Whether Loretta Jean is explaining her PhD thesis or stomping on a sand-covered stage to the strains of Beyoncé’s “Run the World” while her Mad Max-inspired costume gradually falls to the floor, she’s devoting her life to stripping away misconceptions about burlesque — or, her particular specialty, “nerdlesque.”

Onstage, Jean is one-third of the fierce Nerd Girl Burlesque troupe, along with Delicia Pastiche and Helen of Tronna (stage names, of course). Together, they don elaborately designed (if fabric-deprived) costumes to spoof the best-loved corners of geek culture, including recent shows inspired by Game of Thrones (“A Clash of G-Strings”), Nintendo (“Super Smash Bras”) and sci-fi (“Gams and Gamma Rays”).

The crowds are gradually growing and the performers aren’t surprised — after all, where else could a night out combine Gandalf and garters, Link and lingerie, or Pokemon and pasties?

“I really see Nerdlesque as the most recent iteration of something that’s been going on a long time,” said Jean, referring to American burlesque’s 1860s roots. “What they were doing was the Saturday Night Live of their time.

“Since nerd culture is pop culture now, you have the most recent iteration of that pop-culture satire and that’s nerdlesque.”

And nerdlesque does appear to be taking off.

Several troupes and performers are plying the peeling trade in our robust local scene; last year’s Toronto Burlesque Festival devoted a night to the fledgling form and New York’s Nerdlesque Festival will hold its second edition in April.

The three members of Nerd Girl Burlesque met as part of a now-defunct pin-up collective and started performing nerdlesque around 2009. Their shows blend burlesque with storytelling, dance, comedy, audience interaction and heavy doses of pop-culture inside jokes, intended to thrill fans of whatever niche is being teased.

“A lot of people who come to these shows are more fans of the theme,” said Sevvy Skellington, co-founder of PeepshowTO, which has staged nerdlesque shows since 2011. “People are screaming more so because you did this reference to a movie, rather than you being naked.”

Skellington, like many nerdlesque performers, has a background in cosplay. But there’s a crucial consideration specific to burlesque: strippability.

The catsuits and armour favoured by characters across so many geeky galaxies? These are not the duds you’re looking for. And with those elements out, nerdlesque performers must get creative.

“We think, ‘What kind of lingerie would this character wear?’” Skellington said.

As an example, she recalls performing as The Princess Bride’sbest-loved swashbuckler while wearing pasties that read: “Hello My Name is Inigo Montoya.”

And it does typically fall to the performers to conjure their own clothes.

“There are basically zero pieces you can buy in a store,” said PeepshowTO co-founder Betty Quirk, whose company will stage a Steven Spielberg-inspired show in March. “You have to pick up all these skills to make it work.”

That mandatory skill set extends far beyond stitching sultry outfits.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“You’re doing your own choreography, your own costume-making; you’re devising the entire thing and you get to perform it,” Jean said. “What other art form allows the ability to control everything in the creative process?”

There’s empowerment there, as well as in the uncommon inclusivity of nerdlesque, a body-positive art form with deep ties to the LGBTQ community. Audiences are split down gender lines, perhaps even skewing slightly female.

Yet the performers are acutely aware that a stigma clings to burlesque that can’t be vanquished with swords, shields or comic iconography.

“In my own academic research I feel like I constantly have to justify what I’m doing,” said Jean, a University of Toronto PhD student specializing in burlesque. “Some people equate it with sex work and stripping, and it is a form of stripping . . . but (it’s) more narrative-based.

“Yes, there’s nudity, but I don’t know that anybody actually feels aroused. The nudity is a fun bonus that goes into it, but it’s very tongue-in-cheek. It’s playful. It’s not explicit: it’s cheesecake.”

Where the women of Nerd Girl Burlesque find inspiration for their favourite costumes

Loretta Jean

The troupe’s first ever official show was inspired by the British invasion, so naturally Jean thought of Doctor Who and its villainous cyborg Daleks. She discovered the TV show as a high-schooler back in 2005, marvelling: “Why haven’t I heard of this before?”

Delicia Pastiche

A dedicated gamer, Pastiche’s fiery get-up was inspired by Pokemon — specifically, the Flareon evolution of Eevee. “It’s based on a very classic burlesque-style costume, the panel skirt and the shorter top and the gloves,” she said.

Helen of Tronna

Helen grew up with three brothers who had a tendency to hog their Nintendo, so she had to fight to carve out time with The Legend of Zelda series. With this outfit, she managed to combine her love of corsetry with a nod to Link’s shield.