Thread: So I want to start branching out on my own...

I'm an advanced student, who wants to begin dancing professionally. I know that there are a lot of things I need to prepare before I begin marketing myself and that it could honestly take many many months to get things in order before I start. Id like to enter the world though with a heads up on the things Ill need now so that when the time comes Im not blindsided.


So far Ive come up with a list of things I need to acquire or do before hand. Here it is:

I need to:

Become inc. and register my business and DBA w/ the state.

Find and target places that I might be able to find work at (clubs, restaurants hotels... what else?)



I need to acquire:

Costumes (how many for a good start? 2, 3, 5?)

More extensive music library (any suggestions?)


I need your help to add to this list. As you can see its pretty skimpy and I KNOW there has to be more than this. I dont want to be unprepared... Can you help me?

Thanks :)

Amber, you don't necessarily need to be incorporated. You can operate as a sole proprietorship. But if you use any name other than your own, you definitely need to register your business name.

Start a business checking account.

Have good record-keeping in place for your income and expenses. Have an understanding of tax laws and requirements in your state. Consult with a bookkeeper if you're not sure about that sort of thing (but it's not as hard as it seems, especially if you are a sole proprietor).

Get business cards printed and start a web site.

Consult with other professionals in your area (if they are amenable to this sort of thing) and get a sense of what going rates are.

Those are some things that leap to mind, but I'm sure others will chime in!

I don't think you need to incorporate, most dancers don't. It's expensive and unnecessary, you can operate simply as a sole proprietorship. You do need the DBA, though.

- Business Cards
- Website
- Network/build strong relationships with other dancers in the area, especially the ones that do lots of restaurants and private parties. Hopefully someday you'll have referrals to trade with them, but meanwhile if they respect you they may be willing to call on you as a sub.

For music, what I use most in restaurants is music from Jalilah's series and pop music (maybe the NOW Arabia cds?) The BDSS cds have lots of usable music, too.

Are you able to work with a teacher/mentor? It's an awful lot easier that way, but I know it's not always possible.

Do you already attend lots of restaurant shows in your area? Are you familiar with the usual set, the usual rates, etc? Are you friends with the dancers who perform a lot?

Do you already have lots of solo experience, including planning whole shows? Have you danced in restaurants lots, a little, or never? Have you done parties and things with your teacher or another dancer? Is there a large Arabic community where you live?

You might consider Partypop or Gigmasters depending on where you are -- Bhuzzers in bigger cities swear by them, though they haven't worked for me in my area.

If you haven't already read them, my web site has several articles on going pro. See Belly Dance Advice, Tips, How-To's

First of all, congrats for making the decision to go out on your own! I remember when I did it, I spent an entire summer just working on buidling my business. It was so much fun!

I agree with everything the pp's said. I thing the most important thing is to get a website!! And business cards!

As far as costumes, how many you need really depends on what types of jobs you are going for. If you want to dance at a restaurant, where they will see you once, twice a week, you'll need a lot more than if you were dancing at only private parties - it's likely no one will see you twice at private parties!

A good way to get started is to contact singing telegram agencies in your area about being a "bellygram" messenger for them.

Also, make sure you have a good set of choreos that you can easily pull from...or music that you know really, really well. Having songs and choreos rotate will keep you from the scramble of having to think of what you are going to do (of course some thought is required). I have premade CDs, set 1 and set2, etc so that I can grab them on the go and I already know what's there. Eventually I'll change it up, but I'm not getting enough gigs right now for that. Good luck!

Responses in red

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I don't think you need to incorporate, most dancers don't. It's expensive and unnecessary, you can operate simply as a sole proprietorship. You do need the DBA, though.

- Business Cards
- Website
- Network/build strong relationships with other dancers in the area, especially the ones that do lots of restaurants and private parties. Hopefully someday you'll have referrals to trade with them, but meanwhile if they respect you they may be willing to call on you as a sub. These are good ones! Thanks. Ill need costumes before I can do the website though right? The website will have to have photos of me in costume.

For music, what I use most in restaurants is music from Jalilah's series and pop music (maybe the NOW Arabia cds?) The BDSS cds have lots of usable music, too. I have a few of Jalilah's CD already, Im thinking I should be getting some of those NOW arabia CD's but Im not sure where to find them...

Are you able to work with a teacher/mentor? It's an awful lot easier that way, but I know it's not always possible. Unfortunately, this is not a possibility...Im just going to leave it at that...

Do you already attend lots of restaurant shows in your area? Are you familiar with the usual set, the usual rates, etc? Are you friends with the dancers who perform a lot?For the last few weeks another dancer and I have been visiting the clubs and restaurants that have belly dancers. Most of the dancers that get work here are girls that are under the tutelage of the same teacher as me... so I already know many of them.

Do you already have lots of solo experience, including planning whole shows? Have you danced in restaurants lots, a little, or never? Have you done parties and things with your teacher or another dancer? Is there a large Arabic community where you live? I have very little solo experience, however, by the time I'm thinking Ill be done with all the other stuff I need to do, Ill have a few major shows under my belt. I live about 20 mins away from Dearborn MI, which is the largest population of Arabs per capita, in the USA.... so there is a HUGE market.

You might consider Partypop or Gigmasters depending on where you are -- Bhuzzers in bigger cities swear by them, though they haven't worked for me in my area.

Business checking account is a great idea.

Originally Posted by nisaasaintlouis

Amber, you don't necessarily need to be incorporated. You can operate as a sole proprietorship. But if you use any name other than your own, you definitely need to register your business name.

Start a business checking account.

Have good record-keeping in place for your income and expenses. Have an understanding of tax laws and requirements in your state. Consult with a bookkeeper if you're not sure about that sort of thing (but it's not as hard as it seems, especially if you are a sole proprietor).

Get business cards printed and start a web site.

Consult with other professionals in your area (if they are amenable to this sort of thing) and get a sense of what going rates are.

Those are some things that leap to mind, but I'm sure others will chime in!

Originally Posted by *Shira*

If you haven't already read them, my web site has several articles on going pro. See Belly Dance Advice, Tips, How-To's

Awesome! Thanks Shira!!

Originally Posted by danielabellydance

First of all, congrats for making the decision to go out on your own! I remember when I did it, I spent an entire summer just working on building my business. It was so much fun!

I agree with everything the pp's said. I thing the most important thing is to get a website!! And business cards!

As far as costumes, how many you need really depends on what types of jobs you are going for. If you want to dance at a restaurant, where they will see you once, twice a week, you'll need a lot more than if you were dancing at only private parties - it's likely no one will see you twice at private parties!

Yeah call me overeager... but I'm so excited I'm practically bursting!

What would you suggest I start out with? Private parties? Or Restaurants/clubs?

Personally my train of thought was that If I started out in Clubs/restaurants I would get to know potential clients that would hire me for privite parties etc...

Originally Posted by Amber_moon

What would you suggest I start out with? Private parties? Or Restaurants/clubs?

Hi Amber! You mentioned in an earlier message that you have very little solo experience, and that by the time you pull together the professional elements you'll have "a few major gigs" under your hip belt. I'm a bit concerned that you're eager to jump into professional performing without much amateur-level solo experience first.

Therefore, I would suggest that you proceed as follows:

• Line up a bunch of additional amateur-level solo performances before you put your promotional material for pro gigs out there. Get a LOT of experience with solo performances at friends' parties, haflas, belly dance competitions, dancer showcases, and other amateur-friendly environments.
• Start with bellygrams because they're short, often only about 10 minutes in length. When you're new to soloing, it's best to take short gigs. A new professional may be capable of keeping it interesting for 10 minutes, but not for the 15-20 required for restaurants or the 20-30 required for private parties.
• I'd suggest doing bellygrams for 6-12 months before seeking restaurant work. The experience will help you approach the restaurant opportunity with more polish and confidence.
• I'd suggest waiting until after 6-12 months of restaurant work before doing full-length private parties. They tend to require longer shows, and a higher level of professionalism than bellygrams or restaurant shows.

One thing I've noticed in this thread - your classmates with the same teacher as you are doing restaurant gigs. Did they have mentoring from your teacher that helped them get those gigs? If so, why is it that they received mentoring but you did not? I realize this is a very tough question, and I really don't want to make you feel picked upon, (and I don't expect you to answer it publicly if you prefer not to) but if your teacher has helped them while not helping you, it might be a good idea to figure out why not. If you have some sort of a gap that makes your teacher deem you unworthy of help although she's helping others, then that same issue might make prospective employers hesitate to hire you. If you can figure out what that is, and work to remedy it, your efforts to go pro will be much more successful.

Shira,
Excellent points and suggestions!
Nisaa

Responses in red

Originally Posted by *Shira*

[list][*]Line up a bunch of additional amateur-level solo performances before you put your promotional material for pro gigs out there. Get a LOT of experience with solo performances at friends' parties, haflas, belly dance competitions, dancer showcases, and other amateur-friendly environments.

Normally this would be a great idea... but as of yet... Im not sure if I know of any going on in my area.... :( Most of the dancers here dont really do that sort of thing, and the typical "hafla" here does not entail performances... they are just usually glorified group lessons w/ food. Its never a "real" hafla... But Im a resourceful gal... Ill find something *wink*

[*]Start with bellygrams because they're short, often only about 10 minutes in length. When you're new to soloing, it's best to take short gigs. A new professional may be capable of keeping it interesting for 10 minutes, but not for the 15-20 required for restaurants or the 20-30 required for private parties.
Im not really sure whats involved in a "bellygram" does that entail going to someones home? That sounds like it could be... uncomfortable.... or potentially dangerous... Do you have any more details on how it is usually done etc etc? Id love to have more info :)

One thing I've noticed in this thread - your classmates with the same teacher as you are doing restaurant gigs. Did they have mentoring from your teacher that helped them get those gigs? If so, why is it that they received mentoring but you did not? No not a tough question at all! The difference is that they have been in the advanced level class for many years... Im the newbie to the advanced/professional level class (I just started a few weeks ago. I realize this is a very tough question, and I really don't want to make you feel picked upon, (and I don't expect you to answer it publicly if you prefer not to) but if your teacher has helped them while not helping you, it might be a good idea to figure out why not. No this is not the case.... at all. The classes we take are devided into levels (one is for beginners, one is for intermideate and one is for advanced/professional. Im in the intermediate level class but Ive talked to my instructor and she told me that she thought I was ready to start reaching out and doing some things on my own soon... So thats what prompted my question. Also, I dont think anybody is hesitant to hire me... because like I said.. I haven't even began yet. I KNOW that right now I need alot more experience... but the point of the post was basically to collect info on what other things I might need as well... Im one of those types of people that like to know whats coming up WAY before its time to actually do it.... just so that I know, and am not blindsided by it. :)

Congrats, Amber_moon -- how exciting for you!

Is there a way you can "team up" with someone who might be willing to take you along on her party gigs as an apprentice dancer? You're not out there on your own, trying to figure out what to do or how to handle stuff . . . Perhaps another teacher across town (and I mean 'way across town) with whom you might affiliate? It might be worth the drive to distance yourself from someone who is not willing to mentor you at this time.

Re: type of business ownership: Check out an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) ownership. An LLC helps to protect your personal assets from involvement in a lawsuit without all the expense/reporting requirements of a corporation (limitations apply). You might be able to use online legal services which can save lots of $ over a live attorney. Do some research to determine what's best for you.

Business cards and website. I've been dancing for 30 years and am just now getting a website prepared. I'm a little slow on the uptake . . . ..g.:

It is a very good idea to have several different sets from which to choose, as mentioned by andalee-oriental. For example, consider developing an Egyptian set and a Pan-Arabic set, and have different lengths for different types of parties.

Costuming -- it eventually comes down to the sparklies, eh? I grew up doing private parties and only a few one-off restaurant gigs, so I literally had one bra/belt set, two skirts and a couple of veils in my dance wardrobe. For you, a good metallic "neutral" (gold or silver or a combo of both) and another bra/belt set is probably adequate. Get 3-4 skirts in a couple of different styles and in very different colors to rotate through. Invest in accessories that set off the skirts: maybe some arm bands, cuffs, gloves, etc. For your website photo shoot, you can probably get away with two costumes; all you need initially for your website are a couple of nice shots in a couple different costume moods.

I second Shira's suggestion of signing on with a singing telegram service. Don't worry, belly dancers don't usually have to sing . . . although, I have!

My last bit of advice is for you to dance at every event you can, especially events where you are not on a stage. If you have the opportunity to dance in showcases in restaurants, or in settings where you are up-close-and-personal with your audience, for heaven's sake do that! Then practice working your audience, getting up close and dancing specifically for a few audience members, getting somebody up to dance with you, etc, just like you will have to do at a private party and most restaurants. Use these low-key opportunities to learn how to work a crowd and you will be that much more prepared for the real world -- the world of professional dancing.

Good luck!

Keep us posted!

Deborah

Originally Posted by danielabellydance

First of all, congrats for making the decision to go out on your own! I remember when I did it, I spent an entire summer just working on buidling my business. It was so much fun!

I agree with everything the pp's said. I thing the most important thing is to get a website!! And business cards!

As far as costumes, how many you need really depends on what types of jobs you are going for. If you want to dance at a restaurant, where they will see you once, twice a week, you'll need a lot more than if you were dancing at only private parties - it's likely no one will see you twice at private parties!

Hey Daniela! Could you elaborate on this a little more? What did you do to start building your business? I want to do some private gigs as well, but I just dont know where to start. I had to gigs lined up a while ago and they both fell through. I got really disappointed after that.

I'm going to look into the singing telegram things as Shira said...I also need to contact some event planners and see how that goes. But other than that, what can I do to seek gigs, rather than wait for them to fall into my lap?

I guess this question is for all of you gigging dancers.

Glad to hear you're planning ahead and thinking about what things you need to do *today* in order to prepare you for where you want to be in the future - I can really respect folks like you who set long term goals and identify milestones you need to meet in order to prepare yourself to reach them!

Regarding bellygrams, yes, they can involve going to someone's home. For that matter, so can higher-priced private parties.


Some characteristics of a bellygram include:

* Short (about 10 mnutes)
* In honor of a special occasion, such as a birthday party or a going-away party
* Typically held at either someone's workplace or someone's home
* Audience is typically generic Americans
* Focused on comedy rather than on beautiful artistic dancing. In other words, get the guest of honor up and make him dance with you. Make him pose for pictures wearing a hip scarf. Etc. If you really want to play it for laughs, do something over the top such as showing up for a 40th birthday party with a Grim Reaper costume, skull mask, and a scythe, hiding your belly dance costume, to mourn the passing of the guest of honor's youth, then fling aside the Grim Reaper attire in as un-stripperlike way as possible and dance. Or, come in a gorilla costume with a belly dance costume over it and be a belly dancing gorilla. And so on.


Some characteristics of a private party (in contrast) include:

* Longer (usually about 20 minutes, I've sometimes been hired to do two 20-minute sets)
* Could be a special occasion (such as birthday or wedding), or could be something like a corporate function
* Could be at someone's home, a hotel conference facility, a restaurant, or a wedding reception hall
* Audience might be Middle Eastern (for example, a Middle Eastern wedding), or could be generic Americans (birthday or corporate function)
* Audience typically expects beautiful, artistic dancing as the focus, with a minimum of comedic stuff

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Glad to hear you're planning ahead and thinking about what things you need to do *today* in order to prepare you for where you want to be in the future - I can really respect folks like you who set long term goals and identify milestones you need to meet in order to prepare yourself to reach them!

Regarding bellygrams, yes, they can involve going to someone's home. For that matter, so can higher-priced private parties.


Some characteristics of a bellygram include: . . .

Shira's exactly right -- 'cause she wrote exactly what I would have!

Deborah

Fantastic advice on here. :)
I've got some links that could be helpful, too.
performing and professionalism
Standard rates and professional links and guidelines

One outlet for "practice performing"- to get some experience under your belt while you're working on everything is to network and perform at haflas in the Detroit area. With the largest Arab community in the US they've had quite a strong bd community for a while- there will certainly be some opportunities there. :) I don't know how far it is for you- but getting into this as a professional takes some dedication- what's a couple hours in the car for lessons, mentoring, workshops or hafla performing?

Originally Posted by ejaghana

Hey Daniela! Could you elaborate on this a little more? What did you do to start building your business?

Basically, I just started getting my name out there. That was the summer I found bhuz () because I was googling "bellydance directory" like mad. I signed myself up for every teacher/performer directory I could find that was free (I started with the free stuff - I didn't move on to Gigmasters and Partypop till much later). Then I took some pictures (still free - my first pro photo shoot was still a year away) and got some business cards. I started with a super simple free website through Geocities and got it linked to everywhere I could. I increased my teaching schedule and made sure to hand out my business cards to all my students.

It was slow going. I remember in the beginning being sooooo excited about having two jobs in one month, because most months I didn't have any! It started through my students mostly - one of them was having a Christmas party and convinced her boss to hire me to perform, one of them hired me for her daughter's Christening, etc. I handed out tons of business cards at the jobs too. Word of mouth works wonders.

As business picked up, I started to *pay* for things. Got a paid website. Had a "real" photo shoot. Listed myself on PartyPop. Then Gigmasters.

After 4 years of being out "on my own" (as opposed to the company I was with for two years before that, where the director did all of our advertising and booking), I went from being lucky to get a job a month, to being lucky to have a free second a month!! I have multiple jobs a weekend ::knocks on wood and thanks God:: and would have more if life didn't get in the way! I would say that it took at least 2 and a half years for it to get to this point, and it was a slow and steady climb the whole way.

Just be patient and expect that you will not become the go-to dancer in your area over night. It takes patience and sacrifice - I can't tell you how many functions I've missed with friends and family because I "had" to take a job that night. But if it's your passion, it will be worth it!