Burlesque yoga draws out inner sass

-- "No one is expected to take off anything in these sessions," Little Woo says by way of introduction to her burlesque yoga, "but people can find it a very liberating experience. Even the bikini-impaired might strip down to their panties and bra."

Thankfully, it will take a long while to peel off the extra layers I have loaded on especially for this practice of her upcoming class. For I am not your pastie kind of girl, although I confess the lithe teacher has already coaxed me into a see-through tutu and titillating red feather boa.

We're in a private studio on East Cordova, and, while the accompanying sound is undoubtedly music to strip by (The Stripper by David Rose, Charlie Parker's Funky Blues), this is not bump 'n' grind erotica.

Little Woo is fusing the vibrant Vancouver burlesque scene -- a revival of the vaudeville art of tease that owes much of its crossover from fetish to mainstream to the likes of Dita Von Teese -- with the dominant world of yoga in the city.

Just think more fishnets than Lululemon.

"People get drawn to burlesque," says Woo, whose background includes teaching music at the Royal Conservatory Music in Toronto. "They see performers on stage and they wish they could emulate them. I'm here to give them confidence, to draw out their inner sass."

But, she stresses, "It's all quite lighthearted, and in a safe and playful environment."

Resplendent in a corset, stockings and heels (she's dubbed the 'shaman of burlesque' by fellow performers), Woo runs through her routine, flowing effortlessly from one posture to the next. It's yoga, but not as you might know it. --