NEW ORLEANS - In one sequence of "Bustout Burlesque," Nedra Nequan, whose stage name is Perle Noire, or the Black Pearl, springs onto the stage stripped down to a G-string, pasties and yellow featherlike ruffles on her wrists and ankles.
In a routine reminiscent of legendary vaudeville dancer Josephine Baker's, she performs a series of calisthenics, flinging her arms and legs sky-high and leaping into a starburst before landing in the splits and slithering seductively across the floor toward the audience.
The predominately middle-aged male and female patrons inside the small Tipitina's French Quarter theater erupt in cheers and applause, just the response producer Rick Delaup hoped for when he revived the show after Hurricane Katrina.
He sees the production as an effort to preserve a New Orleans tradition revered by many here.
"I want to bring back an entertaining, sexy show that is appealing and honors our past," said Delaup, 38, a city native. "There is awareness in New Orleans that this is important to the culture."
Burlesque, a form of erotic striptease variety show, sprang to life in New York in the 1880s as a form of working-class entertainment, said Jaye Furlonger, a San Diego-based historic preservationist who wrote her master's thesis on the history of San Diego's lost Hollywood Burlesque Theater.
The theatrical art form was in full swing by the 1930s, gained momentum during the 1940s war years, and had its heyday in the 1950s in places like Bourbon Street in New Orleans' French Quarter.
"Shows were lined up and down the street," said Delaup, who was working on a documentary about burlesque before Katrina wiped out his archives.
"New Orleans definitely is a unique case study and has certainly had a very rich burlesque history," said Furlonger, who also is helping to document and preserve the archives of the Exotic World Burlesque Museum in Helendale, Calif., in the Mojave Desert.
The tradition gradually dwindled with the changing of the times and tastes.
"Burlesque died because it was cheaper for theater owners to show movies than a full theatrical performance," Furlonger said. "The shows started to get leaner."
And they started to morph into seedy nightclub strip acts.
A nationwide burlesque revival in recent years inspired Delaup to launch his show last year. He serves as director, host and ticket master for the show, which ran for three months and was set for another run last September.
But then Katrina struck, ravaging the producer's home and his livelihood.
All of the show's props and costumes were destroyed, including a Josephine Baker-style tuxedo and rhinestone-decorated top hat, and an imitation of her infamous banana-skirt costume, which Delaup had bought for $800 just days before the storm.
Delaup's first inclination was to quit - to leave his hometown and forget the show. But when he went to clubs and private parties, people kept asking, " 'What about the show?' and 'When is it coming back?' " Delaup recalled.
With many of the show's original staff displaced or still struggling with problems wrought by Katrina, Delaup's team - including a brass band and the dancers - has gone from about 19 to a dozen. He convinced the staff to work for deferred pay.
When ticket sales are low, salaries are paid from Delaup's own pocket. He now commutes from Thibodaux, about an hour southwest of New Orleans, where his wife recently found work.
Nequan said she started dancing when she was 4. She had formal training in ballroom dancing and said she added to that modern and burlesque styles. Before joining Delaup's troupe, she was a supporting actress in a local musical.
"It was important for me to continue with the show," said Nequan, 26, whose house in the city's Lower 9th Ward was washed away. "Josephine Baker is a legend. I'm paying tribute to her."
She also underscored the importance of preserving aspects of the city's culture that distinguish it from the rest of America.
"We want to keep what makes New Orleans," Nequan said. "We want to keep that alive."
