Thread: What to charge for this . .

I don't doubt this will come to nothing like every other potential gig i have had in the last 2 months (It must be flakey season in Edinburgh) but anyway . . .

I had an enquiry for a dancer at a promo event in the oriental rug section of a department store. They want me to dance as well as hand out Turkish delight. Now, I don't want to start a debate about the degredation of promo work, suffice to say its not really ideal but i have a new mp3 player to fund and a department store rug section sounds safe and harmless enough.

But what to charge . . .I have sort of quoted them a vague range asking for a better idea of how long they want me and how many dances so I can think it over. I am kinding of working on for the normal price i do a 10-15 min set they will get a 5 min set and half an hour of my time and just adding it for the lenght of time they want. . .does this sound OK?

Um . . anyone do a lot of this stuff, how do you work out your pricing?

Z

i think for the client they are probably asking a price per hour?

so i think your idea of dancing 5 min plus 30 min of promowork, put a price on that, is a good idea...

BUT

i'm thinking they will balk at the price, because they are probably comparing with what promo girls get paid per hour (which aint much and often means working all day for a wage)

so you could also say
- dancing, X times 5 minutes between that and that hour costs X per set
- the promowork costs X per set..

this way you can make clear to them that you are a dancer first, and what that costs, but still indicating you do want to do the promowork too

(assuming you are happy doing the promowork too, you might find a price range for that googling some event agencies)

I think your pricing structure sounds quite generous in some ways - half hour of your time plus a 5-min dance! They're in there.

I doubt they'll need you to loiter handing out Turkish Delight for a whole half hour mind you - surely the focus should be on you dancing? Hmmm, I'm viewing this from a DANCER/audience viewpoint rather than a promoters viewpoint, I know.

It's a department store (fairly big and well-known), and their promo budget I would imagine wouldn't be too puny. Don't be tempted to downgrade - I'd stick with your normal charge for private parties/weddings. If they want a MASSIVE amount of time spent loitering dishing out sweeties I'd be tempted to either A) negotiate the time down B) charge almost prohibitively much or C) decline. Just because I'd feel like a berk. :tounge:

If they want a longer time dancing than you've anticipated, definitely charge for the dancing time on the same scale you usually would, then add some to cover the time spent loitering.

Good luck - hope they don't flake!

Hmmm, Artemisia's plan sounds good. A clear split of pricing would show that you're a dancer first and foremost and explain that that's why your fees would be higher than some random person standing around to dish out sweets.

The danger is they might then decide to go for purely promo girls (I'm sure there's probably some agency somewhere with I Dream Of Jeannie outfits...,r:; ) instead. Hm. OR worse still, decide that they don't need you to dance after all, can you just come by in your costume and do the promo work for £X?

Well like I said I already sent them a vague quote of £000-£000.

Much as I want the money for a new mp3 player I am past the stage where i will take gigs if they are not worth my while. If they want to pay promo girl rates they won't be getting me!

I ain't hanging around for an evening for anything less than £200 and that's the absolute minimum for maybe up to 90 min.

Does sound like a great opportunity for my Pharonic style Eman to actually earn its keep (not going to let it get skanked up in restaurants etc so its only done haflas so far)!

Z

i would fix that by saying the dancing is X, the promowork is + X. so you're not agreeing to just do the promowork (and yes, i would, unless i really needed the money, also decline only doing the promowork)

i often work like that when they want a workshops added

performance is 200E, plus mino-workshops is + 50E;

or something like that; of course just a workshop costs more (more like 150€)... but this way its like an extra option they can book on top of the performing. you know, like with buying a car, there is "extra's" you can add on.

Originally Posted by wigglewhiz

Hmmm, Artemisia's plan sounds good. A clear split of pricing would show that you're a dancer first and foremost and explain that that's why your fees would be higher than some random person standing around to dish out sweets.

The danger is they might then decide to go for purely promo girls (I'm sure there's probably some agency somewhere with I Dream Of Jeannie outfits...,r:; ) instead. Hm. OR worse still, decide that they don't need you to dance after all, can you just come by in your costume and do the promo work for £X?

The lovely dancers of NYC have a yahoo group. On the group they have a file with suggested rates for different types of gigs. Here is what it says about "atmosphere" gigs:

"CURRENT NYC MINIMUM RATE FOR "ATMOSPHERIC" events (where dancers are hired along with other costumed actors/actresses to "float around" at a private events/corporate parties, without a solo show.)$150 an hour (with suggested minimum of 3 hrs); or $200 for the first hour."

I feel the "with a minimum of 3 hours" is an important part of making it worth your while...although 3 hours in an atmosphere gig sounds like torture to me.
Dancing on and being surrounded by Persian rugs sounds nice and cozy, though.

I've been offered some non-dance 'promo girl' work lately at a rate of $102/day (6 hours). I've considered it to supplement my dance income, but I wouldn't costume up for that rate, or dance!

I think I'd say something like "$x for the performance. I don't ordinarily do promotion work, but as long as it's connected to the performance, I'd be happy to do it for you for $x more."

I'd charge the brief performance same as party work, but I'm not sure how I'd handle the other.

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

The lovely dancers of NYC have a yahoo group. On the group they have a file with suggested rates for different types of gigs. Here is what it says about "atmosphere" gigs:

"CURRENT NYC MINIMUM RATE FOR "ATMOSPHERIC" events (where dancers are hired along with other costumed actors/actresses to "float around" at a private events/corporate parties, without a solo show.)$150 an hour (with suggested minimum of 3 hrs); or $200 for the first hour."

I feel the "with a minimum of 3 hours" is an important part of making it worth your while...although 3 hours in an atmosphere gig sounds like torture to me.
Dancing on and being surrounded by Persian rugs sounds nice and cozy, though.

Okay, I am so grabbing that language for my website! You have no idea how many people want me for "atmosphere"!

{{{HUGS}}}

Well, the gig actually happened! I'd been holding off posting as I've had a spate of cancellations lately (I swear someone is hacking my email and undercutting me!). Negotiations ended with the guy telling me his budget and then me saying how much I could do for that :-). Enough to buy 2 mp3 players over the 2 and a half hours should I so wish - the guy had hired bellydancers before when he worked at rug stores elsewhere so that why he probably didn't faint at my price!

The rug section turned out to be on the 4th floor whilst all the other events were on the 1st and second floors and it’s a weird department store with staircases that only go to certain floors etc so not very many customers made it up that far. So not a whole lot of dancing and I actually volunteered to go round the rest of the store with Turkish delight and flyers trying to drum up interest. Some interesting looks from the young fashion brigade and some looks of horror from the middle aged make up ladies at my turquoise MAC explosion around my eyes!! I bumped into a couple of my friends on the way there so they came along and got disapproving looks form the staff in the clothes/make up etc departments (the rug guys were cool though) as they look slightly bohemian and this was definitely a middle aged/middle class store card holders event (well only advertised to card holders but the shop was open as usual for late night Thursday shopping). My friends blagged 5-6 glasses of champagne and nibbles from various departments, entered prize drawers and made a night of it. Also came up to zaghreet me. There was a cool old guy who had been stationed various locations around the Mediterranean during the war. I got a glass of champagne at the end which led to a pleasantly fuzzy bus ride home (was in the centre of town so driving was not an option)

Anyway, slightly bizarre but turned out quite fun gig.

Z

well done you, hey I'd have gone along to support if I'd known (promise I wouldn't have tried to undercut :-)

That's OK, I decided not to tell friends/students/potential students more because I thought it might look unprofessional if a load of my mates with no interest in rugs turned up! I was being paid to promote them not myself . . .

As it turned out the rug guys probably would have been happy for the company!!

Z