Photograph of the Copa Girls posing with blue ostrich feather fans, Las Vegas, circa 1955. [Photo/Courtesy of Sands Hotel Collection]

3. Fantastic

Looking to flee your daily routine? Whether you want to surprise your lover or feel like a showgirl for a night, feather fans are a perfect choice. Put the music on, slip into your most titillating lingerie and play behind larger-than-life two feather fans. Needless to say, this sort of dance has to be performed at the right place and time, say, for a small audience in the hushed atmosphere of your most private room.

As a world-renowned burlesque dancer, Sucre d’Orge knows her feathers well. "To dance with this prop, you should really feel like a bird and consider feathers as a part of your body," she explains. "I even used to joke about having learned how to move with feather fans during an internship on a South African ostrich farm. Fly off and take your audience to the moon."

The fan dance offers many classical figures such as the peacock tail, the shell or the hide-and-seek step – but to be true, they all share the same meaning: "Let's do it." (sucredorge-burlesque.com)

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