Rama Rau

(On TV, April 2020) The relatively upbeat documentary League of Exotique Dancers takes the examination of a retrospective revue of the same name as a springboard to ask the question—what happens to burlesque dancers late in life? The best-known of them, interviewed here, is Kitten Natividad, due to her association with the movies of Russ Meyer (as well as a, ahem, pair of memorable appearances in both Airplane! and Another 48 Hours—you know what two scenes I’m talking about). But more than a dozen women are interviewed here, reflecting on trailblazing stretching back into the 1950s. None of the women interviewed here regret their past (naturally, since they’re dancing onstage again as part of the revue) and all have settled into relatively quiet post-dancing lives. Writer-director Rama Rau offers a retrospective look at the history of Las Vegas dancing, and how its heyday ended when it got more vulgar with time. While all the women featured here are beyond the age most commonly associated with dancing, most of them still have It, whatever It is (mostly attitude). While you can approach League of Exotique Dancers as a bit of the ooh-la-la salaciousness of burlesque, it quickly leads viewers to serious discussions about money, racism and discrimination but also the fun and the empowerment (sometimes, as they had no other options) of burlesque dancing. Every interviewee is very likable, and once the credits roll, viewers will realize that this is, more than anything else, definitely a film about aging gracefully, even in one of the professions least likely to acknowledge it.