Showgirl Story Time: Dancing Nudes lines

Welcome to another Showgirl Story Time!! In this video I am talking about my time as a Nude dancer in Jubilee! Nude dancer or dancing nudes were the names for the topless Showgirls in the showgirl production shows in Las Vegas. Here I talk about what it was like to be one and how they categorized us within the show.

Las Vegas showgirls or dancing nudes in Bob Mackie design
Dancing nude and principal dancer in Bob Mackie costumes, Donn Arden’s Jubilee! 2004

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Enjoy!
?Athena

Gazealous Costume: 
Crown and body chain by Athena and Phelyx
Feathers, bra, g string, jewelry, and shoes by Athena

Hey there, welcome to another showgirl story time. I’d like to talk about nudes. Not art nudes! The nudes were two lines of girls in Jubilee, and when I say nude, they were not naked on stage. They still wore tights and G strings. But they were actually just topless dancers. And they actually didn’t dance, a whole lot, they did dance we all had to have classic training in order to become a Las Vegas showgirl.

But the nudes, were basically what I like to call the parade floats of the show. And they were just walking art. And they would wear the big hats like Behemoth here. It’s actually quite small compared to some of the hats that were in Jubilee. They would wear the big hats, the big backpacks that sit on the shoulders and they span you know sometimes, you know, tall or wide. And they would parade around the stage with these gorgeous costumes on. So, the nudes. I was in both the tall nude and the short nude line during my time at Jubilee, and they were just required to be beautiful and dance.

So I first became a tall nude. When, I think it was three months into my very first contract, one of the dancers, just stopped showing up to work she broke her contract, and they needed somebody fast to fill in the nude line. And so they asked me.

I had already done one understudy spot, and one one swing nude spot that they allowed me to do, just to kind of get me used to the idea of being a topless dancer. I was a little frightened at first but then with all the jewels and all the things you’re wearing it just, it just, you just don’t even notice. It’s really interesting.

When I forgot a bracelet, then I felt naked but otherwise I never felt naked. So, I was a tall nude first and the tall nudes were like the tall bluebells five ten to six foot plus. One of my really good friends with six foot one. The tallest girl in the show as a tall nude when I was there was six foot three. And that was without high heels on, she was just six foot three head to toe. So, or head to heel, I guess.

So I was a tall nude. And they did, they did a couple of different numbers they had a couple of different costumes, than the short nudes, but again they were topless they were still topless. We were the first boobs, that you saw when the curtains came up actually were the tall nudes. And then you saw everybody else. But what else can I say about nudes.

Oh, it was very important to Donn Arden when he created his show, not to make it vulgar. And so there was a very specific walk, and they call it back in the day called it the Donn Arden walk. I now called the Jubilee walk because it’s the only walk I know, and I learned it while in Jubilee. But when you are a nude or topless dancer, you had to make sure that you glided across the stage. And you had to make it look effortless, while you’re wearing 25 pounds of hat backpack and jewelry, and still look elegant and beautiful. Also, not allowing your boobs to juggle.

So it was a really interesting task to be a nude. And it was all about being glamorous and beautiful and it just became easy once you put all of these jewels on your movements just changes you. There’s a transformation that takes place in it, and he Donn Arden understood this, and he knew it, and it was expected of all the nudes. Just very graceful and classic and lady-like even though our nipples were out!

So, that, that, that’s pretty much all about being the nudes. We were just topless dancers, and it was not about sex. There were too many boobs on stage for it to be about sex. It was about appreciating the female form in a non vulgar way. Which I think is different than what Burlesque is doing because Burlesque is to entice. Burlesque is to elicit lust. Showgirls, that was not what show, being a showgirl was about. At least in Jubilee.

So after about nine months of being a tall nude, they had the auditions, and decided to move me into the short nude of line because they were actually taller girls that they would have preferred be a tall nude instead of short nudes.

So I got to move into the short nude line, and had to learn a whole ‘nother bunch of acts. I think the only ones I didn’t have to learn, were Tiller, top hat and red fans. I just wanted a new spot I think in red fans. Oh and finale.

Finale I stayed, I stayed in my red costume for I believe one contract. And then I changed costumes. Which I’ll tell you about later.

Let’s see. Tall nude moved in the short nude line. Yeah, so I had to learn all new Titanic numbers and all new Samson numbers because they’re different with all the nudes. Shorts and tall nudes they did different acts.

So, I much prefer the short nude line. I felt like I belonged because I wasn’t the shortest girl in the room, but I also wasn’t the tallest girl in the room either. We were all kind of about the same five eight to five ten ish. So two inches can be a big deal, depending. But yeah, we were, we were all about five nine in that room. I remained a short nude until I was promoted to principal, and I will be sharing the inner workings of the principal line in another video.

So I hope that you enjoyed this little video about nudes. Not photos, but actual topless dancers topless showgirls in Jubilee. If you haven’t heard my, I started a podcast it’s called Showgirls Life, and I am interviewing all of the former showgirls in Las Vegas. So, check it out, you can go to showgirls dot life backslash podcast to find the latest episode, and then be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode, I’ll see you around. Bye.

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