Thread: Standardizing rates in our area

Ok, This has probably been discussed before, but I coudn't find it with a quick search, so....

It has come to the attention of some of my dance community that our rates are *all* over the map, ranging from Free (!!!!) to several hundred dollars. A discussion has been started on another social networking site, but not everyone is involved in said site, and I believe that not everyone would like to see their rates quite so public. So I'm thinking an Email list would be the way to go.

Do any of you have any suggestions on wording this Email? I want it to be easy and clear, but there are so many ways this could go awry... Help, of queens of tact!

I don't have email wording advice (sorry, slept in late today and I'm not coherent enough yet for tactful prose!), but I thought I might suggest considering a Yahoo group. You could make it so that membership has to be approved by the moderator so that the info in it isn't available to the GP. It's a good way to keep the pro dancers in your area "in touch" and keep an open discussion for rates and other professional concerns in your area.

In your email, you might send them an invite to the group saying that you want to open the doors of communication for the benefit of the community.

Good luck!!!

Maia,
Several areas have made great strides in supporting professional level rates and this is primarily done through communication.
NYC and the DC areas have both established yahoo groups - private email groups where we can privately discuss venues, rates etc. It's a great tool.
As far as wording. That's a tough one, I know! Maybe start by sharing a list of links to info about supporting rates- and talking about treating the dance with respect, what one's time is worth, being supportive of the community, wanting to make sure everyone is being treated fairly by owners etc.
You will get some dancers afraid that if they charge professional level rates then they won't get the chance to dance. This is likely the truth for a few...but there will also be some who will be pleasantly surprised when they learn they can charge what other professionals charge (you mention several hundred dollars).
Standard rates and professional links and guidelines
performing and professionalism

This is one of my favorites about venues:
http://www.serpentine.org/artemis/Top20.html
Artie is always spot on!
The pages above have lots of links, including to Shira and Morocco of course, as well as many others.

Aazura, Samira, thank you. A private list for open lines of communication and the links are exactly the kind of things I am looking to begin in our community- which is rather large, given the size of our population.

What I was most hoping for was perhaps some advice on how to eloquently begin such communications?

Maia,
I think almost every major metro area has this issue. We have tried to come to common ground here in the DFW area. Its a great thing to do just keep in mind that your point will not come accros to everyone so there will always be "undercutters".
The way we dealt with it was mainly through Tribe but whatever vehicle you chose you can just start out by saying:
Ther seems to be a large difference in what people charge in our area. It would be beneficial to us if we tighten up the ranges of our fees.
You can also give some verbiage about how you all have lots of experience and invested time and deserve to get compensated for it. Maybe throw out some price ranges and have people concor. Bellygram (X minutes) - $y-$z, do the same for a full belly dance routine, mini performance and lesson, etc.
Once you have that going its also nice if everyone has the same "hire" page for the most part. And by that I mean a cookie cutter page where pricing is the same and dancers put thier own pictures and tweak it a little bit.
Some of us have done that here and it works well.
hope that helps!
xoxo,
-NJ

Merci!