Interview with a Las Vegas Showgirl
I forgot that I wrote this piece - the only one to ever just get completely ignored by the commissioning editor, so I figured it would be fun to share it here. I got a lot done on my trip to Las Vegas in 2015.
For those of us raised on glitter, neon, and the American dream, the word “showgirls” conjures up some very specific images: namely, Elizabeth Berkley’s dancing and scheming in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven camp classic of the same name, a beautiful piece of cinematic trash that introduced us to “Noni,” a striver from “different places!” (add the exclamation point, have her throw some French fries at you) and her ambition to the best damm dancer on the Strip.
To be honest, thanks to Showgirls, when I sat down in the lobby of The Flamingo Hotel with Nicki, a 31-year-old dancer for X Burlesque, it was surprising to talk to a charming, friendly, regular girl, in comparison to over-the-top Las Vegas of my mind, the lurid Verhoeven visions of overreacting and very intense dancing that had shimmied in my head for years.
A thirty-one-year old dancer for The Flamingo’s X Burlesque show, Nicki had been working for eleven years. She started as a ten year old in ballet and jazz dance classes, by her own words, “grew up in dance competitions,” and started working as a professional dancer by twenty. She dropped the phrase “body awareness” in casual conversation, which I found fascinating. Out on the strip, X Burlesque is one of the friendliest shows, throwing a weekly burlesque class called X Burlesque University that offers to “bring out the burlesque in you” by learning how to do makeup like a showgirl and some entry-level choreography.
“Expensive makeup is not better,” Nicki said, the minute we met, shouting out Wet and Wild as a quality brand for very little money. (Although when she does indulge, she loves MAC. Anyone I know who has to do “theatrical” makeup always loves MAC. But according to Nicki, you don’t need to buy MAC.). She was moderately prepared for that night’s show, with a face full of foundation and full eye makeup, from eyelashes to liner. She had a little bit of glitter on her cheekbones, but it was moderate. “Some shows want you to add a lot of glitter,” she said. The makeup demands of X Burlesque are in response to the space. It’s a small theater, which is up close and personal with the dancers. Her hair was shiny and set, and she pointed out that it was a weave immediately.
Nicki’s been with X Burlesque for three years, and her makeup process for this show is simple. “The light washes you out, so you want it to be almost tacky in person,” she said. “You’re accentuating features rather than making it look natural.” Other shows on the Strip, like Cirque Du Soleil’s various big-budget productions, emphasize the contouring, so that everyone looks alternately chiseled or like a clown. X Burlesque is about the friendly, pretty, glamorous girl.
When it comes to tricks that you can steal from professional dancers, it’s all about the fake eyelashes. Nicki orders fake eyelash sets online from China: “You can get ten sets for one dollar.” What’s great about fake eyelashes is that, first, they give you a wide array of options. Put the glue on and let it sit for one minute. Make sure that the lash is bent properly. You can have lashes that give you a cat-eye look, longer on the outside, shorter on the inside, a Betty Boop look with different lengths, or you can DIY it and cut them up so long lashes frame your face. “It makes your eyes look bigger,” Nicki said. It’s easy and cheap. I teased her, a little bit, with the fact that this advice is very applicable to looking like Zooey Deschanel on a regular basis.
I didn’t have much time with Nicki – the show was about to begin, people had lined up through the lobby and the casino machines and the bar, called “Bugsy’s bar” since The Flamingo was developed by Bugsy Siegel himself, the gangster who made Las Vegas into what it is today. Some friends of hers walked by and said hi, as they were about to go to the show. It was a Wednesday night, but “every day is Friday,” she said, “in our business.” Staying in shape and staying pretty was a requirement of the job. “We whiten our teeth. We go to the gym. We go tanning. We can write it off on our taxes.” I thanked her for her time and she ran off, ready to dance that night.