Kelly Taylor's Blueprint for Success
by Jack Corbett
Feature entertainer Kelly Taylor's blueprint for success should be studied by house dancers and feature entertainers everywhere |
| All eyes are on the pretty red head in the
stately powder blue gown doing the pole. My adrenaline’s surging as I go
for the perfect shot that will encapsulate the spirit of the entire Pure
Talent showcase while encompassing the performances of all 19 feature
entertainers into a split second, captured at the perfect angle and pose
for eternity into a single digitized image. Kelly Taylor, formerly Kelly
Divine, exudes elegance as she mounts the pole, hangs herself upside down,
and floats like a butterfly. There is a collective gasp behind me from at
least three awe struck club owners and several house dancers who had
traveled over 200 miles for the showcase. It is a moment to be proud of,
shared with all of us, by one of the most exciting and promising newcomers
to feature dom. But Kelly Taylor is much more than the crowd pleaser we’ve
just seen. While many feature entertainers are high powered performers and
personalities that can be compared to formula one 16 cylinder Ferraris,
most have their engines missing on a cylinder or two which keeps them from
realizing their potential. Although they might do reasonably well, there
always seems to be a little something that’s out of tune. Aside from her
spectacular stage performances what’s exciting about Kelly is that she’s
clicking on all sixteen cylinders, making her a prized asset to any club
owner, agency, or photographer working with her and an inspiration to her
fans. Although this Exotic Dancer’s Miss Maryland has just started
featuring, her blueprint for success should be studied by serious features
and house dancers everywhere.
Perhaps I’ve mistitled this article, "Kelly Taylor’s Blueprint for Success". The concept of a sixteen cylinder race car clicking on all cylinders being a blueprint for success is my own utopian concept of an entertainer who’s really together. My vision is of an entertainer who is 1. A brilliant dancer, 2. Consistently personable, 3. Punctual, 4. A woman of her word, 5. An adult professional of high integrity, 6. Willing to work long hours on her career both at home and on the road, 7. Like the best professional ballplayers with their knack for being around the ball to make the big play (making it her business to capitalize on every opportunity coming her way), 8. Able to shake off injuries and temporary setbacks and still deliver a great performance, 9. innovative with her shows, 10. Effectively using most of the marketing tools available to her including the Internet, 11. Dedicated to staying in excellent physical condition, 12. Her own business manager instead of just being a vehicle for others to exploit, 13. Willing to sacrifice financially for her long term success, 14. Immediately accessible to other industry professionals and to her fans, 15. Not consumed by the almighty dollar although she’s willing to work hard for her success, and who is 16. Above all, sensitive to the feelings of others. MOST feature entertainers fail to fire on at least one of these cylinders. Kelly Taylor performs brilliantly on all sixteen. To avoid writing a book on the subject, only a small portion of our interview follows.
Xtreme: "What is your home club?
Kelly: "Night Shift in Baltimore Maryland."
Xtreme: "What are your immediate plans?"
Kelly: "I’ll be at the Pure Talent Feature Showcase at the Lumberyard in Iowa the week of June 19th, I’ll be sharing a booth at Exotic Dancer’s Expo in Las Vegas in August and I’m running an ad in the Pure Talent Magazine." (All at her own expense).
Xtreme: "You know a lot about computers. Say I send you a picture I’ve taken of you. What can you do with it?
Kelly: "I can take Photo Shop and make it look like anything I want."
Xtreme: "How much time per day do you spend on your computer working on your web site, in Photo Shop, responding to e-mails, etc?
Kelly: "A good five hours a day."
Xtreme: "How much time do you devote per week to your career?"
Kelly: "Let me get out my calculator. Forty-five, I’d say 70 hours a week."
Xtreme: ""How much does your web site and your involvement with the Internet benefit you directly?"
Kelly: "I become much more to my fans than just this thing on stage. I make myself accessible to my fans who have become much more like friends to me."
Xtreme: "How many e-mails do you send out a week?"
Kelly: I don’t know. 70 a week?’
Xtreme: "Does this help bring more guys into a club to see you?"
Kelly: "I don’t know. I don’t look at it that way. Now when I first meet someone, I often ask, "What’s your screen name?"
Although she works incredibly long hours , has a clear sense of what she’s going to accomplish and how, and has obviously invested heavily in her costumes and marketing ventures that include a web site and booth at the Las Vegas Expo, Kelly outclasses other sharp minded businesswomen because of her refusal to quantity her relationship to her fans in dollars and cents. If you don’t believe me, just ask her for a back rub. In a few moments you will realize there’s a very sensitive and compassionate side to this rising star whose respect for the feelings of others is paramount. Which is why she elicited that collective gasp from the club owners and other entertainers observing her on that pole. We had all seen art in motion, that only a few entertainers can deliver. And anyone who understands art knows true artists cannot be bought. They do it for themselves and their fans whose energy they are able to draw on, and fuse with their own to produce magic.
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