Big Break In Vegas
Alicia Vela-Bailey, another talented product of Marcelo Pacleb’s 24/7 Danceforce program, lands a job in the wildly popular Pussycat Dolls revue, while branching out with stunt roles in two films
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Alicia Vela-Bailey: an endless variety of ‘looks,’ and they
all look good
Don’t cha wish you were hot like Alicia? Don’t cha wish you could dance like Alicia? Don’t cha? Don’t cha?
Local girl Alicia Vela-Bailey seems to have all the right moves. The very talented dancer/model/actress from Kailua is now a member of the ultra-sexy female group the Pussycat Dolls at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
“I was real excited when I found out they picked me,” says Vela-Bailey, 23, who moves to Sin City this week. “I was actually on the phone with my friend who’s a dancer, and I was talking to her about how I was waiting to hear back from the Pussycat Dolls. And then I was, like, I have to go, it’s my agent (on the other line). And that’s when I found out.”
The Pussycat gig is just one of a few recent big breaks for Vela-Bailey. You can catch her on the big screen right now as the stunt double for Milla Jovovich in Ultraviolet. And she also played the stunt double for Kristanna Loken in the recent film Bloodrayne. She also was offered a part at a Los Angeles nightclub but turned it down for the Pussycat role.
Cecelia, Marissa, Alicia and Nicole
Vela-Bailey
“I did a lot of scenes for Ultraviolet ... there’s one where she’s all in white and she’s ducking all these sword,s and that’s pretty much me,” reveals Vela-Bailey. “And there’s this other scene where I slid through a wall on a motorcycle.
“And, actually, they liked the way I walk too. I guess I had good rhythm. So if you don’t see her face and you just see legs, that’s probably me walking too.”
For the filming of Ultraviolet, Vela-Bailey spent four months in Hong Kong and two months in Shanghai. It was her first movie, and her first time doing stunts and martial arts.
“I think they just wanted a dancer/gymnast,” she says. “And someone who moved smoothly and could memorize a lot of choreography because there were a lot of long fight sequences.”
With Milla Jovovich
For her part, Vela-Bailey made about $2,000 a week (after taxes). But more importantly, she gained the experience of a lifetime, a foot in the door and even some famous friends.
“Working with celebrities on movies, you get to know them really well, and sometimes I talk to some of them on the phone and you realize they’re real people,” she says. “It’s pretty crazy, though at first I had to get used to it. For example, when I would meet celebrities I had to play it cool, but inside you’re like, oh, my gosh!”
Well, Vela-Bailey must be doing something right. As Jovovich writes on her website, www.millaj.com: “The girls who are doubling me are so wonderful. Really sweet and talented. Alicia Vela-Bailey is an incredible break dancer and gymnast ...”
Vela-Bailey says making movies has been the highlight of her career so far, but her first love is still dancing.
She was a member of Marcelo Pacleb’s 24/7 dance company in Kaneohe, and learned gymnastics from coach Joe Rapp of the Hawaiian Island Twisters.
She was a principal dancer at the Pro Bowl in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004; performing with stars such as 98 Degrees, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sugar Ray and Jasmine Trias.
She also danced her way to the semi-finals in Star Search, and to first place in Destination
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