250 Kylies head for Mardi Gras

Just when it seems everyone in town wants to be involved with the Kylie 2007 float this Mardi Gras, there is one person who doesn’t appear to want to have any involvement in it.

That person is Kylie Minogue.

Work began on the Kylie 2007 marching float in October of last year, and attempts have been made to contact the diva ever since to seek an endorsement. So far, all approaches have been met with no response from Minogue or her managements.

Nicholas Hutchings, the creative director behind Kylie 2007, admits he and the other organisers are too busy arranging the mammoth Mardi Gras marching entry to take the snub personally.

We really think it is more of a reflection of how busy she is, rather than her dislike of what we are doing, Hutchings says.

I thought one of her agents or representatives would at least say good luck with the float, but I guess she has been busy with the fragrance and the new album and everything else that has been going on.

I think she would like to be a part of this if she was here. We would still love to hear from her, as it would round it all off nicely.

With its 250 participants and a strong waiting list, the Kylie 2007 entry looks set to make Mardi Gras history as one of the largest performing marching groups of all time. Over 230 dancers will perform routines along the parade route to a variety of Minogue classics, while a support team of 20 will keep the music, lights and two trucks moving.

The entry celebrates the 20 years of Minogue’s music career, with the various incarnations she has sported across the decades -“ from the 1987 release of The Locomotion through to the present day Homecoming Showgirl tour.

Dancers will represent such Minogue phases as the devil horns of Better The Devil You Know , the gold shorts of Spinning Around , and the white draping of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head .

When we realised this year marked the 20th anniversary of Locomotion , we figured that was worth celebrating, Hutchings says. And with everything that she has been through in recent times, it just seemed a natural fit to do this.

Then when we discovered this year’s Mardi Gras theme was -˜Objects of Love’, we decided that as Kylie is such an object of love within our community, we had to include her.

Over the past 20 years, she had made a point of giving support to us in whatever ways possible, so this is just a way for us to return the favour.