Kelly does not take her job that seriously. Nor does she feel as though she is being exploited. "Man Ray isn't the Combat Zone. I don't take off my clothes and I don't do salacious dancing. It's just a little more exaggerated than usual. Really--everything is done tongue-in-cheek, a parody of sexy go-go dancers," she says.

Besides, she adds, the best thing about working at Man Ray is that "it's amazing to get paid for dancing--something I like to do anyway."

What a Feeling

Though her job may resemble the plot of Flashdance, like most student employment it has its ups and downs. "It makes so much of a difference if there are friends who I can talk to on my break. Otherwise I stand there smoking my cigarette and feeling really sordid and squalid."

"Last week the place was packed with people and there was a lot of smoke. It was like a Sid Vicious story--me, staggering up to the bar husking, 'Bobby, give me a glass of water. I'm going to pass out," she says.

"At the club I have these cold, icy stares that usually prevent rude comments. I walk around in an obnoxious way, sort of like 'I'm a personality here,"' Kelly says.

Four hours of go-go dancing would make even Tina Turner exhausted. "At times, I wonder if I shouldn't just blow it off and have normal Saturday nights like everyone else, go to Pudding parties or something. But this way I get $40, and that way all I get is a hangover," says Kelly.

Another Man Ray dancer, MIT sophomore Joe Kohle, says, "Sue's great to work with because we see things the same way. Whenever I start feeling funny about go-go dancing she tells me, 'Don't worry. You go to MIT and these people don't. They're probably jealous."'

Kelly says she has no plans for what she will be doing after graduation, but hastens to add that go-go dancing is not a possible career. "Maybe something in the arts, and anything but investment banking," she says. "I wonder, when I'm middle-aged will I still have this same fascination with night life and teen boogie?"

"But," she says, "I wouldn't mind working at [the New York nightclub] Area if they paid me $50 an hour."