A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer's physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing,

toplessness Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness. Expose ...

, or nudity.

History

Showgirls date back to the late 1800s in Parisian

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Br ...

s and

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

s such as the

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Ol ...

, Le Lido, and the Folies Bergère. The trafficking of showgirls for the purposes of prostitution was the subject of a salacious novel by the nineteenth-century French author Ludovic Halévy.

The Las Vegas showgirl

The first casino on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas cit ...

to employ dancing girls as a diversion between acts was the El Rancho Vegas in 1941. Showgirls were presented in Las Vegas in 1952 as the opening and closing act for

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

headliners, sometimes dancing around the headliner. They were introduced at the Sands Casino for a show with

Danny Thomas Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running sitc ...

. In 1957, Minsky's Follies took the stage at the

Desert Inn The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was th ...

giving birth to the topless showgirl in Vegas. This was followed by a long-running ''The Lido de Paris'' at the Stardust Casino that ran for 31 years. Traditionally, Las Vegas showgirls are classically trained dancers with skills in Ballet and Jazz dance.

Revues with showgirls

* ''Calypso Cabaret'' (Bangkok, Thailand) * '' Folies Bergère'' (Paris) * ''Folies du Lac'' (Paris) * '' Jubilee! Bally's'' (Las Vegas) * ''La Nouvelle Eve'' (Paris) * '' Le Lido'' (Paris) * ''

'' (Paris) * '' Paradis Latin'' (Paris) * ''Roderick Palazuelos 'Platinum Stars (México) * ''Showgirl Bootcamp Experience'' (Las Vegas) * ''Splash'' (

Riviera ''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two area ...

, Las Vegas) (

Frank Marino Francesco Antonio Marino (born November 20, 1954) is a Canadian guitarist and singer, best known as the leader of Canadian hard rock band Mahogany Rush. Often compared to Jimi Hendrix, he is described as one of the most underrated guitarists of ...

Show - La Cage) * '' The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies'' (

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

; unique in that the chorus line is of showgirls in their 50s, 60s and 70s) * ''The Francis Show (Transvestite Show)'' (México) * ''Tihany Spectacular Circus'' (Brazil-México) * '' Tropicana Club'' (

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba) * '' Cabaret Red Light'' (

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, USA) * ''VEGAS! THE SHOW'' (Las Vegas) * ''VIVA Cabaret Showbar'' (

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

, UK) * ''90 Degrees & Rising'' (Dunes Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas)

Showgirls in popular culture

* The ''Gold Diggers'' films, including '' The Gold Diggers'' (silent, 1923), ''

Gold Diggers of Broadway ''Gold Diggers of Broadway'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Winnie Lightner and Nick Lucas. Distributed by Warner Bros., the film is the second all-talking, all-Technicolor feature-lengt ...

'' (1929), '' Gold Diggers of 1933'' (1933), '' Gold Diggers of 1935'' (1935), '' Gold Diggers of 1937'' (1936), and '' Gold Diggers in Paris'' (1938) * ''

Bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

'', a 1934 film in which

American burlesque American burlesque is a genre of variety show derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows. Burlesque became popular in America in the late 1860s and slowly evolved to feature ribald comedy and female nudity. By th ...

dancer Sally Rand played a carnival showgirl and performed a

fan dance In the West, a fan dance (i.e., a dance performed with fans) may be an erotic dance performance, traditionally by a woman, but not exclusively. Beyond eroticism it is a form of musical interpretation. The performer, sometimes entirely nude o ...

* The Golddiggers, a troupe that performed on ''

The Dean Martin Show ''The Dean Martin Show'', not to be confused with the ''Dean Martin Variety Show'' (1959–1960), is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by Dean Martin. The theme song to the ...

'' beginning in 1968 * '' Showgirls'', a 1995 film directed by

Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...

and starring

Elizabeth Berkley Elizabeth Berkley (born July 28, 1974) is an American actress. She played Jessie Spano in the television series '' Saved by the Bell'' and Nomi Malone/Polly Ann Costello in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film ''Showgirls''. She voiced the title role ...

* ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also b ...

'', a 1950 Broadway production, depicts a Miss Adelaide as the main character's fiancée, a singer and showgirl in various musical numbers. *

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

was inspired by different types of showgirls and named and styled her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour and Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour concerts after them. Showgirl themes can be seen at many corners through Minogue's entire career. * Several showgirl cars are seen at the Dinoco booth during the animated film ''

Cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, people in ...

''; former Motorama show car Flo displays vanity licence plate SHOGRL as a "Motorama 1957 showgirl".

References

{{reflist Theatrical occupations Variety shows Dance occupations Entertainment occupations Gendered occupations