“People commonly have the wrong idea about go-go dancing,” says Elle. “Yes we dance. Yes, we party and mingle. No, we will not take off our tops. People think I have no education or no job during the day, that dancing pays all my bills. But nope. I work 9-5, have a bachelor of commerce and 14 years of competitive dance under my belt. If I had a huge empire, maybe that’s all I’d be doing, but not quite there yet.”

…It’s funny because sometimes I feel almost like Britney Spears with these fan girls at the bottom, cheering me on…

Considering the typical work environment for a go-go dancer calls for crowds of sweaty, often inebriated, ogling men, “they’re harmless,” says Elle. It’s the women she and her girls are more worried about.

“It’s funny because sometimes I feel almost like Britney Spears with these fan girls at the bottom, cheering me on,” says Elle. “Other times they’ll be petty. I’ve had a girl throw her drink at one of my dancers, while she was performing, and bruise her wrist.”

“Although the recession has forced clubs to cut their budgets, I am definitely seeing a growing popularity in the Toronto area and things like Facebook and MySpace are definitely helping to get the word out,” says Elle. “There are a lot of dancers who freelance, but I know of at least three companies that recruit girls and outsource them to clubs.”

A recent search on community-focused classifieds sites Criagslist and Kijiji reveals there’s at least one other go-go dancing venture called “Devlish” attempting to break into the Toronto entertainment scene with the enthusiastic hopes of bringing “the art of go-go dancing back to Toronto.”

Interestingly, almost all of the Toronto based go-go dancing ventures are female-owned, ironically (and rather amusingly) reminiscent of old Western movies where “working girls” at brothels were managed by their, often elder, madams.

As for **BellaDonnas**, Elle says she’d like to lock down some more consistent partnerships with clubs and grow her fanbase. She’s also been considering strategic sponsorship opportunities with clothing brands to style and dress her dancers.

The top clothier she has her eye on? American Apparel.

“Honestly, I’ve never thought of me starting this type of business, as a woman, as an empowering thing,” says Elle. “Dancing is a passion of mine, so my goal is to have fun and earn money at the same time. It’s a great workout. Truth of the matter is, the business is mostly 20 to 21-year-olds. I know I’m not going to be doing it forever. So you might as well do it while you got it.”