Carrie Ann Inaba was on The Jennifer Hudson Show this week, presumably plugging Dancing With The Stars which is currently airing its Season 827, after an inauspicious start. Keeping with the dance theme, Carrie fondly spoke about being a backup dancer in her twenties for Madonna — who began her Celebration Tour in London this month after recovering from an emergency stay in the ICU this summer. No surprise, Madge ran a tight ship. Case in point: she deducted $100 from your paycheck for every minute you were late.

“Dancing With the Stars” judge Carrie Ann Inaba reflected on her career on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” Monday and spoke about being hired as a backup dancer for one of Madonna’s tours when she was just 23 years old.

And although Inaba had pretty positive things to say about her experience working with the “Vogue” singer, she did say that Madonna had one outrageous rule that would make many want to express themselves to the HR department.

“Back in the day she was very strict,” Inaba said. “She gave us this one rule — which I’m so grateful she did. It was, for every minute you’re late, you have to pay her $100 out of your paycheck.”

“I ain’t going to lie, I’d be broke,” Hudson said exasperated. “Cause I’m always late.”

Inaba then shared how following that costly rule affected her the rest of her life — and she doesn’t sound traumatized at all.

“I’m never late,” Inaba said. “I’m always early, in fact so much so, that I waste half my day … showing up too early.”

Despite the rule, Inaba told Hudson that it was a dream come true to work for Madonna.

“There was like Michael [Jackson], Prince, and Madonna at the time. Right?” Inaba said. “I got on Madonna’s tour, and I was like, ‘That’s all I need!’”

In fact, after Inaba was done with the tour, she said she “retired” from dancing and went back to school.

“As a dancer, you’re kind of put out to pasture when you’re 25,” Inaba said.

Madonna is currently embarked on her Celebration Tour, so fingers crossed that her current and likely very young backup dancers have plenty of emergency funds in their savings account.

[From HuffPost]

I’d like to start my commentary by commending the author for the line, “Madonna had one outrageous rule that would make many want to express themselves to the HR department.” The lyric inclusion is so unsmooth that it swings back to being fabulous, non? Love it. While $100/minute is a bit excessive, especially considering this tour was a couple decades ago, I don’t think this overall vibe is actually all that outrageous in the performing arts arena. At the Atlantic Theater Company — the group David Mamet and William H. Macy founded — they lock you out if you aren’t there 15 minutes ahead of class or rehearsal. Are these methods harsh? For sure. But Carrie sure sounds genuinely grateful for the standard it set to show up on time. On the other hand, she did retire from dancing right after that tour with Madge, so take from it what you will! I went back to the original interview cause I was dying to find out how much money Carrie had to fork over, but she was cheeky and only said “I learned quickly.” Oh c’mon, Carrie, don’t be a tease. Tell us!

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