Thursday, March 18, 2004 | 8:17 a.m.
Europe DiChan slipped into a pair of dark slacks, flats and a sweater, then headed to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
After 15 years of lugging her themed costumes across America, stopping at clubs for weeklong stripping stints, the lap dancer at Olympic Garden was about to face a different audience.
College students, many not old enough to legally drink alcohol, let alone go near a strip club, awaited with questions they prepared for the former adult film star and model.
They were curious about the woman from Cleveland who, at age 18, won an amateur strip contest, then headed to Chicago to start her career. They wanted to know the wildest thing she had ever done and how she felt the first time she stripped. Some wanted to know why she did it.
"I was really nervous because I never spoke at a university," said DiChan, a 5-foot-8-inch-tall blonde whose H-cup natural breasts are featured all over the Internet. "But as soon as I walked into the class I was at ease. They were great.
"They asked so many questions. In fact, when the class ended, they followed me into the hallway asking questions."
DiChan is a past guest speaker for Sex, Dance and Entertainment, a UNLV course that examines the evolution of social and spectator dance dating to 1890. She represents a dying era in adult entertainment where costumes and slow strips are losing out to lap dances and breast implants.
To instructor Garold Gardner, a former Broadway hoofer and current local dance teacher, DiChan is living history, someone who puts a face on an industry. "It brings it alive for them," Gardner said. "It makes it immediate."
Sex, Dance and Entertainment, in its fifth year, has gained national media attention, including a May 2003 story in the Los Angeles Times and a mention last year in Playboy magazine.
After a local broadcast report presented the class as a how-to on stripping, Jeff Koep, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said he had to answer a few questions regarding its validity.
"We're doing it from an academic point of view," Koep said. "It's like most art. It can be a reflection of the culture or the times. It can be a reflection of microcultures. Certainly, ballet doesn't cover the canon of dance."
Historically speaking
In addition to DiChan, Gardner has brought in dancers from "Thunder From Down Under" and a transvestite who performs at the Gipsy. This semester's lineup includes dancers from "Midnight Fantasy."
Carole Rae, UNLV dance department founder, created the course to offer a more well-rounded approach to dance.
"We had only courses looking at dance as fine art, we wanted a course on entertainment," Rae said. "I want them to understand about the entire world of dance, especially the social dance and how dance as entertainment is different from dance as art.
"Most of what you see on TV is entertainment and not fine art."
But when getting the class accredited, Rae ran into trouble with its title.
"They thought it was frivolous," Rae said. "People are skeptical. They want to make sure it's a solid learning experience."
Students learn about ballet and how DJs in night clubs influenced popular music. Names that have come and gone are studied, such as mimes Shields and Yarnell and break dancer Shaba Doo.
Class discussions vary from the Catholic Church's early opposition to the waltz to lurid behavior behind the bar at New York City's notorious nightclub, Studio 54 to the dance marathons of the 1930s.
Students watch graphic videos on breast implants and liposuction. They take field trips to "Thunder From Down Under," then write essays on the performances and audience response. The following week "Thunder" dancers visit the class for a question-and-answer period.
For all its edginess, Gardner said the class reflects trends in mainstream entertainment: Britney Spears and Janet Jackson, to name a couple.
"We study so much dry history and don't hit enough of what's relevant in their lives," Gardner said. "We're acknowledging as an educational institution that this is a part of life."
Students Amanda Erickson and Amy Ingstad, both 18, attended Spears' recent show in Las Vegas. At one point during the show, Spears forewent singing for simulating sex acts.
"It was really risque," Ingstad said. "I had been to one other show with my little sister, (but) this was nothing like that. At one point she was on her bed with (another guy)."
Added Erickson, 'You can actually realize they're selling sex. This class kind of opens your eyes. You just have to come in with an open mind. This is what's going on on TV. This is what's going on now."
Dancing days
Rae brought Gardner in as a teacher to expand the course using his connections and interest in dance history. To cover the Depression-era dance marathons, Gardner showed the 1969 movie "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"
"Until I saw this movie, I never understood this whole era," Gardner said. "It seemed pretty far-fetched to us now with our lifestyle. But this happened. This is not fiction.
"They were on their feet night and day. But they got to eat seven times a day. It shows how low economically our country was and how desperate people were."
Then there are a few perks for Gardner.
"I taught them the Charleston," he said with a smile. "We do the cake walk. We do the basic waltz."
Abigail Cooke is majoring in political science and took the course for her fine arts elective.
"It's not just about sex, dance and entertainment," Cooke said. "It's about what's going on in society that influences sex, dance and entertainment. A lot of it is really from a social and political view."
Sarah Paine, an international business major, is also taking the course to fill her fine-arts requirement.
"I read about it in Playboy magazine. My best friend took this class and she loved it," Paine said. "It introduces you to a new lifestyle you may not be familiar with." Gardner said performers such as the "Thunder" dancers and DiChan bring an understanding of the lifestyle that accompanies the careers.
"I told them, 'It has its glamorous parts, but it's not like Gypsy Rose Lee,' " DiChan said. "It's a tough life. Not everybody can travel like that.
"We used to work six days a week and then we traveled. After the show you'd go down and take Polaroids with the guys, sign magazines. You made a name for yourself. Now girls just get giant boobs and, 'Wow, you're a star.' The market was flooded for a couple of years. Porn stars, they hit the market and they started touring."
Reflectively, DiChan added, "It's an era that I hate to see end. Girls still do shows in other cities, but it's not the same."
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