LOS ANGELES — Feature entertainers Tali De'Mar and Angela Sommers captured titles at the inaugural Exotic Dancer Invitational West Contest this past weekend at Dames N Games, a Spearmint Rhino club in downtown Los Angeles.
De'Mar, a well-known burlesque performer, earned the Showgirl Champion crown, while Sommers, who is also a Penthouse Pet and adult film star, took home the Newcomer Champion first prize.
A total of 12 girls competed in front of packed crowds during the three-day competition that started on April 10.
Produced by Exotic Dancer Publications, the EDIs are national, invitation-only dance contests for the country’s top touring feature entertainers in both a Showgirl and Newcomer Division. The dance contest will be held twice a year — once in the West (EDI-West) and once in the East (EDI-East) — with the winners of each contest filling two of the four nominee slots for the ED’s “Overall Feature Entertainer of the Year” Award, the most prestigious award in the feature entertainer industry. The EDI-East Contest will be held May 29-31at Christie’s Cabaret in Cleveland.
“Each one of our 12 EDI competitors brought an incredible show and proved why they deserved to be invited to this selective, invitation-only dance contest,” said Dave Manack, the EDI producer and founder. Manack is also the associate publisher for ED Publications. “The competition in each division was fierce, especially in the Showgirl Division, which included many well-known and respected entertainers. And as evidenced by the raucous, capacity crowds each evening, those performances were well appreciated.”
Tali De'Mar, a two-time Exotic Dancer Entertainer of the Year nominee, made quite an impression in her first club appearance in almost three years after a short retirement. Her burlesque-style shows proved to be a big hit with the EDI judges, which included Stix Zadinia and Lexxi Foxx of the band Steel Panther, film producer and music industry executive, Andy Gould, XBIZ Award-winning writer-director Jacky St. James and XBIZ Executive Managing Editor Dan Miller, among others. Fellow Showgirl Division Finalists Christina Aguchi (Showgirl Division First Runner-Up) and Justice (Second Runner-Up) each performed shows with high production quality, dance skill and pole acrobatics.
“I'm so excited to be back on the circuit and blown away by my recent win!” De'Mar said. “There was definitely stiff competition and thank you to all the girls for bringing their A game. I'm humbled, ecstatic and inspired to pick up where I left off with bigger and better burlesque shows than ever. I'm touched by this warm welcome home!”
The EDI West Contest was emceed by Tony Batman of A Entertainment and the Planet Platypus Network, and was coordinated by longtime pageant and event coordinator, Lexi Lamour. The EDI-West sponsors included Anheuser-Busch, PlanetPlatypus.com, StripClubMusic.com, Safari Sun and ED Publications.
In the Newcomer Division, Angela Sommers brought an elegance to her performance that helped her stand out from a challenging field that also saw innovative performances from fellow Finalist Phoenix Phires (First Runner-Up) and an entertaining “hula hoop” show from XBIZ Award-winning adult film star Remy LaCroix (Second Runner-Up).
Each Champion (Showgirl and Newcomer) won the official EDI crown and trophy, while cash prizes were also awarded to De’Mar, Aguchi and Sommers as Showgirl Champion, Showgirl First Runner-Up and Newcomer Champion, respectively. Also, the following “mini-titles” were awarded at the EDI-West:
Best Costume: Jaded Dawn; Hottest Body: Angela Sommers; Best Dancer: Tali De’Mar; Audience Favorite: Christina Aguchi; Most Original Show: Phoenix Phires; Best Overall Show: Justice. Among the other strong EDI competitors were (in the Showgirl Division) Artemis Moon, Shay Lynn and Darling Danika; (in the Newcomer Division) Cali Rose and Cheyenne Jewel.
For more information on the Exotic Dancer Invitationals, including the EDI-West and EDI-East contests, visit TheEDIs.com.
Pictured from left: Christina Aguchi, Tali De'Mar, Angela Sommers and Phoenix Phires.
