Inside Sexy Charlotte 

Google "sex workers" or "sex industry" and you'll be directed to a rash of Web sites about prostitution and porn. Add "Charlotte" to your search and you get news stories about Hush-Hush, the upscale escort agency that was based in town and busted a few years back.

But all sex work isn't illegal ... or just the common stripper dancing on a pole. Some of it builds confidence and some of it brings in a nice chunk of change. Here's a look at a few Charlotteans who make a living by keeping things hot.

Shake your tail feather

Gastonia resident Angie Acosta, 31, a woman who has always loved to dance, wants to make you move as well. And she wants to make you thrust your hips, shake your booty and lose weight, too.

The founder of Queen City Dancing Queen teaches women (and some men) sexy moves that you don't need a pole to try at home.

Acosta, who started her business in 2008, says folks who take her classes lose pounds but gain something more. "I have people that will come to class for the first time and they will come to me and be really nervous and apprehensive," she says. "They will say: 'I haven't danced before or I don't dance in public because I'm scared to death of it.' But I'll say: 'It's all right. Just come.' We always say, if you're moving, you're doing it right.

"Gradually, they start getting the moves and they keep on coming," Acosta continues. "So, those same people that were scared to death and started on the back row, they gradually start moving forward in the class. And before I know it, they are jamming on the front row. Yes, people lose weight, but the change that I see is inside of people."

Acosta and her instructors teach class members current dance moves -- as seen on MTV. They've done routines to Lady Gaga's music and Britney Spears. But what Acosta loves to show off is the "booty battle."

"You just shake your ass. We do a lot of butt shaking and a lot of hip rolls," she says. Acosta and her crew took the battle on the road at a Charlotte Roller Girls bout in August and she's got the YouTube video to show how much audiences enjoyed the performance.

Once you leave one of the QCDQ's classes, Acosta says, you can't help but take the moves home with you. She's heard from people who've said they've been cleaning the house and heard a song on the radio from class and their bodies began to move to it.

It's a special added benefit for their significant others.

"Their husbands will just love it and think it's amazing that their wife is doing these moves that they would've never imagined their wife doing. They just eat it up."

For more, visit www.queencitydancingqueen.com.

Ready for the money shot

Thirty-four-year-old photographer Jeremy Igo knows how to make a woman look and feel good about herself. The first step? He gets her to strip down to her underwear -- and then he starts snapping pictures.

Igo is Charlotte's "boudoir photographer." He runs the aptly named Charlotte Boudoir, where he takes photographs of regular women in their bedroom attire. The shots can be taken at the client's home or at his studio in NoDa.

So, who takes these pictures and why? Igo says that many women pose for themselves.

"The vast majority say it's an ego boost because they see how good they can look in pictures. So, it's uplifting and empowering for them," he says. "If they are doing it for the husbands or the boyfriends, there is always happiness on their end as well. I've gotten cigars and drinks sent to me from husbands and boyfriends."

Igo has been taking these types of photos for about five years, and he's starting to see the trend of boudoir photography catch on in the Queen City.

"It's been happening all over the country for years. In Charlotte, it's becoming more and more popular now. It's getting more and more accepted. Charlotte is a little more of a conservative town, so it takes a little more time when it comes to things like this. But each year you can see an increase in business," he says.

To take a good boudoir photo, according to Igo, a woman doesn't have to be a certain size or anything like that. "It helps," he suggests, "if they feel good about themselves and are comfortable in their own skin."

And yes, men are welcome, but it's apparently rare that a man comes in alone to take a boudoir photograph.

"It's not as common. Also, couples come in [to get photographed] or the husband will like to attend the photo shoot," he says, "and that's absolutely fine."

For more, visit www.charlotteboudoir.com.

Just call her "mistress"

For the last seven years, Mistress LunaSea has been a "domme of sensual torture." What does that mean? It means she's a dominatrix -- which, she says, was a natural fit for her: "I've been picking on boys my entire life."

But just because she picks on and lords over men, it doesn't mean she's having sex with her clients. "People think that a dominatrix provides sexual services, and that's incorrect," she says. Instead, Mistress LunaSea provides BDSM (bondage, domination and sadomasochism) fetishes and role-playing experiences.

"There is no masturbating, no touching, nothing," says the mistress. "People come and they talk. There is an emotional release a lot of times. Some times people cry. It's a mind and soul vacation."

And while she isn't a doctor, she said some of her clients view their sessions as therapy. Which is one of the reasons why she's currently taking psychology classes. "With all I've been through and seen and done, that will definitely help me," she says.

Just what has she done? Shows, which are described on her Web site as ranging from "burlesque to the fetish and grotesque." She's been featured in Maxim magazine and will host DomCon LA, a California-based professional and lifestyle domination convention, this May.

Back at home, Mistress LunaSea has three slaves who contribute to her lifestyle. "It's consensual slavery," she explains. "There are people out there and all they want to do is serve people. They want to take you and get your nails painted, they want to take you shopping and they want to pay for you to take a vacation. There are people out there who aren't happy unless they [serve]. I've been fortunate to find three like that."

In a supposedly conservative banking town like Charlotte, you'd think a dominatrix would have a difficult time finding one "slave." But, according to Mistress LunaSea, the BDSM community in the Queen City is larger than folks would imagine. "I can't say exactly how big it is," she says, "but there are probably over six groups in the Charlotte area."

Though the community may be strong, there's not a lot of conversation about BDSM in the mainstream. Mistress LunaSea says that it's because people are doing it and don't even realize it.

"I think a lot of people do practice in their bedroom. They will play with blindfolds and maybe a little spanking and play with tying up. They're practicing a form of BDSM ... Why they don't want to talk about it, I think it's because they're insecure."

And she adds that nearly everyone who comes to see her -- clients ranging from religious people to local power brokers -- is married or in a relationship.

"Some of them are very big on saying 'Mistress, I just want you to know that I am married.' And I say, 'Well, we're not going to have sex, so it doesn't really matter to me.'"

For more, visit www.mistresslunasea.com.

Going with the FLO

Lesbian party promoter Holly J, 39, saw a market in Charlotte that wasn't being served. Instead of complaining about it, however, she created FLO -- parties "for lesbians only" (or for women who just want a night out with their girls).

"A lot of times, women don't want to deal with the hustle and bustle of gentlemen asking them to dance and then disrespecting them when they don't want to dance," says Holly J. "So we provide a venue where women can come out."

And when Holly J says women only, she means it. "We don't allow the gentlemen to come in due to the fact that a lot of these women are just trying to hang out with their girlfriends and they're not trying to bother anybody."

Her events -- everything from "sexy jeans parties" to all-white parties to Halloween and New Year's Eve parties -- have grown over the last five years that she's been promoting FLO.

"We started out with 10 people coming to our events and now we have over 300 people coming out," she says. "I'm very proud that it's grown and people feel there is a need for it."

So, what's so sexy about these parties? According to Holly J: "I think the sexiest thing in the world is seeing two beautiful women having a good time. That's the sexiest picture that I could ever see and never get tired of looking at."

On top of that, she stands up for the fact that ladies don't have to take their clothes off to be sexy. She knows what women, straight or gay, want when they go out: a good time with no drama.

Holly J, who lives in Charlotte, said she's never had any trouble at her events or setting up parties at the various venues that she's used. As a matter of fact, the first FLO event wasn't in Charlotte -- it was in Union County, which isn't known as a liberal area.

For more, visit www.myspace.com/hollyjevents.

The Pleasure Principle

There's nothing like getting together a group of women on a Friday night and showing them the pleasure of loving themselves and the right tools to do it with. That's what Passion Party consultant Lara Hall does for a living.

For the uninitiated, Passion Parties -- according to the company's Web site -- "have been enhancing the sexual relationships of our clients with sensual products designed to promote intimacy and communication between couples" for more than a decade. Here in Charlotte, Hall says it's an exciting "girls night in" and a profitable business. She started hosting the parties in October and has really thrown herself into the business, putting on eight intimate events with five to 20 people in attendance. "When I first started, my parties were averaging about $300 in sales," says Hall. "But last month, I did a $750 party and a $1,000 party."

The market is there, she reports, despite the economy. "People are looking for a cheap night in and this is a fun way to add some spice to their marriage without going broke."

As a 40-year-old mother, Hall noticed that a lot of women in her age group had questions about bringing that spark back into their love life. "My company provides that information in the training," she says, "and I figured that I could make some money helping people."

Passion Party products range from the mild to the wild. Many of the things that Hall sells can be found in stores like the Red Door or other sex shops -- but at a Passion Party, you get a blow-by-blow demonstration (so to speak) in the privacy of your (or a friend's) home.

"A lot of times," she says, "people are not comfortable going into adult toy stores."

For more, visit www.larabhall.com.