Thread: always the same ofcourse

just got a phone call. a local youth house had planned a bellydance workshop tomorrow. their workshopteacher called in sick, could i replace her?

they were going to pay the teacher 25E for TWO HOURS. i charge 50 an hour for beginners workshops and sometimes more, that's like my basic minimum. so well, no.

so, well, couldnt i send a student then.

well, no.

You'd think these people believe that we're running a Belly Dance Factory, where performance-ready students are cranked out by the hundreds on a conveyor belt each day ,r:;

I'm sure belly dance "schools" like this really do exist. But man, I wish I knew where the public got some of their weird ideas from ..c::

It can't be that hard to lead a group of teenagers to wiggle, right? The nerve of you to think you should have 4 times that amount!!!

:)

the annoying thing is that they'll just keep calling and asking around and probably WILL find someone willing to teach for that amount

They already did, but their instructor cancelled and left them hanging. You get what you pay for, and they got the level of professionalism they were willing to pay for.

As a pro, I would also make sure someone qualified showed up to teach any workshop I had booked, none of my clients would be making desperate last minute phone calls.

But as a pro, I charge what you charge.

Had the same thing happen last fall but I was hired as a higher rate and another instructor came in a did it for VERY little and brought students. He basically said "Oh can you do it for over $100 less" Ah no. She did though, not a newbie either.
My favorite ohone calls go something like this:
We need to hire a hola dancer can you do that? ..l;,

Ack. That's come accross as rude to me. Maybe I'm sensitive. :-p

25€ for 2 hours???? OMG, I can't believe they found someone who would teach at such a low price...
Well, they don't have to call me, if the gig is in your area, those 25€ would barely cover my transport costs lol

Our most recent opportunity to perform for free was looking for people DRESSED like bellydancers, I thought that an interesting twist and an insight into what they considered most important.