Performer You Should Know: The Radiant Lily Diamond

By Kellie Hanna

Lily Diamond Vickers, also known as Lily Diamond, is one of those rare magnetic people who radiates a kind of positive energy that brightens up a room. The first time I met her in 2021, she had just wrapped up a performance at the Glen Ellen Village Fair, and I was instantly struck by her vibrant energy. A Sonoma Valley native, Lily has become a bit of a local celebrity—everyone there seems to know and adore her.

As Lily and I became friends, I quickly realized that her radiant personality and genuinely good soul enhances her talent as a performer. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Lily perform in both San Francisco and the North Bay, and she’s captivating. She takes her craft seriously, but perhaps more importantly, Lily truly loves making people smile and feel good, and that’s exactly why you should get to know her, too.

I recently sat down with Lily to learn how her career as a performer evolved, what drives her, and what makes her tick. Here’s a glimpse into her world.

Kellie Hanna: How did you get into dance?

Lily Diamond: My mom said that I asked for dance lessons starting at age 2. I’m not sure how I knew there were lessons available, but I definitely wanted to go. I do remember a preschool experience at my Montessori school where a woman named Christine Churchill came in with little chiffon ballet skirts. I wanted to wear a skirt and run around the room like she was doing.

I started tap dancing at age 4 and continued until I was about 8, when my teacher stopped teaching in Sonoma. After that, I took two years of ballet at the Sonoma Community Center at which point, I was part of a ballet performance where we bought a costume, but the ballet teacher didn’t let us keep it.

Frustrated by that experience, my mom enrolled me in the Valley of the Moon School of Ballet where I studied Cecchetti Ballet from Jennifer Bloom, including yearly exams, until I was a senior in high school. My teacher closed her school while I was recovering from a knee injury.

Were costumes a big draw for you when you decided you wanted to learn dance? 

I mean certainly that’s part of what catches my eye about it. But I really enjoy learning a craft and continuously trying to get better at it. Being able to direct my body to do fantastical things.

How did you get involved with the dance company Hot Pink Feathers?

In 2008, my friend Annalise invited me to Tease-o-Rama, which was a burlesque convention and showcase in San Francisco. This group of girls from Hot Pink Feathers came out onto the stage and did this amazing Bollywood number and they were totally precise. The quality of dancing was really super top-notch. Later, Annalise said, “I found a flyer for samba classes by those Hot Pink Feathers girls that did the Bollywood number. I’m going to go check that out and if t’s cool, then I’ll let you know.”

Soon I was driving down to 10th and Minna in San Francisco, where I met Kellita Maloof, founder and choreographer for Hot Pink Feathers. She was the 2008 Queen of Carnaval SF. She taught a cabaret showgirl class, and because she was crowned Queen of Carnaval, she was hoping lots of people would join, so she invited us, even though Carnaval prep was far underway, and they fitted us with costumes. 

Wow! So you were in Carnaval SF? What was that like? 

Yes! I performed in Carnaval for the next 10 years. The first time was in 2008, and I wasn’t very good. I was in the very back and remembering choreography was challenging for me because I was out of practice, but I had an amazing, solid, Chichetti Ballet dance foundation, which helped. 

That first year I recall being concerned about how much of my derriere would be visible. And Annalise said, “Oh, no! We’ll be wearing hot pants and professional-grade fishnets, so it’ll be fine. And then the costume lady came and she had made these little teeny tiny mermaid panties that had more fabric almost on the ruffles on the side. And I thought, “Oh my God!  What have I gotten myself into ([aughs]? But sure enough, I threw on some fishnets and was traipsing around the streets of San Francisco with what felt to me like bare but cheeks. Unheard of for me–I never thought that was going to happen!

Did you dance again with Kellita and Hot Pink Feathers? 

Yes. Kellita said she could use a couple more core troupe dancers that would potentially even get paid for gigs. And she did a monthly show at Cafe Van Kleef with Blue Bone Express.  It was the Burlesque ‘N’ Brass show, and she said you don’t have to do any burlesque, just come and you can learn a few dances at a time. And we would do la little skirt dance or in one set we slid our dresses off and tossed them aside. Or our gloves came off and we danced with the gloves. I loved dancing with a live band and Kellita’s choreography was sassy and fun!  She taught me how to make the feather headdresses, so I helped with that each year for the parades. I also made the pink feather fans for our Busby Berkeley year and I helped with choreography.

How did you wind up performing in Tease-o-Rama?

In 2012 Baby Doe von Stroheim, director of the Devil-Ettes, and Alan Parowski co-produced Tease-O-Rama at Bimbo’s 365 and invited us [Hot Pink Feathers] to perform. It was the same year I made the pink feather fans, so we got to take the choreography and the Hot Pink Feathers All-Star Marching Band to the stage at Bimbo’s 365.

We danced our feather fan dance  (with reveal) at TOR [Tease-O-Rama]. I was also invited to perform with the Devil-Ettes and The Scenic Sisters. I got to be on stage in the actual production that had inspired me originally to learn how to do all that stuff! It’s an honor to be invited to perform at such a prestigious event, so that felt like a huge accomplishment to me. I thought, “Oh, my gosh! I’m good enough to be in Tease-O-Rama now instead of just in the audience.” 

Sounds like you came full circle. Did you ever have a mishap on stage? 

Yeah, this really fun show with Hot Pink Feathers was a gig we got at the Armory in Ashland, Oregon. We were hired by Alan from TOR to fly up for one night to perform at a Samba show. It 

During one of our sets, the music completely stopped in the middle of the routine. The choreography was pretty embedded in our brains by that point, so we just kept going, dancing in perfect sync with each other, even without music. And so the audience hadn’t really been paying that much attention to us while we were dancing our little hearts out. They were kind of all into their chit-chat, drinking, and snacks. Well, one of the percussionists from SambaDá saw us poor ladies dancing in silence and he ran and jumped up on stage and just started playing something, anything. And then the other percussionist jumped up on stage and started playing. Even though they were playing a completely different rhythm and it sounded totally different than what our music was supposed to be, it was just something other than silence. 

We finished our set by dancing to the music we continued to sing in our heads while all that was happening. And we got a huge round of applause, a standing ovation!

Did you really meet John Waters? 

Yes! Through one of my Pilates students, I found out the Sonoma Film Festival was featuring John Waters as a special guest and was interested in HPF performing at the film fest. My boyfriend at the time was a huge John Waters fan, so I was super excited. Kellita wasn’t as enthusiastic, though, so I had to really convince her to do it. Eventually, she negotiated a hotel room for her and another dancer traveling from SF, and we performed in our banana skirts at the festival. We even got our pictures taken with John Waters! 

You’ve had some incredible experiences in your journey as a performer! What are you up to these days? 

I recently started dancing with Hula Mai, a Hawaiian hula arts troupe based

in Sonoma, which was started by Betty Ann Bruno [the last living munchkin from The wizard of Oz, who died in July, 2023, aged 91]. I’m learning how to play the ipu, which is a gourd, pu’ili [slotted bamboo sticks], and `uli`uli [percussian instruments].  We have a new Kumu Hula in Residence, Nan Watanabe, who comes from Novato to teach us new choreography once a month.

I also dance classic belly dance with Troupe Dhyanis, who in her 70’s is still choreographing and performing with her troupe as well as designing and sewing costumes. I’m learning how to dance while playing the finger symbols from her. And I practice and perform bellydance as well as Zambra, Persian, Afghani, Turkish 9/8, Moroccan, tango, Khaleeji, and Romani skirt and shawl dance, to name a few with  Hannah Romanowsky ‘s troupe,  the Dunyazade Dancers.

Do you have any upcoming performances we should know about? 

I’ll be Hula caroling at several of the senior living facilities in Sonoma on Dec 18th. Next, I’ll be performing a candle dance at Hidden City Ballroom on December 21st for Night of Lights, and I’ve been toying around with the idea of producing a Vaudvillian-style burlesque/belly dance show sometime next year. Look for me with Troupe Dhyanis and Dunyazade Dancers who are expected to perform at Carnival of Stars  and Sirens Fest in Sebastopol in July 2025.

I just did a magic show with magician Raymond Hoey called Night of Illusions, which is a fundraser for Sirens Studio. That was a lot of fun! Raymond has asked me to be his main assistant for future shows next year. On December 8th, I performed a Romani skirt dance and shawl dance at Goddess Craft Fair in Sebastopol, which is a yearly event I perform in regularly.

What do you love about dance?

It always keeps challenging my brain and I know, as someone who teaches pilates and yoga and from studying the body, I know that continuing to ask your brain to make new neural pathways is what helps us to avoid cognitive decline.  In school, when given the opportunity to do a research project on someone, I was most interested in learning about a famous dancer, such as Margot Fonteyn or Martha Graham.

I remember learning Martha Graham performed her last full-length production when she was 72, before retiring a few years later, and she hadn’t started dancing until she was about 17 years old! I thought, ‘I have a leg up on her! I should at least be able to dance until I’m at least 82’.  But then Betty Ann Bruno danced her last dance when she was 91. Dance gives me something to look forward to for all the years I’m here. I always get to figure out a new presentation of something I learned how to do. It’s fun! 

Join us at 7:00 on Saturday, December 21st for a  a festive dinner buffet, gorgeous live  glass harp music, and elegant dance performances.

Then, enjoy a lovely relaxing evening of holiday dance performances at 7:30  by   Suzie Hardt & Todd Marsden , Chrystal Chen & Oscar Rodriguez, and  Hannah Romanowsky with live glass harp music by  Garret Garritsen

Celebrate your favorite winter holiday with us!

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