Photo via Ruthie King

As we gathered from the Bacchanal fun facts roundup, the girls wearing diapers and bras on stage with Of Montreal were all Columbia students. We just had to know more, so we asked two of the dancers, Sari [wants to get a job, no last name] SEAS ’10, Ruthie King, CC’11, and Brooke Barrios, CC ’11, what it was like to… Well, wear diapers and bras on stage with Of Montreal.

Update: Oh shit! We forgot the talented diaper diva Ruthie King, CC’11. Her answers are all here. Her summary of the experience: “Halfway through the set we thought we’d go check out the back stage scene. We slipped under the black rope and explained to the security forces who saw that we didn’t have backstage passes that we were the diaper babies. Obviously.”

So how did you get to dance on stage with Of Montreal? You got found for the part after 5? Who picked you? How’d you get picked?

Ruthie: Sari is the one who gave me the opportunity. She is friends with Dan [Weinstein] and he is a big shot in the Bacchanal planning committee.  Before the concert I was asking questions about what Kevin Barnes was like and he said “awkward.” Apparently Bacchanal was sent on several missions to collect props for Of Montreal like white body paint and diapers.  Dan told us that Kevin Barnes requested a few people to dance for one of the songs– a new one called Tourist.  We did some shameless begging and told him to get back to us if they needed girls.  I went up to the Kent balcony but was called back down by Sari who said we had our chance and that we needed to go meet with the manager. I ran down and Dan let us under the black rope (!!!!) to talk to the manager.

Sari: My friend Dan Weinstein is one of the people in charge of Bacchanal. He was telling me and Ruthie about how Of Montreal asked them to provide three ladies clad in diapers and bras for part of the concert. We thought it sounded funny and volunteered… but Dan thought that people from Bacchanal were going to do it instead. Then, at around 5:30, we got the call. We were needed.

Brooke: At about 5:30, Alex Kirk came up and asked the girls I was with who had been throwing water balloons if they wanted to do it. And I was like, “Hell yea! Be a part of an Of Montreal show–I’m down!” The other girls were concerned about the diaper aspect, but they’re pretty much my uniform for costume parties so it was nothing new. So then we had a pow wow with one of their performers and got our cue to go backstage.

What was the first thing you thought about?

Sari: First thoughts? It was like I was purposely putting myself in one of those nightmares where you realize you’re in front of your entire school in only your underwear. Except this time, if you pee yourself out of fear, at least you’ll be wearing a diaper.

Brooke: How amazing of an opportunity this was and how I’d never be able to do it again! I once ended up on the Brazilian Girls’ tour bus after a show followed by an after-party with a pregnant Sabina, the lead singer, eating cheese and me accosting her. I never thought something that cool would happen again–but then it did.

What was it like being up there?

Sari: Actually really fun! We were told to copy the woman in front and alternate between dancing seductively and acting like babies.  I’m not really an expert in either of those so I hope the audience got that much.

Brooke: It was a little nerve-wracking at first with the lights and the people (and the diaper), but I had this moment where I was looking at the back of Kevin Barnes’ aqua legs and thought, “Damn this is cool.”

How did they fit you into diapers/what were they made of/were they uncomfortable to dance in?

Sari: Someone from Bacchanal was sent to Duane Reade to buy diapers and they came back with men’s L/XL. I guess they wanted to make sure it could fit anyone. Or, maybe they wanted Chewbacca to try one on. They were pretty comfortable to dance in… Ruthie and I kept them on for the rest of the concert and had the band members sign them at the end

Brooke: They literally just went out and bought Depends a couple hours before we went on, and they went up like Pull-Ups. Would you be uncomfortable dancing in an adult diaper? Yea, me neither.

Did you get tired dancing?

Sari: No way! I think I was the last person to realize we were supposed to leave the stage so I kept dancing for a bit longer than we were supposed to. Some of my friends noticed me do a double take once I realized the other diaper ladies were exiting.

Brooke: Um… No. It was not even two minutes.

Ruthie: I preferred the baby dancing. Making disgusting faces and sucking my thumb might just be the only kind of dancing I can do extraordinarily well. Being in a diaper gave me a lot of freedom for both styles of dancing and I would recommend it to anyone trying to simultaneously turn on and off your whole school.

Did your friends know where you went?

Sari: My friends that I met at the concert knew what was happening, but I got a lot of really funny text messages after the show from other people.

Brooke: I told my friend who I had gotten to come to the front with me, and I had him get all set up with my camera. (He ended up filming a different girl the whole time. He claims he thought it was me.) Other than that, I didn’t tell a whole lot of people. How do you say, “In an hour, I will be on stage in a diaper dancing ‘seductively’ and then sticking my thumb in my mouth?” I guess that’s how you say it.

Do you like Of Montreal?

Brooke: I am a huge fan. I saw them a year ago in Williamsburg, and I was so impressed by their show. It was my dream to be a part of one of their acts. I got to see the set list before the show and I freaked out like a dweeb seeing that so many songs from their best album were on there. All the songs are so personal, and it was amazing to see Kevin hug his baby mama/lover/wife (?) and daughter after the show (being the subjects of the album), especially when I saw her blonde pigtails like in “Miss Blonde, Your Papa Is Failing.”

What was it like to see Bacchanal from the stage instead of the crowd?

Sari: From the stage the crowd looked pretty amazing. It seemed like there was a huge turnout and that everyone was really enjoying the concert.  Kudos to Bacchanal for putting on a great show this year.

Brooke: Hilarious. I’ve got to acknowledge the ridiculousness of the day–Columbia getting out of Butler, plant studying, and singing along to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The place was unrecognizable. One of my favorite moments was seeing a kid from my floor last year in the front row say to his friend, “I KNOW THAT GIRL!!” Also a big thanks to Bacchanal for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.

And what happened after?

Ruthie: We danced off stage and got some high fives. Sari and I stayed in the diapers for awhile to dance out the rest of the show. Before it was over we went back to find our clothes and decided to try to get some signatures. After the encore Kevin came down and we accosted him with a sharpee. He signed our diapers and we thanked him for coming. He said he had a good time! Go us! Then we got some other band members to sign us and finally took off our diapers. Pants felt very constricting.

Image via Wikimedia Commons