Las Vegas Dancers Alliance

The Las Vegas Dancers Alliance was an organization of adult entertainment workers in Las Vegas founded in 2002 by Andrea Hackett in response to regulations adopted by Clark County, Nevada that criminalized lap dances. It grew to include 1,000 members from strip clubs throughout the Las Vegas valley including Crazy Horse Too, Spearmint Rhino, and many others. Yet, despite its size, L.V.D.A. was unable to bring about substantive changes to the law or the adult club industry as a whole. Part of the blame fell on workers unwilling to participate in rallies, meetings, and events. Part of it fell on Ms. Hackett's shoulders, whose colorful life overshadowed the issues at hand. But part of it fell on the club owners themselves who participated in alleged attacks on L.V.D.A. members in collusion with local law enforcement. Their tactics, combined with a hit piece on Ms. Hackett written by Taylor Marsh (now at the Huffington Post), drove many to question their allegiance and spelled the end of L.V.D.A.

At the height of its power, L.V.D.A. was covered in media outlets across the globe including CNN, MSNBC, CBS News, Washington Post, LA Times, Seattle Times, and The Times of India . Ms. Hackett appeared on The O'Reilly Factor on Sept. 18, 2002 to lobby her cause and was courted by Dateline, A&E, PBS, ABC News and other media giants. Her struggles were also documented in an article in The Nation by Marc Cooper and in his latest book, The Last Honest Place in America. Ms. Hackett penned a memoir in 2006 and has been interviewed for documentaries in a variety of countries including France, Canada and the United Kingdom.