PORTLAND, Maine — Vivid Motion Dance jumpstarted Maine’s nascent burlesque scene 21 holiday seasons ago with its first, adults-only retelling of “The Nutcracker” story, complete with scantily clad dancers and a cone bra-wearing Sugar Plum Fairy.
For years, the company’s annual Nutcracker show was the hottest ticket in town. Every performance was a sellout. Back then, burlesque was new, naughty and a novelty.
Nowadays, not so much.
In Portland, burlesque and drag shows are ubiquitous. Multiple troupes perform nearly every weekend, in bars, breweries and theatres. There’s even a regular burlesque bingo game in the Old Port on Wednesdays.
But the OG risque dancers at Vivid Motion are still at it, bringing their distinct, gender-and-body inclusive brand of racy holiday cheer to large audiences at The Hill Arts every December. This year’s show, “Holly Jolly Follies,” is a new production featuring nearly 30 performers in various stages of undress in 20 separate dance numbers.
“There’s so much amazing burlesque going on in the community now, but I think one of the things that makes our show unique is you get a full theatrical production,” said Jessica Means, Vivid Motion’s artistic director and “Follies” co-director. “It’s on a stage, with the lights, with a set and with a narrative storyline.”
The story revolves around a bewildered delivery driver rushing to make all his holiday stops before the big day.
“The person goes from stop, to stop, to stop and runs into a series of mishaps — sexy mishaps,” Means said.
In one sequence, the brown-coated driver attempts to deliver a package to a museum filled with Romanesque statues perched on pillars, guarded by flashlight-wielding night watchmen. The statues then come to life, their togas slip off and the driver is drawn into a saucy ballet with them and the watchmen.
Sebastian Roesner, who plays the driver, began dancing with the company several years ago after seeing a performance and thinking it looked fun. He had no formal dance training.
“But you’ll not find a more supportive atmosphere,” Roesner said. “Normally, I’m a big introvert but on stage, I just dance.”
Vivid Motion was founded as a company for dancers of every age, gender, ability, body shape and size, and it still operates that way.
“Our oldest dancer is 70-something, and our youngest dancer is 18, and she’s dancing with her mother in the show,” Means said. “That’s a multi-generational range there, and we’re pretty proud of that.”
That 70-something dancer is Sandy Levitz Lunner, a retired newspaper sales representative and union organizer. During Wednesday night’s rehearsal, Lunner sat in the house, waiting for her cue, in a short, cleavage-revealing French maid costume meant to give the audience a thrill when bending at the waist in any direction.
“They were having auditions and I was like, ‘What the hell,’ you know? I love to dance and they welcome all ages,” Lunner said. “Here, I’m part of a community that is eclectic, diverse and warm and welcoming — I love that. The more community you can have, the better, I think.”
Besides its annual holiday burlesque show, Vivid Motion puts on two more original dance productions each year. But burlesque still packs the house and pays the bills, despite the competition all over town.
“I think we really bridge the gap between a night at the ballet and a night at the burlesque,” Means said. “As of right now, we’ve sold about 70 percent of our tickets already.”
Vivid Motion’s “Holly Jolly Follies” is an 18+ show and runs December 13-15 and 19-21, at 7:30 p.m. at The Hill Arts in Portland. Tickets are $30.