A Wink and a Smile

The neoburlesque scene is much more nuanced than the title of this slight doc, which intercuts performances by professionals with the tale of ten neophytes enrolled in Seattle siren Indigo Blue’s Burlesque 101. Blue and her assistant teacher, the Pearl of Shanghai, are as articulate as they are attractive, sharing the history of their beloved art form and chatting about the postfeminist implications of its current incarnation. But the students, predominantly twentysomething, thinnish white chicks, don’t add much to the conversation. Worse, Timmons shortchanges them by failing to show any of the graduating acts in their entirety. Talk about a strip-tease.