Lucha VaVoom Brings Burlesque and Wrestling Back to the Mayan

by Lea Lion

It is a hazy Thursday morning in early February and three women are doing warm-up stretches in an unassuming, wood-floored dance studio in Atwater Village. They are chatting about their upcoming Valentine’s Day show and killing time waiting for the fourth dancer to arrive.

One of the dancers, Rita D’Alpert, who goes by the stage name Ursulina, has two-tone hair – blonde on top, black underneath – cut into a shaggy ‘do. She is wearing black low top Converse sneakers and matching arm-warmers. Moana Santana has dark brown bangs across her forehead and is dressed head-to-toe in black, including a tank top that reads “Sexo y Violencia” in cursive script across the chest. Audrey Deluxe, a tall blonde, embodies the most all-American look of the crew.

They could be any dancers with any troupe in the country. But their conversation reveals otherwise.

“Why don’t you try wrestling?”