LEGEND: Tai Ping

Tai Ping: Featured legend of Red Hots Burlesque.

We love the joy that exudes from this woman, and we’re so excited to keep honoring this legend all year at Red Hots Burlesque.

TAI PING

One of our greatest pleasures visiting the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend for the first time in 2012 was meeting burlesque legend Tai Ping, known as the Wisdom of the East and Wiggle of the West. Born and raised in Philadelphia, this exotic beauty took her first dance class at the age of nine at the encouragement of her father, studying ballet, tap, Cuban, Latin and Afro dance styles. In 1960 Tai Ping took a gig as a feature dancer in Key West, where she describes herself as a “ballerina that fell into burlesque.” While she planned to perform a Calypso dance, the club owner asked her where her panel skirts and gowns were. At her confusion he explained what they were to her, and a couple girlfriends helped her assemble a costume on the fly from parts of their own so she could perform her first burlesque number. Tai Ping then joined the burlesque circuit, becoming a featured performer at world-famous clubs such as The Follies Theater, Forbidden City, Club Pigalle, and many more. In 1971 Tai Ping was involved in a car crash in Colorado that ended her dancing career. After her retirement she earned a degree in psychology. Her love of dancing and burlesque keeps her returning to the Burlesque Hall of Fame each year, and in 2013 Tai Ping was recognized as Legend of the Year.