi Chi gained confidence by dancing for an audience that included me, and I had my confidence bolstered by risking a new experience alone. It just might be true that the universe is kind when we follow its promptings.

Constance Garcia-Barrio, a long-time resident of Mt. Airy, is a retired professor of Romance languages at West Chester University and a freelance writer for several area publications.