A real backstage experience
 

Now it is Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars season on TV I thought I would share an evening I had 7 years ago.

My friend's sister was a rising ballroom star just about to turn pro and her male partner went on to become one of the male dancers on the tv show.

Anyhoo - she wanted to go and support her sister in an international competition and asked me to go along and keep her company at the event. I agreed although it wasn't really my kind of thing and we trotted off to the event which turned out to be much bigger and better than I had imagined.

We had watched a couple of dances and I was quite enjoying myself, the atmosphere was pretty rowdy with lots of cheering and drinking, not quite the sedate event I had imagined it to be and the latin costumes looked even more non-existent close-up than on the tv.

After the second round had finished she dragged me through the crowd saying she wanted to go and see her sister and give her some support, I had seen lots of people disappear after the first round but assumed they were heading to the bar for refills.

We got to the backstage area and just walked straight in, no security, no passes , no questions asked.

To my surprise it was just an open hall where each couple had a table and a few chairs for all of their costumes, mirrors etc with no privacy at all and the dancers were just basically
changing in front of anyone who happened to be there. As we stood there chatting to her sister I realised that a few of the dancers were just standing around topless or in some cases nude cooling down from the previous round completely oblivious to how many people there were around.

After we went back to the main hall I asked her about this and she said that the girls weren't that bothered as the majority of the male dancers were gay ( no offence intended and I have no way of verifying whether this is true or not ) and it was quite common to have lots of supporters around who they were used to seeing on the circuit as well.

We went to support her sister after each round and every time it was the same with lots of naked women and we even got chatting to some of the other dancers nearby in various states of undress, it seemed as long as you didn't get caught doing too much obvious leering no-one cared and I was having a great time especially as I recognised some of the dancers from the tv.

The last time we went back I was chatting to her sister who suddenly stood up and started taking her dress off right in front of me and out of courtesy I started to look away at which point she said "don't worry nobody else does" and dropped it onto the table. She then carried on chatting to me as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened but for me to see her naked when I had seen her clothed several times on social occasions was having quite an affect on me.

There is no punchline where everyone had a mass orgy later although the afterparty did go on long into the early hours. Sadly no pics as you could never have got away with it in such a crowded room but I have enjoyed watching the tv shows since then and recognising several of the women who were parading around naked that night.Her sister has also teased me since about the way I went to look away when she stripped off little knowing what was really going through my mind at the time!

I was surprised by the same thing. Many years ago a buddy of mine who is an opera singer in a professional company talked me into being a supernumerary, basically a non-singing stage presence, for Aida. This meant wearing a loin cloth and being painted this weird brown-red color from head to toe.

The venue was this huge old theatre, and except for the stars, everyone was thrown into this huge changing, body painting area. The ballet corp, lots of graceful women, were going from massive costume change to another, while we were getting stripped, painted and put in loin cloths.

It was quite an experience.

what were the number of brazillian waxings there?

I have a number of other stories concerning backstage ballet nudity, if there is no objecting to my posting them here.

Otherwise, they can be read at

http://forums.delphiforums.com/yello...ages?msg=170.1

Accessing the forum requires a Delphi membership, but it is free.[/QUOTE]

Please post away. Love any stories like that

They all had landing strips , no full bushes and no completely shaved girls that I saw.

I guess being totally bald wasn't quite as fashionable then but the latin dresses in particular dictated that there couldn't be too much in the way of stray hair.

Backstate at a fashion fundraiser
 

I had a similar experience on a very local level. It surprised the heck out of me. It was a charity fundraiser fashion show. The clothes were all provided by local boutiques and the models were predominately amateur actors in the local communities mixed in were several older high-society types. It was held at one of the community theaters and the event was chaired by a friend of mine and I knew others on the committee. He asked me if I'd like to give him a hand behind the scene. We had worked organizing a few other fund-raisers together so he knew that I knew the basics of operating an event like this and would be an asset.

There was a dressing room, two actually, but the wall between was moveable and needed to be retracted for some unknown reason. Everything backstage went on in this room. As the actor/models (a/m's) arrived they would change with much casual partial nudity. The high-society models (h/s's) changed very discretely with only flashes of visible underwear. The show started with sportswear then on to evening wear and finally some nightwear. I forgot to mention there both male and female models. The h/s males weren't so modest from the start and couple parades around in their silk briefs in front of the younger females.

As the evening progressed the clothing necessitated changing bras, panties etc., so as the evening progressed I was able to get a good look at quite few local women in knew in various states of undress. A few were very frank and noticing my and other roaming eyes made comments to the effect that in theater was very usual. A married gal I knew walked passed me in only a thong and squeezed my package playfully while commenting at how I must be enjoying the show. Yep guilty as charged.

Back to the h/s ers. Wine was provided for everyone backstage to help the shy "models" feel more confident on the runway/stage actually. Things started moving a little faster so clothing changes had to be made quicker. The old ladies were trying to be modest, but having a hard time shielding themselves. Well one of the h/s ladies, known for her enjoying the "g****" got a little loose. She chided the other gals about their modesty and stripped right down and started to change into a bustier (sp?). The other gals laughed but by this time were lubed up enough to shed some modesty. Of course the dirty old men's peckers were proudly being displayed and strutted in front of the young a/m gals.

Then the show ended and everyone gathered in the backstage. The h/s ers were starting to realize what they just did and who saw them expose what. Of course most all were still wearing lingerie some of which were somewhat or definitely see-thru. The young a/m gals were very casual about socializing in as little as I thong. Nothing major happened, just some hugs, cheap feels etc.

The a/m's casually dressed back into their street clothes and the h/s's quickly did the same There was a whole lot of whispering going on about hoping this did not get "out".

Iams.... you didn't mention whether the male models/dancers were nude or not. At my function the men were definitely more modest except the old guys. No I am not gay or bi- just a curious question.

Was involved in a few amateur stage productions when I was younger and have a number of stories. Also has a friend who work a summer for a teenage dance troupe, who has incredible tales, although perhaps not suitable for this venue.

Good question, there were plenty of men standing around with their shirts off although that was kind of incidental as my eyes swept the room - the girls stood out more as their sequinned and brightly coloured outfits caught the light when they moved around or sat in front of illuminated mirrors repairing their make-up

I don't recall seeing any totally naked men, maybe they only changed their shirts between rounds as they tend to wear black trousers most of the time or they were just more discreet.

Having said that I wasn't looking for them so there may have been some male nudity and I just didn't see it.

Would be great if you could share the ones which don't break the forum rules.

Perhaps the best one was not a member of the cast, but a local theater critic, who also had her own cable show at one point. A short, full-figured German (I think) woman of about 50 or so. Not great looking but curvaceous in a fairly nice way, with short red (probably dyed) hair. She had been around a couple of times during rehearsals but showed up backstage before the show on opening night. I was seated at the counter in front of a big mirror in one of the shared dressing rooms, and she came in wearing a sweatshirt type top and pants. I was looking straight ahead but could see her refelection clearly in the mirror. She was chatting to another woman and casually pulled off her sweatshirt, revealing her bra and a whole lot of cleavage. But the kicker came when she took off her pants, under which she had on white tights. I didnt think much of that at first until she turned and I realized she had no panties on and her thick dark bush was completely visible through the sheer white tights. Then she went to one of the racks and grabbed a glittery formal dress which she pulled halway on, then turned and took her bra off. I didn't quite see nipple but got a really good side-to-back view of one off her full round tits, before she slid the rest of the dress on.

I remember a lad I was friends with at School coming in one morning, very excited at what he had seen the previous night. His mother owned an expensive fur coat shop and she had entered some of her clothing into a fashion show. He had gone back stage with his mother and was shocked to see models walking, standing and changing in the nude. He said it was so casual and no one seemed to care. He saw quite a few bushes I was told. I don't know if he exaggerated as we were about 13 at the time and it was about 1985.

A friend of mine has worked stage calls for many different shows, sometimes as a "dresser".
Usually they put male dressers with male performers, but not always. It's not unusual for him to have to help female performers change costumes, and as a result see them nude.
He was working a show as a dresser once with another younger guy who hadn't done the job before. The show had large groups of dancers, and as he and his helper stood in the wardrobe area a group of about 8 ladies came in, stood in front of them and dropped their robes to reveal their nudity!
The younger guy leaned over to my friend red faced and whispered "I think we're in the wrong place!"
My friend just smiled and said "I think I'm in exactly the right place!"

That makes me think of all the sound design guys who put the microphone on all these actresses in talkshow or such.
Man, what they get to see and perhaps partially feel. :D

I like to watch all of the newsbabes on the news shows, and I wonder if they ever get help putting on their wireless mics. They often have their mics clipped near their cleavage and the wire threaded inside their clothes and either clipped to the back of their skirt/slacks, or down to their legs and presumably strapped there with velcro. Perhaps they can do that themselves, but it seems like it would be easier with "help" from the crew. In my fantasy world, at least in bigger markets, I like to think that it's a union rule that the sound guy has to hook up the mic, and he regularly gets in his views and feels. But perhaps all of that is wishful thinking on my part.

The open bay changing areas may be present in local theater, etc., but they are very definitely not the case with DWTS. From personal experience I know that the principal cast have individual dressing rooms. There are changing areas immediately backstage for quick costume changes, but they are separated into male and female and further divided in to curtained off privacy areas. There is simply no way to walk in on someone undressed.

I was watching the SyFy Channel Special
 

On Comic-Con with Zachary Levi and he was interviewing one of the actresses for Battlestar Galactica She told about a nude scene that she appeared in. She was nude in a bed, but covered with a sheet. There was a male actor in the room and he was just wearing a towel and was seated in a chair in the room talking to her. She said that she was surprised to find one of the sound guys was under her bed with a boom mike pointed directly at the actor's chair so that his dialogue could be captured. She said what was funny was that the actor was not wearing anything under his towel and the sound guy had no choice but to see everything under the towel, so that he could ensure that the mike was correctly orientated. This was in the first night of three programs this year.

And no cell phone pictures?????

I think some sort of "backstage" nudity is a lot more common than some people think.

In my college days I knew several people in the theater department. They had said several times something like "You can't be shy about nudity and be in theater." They talked all the time about how, when they would come off stage between acts, if there was a costume change, you literally only had 2 or 3 minutes to change, so you did it right there in front of whomever was around. The costumes were designed for easy on and off. I was told you could sneak a glance here and there, just don't stand there and stare...that would get you a rebuke from the actor/actress and the head of the department.

I had no real interest in theater. But one semester they talked me into giving it a try. The only reason why I agreed was you got a tuition scholarship if you were in theater. I was the assistant stage manager for one play. One of the actresses was a gorgeous blonde who was built like a brick house. She had it up top, and down below. She was also a dancer and into yoga, so she was curvy, and in really firm shape. Every guy in the theater department wanted her, including me. But she only dated "older" guys, like 30ish. At the age we were at that time 30 was old.

Her part in the play was a maid. Her wardrobe was a maid outift, low cut up top, to show off plenty of cleavage, and a mini-skirt. After one of the acts she was supposed to change into a house coat and slippers. So, she comes off stage, kicks off the heels she was wearing, bends over forward, a wardrobe person grabs her costume in the area of her hips, and pulls it straight off over her head. Here she is standing there, maybe 10 feet away from me, in nothing but very small lace panties. And this was back in the day when women didn't shave down there. I could definitely see a few hairs peaking out around the lace. To this day that is the best pair of tits I've ever seen...at least in person. She didn't seem the least bit shy or bothered by it, she took it in stride, like it was nothing unusual.

No Shyness in Showbiz
 

cgnok nailed it - "You can't be shy about nudity and be in theater." I've been doing theatre off and on since I was ten, and I can attest to this. I also work indie film shoots, both in front of the camera and as a set armorer and SFX rigger.

The one experience (so far) that will interest you all was on a small film where I needed to rig the lead actress with a blood squib for a through-and-through gunshot. She was quite cute and very nice to work with. But being literally old enough to be her dad and wanting complete professionalism from myself and the other crew I needed to remain aloof and unaffected. And to be honest she wasn't particularly 'built' - in fact she was what I term as "scrawny". Not my cup of tea.

We were shooting in somebody's apartment and to make sure she had privacy I announced to the rest of the (very young and all hetero male) crew that she and I were going into one of the bedrooms for rigging, that the door would be closed, and that under no circumstances was anyone other than the director allowed to enter.

As you can see from this publicity shot, she was already dressed in some sweet lingerie and a sheer cover up. My blood rig was an airhose filled with stage blood, going through a splitter in order to get an 'entry' and 'exit' squirt.

I had no trouble taping the lead-in air line to her side and then running the back line under her bra strap and taping in place. During this time I also got a nice view of her skinny little butt in her lacy and sheer panties. When it came time for the front I handed her the air line and asked her to run it under her bra in between the cups and then I'd take over. I'll admit I took this opportunity to check the front of her panties. I assume she was fully shaved as I didn't see any hint of pubes.

She did as I asked with the hose, and as I was positioning the nozzle of the air line and taping it in place on her chest I was able to get an unencumbered view of her tiny boobs and nipples, as she really didn't even fill the A cups. Check the "Downblouse" section for photos of other small girls to get an idea.

Of course, I was "completely focused" on the job at hand and she didn't notice that I got such a great view.

We went on to get the shot and then we were wrapped for that film. As we all left she gave me a nice tight hug and thanked me for taking care of her.

They do get some help, apparently
 

Apparently, newsreaders do get some help (at least in India) - you do need the hooking up of the mic and the box the wire goes into done properly - can't have poor sound because of a shoddy job hooking it up.

A friend is a business news anchor, and she told me the sound guys hook them up before they go on air. Most of the times it is straightforward, as the wiring happens over the shirt, as the anchors usually wear a jacket as well. It gets a bit more interesting if there is a dress instead - sometimes, if the dress isn't a tight fit, the wire has been put inside her dress, in which case some people have gotten a good look at her underwear! :)

The mic getting clipped in the front does occasionally result in boobs bong touched.

If the anchor is on location somewhere, then maybe they do it themselves, but which is why they usually have a separate microphone, not one clipped to their clothes.

Saw dancers in an open air show at the hotel next door to the Annabelle in Paphos, Cyprus strip of completely between routines putting on new costumes. My balcony looked directly over the rear of the stage area. My wife was not amused !

Ironman Race
 

I was watching a live broadcast of the Ironman Triathlon from Hawaii on ABC television a number of years ago. It might have been in the 1980s. Anyway, after the runners complete the swim, they have to quickly change for the bike race portion. There was a screened off area set up for them. For some reason one of the camera crews had so that it could film down into to changing area, which was used by women. I guess that they thought the women would just put on shoes and then ride the bikes in their swimsuits. Some of the women however actually changed from swimsuits to bike shorts. It was at a distance, so you couldn't get a clear view, but you could see flashes of skin. The director quickly switched to another camera, and after a commercial break, the location over the changing area was never used again to my great disappointment.

No it isn't wishful thinking. I used to work in several TV news studios. It was not unusual for a female presenter to come into the studio minutes before going live to be miked up. They would lift their skirt up and tie the mini-box around their waist, then dangle the mic cable down their top, and you had to reach up and plug the cable in. With the time pressure, modesty went out of the window. Some presenters seemed to need more help than others, but views of underwear were frequent.

That´s great to hear! Do you have any especially naughty stories in mind perhaps?

I was teaching a college TV production class and we wouldn't take it that far when it came to mikeing, most would be wearing a jacket or sweater so they would clip it to the lapel and hide the cord behind it or tucked inside. I had one student who came in wearing a short one piece dress so there was nothing to clip it to. She hiked up her skirt revealing lace black panties. I tried to casually look away as she threaded it under her dress to come out her neckline. Needless to say that's been locked in since it happened.