Thread: If it falls on the floor....

who does it belong to??

Okay, so there have been a couple of occasions where either I or someone I know have been dancing, and we get a girl up to dance and someone from the audience gets up and showers HER with tips (for example, her boyfriend, family, whatever).

So who gets the money? ..c::

In my opinion, if I am the dancer & it falls on the floor, it's mine ..g.: But I've had servers pick it up and try & split "her" money apart from "my" money, etc... and it's resulted in those tips walking out the door...

What do ya'll think? ..c::

They split it with an audience member?

Weird. I am curious what people share!

If you are performing in a public arena (restaurant or nightclub) and you invite someone to dance with you or someone jumps up to dance with you and friends/family shower them/you with tips, they are YOURS. When you work with musicians, better find out up front if you split all tips OR if the floor is swept after you dance and you keep your tips OR the musicians expect you to keep tips you get in hand or in your belt, and they expect to keep the tips that fall on the floor. I have worked under all those conditions.

If it is a private event and you anticipate tips, you would do well to clarify up front what happens to them. I thought it was fairly written in stone that the dancer keeps the tips until I performed at a wedding where the bride's mother swept up all my tips (while I was dancing!) and grinned when she told me they were for the bride...I was shocked because I thought that in her culture, she should know better, but being a lady was more important to me and I let it go (the band however snarled at her that if she touched their tips they would ***expletive deleted***). It takes all kinds to make a world, so make sure your boundaries are defined in advance so there are no surprises!

Originally Posted by Zamara

the bride's mother swept up all my tips (while I was dancing!) and grinned when she told me they were for the bride...I was shocked because I thought that in her culture, she should know better, but being a lady was more important to me and I let it go (the band however snarled at her that if she touched their tips they would ***expletive deleted***).

This was customary at some point, somewhere...I remember reading it in A Trade Like Any Other. I think often the tips for the dancer at weddings would go to the host family, as a way to offset the costs of the wedding. The guests knew this, and friends/neighbors/acquaintances would literally keep tabs on how much they were tipped at their past events and it was expected that they reciprocate in kind.

Now here in the states, maybe it should go in the contract if one intends to keep all her tips. ;)

I've never heard of servers or random guests getting a cut of money from the floor.

I think in my case it's just a case of the servers not having any idea what to do, and me not being quick enough (i.e....being in the dressing room when it happened) to tell them. No one seemed to worry about asking me... In the future, though, I'll make sure to clarify. Although--I have seen a girl who was "showered" actually get down & pick up "her tips" on her own...what's a dancer to say in that scenario? I thought it classiest to just let it go...I mean, what's $5 compared to maintaining a classy image, right?

Originally Posted by Sonja2

I thought it classiest to just let it go...I mean, what's $5 compared to maintaining a classy image, right?

I agree - you should be making a good enough base fee that the tips are just gravy. Rich, delicious gravy...but gravy all the same. I did a GP private party a few months ago, and when one of the make guests got up and started dancing, people started throwing money at him left and right. It was still on the floor when I ended my set and left to change, but when I came out, one of the guests had gathered it up and gave it all to me.

IMO, any money thrown *during the dancer's performance* should go to her.

Well, I suppose in some cultures it's common practice that tips for the dancer end up with the family . . . but it seems very cheap to me! And I'm just enough of a arrogant, ethnocentric American to say so!

I've been to weddings where the bride and groom dance with everybody during a "dollar dance," where guests essentially cough up a few bucks to help the couple start their lives together. But to think an entertainer's tips should help defray the cost of the wedding/reception . . . that just never occurred to me.

It also never occurred to me to include anything about tips in my performer's contract, but I see that I probably should! The print on my contract is already pretty small; maybe I'll have to go from standard paper (8 1/2" x 11") to legal size (14" long) to fit everything I now want to include!

Deborah

Originally Posted by Sonja2

. . . we get a girl up to dance and someone from the audience gets up and showers HER with tips (for example, her boyfriend, family, whatever).

So who gets the money? ..c::

If the tipping occurs during the dancer's set, then the dancer gets the money.

Period.

Deborah

In all my years working in nightclubs I rarely got to keep the money that was showered on me. In some of the better well established clubs, the band would split the shower tips with the dancer, and sometimes it was split 3 ways: band, dancer and house. A busboy would be responsible for sweeping the money off the stage. Many I night I would hang out to 3 a.m. while we counted out all the money. However, almost always, the money on the floor went to the band -period. (Although you can be certain the singer would get their share when they got showered.)

At weddings usually the money goes to the bride and groom although occassionally I've had the family gather up the money and give it to me but that is rare. Usually in a wedding, if they want to tip you it will be in your pay envelope.

Body tips are exclusively mine although I had one place try to claim that as well. I pulled out some dripping wet singles and said if they were really that desperate for money they could have it. Nipped that one in the bud.

But that is one reason why I would never agree to dance for tip money. Give me decent pay and don't expect any more.

If you are talking about an audience member getting up to dance with you - heck no, those tips are yours!!!

I had the same situation occur that Zamara describes (mother of groom stole my tips at a wedding). There was a long thread about it here: http://www.bhuz.com/forum/business-b...-pictures.html

I now include the clause that Nadira Jamal suggested in all my contracts:

"Nadira Jamal will not solicit tips from the guests, but if they choose to tip Nadira Jamal of their own accord, they may do so by throwing bills in the air above her head, respectfully placing them in her costume (Nadira Jamal will indicate an appropriate place, and inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated), or handing them to her. Any and all tips given to Nadira Jamal are hers to keep, and are in addition to the (insert fee here) payment. "

Originally Posted by danielabellydance

If you are talking about an audience member getting up to dance with you - heck no, those tips are yours!!!

I had the same situation occur that Zamara describes (mother of groom stole my tips at a wedding). There was a long thread about it here: http://www.bhuz.com/forum/business-b...-pictures.html

I now include the clause that Nadira Jamal suggested in all my contracts:

"Nadira Jamal will not solicit tips from the guests, but if they choose to tip Nadira Jamal of their own accord, they may do so by throwing bills in the air above her head, respectfully placing them in her costume (Nadira Jamal will indicate an appropriate place, and inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated), or handing them to her. Any and all tips given to Nadira Jamal are hers to keep, and are in addition to the (insert fee here) payment. "

that's a very good clause, I think dancers should all put that in their contracts, especially nightclub dancers who have to fight for tips with the band/house.

In my experience, tips on the floor at weddings are for the bride and groom.
When dancing with a band, I have never had them split the tips with me. Suddenly at the end of the night no one in the band could speak english.
I am very lucky that the resturant I work at the waiters pick up the tips after each show and place them in the kitchen for us. They have never asked to keep the tips.