CMP showgirls in DC.

For years I used to perform and work for the talent and lovely Matthew Harvat, head chief fancy pants at Circuit Mom Productions (CMP). We did countless creative, awesome shows over the years and the “Showgirls” number was one of my favorites. Set to a cool remix of Madonna’s Don’t Tell Me with choreography by Todd Kiech and some hot cowboys thrown in, this was one of our most popular numbers.

When they first did the piece, I was in another number and NOT happy that I didn’t get to be a showgirl. Luckily, CMP toured with it and – yay! – I got put in for Cherry Ball 6 in DC. We showgirls were to “hide” and then enter from behind the crowd and walk down the massive marble staircase. Quite the entrance! No one told us that the headpieces were basically helmets and we couldn’t hear the intro music until it was almost too late. Almost. Needless to say, there were four pretty showgirls hauling butt and yelling “Move it!” just before we hit our first pose. Out of breath, but on time.

Another thing no one mentioned was that fans are hard to hold onto when wearing silk gloves. It seems obvious, right? It was quite a shock when I couldn’t keep my fans in the right position and ended up doing the entire 8-minute number with severe cramps in my hands. Smile through the pain – don’t. drop. the. fans. In subsequent performances I tried rosin, wig tape, double-face tape, duct tape…nothing worked quite like my ever-present hand cramps.

When performing the number in Toronto for Fashion Cares, the fans were the least of my problems. Curtain opens with me in front smiling and fanning…first step down the steps and my entire headdress falls off. Off! After kicking it off stage, I danced the entire piece with my bobby pins, pin curls, wacked out hair and a big, fat smile. Do you think anyone noticed?

#rogueness