by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Carlos Correal had a dream, and now that dream is real. It's called Dreamville USA and it's the Grand Prix weekend party that Correal, Steeve Henry (his partner in the new event-production firm Produkt) and their capable associates have cooked up for Aria.

"As far back as when I was producing events at Sona, the Free Bamboo Butterfly nights with Carlito Dalceggio, I'd always wanted to do an event that involved strippers. I wanted to present the girls as superstars for once, not the DJs. It was my dream," says Correal with unequivocal earnestness. "Gay parties always have naked men dancing. Why can't straight events have naked women?"

I try to point out that an accurately heterosexual soirée should have both, but Correal's on a roll and on to some other aspect of the night he's planned (besides, it's not necessarily a het night). We're at Club Wanda's, "home of the goddesses," the gentlemen's club on de la Montagne near, appropriately enough, Peel metro.

Correal, you see, has never been one for cutting corners or shopping off the bottom shelf. "We wanted to get our dancers from the best club in town, and that's Wanda's. It's not sketchy, it's not run by bikers. It's a family business, run by the Moutsios family for 27 years, and feels like family."

One of Wanda's dancers, Valerie, concurs, noting that the club offers her the best work environment and clientele in town. She's jumped into the Dreamville project enthusiastically, overseeing the casting of numerous dancers for the five performances - "tableaux," artistic director Henry calls them - that will take place between sets from DJs Laflèche and Barbara Brown. (The showgirls have been choreographed by the DV8 dance company, so expect a bit more than the standard pole twirl.)

"You wouldn't think it, but over a week of casting was a draining, exhausting experience," says Henry, who has created a décor that suggests a post-modern mix-up of notorious Parisian boîte Crazy Horse and Las Vegas at its most lurid - right down to the electrified stars-and-stripes catwalk. A political swipe? Nah. "Forget about Bush and Kerry," says Henry, "and escape to Dreamville USA. See how a country should be run."

At Aria on Saturday, June 12, 1:30am, $25

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