Bastet Dance Fitness is located in Rohnert Park. It’s situated between a Pentecostal church and a Packard car museum—in what looks to be a battered old Safeway.
“Interesting neighborhood,” I thought to myself. I knocked and entered. Thotty McNaughty was waiting.
As we stood at her ad hoc work station inside the stripper pole dance studio, she made a wholly unexpected disclosure—she is a martial artist trained in traditional Filipino melee weapons. It is “her first love.” Conversationally, I asked her which was her favorite weapon. “Knives,” she said. Could she, I began, kill someone with a knife? “Yes” was the response. She finished my sentence for me. Charmante. It was good to know—my work as an interviewer is to quickly establish the basic facts of my subject.
At her work table, Thotty was constructing fans out of tall and airy ostrich feathers of the purest white—instruments that carried their own danger. Like many of the stars of the
burgeoning North Bay burlesque scene, Thotty Mc Naughty is incredibly handy and makes many of her own costumes and accessories. Soliciting a breakdown of her skill sets, Thotty said her “superpower” was that she could break down and build most anything she saw—something she had inherited from her dad—an auto mechanic and rock bassist.
Thotty started her adult dance career as a curious student at that very studio—Bastet Dance Fitness, a school for sensual dance styles. Sensuality—an embodied awareness and aliveness of the senses—is emphasized at Bastet, although sexy often flows out from it. Discovering a real aptitude, Thotty soon became a teacher herself. Event production flowed naturally as she sought new performance opportunities for her advanced dance students.
Weaving through the stripper poles, we came to a non-mirrored wall hung hip-to-ceiling with photos of past dance productions. Below the hip were low display shelves of half a hundred pairs of eight-inch stripper heels—beautiful art objects even before one considers their associations. I’ll mention in passing that Thotty was herself wearing overstuffed bear slippers for the interview.
What personally interests me about burlesque as an art form is that it has been progressively expanded until it can be quite anything one can do in a corset—stand-up, physical comedy, acrobatics, satire, protest, theater, singing, lip sync, storytelling and dance—as well as striptease. And local shows, such as those Thotty McNaughty produces, reflect that variety.
Thotty went even further, saying, “Diversity is super important; there is no set standard of body type. I love the glitter and the glam, but that’s just me. There’s nerd-lesque; there’s boy-lesque; there’s gore-lesque. There is something for everyone. And no one should be afraid to try it. Dive into your interest, and people will be interested.”
Then Thotty flipped through some recent burlesque photos in which she had been sexy Super Mario, sexy Gandalf, a sexy James Bond, a sexy cocaine reindeer, as well as a vintage Hollywood bombshell—for the record, also sexy.
“Thotty, you’re an expert. Tell us how to be sexier. Tell our readers how to tease. Just a tip,” I said. Briefly, she considered and then replied, “Some people get up there and take it all off. But you want to give it and take it away from them…”
Learn more: Thotty McNaughty will be featured at ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ a burlesque tribute to Led Zeppelin, at The California in Santa Rosa on Feb. 7. She will be dancing to ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby.’ Thotty has other shows on Feb. 13 and 21. Show descriptions and ticket links are available at thottymcnaughty.com. Thotty is also on TikTok at thottymcnaughtyofficial.
