Thread: speaking of setting prices..... (spin off)

This is a cross post from a local yahoo group as well as tribe. It's a really good example of what happens when someone decides to charge low rates.
Posted by Gwen:

The discussion about a professional versus amateur show brings up a good point for discussion. What makes it a professional vs. amateur show or dancer? From the discussion from the shows posting, it seems clear it is not the price that is paid for the ticket. Taking this from a different angle, what are you feelings on the following:

There is a venue for bellydancing performances, local restaurant, that recently told the professional dancers there that they were cutting back on shows because business was slow. Instead of actually eliminating one of the nights all together, the venue used a student dancer of a local teacher to dance for about $50 per show, which is significantly lower than what the professional dancers at the venue were making. They scheduled her and told the professional dancers they weren't going to have shows that night. As far as I know the customers of the restaurant are not informed that the dancing on this particular night is done by students or amateurs vs. professionals on the different nights.

So if a dancer is dancing in a professional venue and dancing for less money, is that undercutting or is that a way for students/amateurs to get a start in the business? Do you think its fair for a teacher to undercut the professional dancers in the area by "pimping out" (excuse my French, I couldn't think of a more appropriate all encompassing term) her students at a lower rate? Should the advertising reflect that it is an amateur vs. a professional at a restaurant (as it seems people thought it should be made clear in a theater show - so you don't pay as much for a ticket to see an amateur)?

FYI, several professional dancers were cut from the schedule as a result of the student coming in and dancing for much less. Also, prior to this incident, the scheduling dancer at the venue had recently gotten the venue to raise its pay rate for the dancers by 25%.

It's undercutting. If a student is ready to work professionally, she should be paid the venue's going rate. If she's not "worth" that because of lack of experience/ability, then she shouldn't be dancing professionally.

Because if the venue owner decides that she's 'good enough', then he'll use her on other nights, and push the more experienced dancers out, thereby setting rates back several years.

In this case, the owner only had her on a known slow night and a lower rate. He didn't even want her subbing on the busy nights at her lower rate (I offered). I'm not making any assumptions about why this was. Only sharing the info that I know.
It's a really sad situation where she believes the area professionals are lying about what we make at both regular venues and parties.