Science helps dancer get a cover shot

Today, we take you backstage to the topless show "Fantasy" because the women are posing for the revue's annual photo calendar. If you direct your attention to center stage, you'll see a pair of dancers lounging around a bed while covering certain bits of anatomy.

They must hold these poses for as long as an hour. It's hard work, being pretty.

Of course, these dancers really do work hard seven nights a week at Luxor, following steps choreographed largely by Cris Judd, Jennifer Lopez's ex-husband, as overseen by producer Anita Mann.

Yes, the producer's name is a Bart Simpson punch line. (Say Anita Mann out loud.) And Mann -- an Emmy-winning choreographer from "Solid Gold" who danced in many films -- explains that this is the new-ish, "edgier" "Fantasy," featuring contemporary dance numbers.

"Our show was a little cheesy when it was 'Midnight Fantasy,' but they (executives) wanted feathers" back then, Mann says.

Now, as Review-Journal critic Mike Weatherford has said, "Fantasy" works both as "a show and a booby show."

And just like in the movies, the women of "Fantasy" continue to put their ankles at risk.

"Girls in heels, topless, going down stairs -- that's a bad combination," says the blonde known as Natasha.

Natasha will grace the front of the calendar.

"My boobs are gonna be on the cover," she says, then refers to their medical enhancement: "Well, these aren't technically mine, but ..."

If you're wondering how a woman becomes a "Fantasy," here's Natasha's story. She grew up dancing for a dance-teacher mom, as the youngest of six girls in Seattle. She danced for a year in Tokyo with a production starring showgirls, illusionists wrangling, ahem, tigers.

She went to college. And she came here a year and a half ago. On the side, Natasha has a bit part in Bud Light's new Vegas "dude" commercial.

One of her sisters works the "Penn & Teller" show.

"She eats fire," Natasha says. "She gets chopped in half."

Another sister used to be in the topless "Jubilee!" but "she's a mom now."

And what kind of man had the guts to pursue a topless star?

"I'm engaged to a professional cowboy" named Jason Vohs, she says. Naturally.

But to be honest, my priority question is: How does it feel to be naked?

"It feels so free," Natasha says, but with a touch of snark, because this is "Fantasy" in 2008: self-aware and still naked-y.

Doug Elfman's column appears on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 702-383-0391 or e-mail delfman@ reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.