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From dancer to stage manager, Fluff has done it all By Debbie Sorrentino Review-Journal Watching the 129-member cast of the ?╟úJubilee?╟Ñ extravaganza perform at the MGM Grand Hotel, one wonders who pulls it together to make the stunning effect so spirited. One person who plays a key role in overseeing the show?╟╓s production numbers is Fluff Le Coque, company manager. Le Coque and her assistant, Michael Pratt, work with the show?╟╓s nine line captains (who double as dancers) supervising rehearsals, maintaining discipline and coordinating, the singers?╟╓, dancers?╟╓ and principals?╟╓ roles in the seven-act ?╟úmovie tribute.?╟Ñ The red-haired, 5-foot-5-inch former dancer, ballet master and line captain appeared in many shows in the United States and Europe before coming to the hotel in 1973 to be company manager of the ?╟úHallelujah Hollywood?╟Ñ show. Refusing to divulge her age, she only says that she has spent ?╟ú35 years as a professional involved in dancing.?╟Ñ At a recent rehearsal for new cast members, the chainsmoking Le Coque sat watching the cast dance to recorded music. Rising to lead her visitor to her office located below the Ziegfeld Theater stage, she moves with the assurance of a fleet-footed cat, one imagines not unlike the creature Fluff for whom she was named. Named ?╟úFfolliOtt?╟Ñ by her parents, she explains with a smile, ?╟úFluff has been my nickname since I was a little girl. The woman who lived next door to us (in Butte, Mont.) adored cats. There was a big cat with red fur named Fluff who was the terror of the neighborhood. The cat had a terrible temper and I did, too.?╟Ñ ; That artistic temperament carried Le Coque through the University of Washington on a drama scholarship. Later, she recalls, ?╟úI did a great many plays, sometimes musicals and theater-in-the-round...It was legitimate, highly professional theater training because if you were chosen (for a part), fine, but you also could do props and other things. ?╟úWhen I got out of the university, I really wanted to become an actress and I went to Hollywood,?╟Ñ she admits. ?╟úI went on interviews and calls but it just wasn?╟╓t Wayne Kodey/Review-Journal REVIEWING SCHEDULE - Sharon Smith, left, line captain for ?╟úJubilee?╟Ñ show at the MGM Grand Hotel, discusses cast schedule with Fluff Le Coque, company manager. for me. It?╟╓s a bit inhibiting when you?╟╓re in front of a camera because a camera reads your thoughts, and I always was a bit self-conscious.?╟Ñ In the realm of dance, Le Coque studied ?╟úballet, jazz, tap, everything hut acrobatics,?╟Ñ before performing on the West and East Coasts and Europe (Brussels and Paris). ?╟úEvery place I have worked as a dancer I have been line captain,?╟Ñ she notes. Le Coque arrived in Las Vegas 18 yeans ago. Asked what lured her to this desert town then, she replies, it m 1 ?╟úWhen you?╟╓re a performer you?╟╓re more or less a gypsy ?╟÷ you go where the job opportunities are.?╟Ñ Sixteen years ago, this attractive performer married another performer ?╟÷ Archie Le Coque, now lead trombonist in the Dick Palombi Orchestra at the Riviera Hotel. She has three grown stepchildren from that marriage. Stages at the Last Frontier, El Rancho and Thunder-bird hotels were home to Le Coque for a number of years. ?╟úThey always had a line, a group of girls who -------------g$--------------------------------------s?· would open the show and do numbers. They gradually branched into miniature productions of maybe 30 people. This evolved into a chorus ?╟÷ boys, girls and principal people ?╟Ñ She attributes that growth of production shows to Donn Arden, producer/director of the ?╟úJubilee,?╟Ñ Star dust ?╟úLido,?╟Ñ and ?╟úLido?╟Ñ in Paris, because, as Las Vegas grew, ?╟úthe hotels would acquiesce to his demands.?╟Ñ ?╟úNew York is where I first met Mr. Arden,?╟Ñ she recalls. ?╟úI went to his offices there; they hired me. I went to Cincinnati and stayed there for a while. Then Donn was doing a new show at the Desert Inn. I came out as captain and principal dancer. ?╟úFrom there I went to Hollywood at the Moulin Rouge. We ran a big production vliere for six to eight years. I was company manager, ballet mistress, company captain for everybody ?╟÷ boys and girls. I taught all the boys and girls. There were 60 people in those shows at that time. That meant knowing all their routines besides my own.?╟Ñ Asked if it was demanding, she laughingly says, ?╟úOh, yes. It was demanding, but I was young and strong and healthy. ?╟úThere was a one-week notice clause (in the dancers?╟╓ contracts), and I was constantly rehearsing. Once I stayed for 24 hours and put eight new people in the show. They (dancers) would go to other jobs. At that time in Hollywood, a lot of them were working in movies and television or trying to double and it became too much for them.?╟Ñ Despite the fact that dancers must start at a young age (6 to 10) to become proficient in a variety of dances, especially ballet, she says, ?╟úThe span of performance is not very long; generally, your best dancing years are 25 to 35.?╟Ñ S. And now, as an advisor to the teaching captains rather than a performer, Le Coque reflects, ?╟úI was very fortunate in that I?╟╓ve been able to bridge the gap from performer to the other side of the fence: I have to thank Mr. Arden and the people at MGM for that.?╟Ñ She generally works 6 p.m.-2 a.m., six days a week, but Please see FLUFF/7E