Thread: Jump starting some gigs

I live in a St. Louis suburban area where I seem to be the only dancer promoting herself. (though there are a couple of other teachers).

Gigs have always come in little clusters with dry spells in between, mostly in the form of birthday parties (I get a lot of 60th, 70th, even an 80th).

I took a break from really promoting myself for gigs for about a year and focused on my classes, mainly because I was feeling really self-concious about my weight. But the weight is coming off and I want the work back!

Only nothing is happening. Nothing. I'm on Party Pop, have a website. Same as before, only I've been putting myself 'out there' for a couple of months and haven't gotten even a nibble.

I have some ideas, but I'm not sure what's the most effective use of my time & money. Should I put info/clips together & send them out? To who -- event planners? Retirement communities? Should I do more festivals/free gigs to get seen?? Make up postcards or brochures about performance and set them out for my students to pick up & hope they make it into the world?

There's a TINY Greek restaurant in town where I could probably set up a regular thing. It's VERY small, though, and I don't want to do a weekly set. Is it worth dancing there once a month just to get myself in front of potential clients?

Help me, I can't justify buying any more costumes unless I'm dancing for $$$!!!

Could you set up your ideal gig, and get the local newspaper to do an article on it. I had a friend who wanted to get into Wedding Videos, he staged a fake wedding, filmed it, and used that as a promo.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Help me, I can't justify buying any more costumes unless I'm dancing for $$$!!!

Well, if it comes down to justifying costume purchases, then it IS an emergency!!

I think the Greek restaurant is a good option. Even if it's a monthly kind of gig, once the GP knows it's happening, they'll likely turn to it for parties. I often hand out biz cards at my restaurant gigs to patrons that ask me about lessons and parties. Plus, people will probably also start calling the restaurant looking for you when they have a party and want a dancer.

Lauren, it sounds like you and I are in a similar boat. Almost all of my paid gigs seem to come from people who came up with the idea of having a Belly Dancer on their own, and then found me on the web. I've rarely had someone say that they saw me or my marketing materials somewhere and then[ thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to have a Belly Dancer at xxxxxx event". Due to my web presence and lack of heavy competition, I think I get a good percentage of the former type of client. The question is, how do we create the latter one? I wish I could say I see an increase in gigs after a public performance, like a community fair - but it really only seems to lead to more students, not bookings.

If I had the funds, I would do a Val-Pak or other kind of direct mail piece. When I was working in advertising, I was stunned by the ROI on those puppies. But it's really expensive, at least for my limited advertising budget.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I live in a St. Louis suburban area where I seem to be the only dancer promoting herself. (though there are a couple of other teachers).

Gigs have always come in little clusters with dry spells in between, mostly in the form of birthday parties (I get a lot of 60th, 70th, even an 80th).

I took a break from really promoting myself for gigs for about a year and focused on my classes, mainly because I was feeling really self-concious about my weight. But the weight is coming off and I want the work back!

Only nothing is happening. Nothing. I'm on Party Pop, have a website. Same as before, only I've been putting myself 'out there' for a couple of months and haven't gotten even a nibble.

I have some ideas, but I'm not sure what's the most effective use of my time & money. Should I put info/clips together & send them out? To who -- event planners? Retirement communities? Should I do more festivals/free gigs to get seen?? Make up postcards or brochures about performance and set them out for my students to pick up & hope they make it into the world?

There's a TINY Greek restaurant in town where I could probably set up a regular thing. It's VERY small, though, and I don't want to do a weekly set. Is it worth dancing there once a month just to get myself in front of potential clients?

Hi,
If you want jobs this is guaranteed to work for you. If works for us. I have to turn stuff down alot. We have become so busy. go to www.gigmasters.com
They are one of North Americas biggest online talent booking agency. Yes you have to pay for a membership and a small percentage booking fee but you still make money at it. There online service interface is customer friendly and lets you keep track of all your gigs. It sets up a quotation for perspective customers and let's you manage your own business. Try it, I think you may be pleasantly surprised. Good luck.

I say get out there to the Greek place, once a month is perfect to start.
You have to get out there, most of my work is word of mouth, and you can't get word of mouth work unless people SEE you dance!
Good Luck!

If you DO something monthly at the Greek place, ask them if you can leave business cards there. But a little business card holder and place a stack in a visible place....they'll help out when you're not even there. As you'll be the only dancer- it would be perfectly fair/reasonable to be able to have them there all the time.

Excellent, thanks for the ideas.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Excellent, thanks for the ideas.

Does the Greek place have a website? Probably not if it is super small but if it does...well, you should be on it! ..g.:

Are there any Indian restaurants in your area? I found out that one near where I work will recommend dancers to clients who rent out the "party room" for birthdays and other big celebrations.

Likewise, I wonder if it might make sense to leave your card at party stores or even stores that specialize in wedding related stuff? You might have to explain why someone would hire a dancer at their wedding (not sure if that is common at all in your area) but it could pay off. Do you know any wedding DJs? Again, share your cards with them and maybe they can work out a deal with you (i.e. finder's fee?) if they recommend you to clients for wedding gigs. A lot of people look for ways to make their weddings or parties "different" and memorable so perhaps you could advertise with that in mind?

As you can tell, I've been thinking about this as well. I just wimp out when I consider how much time and energy I would have to put into these types of performances on top of my full-time job and classes to teach. I know that many other dancers out there do it all but I guess I'm just too lazy!

Originally Posted by susuabdo

Hi,
If you want jobs this is guaranteed to work for you. If works for us. I have to turn stuff down alot. We have become so busy. go to www.gigmasters.com

Has anyone else used this gigmasters? It sounds good and I want to try it.