Columnist Susan Snyder: Tough task? Dancer can hack it

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 5:18 a.m.

A stripper's work is never done.

Not if the stripper is Andrea Hackett.

Hackett is so busy reviewing county ordinances, and doing media interviews and membership drives for her dancer's advocacy group, she hardly has time to dress or undress -- at home or for money.

Since founding and becoming executive director of the Las Vegas Dancer's Alliance (LVDA), Hackett has managed to hack off about every strip club owner except Deja Vu Showgirls, where she currently works. She has been interviewed by CBS News, the Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Adult Industry News, Playboy magazine and more radio stations than you can waggle a finger at.

She has written a commentary or two about Clark County's attempts to regulate strippers' behavior and a recent proposal by a state senator to tax strip clubs to help pay for medical malpractice insurance.

Her passion is certain. Her goals are clear. She talks of "disaffected voters" and the "rapacity" of medical insurance companies. She gave a speech for the local Libertarian Party.

Her schedule looks more like that of a politician than a stripper. She barely has time to dance three nights a week.

"I wish I could do more, but it's because of my schedule," Hackett said. "I'm close to being flat-broke, which is scary. I'm 49 and I depend on taking my clothes off for a living. And that's scary."

Hackett's desire to organize strippers into a national union-type group could also be construed as scary, depending on which side of the stage you stand.

She wants dancers to have health insurance before their business is taxed to offset Nevada's medical malpractice insurance costs, as proposed by state Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

"These clubs certainly can afford to give us health insurance, but we have nothing," Hackett said. "We need an organization because we have nowhere else to go."

Hackett says she has received 900 applications for LVDA membership, but typically draws 40 or fewer girls to demonstrations or public rallies. Still, she notes they registered 420 dancers to vote last year.

Five dancers joined Hackett Wednesday when she filed a 13-page "Protection of Dancing Initiative" with the Clark County Election Department, seeking to amend the county code that regulates erotic dancing.

The changes Hackett would like to see include striking out language that suggests lap-dancing spreads venereal disease, suggests strip clubs foster drug abuse and any language that criminalizes lap-dancing. She also wants to get rid of the restrictions on touching customers' legs.

Hackett is aware she's dancing in more political arenas than than strip clubs these days. But talking with the media and politicians has a pretty steep learning curve, and some of the quotes from other dancers that have ended up in print are as scary as, well, a 49-year-old woman who strips for a living.

Hackett laughed and recalled one of her favorites, in which a dancer told a reporter that if they aren't allowed to strip in clubs they would be forced to work on the street offering other types of adult sexual entertainment.

"I had to sit her down and explain, 'The average person doesn't see that as a real option, honey.' "