Louisiana’s Virginia Crouse hits the dance floor for new Vegas show, ‘DISCOSHOW’

Each evening, Virginia Crouse slips into a disco dress and dancing shoes, becoming Tina for the new high-energy Las Vegas experience, “DISCOSHOW,” at the Linq Hotel.

The dance floor with lighted, multicolored squares. The pulsing disco beats. The silk shirts. The short, shimmering dresses — it’s all there. 

No matter that the 70-minute show is set in 1979 and Louisiana native Crouse wasn’t born until 2001. She’s ready to do the hustle, the bump, the bus stop, whatever showrunners throw at her.

Crouse’s Tina is not a speaking role, but she communicates nonetheless.

“This audition was like nothing I have ever done before because it was a lot of acting. It was dancing, but it was a lot of acting, and I have to show multiple emotions,” Crouse said by phone from Vegas. “It just reminded me of why I love dance and why I love performing.”

Viewers first saw Crouse’s dancing expertise on Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” in summer 2022. Crouse competed in the first six episodes, reaching the top 12 before being eliminated. The experience spurred the Hammond native, who had been living in Slidell for five years, to pack up her life and move to Los Angeles. There she would secure an agent and pursue her dream of a career in dance.

“I was being sent on tons of auditions for music videos, cruises, commercials, tours, all sorts of things,” she said. “But unfortunately in L.A., you have to have a certain type of look. And I didn’t have that look at the time. I still don’t, which is totally fine, but they’re very specific on who they want to cast, and that was a real eye opener.”

Crouse described “the look” as tall, super thin, really fit, with nice hair and a beautiful smile — conventionally attractive, model perfect.

“And I’m not like that. I’m very strong, I have broad shoulders. I’m not super thin, and I love myself, and I love my body,” she said. “I’m not going to go to the extremes to make myself look differently.”

With no dancing gigs in sight, Crouse did teach at a dance studio for a few months. To make ends meet after that, she took a six-day-a-week job as a barista at a La La Land Kind Cafe at the popular Los Angeles mall The Grove.

“Sometimes I would work 12 hours a day, just pulling doubles trying my best to support myself,” she said. “And keep my spirits up because I had a goal and I had a dream, but it was very difficult.”

Thirteen months in, Crouse finally got a break, booking a lead role in the dance musical murder-mystery “Shag with a Twist.” Although the job only amounted to two weeks of rehearsals and just three performances, it was enough to keep Crouse motivated.

Then in January, Crouse landed the “DISCOSHOW” role, packed up again and moved to Vegas. Coincidentally, she already had friends in Vegas renting a house, and they now had a new roommate.

Settling into her third city in two years, Crouse was soon in rehearsals for “DISCOSHOW.”

“It’s such a unique and amazing show. It goes through the love and history of music and disco,” she explained. “It’s a freeing experience. There are no chairs in the theater, so we’re standing for the entire hour, and you’re dancing for the entire hour. You kind of just follow our lives as we go through discovering what the disco means to us.

“I can’t give away too much because of a bunch of surprises in the show, but I’m down there dancing with you, and we’re having a fun time together.”

A ’70s-themed diner on another floor makes for a dinner-and-a-show experience. Three different bars are also attached to the show.

Crouse walked the red carpet at the show’s premiere last month along with Steven Hoggett, director; Yasmine Lee, choreographer; and Michael Wynn, writer. The disco/theater, with a capacity around 300, has been pretty full for each of the two nightly performances, she said.

“A lot of our audiences are older, and I would be talking to them, and they would just tell me a story. I’ve heard so many stories of people saying, ‘Whenever I was younger, I went to a disco, and this is taking me back to how it felt,'” she said. “A lot of people have come back multiple times already to experience the way that they felt again.” 

Crouse won’t soon forget the 86-year-old woman who, after seeing the first show one night, immediately bought a ticket for the second show.

“She had such an amazing time, and I had such an amazing time dancing with her,” Crouse said. “She was just in awe of the entire show and the entire feeling that we create. It was definitely a highlight.”

‘DISCOSHOW’

7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday

Linq Hotel, 3535 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas

Tickets start at $99, available for purchase at https://spiegelworld.com/shows/discoshow/