Meet The Brooklyn Dancers Stripping To Melt ICE

Featured Image: Hot Gurlz Organize ‘Dykes Against ICE’ event. Photo by Zachary Blair.

The crowd at The House in Bushwick bobbed, clapped, and flung bills. Chants of “F*ck ICE” rose amid the Bad Bunny and Charli XCX. 

Outside, it was a snowy February night. Inside, dancers circled a silver pole with seemingly impossible buoyancy: a transmac stripper in basketball shorts, a woman with mermaid hair and a flowing sheer robe. 

The next dancer broke into a smile as soon as she stepped onstage. I instantly recognized her as Serenity—half of the team behind Hot Gurlz Organize. 

Serenity and Carmella, who also performed that night, started hosting queer pop-up strip clubs in November 2025 in hopes of creating a “safe, sapphic, and sexy space” while fundraising for immigrant rights groups in New York City. 

The two met at a Valentine’s Day aerial class in 2023, when dancers kept approaching Serenity to say hi. Carmella remembered thinking, “This is a good person. This is a good person.” From then on, “[Serenity] just cheered me on,” she said. 

At their first event, Hot Gurlz Organize raised over $4,700 in ticket sales to donate to Unlocal—a New York City nonprofit that provides legal representation to immigrants. 

The funds sponsored eight visas. 

“It was honestly the ideal situation,” Carmella said, remembering their first event. “Everything went so smoothly, we were like, ‘This was so successful, let’s do another.’”

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In December, Hot Gurlz Organize hosted “Hoe Hoe Hoes vs. ICE,” raising over $2,000 for the NYC direct action group Rise and Resist. In February, Hot Gurlz Organize hosted pop-ups in New Orleans and Bushwick. 

“Most strip clubs are overrun with men, and even queer spaces can feel like they’re kind of dominated by men as well,” Serenity said. “To create these events that are mostly female-dominated, I think, is a nice outlet for all the staff.” 

Plus, Carmella added, “queer people tip a lot better.” 

Rather than charging dancers a house fee to perform, which Serenity says is common in New York City, Hot Gurlz Organize pays each stripper a baseline of $75, plus tips. Funds are transferred the next morning, even if it means Serenity and Carmella have to dip into their personal savings to pay dancers on time.

Carmella and Serenity each spend two to three hours a day budgeting, designing graphics and social media advertisements, and coordinating with venues, DJs, emcees, and performers. 

For both dancers, Hot Gurlz Organize is both a part-time job and passion project.

It took Serenity’s family nearly two decades to immigrate to Brooklyn, where she was born. Her family was “so proud when I told them that our first event was able to sponsor eight visas for immigrants because they understand… how difficult it is to migrate here and how they make it impossible for you,” she said. 

Carmella moved to Brooklyn several years ago, landing blocks away from where her great-grandfather arrived after immigrating to the United States. Dancing allows Carmella to express her Romani heritage, she explained, and support communities who have been marginalized similarly to the Roma.

When it comes to event-planning, “[Carmella’s] the mastermind,” Serenity smiled. “I knew that she would be a great person to learn from.” 

Carmella runs the Instagram account @queerflatbush, which has attracted 10,000 followers since she started the account in 2021 to organize and platform queer Brooklyn events. Through event-organizing, Carmella connected with the NYC Dyke March, which supplied volunteers to run the cash box and security at the most recent Hot Gurlz Organize pop-up.

“We both bring things that the other doesn’t have,” Carmella said. “Serenity has a marketing background, and that’s not really my thing, and also a background working in strip clubs and knowing that [industry] and… all of these dancers, who are incredible,” she continued. 

Serenity worked in marketing from 2019 until 2022, when she was laid off. She hadn’t planned to transition to sex work full-time, but after “applying to all these jobs, sending out [hundreds of] applications and not even getting an interview—it was so disheartening,” Serenity said. 

Stripping, she could sometimes make half her rent in one night.

Serenity’s first audition was for a lap dance party recommended by a friend in the industry. Serenity remembered being nervous, but as it turned out, “it wasn’t really an audition… they just looked at your Instagram profile and declared if you were good enough,” she said. 

From there, it was building connections with dancers and venues. “I still have a business background,” Serenity said. “I’m always nice and cordial, and I want to network, which is kind of rare in the sex industry. A lot of girls will stick to themselves.”

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At their most recent event, Serenity was able to hire the dancer who took her to her first audition. “I was able to pay it forward… full circle,” she said. 

Serenity had little formal dance background before she started stripping, but she started hula hooping in 2015 and learned other circus arts, including fire-spinning, from there.

“According to my mom, I’ve been dancing since my first birthday party,” Serenity, who is Mexican and Dominican, added. “But I’m Spanish, so all our gatherings are always dancing.”

Carmella practiced ballet as a child and figure skating throughout college, when she picked up pole dancing. “Some of the spins and stuff like that are very similar [to figure skating].” Plus, she added, “Who doesn’t want to spin and be in the air?”

Now, Hot Gurlz Organize is a non-profit, and Serenity and Carmella have started saving for a pole, which will help cut down on rental costs. 

The two have received calls to host events in LA and Philadelphia, although Serenity and Carmella plan to stay local to Brooklyn for now.

“This has been so much work, but it’s been so rewarding,” Carmella told GO, adding, “It’s surprising how much work it takes.” 

Serenity’s family still asks for updates on each Hot Gurlz Organize event. 

“My abuela is very involved. And she’s retired, so if I can have her over, she’s over the moon,” she said. After New Orleans, “she was folding my clothes… little booty shorts, and she was like, ‘What is this? Is this a top?’” Serenity laughed.

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While growing up in Brooklyn has shown Serenity “how terrible the [immigration] system can be,” it’s also shown her “a grit and hustle, and given me the tools to help run these events,” she concluded.

Hot Gurlz Organize returns to The Bush in March—follow @hotgurlzorganize on Instagram for updates on events.