On her first show, Talvy wore shorts that when zipped up on the side, opened to the top. Talvy kept the zipper half-way, but the other dancers told her to go further.

"'J, you want coverage? Zip it up, go the full nine yards,'" they told her.

Talvy says she regretted giving in to the pressure. "When I saw myself on TV, I was like, this is definitely not me," she says.

Now, Talvy wears clothes she feels comfortable in and focuses on her dancing. "I want to dress with hats and ties and long-sleeve shirts--I just want to dance and funk it up," she says.

And she gets even more coverage, says Talvy, explaining that "there are cameramen who look for people who just want to dance and give a lot of energy."

Closet Viewers

Back home, in East Rockaway, N.Y., Talvy's family watches her no matter what she wears, she says. "My mom will freak out," says Talvy. "She watches it every day, or tapes it every day. She's really adorable."

Although some may scoff at Club MTV, says Harper, the show is fun, and closet viewers are everywhere.

"I was working in a very conservative New York law firm last summer and I was at a cocktail party after work," he says, "and this associate from the firm came up and said, 'I know you. You dance on Club MTV, don't you?' We hit it off."

But Harper has yet to put Club MTV on his resume, he admits.

Learning to Funk

The Club MTV dancers, many of whom are "regulars" and get called back repeatedly, are chosen at open auditions in New York. Talvy says she auditioned after being prodded--and pushed--by the group of kids she taught in CityStep last year.

"My CityStep kids were telling me that I should be on it, because they knew it was an open call, somehow, someway," Talvy says. "I owe a lot to my kids; they're a lot of fun, and they're totally the public." They tell her what new records she should own and what hip dances she should learn, she says.

"They'd say, 'J, can you do the running man?' I'd say, 'No, show me.'"

"My kids taught me how to funk," she says.