Required Skills for Showgirls

Climbing Stairs!

Went way out of town this weekend to a city with some ancient ruins. You know those tall, tall pyramids that were started in something like 200 B.C. when people had a lot more free time. Why did they make these things so tall?

And steep? Really steep? We had to walk down the stairs diagonally.

Halfway down and hanging on for dear life, I flashed back to my time skating, when we showgirls had to walk the narrow stairs, with blades - that add another three inches to the length - and without looking down at the stairs.

But I can hear you saying, Vegas showgirls make it look easy. They do, because they're wearing high heels which shorten the length of their feet.

Still, they can't look down either.

Stairs were a skill that took practice, although I looked like an idiot practicing walking down stairs during open ice time. Some were naturally better at it - not me - than others. And it seemed to have little connection to what jumps a skater could land. More about grace and an aversion to accidents.

One night I proved it was not my forte when I took one step at the top and slid off the staircase, about twelve feet down, landing on the ice in a big blur of red sequins to the horror of my cast mates. And by the laws of ice show etiquette, they couldn't laugh at me until they saw I was okay. When I didn't get up at the speed of light, the law of falling in skating in shows or competition, they had to sweat it out for a minute.

So, I'm grateful that yesterday I didn't fall back to my showgirl ways and tumble down the side of a pyramid or my next post would be about this crazy country's medical system.