Our Instructors
Ginger Leigh (she/her)
Founder, Head Mistress, Director, Co-owner, Instructor
Ginger Leigh made her way to burlesque in 2006 with The Peek-A-Boo Revue and her life was changed forever. In addition to performing with and choreographing for The Boo, she served as the Assistant Director for many years. Ginger is a co-producer of Launchpad Burlesque alongside Dottie Riot and a proud member of The Roddenberries. Ginger founded the Philadelphia Burlesque Academy in 2013 (originally known as the Peek-A-Boo Dance Clinic) and has loved every minute of it. Holding a BA in Dance Studies from the University of South Florida, she loves combining her classical training with the art of the striptease, while smashing the idea that only select bodies are meant to dance and be seen.
Some of the highlights from Ginger’s burlesque career are Peek-A-Boo Revue’s headlining show in the 2017 Munich Burlesque Festival, multiple performances in Berlin, Peek-A-Boo's title of Best Troupe at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in 2008 and 2012, and group performances in the New York, Vancouver, Colorado, and Philadelphia Burlesque Festivals. She had the honor of teaching workshops while in Munich and Berlin. Ginger’s calling is to entertain the masses and help her students live their burlesque dreams while feeling fucking amazing!
When she’s not being burlesquey, you can find Ginger Leigh surrounded by plants, playing with her dogs (Roxie and Tang0), being a true crime nerd, and teaching strength and cycling classes at BPM Fitness!
Photo Credit: ChrisKPhotography
Cherry Bomb (she/her)
Assistant Director, Co-owner, Instructor
Cherry Bomb has a strong background in musical theatre and joined the Peek-A-Boo Revue Neo-Burlesque Troupe in 2005. She became the group's managing director in 2012 and performed with the group when they won Best Troupe at The Burlesque Hall of Fame in 2008 & 2012 as well as performed at festivals in Denver, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Munich and Berlin, Germany. Cherry Bomb has been a proud instructor at the Philadelphia Burlesque Academy since its inception in 2013.
When Cherry isn’t performing and teaching, you can find her being a real-estate boss, spinning house music as DJ Cherry B, and snuggling with her dog and cats!
Photo credit: ChrisKPhotography
Sophie Sucré (she/her)
Instructor
Sophie Sucré is a Philadelphia based Burlesque and dance artist, beginning her performance journey with Philadelphia dance companies DanceTheaterX (Charles O. Anderson 2009-2013) then idiosynCrazy productions (Jumatatu Poe/Shannon Murphy 2009-2011), and since with choreographers Antoinette Coward-Gilmore, Meredith Rainey, Tania Isaac, Kate Watson-Wallace, Megan Mazarick, Shannon Murphy, and Gunnar Montana. She received a 2015 Rocky Award for her dance and admin work with organizations Dance/USA Philadelphia, Ars Nova Workshop, and Headlong. She can be most often seen as her Burlesque persona Sophie Sucre, co-choreographer and soloist with Burlesque Troupe the Peek-A-Boo Revue, Burlesque Hall of Fame Best Troupe (Las Vegas, NV 2008, 2012). PBR headlined the Munich Burlesque Festival in 2017 and can be seen regularly in Philadelphia at World Cafe Live, Franky Bradley's, and Milton Theater, Milton, De. Sophie most recently competed in the inaugural Noire Pageant, the first-ever all POC Burlesque Pageant March 2020, as the world was shutting down. When not performing she can be found teaching at the Philadelphia Burlesque Academy.
Photo Credit: ChrisKPhotography
Queen Of Hearts (she/they)
Instructor
Award winning performer Queen of Hearts has always danced her way through life. After having a baby years ago this firecracker traded in her old ballet shoes for high heels. She is a part of Sister Bear burlesque, Burlesque Bossettes, and Peek A Boo Revue. Queen performs all over town, multiple nights per week. She also produces shows and classes based on her brand "TWERKLESQUE". You may have seen her at the Savannah Burlesque Festival or winning "wildcard" at The Everything Show. She will entice you with her dancing and make you fall in love with her coy smile.
A badass with many talents beyond burlesque, Queen Of Hearts is a professional hair stylist.
Photo credit: Affinity Angels
Margot Starlux (she/her)
Instructor
Margot Starlux began her career in Philadelphia as a modern dancer who soon after discovered the retro world of lindy hop & go-go. Her go-go moves caught the attention of Broad St Burlesque founders Liberty Rose & Kate Nyx who then utilized her choreography skills to help create unforgettable nerdlesque numbers. A former member of the Old City Sweethearts, she was frequently seen with her fellow swing-dancing chorus girls at events such as Jazz Age on the Delaware, the Franklin Institute's Speakeasy, and Fort Mifflin's Mud Island Speakeasy.
Margot currently performs with Philadelphia's award-winning Peek-A-Boo Revue, Lehigh Valley's Looking Glass Revue and continues to lend her vintage inspired go-go stylings all over the city. She has delivered her classic and clever performances to festivals such as The Nerdlesque Festival in NYC, Alternatease in Boston and every single year of the Philadelphia Burlesque Festival during its run. Under her alias, Pizza Wolf, she headlined the first Hot & Cheesy: A Pizza Burlesque Festival in Indianapolis. Currently, you can catch her doing what she does best on Hulu's original series "Reprisal" and Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel.”
Photo Credit: ChrisKPhotography
Miss V (she/her)
Instructor
The Unknown Pleasure of Burlesque! Miss V is a burlesque performer and retro styled cover model. She is the producer of the popular shows, Glamorama and Secret Lair Burlesque, and has graced the covers and pages of all today's top pin-up magazines. She has also had the honor of being a brand model for Sourpuss Clothing and has walked the cat walk for all of today’s top retro fashion lines. She began her burlesque career in 2015 and has been dazzling audiences with glamorous acts ever since, performing at the Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Empire Burlesque Festivals. She is a member of The Looking Glass Revue, Lehigh Valley’s premier burlesque troop. While her visual aesthetic on the stage hearkens back to the vixens of the 40's and 50's, she loves to incorporate modern elements, such as latex fashion and her favorite post-punk music, into her acts. Known for her glamourous and extravagant costumes, she believes burlesque is an opportunity to create an intimate but fleeting fantasy which she shares with the audience.
When she’s not being being a burlyq babe, Miss V can be found watching horror movies, rhinestoning literally everything, and hanging out with her kitty.
Photo credit: