Go-Go Julianna
By day she takes care of the sick, by night Julianna Prada mesmerizes club-goers with her drop-dead gorgeous looks

WORDS Joaquin Acatl
PHOTOGRAPHY Nick Saglimbeni

I have a confession to make. Sometimes when I go to nightclubs I spend most of the night staring at go-go dancers. Standing above the crowd, grooving to the music, moving their bodies with grace and confidence, I am captivated by their power. I know, I know…I should be spending my time hitting up some ladies, not staring, slack-jawed, at some girl who’s being paid to smile at me. But I just can’t seem to tear myself away from the go-go cage—especially when there’s a dancer like Julianna Prada in it.

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Julianna Prada is a go-go dancer. But before you dismiss her as just another booty-shaking hottie, consider her other accomplishments. Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Julianna took a long, and difficult road to get to where she is today. She’s made a living caring for the sick as a nurse for disable patients. (Why don’t my nurses ever look that fine?) But she’s more recently found a creative way to turn her skill and experience as a go-go dancer into a viable business. When L.A.’s biggest event and nightclub promoters need go-go dancers, they dial Julianna’s number. She auditions, trains, and books go-go dancers for a living. Of course she’s her own best worker.

Now if only I knew where she'll will be dancing next. There you’d find me—the entire night—staring up at Julianna Prada.

How did you get started as a go-go dancer?
I first got hired by a big promoter named Steve Castro. I used to go to his club and pay to get in like everyone else. I used to admire the go-go dancers and I used to say to myself, I want to do that one day.

One night I was in the VIP section and he came up to me said, “Do you want to dance for this club?” I told him I’d never done that before, but he said,“It’s okay, just stand there and look pretty.”

After that I started working regularly as a dancer. I started spending a lot of money—even more than I was getting paid—to buy costumes, because I wanted to be really good. Slowly other promoters started hiring me. They were very happy with my energy and the fact that I don’t do drugs. I don’t date or sleep around with promoters. In the club scene that’s very important. So the word went around about me from one promoter to another.

You then turned go-go dancing into a business by hiring other girls to work for these promoters. What did you do differently with your dancing or your dancers to become successful?
I would always try to give promoters what they ask for. I would also try to make sure the girls I hired were giving promoters what they wanted. I tried to make sure the dancers would look better than the girls they had before. But I also told the promoters that if they wanted good-looking girls they’d have to pay more—because the dancers would rather make $500 to $1,000 dollars at a strip club. So the promoters got better dancers and my dancers got paid more. The promoters were happier and the dancers were happier too.

How do you find your dancers?
It’s up to me to go out there and recruit the girls. I audition the girls. There’s also girls that will ask the promoters, “What do I do to dance at your club?” And the promoters will tell them to talk to me.

Other times when I’m at the clubs and I see a really hot girl I’ll ask her, Are you interested in dancing? Here’s my card. Think about it and give me a call.

So how do you pick them?
It’s not really about how you dance; it’s about how sexy you are. Hollywood is about looks. If you have the look you’re in. You can be a great dancer, but if you don’t have the body…you aren’t going to make it. If you hire girls who can’t dance, but look really hot, eventually they’ll get the hang of dancing.

About how many dancers do you have?
Right now I have…I would say about 50.

What’s one of the weirdest experiences that you’ve had as a go-go dancer?
There have been couples that come up to me and ask me, “Why don’t you come home with us?” They’ll ask me to join them in a threesome.

I’m sure you also get a lot of guys trying to hit on you as well?
All the time. It never fails. I get a lot of guys trying to say that they’re movie producers or directors, and later I find out that they’re big nobody’s.

You’ve appeared in one of Playboy’s special editions? How did that happen?
This girl discovered me. She said, “Try out. Send your pictures in for Playboy.” I didn’t think they’d call, because I used to think that they only like blondes. But they did.

Most people would probably be surprised to know that you’re also a nurse…
Yeah. I take care of disabled patients, although I haven’t had much time for this recently with all the go-go dancing stuff that I’m doing.

Do any of your patients know about your dancing?
A few. They ask me cute little questions. “How does the club look? Are the girls hot out there?” They’re just curious because, unfortunately, those are things that they can’t do.

So do any of your patients ever ask you to give them a private little go-go dance?
No. I don’t wear make up and I have ugly hospital clothes on. I try my best not to look that attractive.

You’re very open about the fact that you’re bisexual, and I read that one of your fantasies is to be with three girls and one guy. If you were to choose the four people to fulfill this fantasy, who would they be?
Number one: Angelina Jolie. As far as the guy…right now…I think Ashton is pretty hot. As for the other two girls, I think Pamela Anderson is pretty hot. And the third girl would be that girl from Showgirls and Bounce, Gina Gershon.

What do women offer in bed that men don’t?
Women are just gentle, softer…they’re sexier. But I only like the feminine girls. I don’t like the ones that look like boys.

So you like women better?
Actually, I still haven’t found the girl that knows how to please me. So far, I’ve always been the one that’s in charge. I’m always the one who takes control.

How did you first discover that you were bisexual?
There was this girl I had a crush on…and it was a weird feeling for me. So I didn’t do anything. She was the aggressor. She’s the one who kissed me one day. I was like, Wow! I can’t believe I’m feeling this. When I realized that I was bisexual I was really shy about it. That’s when I knew I really like women. After that I always caught myself looking at women.

Was it hard learning how to be with women instead of men?
I mostly learned my techniques from watching porn. And then when guys would do stuff on me I’d be like, Okay, okay, so that’s how you do it. Alright, alright. And I’d just remember it later.

How do guys you have relationships with handle the fact that you like women?
They’ve had a little bit of a problem. I had a boyfriend who had a problem with one of my friends. He’d say, “Why is she in your house? Why is she sleeping over? What are you guys doing?”

I can’t get into a relationship with a guy and tell him, “Oh, okay now that we’re together I’m not bisexual anymore.” No. If I get a boyfriend I tell him, “Look I’m still bisexual. I’m not going to go out there and sleep with other girls, BUT I’m not going to stop checking them out and flirting with them either.” There are girls that flirt with each other all the time.

Outside of the bedroom, who makes better friends?
Guys. Because girls—especially in the business that I’m in—they just hate on you. The jealousy comes in. Either that or they start trying to be like you and copy you…actually not even guys. Right now I don’t trust males or females as friends. With guys I can trust them a little more. But guys can’t be a girl’s friend without having a plan. They think, I’m going to be her buddy, her best friend, but eventually she’ll give it up.

I hear you’re one of the most popular persons on Myspace.com. How did that happen?
I joined Friendster and Match.com. On Friendster, I guess if you get too much attention…maybe their site gets too crowded…I don’t know, but I got booted out of there twice. A guy named Tom emailed me in Friendster and said, “Hey, why don’t you check out my site, Myspace.com. So I went and checked it out. There weren’t that many people when I first got in there. They were just getting started. I told everyone from Friendster that was on my list about Myspace. So everyone that I knew went over to Myspace, and those people liked it, went back to Friendster, and told more people about Myspace. It started getting bigger and bigger. I have almost 8,000 friends on my list right now.

What three things are most important in your life?
My daughter. My career. And my strength…I’ve been strong enough to handle the business that I’m in. I had a very ugly, abusive past in Brazil. There are a lot of party people in Hollywood. There are a lot of people that are alcoholics, that do drugs. So I’m very proud of myself that I’m still very strong…I guess you would call it willpower…I don’t know what to call it, but I’m proud of myself for staying at a good level and not letting the business get me down.