Thread: History of money showers?

Does anyone know the history behind giving a money shower? I know that this is a practice by arabic people, is it because they don't want to touch the dancer? A respect thing? And also, if one is dancing with a live band and the dancer is showered with money, does the money go to the dancer or the band? And do you know how long this tradition has been in place? Thanks for any insight!

It is a sort of mixture between showing off gererosity and being decent by not touching the dancer/performer (it is also done with singers male and female).
Tips in Arabic Clubs go in thirds: one third to the performer, one third to the band, one third to the house. All this money (also money the dancer has on/in her costume) is placed at a save place, counted and recorded.
The rule is that the performer should get as much (for the house) as his fee is if she/he is able to exceede this negotiation for an increase look prospectively.

Jewels-
There are different ways of splitting tips- and it varies by region and even by venue.
Some are in thirds just as Rayhan says. Some are 50-50 (half for the dancer, half for the band). Some are costume tips for dancer, floor tips for band. Some are costume tips for the band, floor tips 50-50 but watch it or the owner or band member will sneak in and steal any $20s... you get the picture.
If you don't work with a band you should negotiate that ALL tips are for you- the house should get none.
Tips should always be negotiated as completely separate from your pay as your pay should be a reasonable amount on its own and then tips are customer appreciation.

We don't have a band - all tips go to the dancer(s) - the house keeps none.

I don't like the idea of paying the house to dance.

Originally Posted by tamrahennatx

We don't have a band - all tips go to the dancer(s) - the house keeps none.

I don't like the idea of paying the house to dance.

Absolutely. But I know a place in NYC that tried it with the newer dancers...and I know an owner who skulked by the money on the floor and a couple $20s disappeared. He's a cheap bastard, though.

i believe Greeks do it as well, as a tradition.....the first time I ever saw it was in NY at Faizul's when I first started dancing and watched Morocco, a bus boy came by every couple minutes with a broom to keep it out of her way and put it in a bowl (there was no band).

a year ago, 2 gentlemen from Dubai showed me a video of a wedding they were at where the shower made it look like SNOWING MONEY........the wedding was in Saudi, dancer in a simple shift dress with 2 young men around her gathering it up....she was ankle deep in the stuff......you could hear a live band, the gentlemen said that it came out to the equivalent of $10,000 between her and the band......

i've been lucky with the showers, but you DO need to keep an eye out.....I don't believe the house is entitled to ANY tips......they make up their investment in the patrons there

Restaurants: I always felt that if I allow customers to touch me and put money in my costume I have every right to that money. (this was never really an issue, but one time when a costumer tipped me + the other dancer $100 bill, the owner was eyeballing it and made comments. I ignored it, and put the money away. This happened again when I had 4-5 $20 bills on me from one costumer (and it was a very slow night for all of us), I ignored the looks.

A lot of time it is frustrating when customers throw over $150 on us, and we don't get any. But I feel that the dancers often have no say-so in it. So I accepted the fact that the money on me is mine, money on floor is the band's.

But I feel that it is unfair for the house to take any money from tips - if it is a busy night, costumers are generous, the restaurant already probably made a lot of money from the food and mostly the drinks, and they get tips too(most restaurant are family establishments, so they share most of their tips).
The band often don't get tipped and when there's a good night (over $1000 on the floor) they should have it, in my opinion.

Most places I danced, the shower over the dancer was for her. The money thrown on the floor between dancer's sets were for the band. None of it was for the house.

The best money shower I ever saw was for a Pakistani singer, the late (and great!) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Audience members would come to the front of the stage and fling money, and the stage got pretty much covered. Then one of the guys in the audience went down and stood by the stage, waving a couple of twenties, and the junior member of the ensemble gathered up a bunch of ones and made change. That kid was busy all night, recycling the $1 bills! My hubby said that all they needed was an ATM at the side of the stage to compete the cycle. ..l;,

The money shower is also known in India.
So I guess it's an old tradition that spread over many countries.

It would be interesting to know if it existed before the invention of paper money.
*ouch*

MEISSOUN

Now in hip hop culture in America it's done to strippers and it's called "making it rain".

Originally Posted by bintbeled

The best money shower I ever saw was for a Pakistani singer, the late (and great!) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Audience members would come to the front of the stage and fling money, and the stage got pretty much covered. Then one of the guys in the audience went down and stood by the stage, waving a couple of twenties, and the junior member of the ensemble gathered up a bunch of ones and made change. That kid was busy all night, recycling the $1 bills! My hubby said that all they needed was an ATM at the side of the stage to compete the cycle. ..l;,

I saw Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in concert twice, and the first time was exactly as you describe. It was amazing how huge the piles of money were on the stage! That concert was held on a college campus and the attendees were almost entirely Pakistani. Throughout the entire concert, everyone danced while young men ran back and forth to the stage throwing handfuls of money, and ran upstairs to the concession area to get more change. There had to be at least $10,000 on that stage by the end, and the energy in the hall was crackling.

A couple of years later I saw him again at the Universal Amphitheatre (I think that's where it was... it's the concert venue near Universal Studios) and it was really depressing because the Pakistani people kept trying to come forward to throw money, and these big brawny bodyguards would aggressively stop them. One man even tried to come forward with his toddler in his arms waving bills, and the bodyguard pushed him back. People looked forlorn and sad. When Nusrat came out for his standing ovation at the end, he tried to come forward to wave to the crowd, and two guys in black suits rushed out from backstage and motioned him to stay back. He then sort of wistfully waved, with his hand shielding his eyes from the lights, and went backstage with the men in black. I was in the front row witnessing all this, and I had such a lump in my throat I could hardly swallow. He died a year or two later.

Back to your regularly scheduled tip discussion....

Originally Posted by rakgirl

Now in hip hop culture in America it's done to strippers and it's called "making it rain".

I've heard this as well...does it come from the same roots as our money showers? probably....

Originally Posted by Marianna

The band often don't get tipped and when there's a good night (over $1000 on the floor) they should have it, in my opinion.

Why should they have it? The people tipping you are tipping YOU, not the band! I always felt that if the band didn't get tipped, it really wasn't my problem. People have plenty of time to tip the band during the time that I am not dancing. That being said, if a band does a really great show for me I will give them a little tip in appreciation. Gotta keep them happy after all. I think in my area it is the norm for a dancer to keep all her tips, not split with the house or band at all.

Thanks for the info... Another segue in this subject...

If a dancer is not paid to dance with the band, and is given a money shower, does the money go to the band or to both or the dancer? Say it is a community show with the band getting the cover charge and the dancers dancing for nothing but tips, what happens then?

Originally Posted by stardancer

Why should they have it? The people tipping you are tipping YOU, not the band!

Well, in this case what happened was that we were thrown about $160 while dancing, but after (through the night) the costumers were throwing money on the band or on the customers dancing (for example a customer throwing $200 on his wife, obviously the money was not intended for the wife, rather than the band).
In this situation it was obvious that all that money was for the band - I think about $1700 - what I was saying is that I didn't understand why should the restaurant keep part of it? (A huge part !!) They already made soo much money, they should've let the band enjoy what they got.

For what I know with Arabs tipping is a way of showing their appreciation but also to show off their wealth.

And I know Moroccons also tip the band and sometimes dancers by sticking the bills to your forehead (after licking it first to make it stick, ugh!).

In cabarets here it's regular for a dancer which performs with live music to share her tips (both in her costume as on the floor) with the band. And for the restaurants I know it's the same. I do hear some cabaret owners demanding 1/3 of the tips.

Not to my surprise mostly all dancers, musicians, singers and bouncers in cabarets here are masters in making tips dissapear.. Sometimes dancers are forced to 'strip' for the bandleader if she hands over way less than she had in her costume, but that's always with the dancers known for shuffing the tips way down in their costume..

B

Can you please PM me which place this was?
thank you.

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

Absolutely. But I know a place in NYC that tried it with the newer dancers...and I know an owner who skulked by the money on the floor and a couple $20s disappeared. He's a cheap bastard, though.

How tips are split varies so much on region and venue. I've seen it soooo many different ways, there really is no standard. It needs to be a part of your negotiation, just like pay and number of shows, etc.

Not sure how it started. Not really sure how body tipping started either. Would love to know if anyone has any research on either.

Originally Posted by Safiyah

I've heard this as well...does it come from the same roots as our money showers? probably....

I don't know but when I was a little girl at family gatherings it was common to get tips for dancing. No one thru a shower of money tho. I don't know so maybe it's just that we're used to tipping dancing. Not that I want to compare children dancing to strippers. I think it's just a way to show off.

It's probably along the same lines as street performers who work for tips. In the French Quarter there are always young boys who put bottle caps on their shoes and tap dance for tips (of course not money showers). All of the street performers here work for tips or photographs (the statue people). Maybe money showers just came out of street performing, a way to show someone they really liked the performance? I don't know.

Originally Posted by rakgirl

Now in hip hop culture in America it's done to strippers and it's called "making it rain".

It's funny that you mention that. Whenever I hear hiphop songs about making it rain, I wish they would come make it rain on me! Unfortunately I don't think bellydancing is as appealing to them as strippers (usually the subject of the song). I just can't compete with that. But I like the wording. I just think it's a really catchy phrase. :-)