HOPING TO SHINE IN THE BRIGHT-LIGHT CITY SINGERS, DANCERS GET CHANCE TO BE VEGAS SHOWGIRLS.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- For almost an hour Wednesday, reality lifted off their well-toned shoulders. They lived in a world of feathers and crystals. They were showgirls.

Donn Arden's Jubilee! came to town, looking for performers to fill out its 25th anniversary show. The racy revue, a staple of Bally's Las Vegas, offered very specific criteria: ``Gorgeous, statuesque'' dancers, no one under 5 feet 8 need apply.

``This wouldn't be a normal 9-to-5,'' said Jackie Kopcsak, 24, who moved down from Seattle a week ago with the hope of making a living using her feet. ``This is a steady, six-month contract as a dancer. You could give up the waitressing, the hotel clerk, the dance teacher gig.''

She and a handful of other would-be singers and dancers lined up in a hot Lankershim Boulevard studio, the next-to-last stop on a nationwide tour of auditions. The show's producers surveyed nearly 100 potential entrants to the show, which normally features 85 men and women, singers, dancers and topless showgirls.

On one side stands Julie Taber, 25, an ex-Radio City Rockette who's been dancing professionally since she was in high school back in Evansville, Ind.

At 6 feet tall and dressed in nearly nothing, she has a boundless smile, silver shoes and a set of pink ostrich feather wings strapped onto her back. Atop her head, she wears a crystal- encrusted headdress that spells out the name of the show.

No matter if she's kicking, leaping or just standing around, she never loses her perfect poise and grace. Even when she bends and squeezes her wild costume through a narrow doorway, Taber does not let the flawless veneer crack.

This is what the hopefuls must become.

``They see us looking glamorous and think, `Oh, I could do that,' but they don't realize how to pull it off without looking petrified that you're going to plunge down the stairs,'' Taber said. ``These things weigh so much, if you turn your head, you'll tip over and fall.''

In the middle of the room, Jennifer Mentel, dance captain of the show's Blue Bell squad, leads the auditioners through a complex series of kicks they've had to learn on the spot. A blond dancer in a two-piece leotard and fishnet stockings wipes sweat off her flat belly and tries not to lose that wide-eyed, unfadingly perfect showgirl look.

``Mack the Knife'' spills from the speakers, and Mentel counts out a ``5-6-7-8,'' snapping her fingers in time. Soon, dancers are stomping across the floor, bam-bam-bam-bam. Long legs fly back and out, and one dancer who's thrown in an unchoreographed twirl mouths a curse, then forces the grin back again.

Next, it's ballet. A blast of Aaron Copland tests their grace.

``You can have someone with a great look, but if they don't have the technique, we can't use them,'' said Diane Palm, a former dancer in the revue who's now the assistant company manager. ``Ballet, jazz, high kicks, they need to know a lot.''

When the dance tryouts ended, a few singers took their turn before the casters, working on standards and show tunes a capella. As hip-hop music from the room next door blared through, they belted loudly and tried to hold the room on personality and voice alone.

``As a performer, you get a lot of down time with no auditions and no agent,'' said Amelie McKendry, 25, who works in the mail room at CBS Television City when not out on auditions. ``You've got to keep working hard. It can be depressing, but you've got to stay motivated.''

The lucky ones will get a callback in July; the luckier still get cast in the show and endure four grueling weeks of rehearsal. And the others will just go back to their day jobs, hoping for better luck next time.

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Dancers flocked to a hot Lankershim Boulevard studio in the hopes of landing a spot in Donn Arden's Jubilee! a 25-year-old revue at Bally's Las Vegas.

(2 -- color) Showgirl Julie Taber watches as dancers audition for Don Arden's Jubilee!

on Wednesday at Millennium Dance Center in North Hollywood. The Bally's Las Vegas revue was holding a nationwide search for new entertainers to bolster the 25-year-old show.

(3 -- color) Don Arden's Jubilee! assistant company manager Diane Palm, left, talks with the entertainment manager as dance captain Jennifer Mentel, back left, leads the auditioners through a routine.

(4 -- color) Ballet was just one of many styles dancers had to master for the Jubilee! auditions.

(5 -- color) Dancers Heather Moody, left, and Amelie McKendry exchange phone numbers after auditions for Don Arden's Jubilee! on Wednesday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer