Thread: Pros and Cons of working at a restaurant..

I can't believe how much adrenaline your body uses when you perform. I had blast at my audition for this way cool venue. I must say it was soothing to dance to another woman and not a male..w.: I perfomed a fifteen min run of traditonal, drum solo, house mix. So yea, I think it may be a go. Now two days later after the thrill is gone. I researched quite a bit about pay rates, ethics, possible scenarios ect. My question now, beside the extra moolah$$. What are the pros and cons of working at a restaurant? Do you ladies have any paperwork drawn up that states your pay ect?

,r:; p.s
I like the decor there.

Pros: Free food! Plus you can recruit a lot of students. You can play with the audience, and try different genres.

Cons: Some people just want to eat and be left alone. Poor changing conditions at some places.

Also, Pro: you get to dance all the time!

Con: You have to dance whether you want to or not.

{{{HUGS}}}

Wow, Teakpeak. Congrats!!! I've never danced in a restaurant. I would assume it would be lots of hard work though.

Wait, I lied! I have danced in a restaurant once. I did not have dance shoes and I stepped in some unidentified stuff. So yeah I would reccommend shoes!!!

***full*** coverage shoes. I wore dance paws and I cut my foot on a broken ceramic tile :(

If you're there every week..

CONS:
- Need more costumes as some of the customers are the same.
- Ditto for props and new music. (When I fall in love with certain songs I recent having to dance to other music)
- What Tahira said, dancing when you don't feel like it.
- For me it gets boring after a month, I rather rotate.

PROS:
- Get paid for doing what you like.
- Get paid off the book.
- Exposure to get parties and new students if you teach.

Cons: like amity said poor changing area
If its slow on you day it can be a drag

Pros:Contacts for more jobs! have your card ready

So I'm guessing most get payed off the books?

Well...many owners do not regard you with as much respect as they do their other employees. My own experience is they see it as "extra" and then may not want to pay you if it's slow in the restaurant, so they cancel at the last minute or send you home after you get there.

I have gotten other gigs from dancing in the restaurant, however.

Don't forget dirty feet or smoky smelling costumes.

Pros:
1. You get to perform a lot and it will really improve your dancing ability
2. Steady cash if the restaurant is busy and well known
3. It provides a venue to make yourself known to other dancers and to the public and leads to call about private parties
4. It is predictable after a while and that can be quite nice.

Cons:
1. Burnout.
2. You often wont feel appreciated by owners who don't care and patrons who would rather eat dinner than watch you.
3. It is difficult to go out of town and make plans on the weekend because you are always booked somewhere.
4. Business can be slow and you could make little/no money and waste your evening.

But the Pros outweight the cons for me, I am mainly a restaurant dancer and I perform very little in any other venue. I like it because I get to perform a lot, make lots of money (sometimes) and I don't have to negotiate a new gig every time. They already know you and they already have the setup ready for you to dance.

I guess I've been lucky at my restaurant.
There is a nice dressing room, nice staff, great tips, great stereo system....all around awesome. I feel very blessed.
One down side is that I only dance to CD's, never live. I also feel as if I have to speed my dancing up or make it more bells and whistles, so to speak, in order to keep the American audience happy.
I'm starting to realize that I don't have to do that.

Originally Posted by mish_mish

Well...many owners do not regard you with as much respect as they do their other employees. My own experience is they see it as "extra" and then may not want to pay you if it's slow in the restaurant, so they cancel at the last minute or send you home after you get there.

This happens much more often if you don't negotiate ahead of time how it will be handled.
There's a lot to discuss with the owner before you start a new restaurant gig- or there is a lot to communicate about if you want it to go smoothly.

Regardless- in addition to all the above pros and cons
1) you have constant motivation to work on and improve your dance
2) you have a business reason to get new costumes, new music and new props
3) you have added income to supplement your classes and workshops
4) performing is in my experience more of a workout than class
5) it's another way to be in the belly dance community. Be sure to check local going rates and charge at or above those.
6) you learn a lot of performance skills you don't get to work on as easily in class
7) performing makes an audience happy. It feels good to make others happy. 8) avoid the drama llama. There will be some people who will for whatever unhealthy reason who will try to create drama. Steer clear of their unhappiness and the trouble they try to create.
9) your friends have a place to see you perform regularly
.....
those just off the top of my head.

Hoo boy. I love dancing in restaurants because I'm a ham, and because when the audience is attentive/tippy it is a fantastic (and lucrative) time. I hate dancing in restaurants because:
1) burnout, dancing the same place week after week
2) hard to make weekend plans/go out of town if you're dancing every week.
3) it's hard enough for me to find time to practice, but practice AND pick new music AND work on new props to keep the audience happy? Overload!
4) crappy changing rooms - though the bonus is that you'll get to see the seamy underside of the restaurant you work at. Dirt floor in the basement? Cockroaches in the unused kitchen? Bellydancers should work for the Department of Health.

Of all the restaurants I've danced at, only one has paid me on the books; this one is also managed by a woman, which has made dancing there about 300% easier. Contracts are rare in my area; I would at least try to get the owner to confirm rate and length of set in an email so you can remind him or her of it if they give you problems.

I have gotten fired from two restaurant jobs: once because I asked to get paid promptly after my set (hanging around talking to the men at the bar is NOT what I get paid to do, thankyouverymuch) and once because I was pregnant. Not much you can do about the second, but I made it very clear when negotiating my current gig that I wanted to get home as soon as possible after the set, and they should have my check waiting for me.

I really appreciate the insight. Though I've exhausted my resources,internet mostly, there is always something to learn....

the pro's are that your skills get really sharp when you perform on a regular schedule and it's just not the same practicing at class or at home.

The con's can be dancers who don't respect the art and will do anything for a tip, then the customers expect you to do the same when it's your turn to dance ,m::

congrats! this will be a very good experience for you. you will have the opportunity to develop the other skills of performance besides the dance steps.

as the other ladies have mentioned, shoes are a must. ballet shoes are inexpensive and work just fine.

if you are doing two sets and accept tips, find/make a special hiding place in your costume bag for the tips to they don't get "liberated" by a staff member while you are doing your second set. i don't mean to say anything about the people you work with, just that it has been known to happen.

bring 2 copies of your cd, just in case

if you perspire a lot, remember to bring a towel and a change of panties in your bag. sorry if that was tmi, but you will be glad you did :)

remember to air out your costumes when you get home and not put them away damp.

if customers say something weird, just smile and turn it into a joke.

if there is a male/female couple or group at a table, try to make eye contact with the woman first and give her a friendly smile. this should help overcome any jealousy factor. if you let the customers get up and dance with you, always ask a lady or child first. this helps set a "family" tone to the show.

**have someone walk you to your car!**
even if you have to tip a waiter, it is worth it to arrive home safely.

here is a link to a good article by artemis with some info which may help as well.
http://www.serpentine.org/artemis/Top20.html

good luck! and let us know how you like it. i hope they are very respectful and pay/tip will.

I actually don't use shoes, I just wash my feet in the sink when I get home. Definitely ALWAYS bring shoes to any new dance venue until you are confident that there are no nails, sliver-causing boards, etc.

Wow this is the first time i've heard so much good about restaurant gigs. All i've ever heard was the bad. I guess it's something to consider.

restaurant gigs can be great if you find a good venue. i worked at a place for over six years and everyone who worked there was like family. sometimes if it was slow, we would close and all go out together!

i hope your new gig is great, pays well and they treat you with respect. good luck!

Originally Posted by rakgirl

Wow this is the first time i've heard so much good about restaurant gigs. All i've ever heard was the bad. I guess it's something to consider.

I think that's a common part of human nature- to verbally make note of the bad.

Plus if someone had a negative enough experience to make her stop dancing at restaurants that will certainly stick out in her mind- as at one point she likely very much WANTED to dance in restaurants. Something happened that was strong enough to change her mind.
Some dancers dream about it for quite some time and then feel bitterly disappointed when it's not all that they expected or they have an unexpected Bad experience or work only with a Bad owner. Some dancers aren't prepared enough to deal with the challenges...
There ARE a lot of challenges. For some those challenges outweigh the positives that they experience.

I love restaurant dancing! Not every restaurant has been terrific for me every night, but I love to be there and be dancing. Then, I save all my off-the-book pay and tips to buy new costumes!
Yes, your feet get dirty and you can get cuts.
As for the smokey costumes: Luckily, in California, we don't have to deal with cigarette smoke, only Hooka, and I don't find that it stays in my costumes.

Have a wonderful time and enjoy the opportunity!

Thanks...this is fab!

Keep us posted on how things work out if you don't mind! Good luck!

People assume that if you are dancing then you cant hear them...things i've overheard:

"theres no way they are real. They are totally fake."
"shes gained at least 5 pounds since I saw her last time"
"Is that a wig?"
"Id pay another 20 bucks if she'd loose the top"

long story short, Dont have thin skin. Be strong and be ready for anything. People say stupid things and you sometimes overhear them. The good news is that sometimes you overhear really nice things too.

You can choose to ignore them or you can practice your sassy come backs.

Between sets I once wrote a response on a napkin that said "20 bucks or not, the top stays on." and handed it to the offending restaurant patron. He turned bright red and wouldnt look me in the eye the rest of the night. I felt like I had the last laugh.

Ha ! I like your response. I like the idea of saving up for a costume, but I would have to dance 14 times in my current place to get close to what I need for a costume. I have been feeling less enthusiastic about the whole thing recently, and I can't really figure out why.

Originally Posted by Bellydancingcaroline

Ha ! I like your response. I like the idea of saving up for a costume, but I would have to dance 14 times in my current place to get close to what I need for a costume. I have been feeling less enthusiastic about the whole thing recently, and I can't really figure out why.

This is actually a great way to look at restaurant prices.
In DC/Baltimore the "professional" pay range from bottom of the barrel 13 shows to buy a costume to 8 shows to buy a costume.
I'm basing that on $800- the new prices for Pharaonics. You can't do professional shows in the cheapie ebay specials. Well, you CAN.... but in my experience once you switch to the nicer costumes you never want to go back. I think a lot of girls on here experience the same thing.
Anyway, add in gas, music, props, classes, workshops and the lower rates just aren't cutting it. At those rates we'll never be paid 1cent for our time, we're just working off the financial investments.
Thank goodness for the areas where dancers are working together to make a difference...and thank goodness for private parties and events.

[QUOTE=samiramirage;75699]People assume that if you are dancing then you cant hear them...things i've overheard:

That is so funny. I am glad you brought this up. This happens to me all the time, although usually it isn't anything obscene. Why don't they think we can hear them?

"People assume that if you are dancing then you cant hear them..."



OMG! What's wrong with people? I heard someone talking about me and I was RIGHT in front of her. So rude.

Ahh Melinda and I are always complaining about this! I don't understand why people think that you can't see them pointing/hear them talking. It drives me nuts. Writing the response on a napkin is a good idea, samiramirage. Way to go!