Summer Ferguson Just completed a five-year run with the Nevada Ballet Theatre
Who sez Las Vegas ain't got no class? Just take a look at the new addition to the Crazy Girls cast at the Riviera. Her name is Summer Ferguson (sounds like her parents may have been hippies) and has just completed a five-year gig with the Nevada Ballet Theatre.
Summer, who began taking ballet lessons at age 2, says, "I had heard about an opening and auditioned for Crazy Girls and got hired on the spot. This is my first show on the Strip. I danced with the Nevada Ballet Theatre for five years. All I've ever done is dance."
The 5-foot-9-inch dancer gets to show off her ballet skills and her bare breasts, in a number with a green fluorescent hoop. "My mom got me into this business at about age 2. She was a Laker's girl and a jazz dancer. I've lived in Las Vegas since I was 10 years old, having moved here from San Juan Capistrano in Southern California. My older brother plays college basketball in South Carolina." Summer gets her height honestly. Her brother is six-foot-eight and dad is six-foot-six.
Summer says she was home schooled and graduated at age 16. "I live with my mom who did volunteer work for the ballet company and now she is trying to get her own line of jewelry and jeans." Although dancing is the No. 1 one thing in her life, she admitted that her hobby is shopping, "but what girl doesn't like that?"
"I think growing up in Las Vegas was okay. I was home-schooled so it didn't affect me too much. I was doing dance competitions from age's 4 to 8. I was real aggressive with my training. At age 9, I began to get really serious. I just loved performing."
Her credentials are impressive, having trained at New York's American Ballet Theatre and The Kirov Academy in Washington D.C. and Milwaukee Ballet Company. At age 13, she was asked to leave school and join the professional company, which she did for the next five years. Of Crazy Girls, she says, "This is fun. This is professional. It's not stressful and I'm performing, which is what I love to do. In ballet it's mostly rehearsals and not performing and in Crazy Girls it's performing six nights a week." As the youngest member of what is dubbed "Las Vegas' Sexiest Topless Revue" Summer says she's "really happy to be with this troupe. I love all the dancers in Crazy Girls."
She says the Performing Arts Center will really help the Nevada Ballet Theatre. "Hopefully we are becoming the dancing capital. There are 30 ballet dancers in Nevada Ballet Theatre from all over the world. My dream one day is to own a ballet company."
CHIP COLLECTORS
Collecting casino chips and gaming memorabilia has become not only big business, but hobbies for many people around the country, so the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club's 14th annual convention from June 28-July 1, at the Riviera should draw a lot of attention.
Over the four days, collectors and enthusiasts of casino memorabilia, both past and present, will be able to view chips, tokens, silver strikes, ashtrays, room keys, dice, playing cards, swizzle sticks, matchbooks, postcards, photographs, and even actual casino deeds. More than 100 vendors will be displaying, selling, and trading their wares.
"This is the only show that brings together collectors from all over the world. It is by far, the largest and most diverse convention of its kind," says club president Mike Skelton.
"Last year's attendance of almost 5,000 people could be exceeded this year. The hottest collectibles this year are casino room keys, poker chips, Nevada casino chips, TITOs, ashtrays and playing cards."
This year's opening-night gala-banquet and awards-ceremony keynote speaker is Burton M. Cohen, whose storied 36-year casino career included executive positions at the Frontier, Circus Circus, Thunderbird, Caesars, Desert Inn, and Dunes. I recently was a guest with Cohen on a local radio show and he has some great stories to tell.
Additional events include the Bruce Landau Memorial Auction, featuring rare casino chips, gaming tokens and casino memorabilia, including two rare chips, a $5 Flamingo Las Vegas from the 1940s and a $5 Sands Las Vegas from the 1950s, both of which will fetch several thousand dollars. On the final night of the convention a raffle and auction will he held with all proceeds earmarked for the CC>CC National Building Fund-a project to establish a permanent Las Vegas location for the club's headquarters, which will include a museum, library, and archives, so you will be supporting a good cause as well as getting a look at Las Vegas history. One-day CC>CC memberships, which include admission to the convention, can be purchased at the door for $5.
TREK TOKENS
And speaking of casino chips, the Las Vegas Hilton, in honor of the 5th Annual Official Star Trek Convention that is celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek at the resort August 17-20, is producing two $5 commemorative chips (a thousand each). The chips will be available after the convention ends.
Good luck and I'll see you on the Strip. And don't forget to check out www.valleyblogs.com
If you have a question or a Las Vegas experience you would like to share with my readers, please e-mail me at lennylv@cox.net. Please include your full name and the city or town where you live.
