Lou Henry Hoover made his stage debut as a dancing rainbow at age three.  Although the act was a choreographed group number, Lou managed to work an improvised tutu removal into the performance, and his boylesque career began.  Lou combines his extensive background in contemporary dance with a love of sequins, pop music, and fancy ladies in performance work that is...  well here's what Erika Hobart, Seattle Weekly Resident Pop Writer has to say about it:  "The WTF Factor is high...it's obvious these two know what they're doing."  She is of course referring to Lou and comedienne Cherdonna Shinatra in The Cherdonna and Lou Show.  Cherdonna and Lou are merging movement as the impetus for character development with the artifice of drag to reveal something true.  In addition to working in short form, The Cherdonna and Lou Show's self titled evening was presented by Century Ballroom at West Hall, and they look forward to being part of Northwest New Works at On the Boards in June 2010.

In addition to being one half of The Cherdonna and Lou Show, Lou is one third of pop culture movement Dance Belt with Little Blonde Bomb Inga Ingenue and Boylesque Sensation Waxie Moon.  This dance troupe embraces an American art of appropriation, bridging and bluring music video, social dance, cabaret performance, YouTube culture, and gender.  In addition to performing all over Seattle, Dance Belt teaches weekly classes in original music video choreography (including Michael Jackson's Thriller and Beyonce's Single Ladies) at Century Ballroom.  If you don't recognize Lou as part of Dance Belt, look for Erica, his drag persona!

You may spot Lou or Erica performing in such productions as Ben DeLaCreme's HOMO for the Holidays, Paula the Swedish Housewife's House of Thee UnHoly, or Lily Verlaine's Land of the Sweets or Through the Looking Glass.  Check out Lou's calendar for a full compilation of performances and classes, or contact Lou directly for event booking!

Lou Henry Hoover is the invention of choreographer and performer Ricki Mason.  Ricki has been living and working in Seattle since 2003.  From 2003 until 2008 Ricki directed contemporary performance group LAUNCH dance theater, which was presented by On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Bumbershoot, and Century Ballroom.  Ricki's favorite commissions include The Yard at Martha's Vineyard and Velocity's Bridge Project.  Her work has been supported by 4Culture, Artist Trust, The Bossak Heilbron Charitable Grant Foundation, and Open Flight's Flight Deck Residency.  Ricki teaches weekly classes at Velocity Dance Center, The Academy of Burlesque, and Century Ballroom.  Since graduating from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Dance, Ricki has danced for choreographers Laura Curry, Alex Martin, Karl Frost, and Corrie Befort.  She was also a member of d9 Dance Collective.  Currently, Ricki dances with Lingo dancetheater under the direction of KT Niehoff.