It’s the foxtrot and Las Vegas memories for Tia Carrere as ‘DWTS’ touches down at the Trop

By John Katsilometes

Thursday, April 12, 2012 | 12:24 p.m.

If you had once danced the foxtrot on national TV, you might expect to remember doing it.

But Tia Carrere, she doesn’t remember.

“They told me I’m going to dance the foxtrot and that it should be easy because I danced it on the show,” says Carrere, one of the cast members of the stage version of “Dancing With the Stars: Live in Las Vegas” that begins a 12-week run at Tropicana Theater on Saturday night. “I said, ‘I did? I have no recollection of that.’ ”

But Carrere has a suitable explanation.

“My daughter was 5 weeks old when I was doing the show,” she says. “I was nursing at the time.”

Yep, in terms of memory retention, nursing trumps foxtrot, every time.

“DWTS” was in its own infancy when Carrere and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy competed in its second season in 2006. They finished sixth that season, the competition won by Drew Lachey of 98 Degrees fame and pro partner Cheryl Burke.

“I thought I’d be dancing the tango,” she says. “That, I do remember.”

The Las Vegas stage adaptation of the hit ABC series is hosted by inimitable celeb stylist Carson Kressley. Celebrity alums of the TV show scheduled to cut the rug here include former 'N Sync member and recurring “The Price Is Right Live!” guest host Joey Fatone, Sabrina Bryan of “The Cheetah Girls” and Kyle Massey (cast member of the Disney Channel’s “That’s So Raven” and “Cory in the House”). The professional dancers are represented by Dmitry Chaplin and Lacey Schwimmer.

The show joins Recycled Percussion as the headliners at Tropicana Theater, long famous as Tiffany Theater and the former home of “Folies Bergere.” Eight performances per week are on the schedule. Show times are Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: 8 p.m.; Fridays at 9 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2 and 8 p.m. Hit the Tropicana website for ticket info.

And a bit more about Carrere, including her familial links to Vegas:

• She is a native of Hawaii, born in Honolulu, and her mother, Audrey, and father, Alexander, are longtime Las Vegas residents. She will live in Las Vegas for the show’s 3-month run, and one of the stops she plans to make is at the Hawaiian-favored California hotel-casino on Fremont Street.

• She likens performing on “DWTS” as a “fitness challenge.” “You become the incredible shrinking woman,” she says. “It is incredibly demanding. I lived on ibuprofen and massages.”

• Her first visit to Vegas was entirely unexpected. Carrere was attending a charity party in Malibu, Calif., and was asked by one of the organizers if she’d like to travel to Las Vegas with the host of the party. They said, “We’ll buy you a toothbrush and toothpaste, let’s go.” She wound up taking a helicopter to Santa Monica, boarded a private jet, landed at the Executive Airport in Las Vegas and was greeted by two individuals dressed as Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. Then it was off for a trip to glamorous Caesars Palace, where she was treated to a 10-course meal at Nero’s and stayed at the hotel’s famed “Rain Man” suite.

If this sounds like a scene from “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” starring my colleague Robin Leach, you would be right. Carrere was 17 at the time and a cast member of ABC's “General Hospital.” “It was unbelievable, so crazy,” she says. “I’d love to see that episode again.”

Somehow, that can be arranged.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.