I had my hot pants and chainmail bra on underneath, which was what I planned to strip down to. But remembering that I was number 15 in the strip line up, I replied: "You can when number 15 is up."
This built up all kinds of anticipation in the crowd, and then it was prolonged when there were technical difficulties with my CD and the MC told them they would have to wait. By the time I went up, the crowd had adopted one of my coin phrases they had learned from me and were even volleying it back and forth with the MC.
I think they were pretty quiet when I first when up. But when I climbed the pole...oh my god...they went nuts! Suddenly I'm hearing 200 people screaming for me as I climb up, grab hold of the pole with my thighs, peel off my secretary coat with my hands and then flip upside down. This is not the first time I've performed for 200 people, but it's definitely the first time I've heard that many people scream like frenzied concert goers for me! I went on to do a mix of crowd interaction and pole tricks and did my best to pick up the tips that I was earning for the AIDS charity (it was a charity event). I had a great time and I loved the fact that I was so appreciated without stripping down completely. That's the beauty of pole dancing, you can please a lot of people without every having to take your clothes off.