Standing before The Hoff and his fellow "America's Got Talent" judges, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan, were nine women in can-can dresses - or, rather, what was left of those dresses after a spirited 90-second striptease. The audience was cheering and chanting, "Vegas! Vegas!" And the judges enthusiastically told them they had passed the first audition.

Just like that, in a moment seen on millions of TV screens last month, Salt Lake City's Slippery Kittens Burlesque went from a local bar act to a troupe on the verge of national stardom.

The Slippery Kittens and 39 other semifinalists now get to see what America's TV viewers think, as the next round of NBC's "America's Got Talent" begins live shows from Los Angeles, Tuesday night on NBC - KSL, Channel 5 in Utah. (The semifinals run Tuesday and Wednesday for the next two weeks, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., with an hour of political-convention coverage in between. An NBC spokesman said the Kittens are scheduled to perform Wednesday, but viewers should "tune in starting Tuesday, so they don't miss anything.")

At stake is the show's top prize: $1 million, and a contract to perform in Las Vegas.

"We honestly never know what to expect," said Lorrie Ann Dohoney, aka Miss Lorrie Ann, founder of Slippery Kittens. "We take it as it comes. From now on, it's up to America to love us and vote for us, and take us all the way."

'A theatrical striptease' » "You say the word burlesque and people freak out," Dohoney said. "They can't define the difference between stripping in a strip club and the performance we do."

Dohoney makes the distinction this way, by labeling her troupe's act "a theatrical striptease." "In a strip club, your main focus is getting out of your clothes as quickly as possible," she said. "In burlesque, it's about the choreography of the reveal."

"It's not just about getting naked, it's about the choreography," agreed another Kitten, who goes by the stage name Mona Moore.

The Kittens' performances all have a theme, Moore said, and "the choreography, the staging, everything is to support the theme."

And because the Kittens perform in a bar - Bar Deluxe, at 666 S. State in Salt Lake City, which Dohoney owns with her husband and another investor - they are more limited in how much skin they can show than strippers.

"We can go down to what they call 'swimsuit attire,' " Dohoney said. That means bras and panties - no thongs or g-strings, and no pasties. "For burlesque style, we add that little tidbit: We place the pasties on top of the bras." Also, both the bar and the dancers have to get performance licenses.

But if Utah liquor laws are tough, NBC's broadcast standards are tougher. "Under Utah law, we can get away with flesh-colored bras," Dohoney said.

Dohoney reassures TV viewers that their performances on "America's Got Talent" will be good, clean fun. "Their children or families would see as much flesh if they went to a public pool," she said.

'We love doing it' » Not that anyone saw much of the Slippery Kittens' second appearance on "America's Got Talent," the Vegas callbacks, when they were among more than 100 acts from which the Top 40 semifinalists were selected.

In a montage of dance crews, the Kittens performed, got the judge's approval and hugged host Jerry Springer - all in exactly 12 seconds of air time. Moore said she was a bit disappointed because America didn't get to see the full routine, a tribute to Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" with sequined prison-stripe costumes.

"The underneath layer was really elaborate," Moore said. "We were kind of sad that no one got to see our jewels, because there were so many on that costume."

Dohoney, who has been dancing all her life, started the Kittens in 2006. "I've seen this re-emergence of burlesque, and I thought it would be a great art form to bring to Salt Lake," she said.

The dancers all have day jobs, and several of them have children, a fact the TV show emphasized before their first performance. Moore said the troupe is "in that middle stage," successful enough to get noticed but "not at a place where it's financially sustainable."

"Right now this is purely a hobby, because we love doing it," Dohoney said.

There's love, and then there's a deeper agenda: She hopes to educate audiences about the artistry of burlesque. "We know that we live in a very conservative state, and we know that not everybody is going to accept what we do as an art form or a talent," she said. "If we can open up the minds of some of the people here, to see that what we're doing is not lewd or sexual - if we can reach out to some of those people and change their minds, that right there is still valuable."

Sean P. Means can be reached at movies@sltrib.com or 801-257-8602. Send comments about this article to livingeditor@ sltrib.com.

"America's Got Talent" is back

The show returns Aug. 26, at 7 and 9 p.m., on NBC - KSL, Channel 5. It airs again Aug. 27, and the following week on Sept. 2 and 3. Each night's competition will be interrupted by an hour of news coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions.