Thread: how does one go on tour?

I'm guessing the big name dancers are on tour and won't see this message but..

How does one go on tour to promote their dancing? For example, Rachel Brice has a very distinct style, she has 'branded' herself and her style of dance, and now she tours and teaches dance, performs, etc.

1) Do these dancers get paid by sponsors to teach in that area?

2) I'm guessing these dancers don't hold down a 9 to 5 job somewhere else, I'm guessing that dance completely pays the bills..so do they maintain a place to live (rent) or are they on the road so often that they don't rent a permanent place..if that's the case, when they come 'home' do they rent a temporary house or just stay with friends?

would love to hear more about tour life

They're "managed" by Stefanie who works for Miles Copeland. She makes all the arrangements for the workshops, and dance is their full time job.

what about other big names who aren't part of BDSS? do they coordinate their destinations so, say, they tour parts of Europe in one trip, then maybe another trip they go to japan?

From what I can tell, it's teaching that pays the bills for most famous touring dancers. With the exception of the big BDSS machine, the real $$ seems to be from workshops. The dancers are artists, of course...but as business, their dance promotes their teaching, and the teaching makes the money.

The exception would be if you successfully market yourself to wealthy patrons or the entertainment market. Then you would go to where the job is, and then come back home...not exactly a tour.

EDIT: I think most famous dancers try to hit multiple locations on the same continent when they can...

Different dancers do things differently. Alia of Vermont does a Sofa Surfing tour every year. She has money in the bank from her previous life, so she can take the time to go coast to coast doing workshops and hitting major festivals. And she does stay with friends and sponsors.

In fact, many of the touring dancers stay with the sponsors or friends of the sponsors, because there simply isn't money to put them up in hotels. Unless the workshop is being held in a hotel, in which case many times the hotel will comp the room. Or the cost of the workshop is high.

Also, as da Sage mentioned, many dancers don't tour as in going from one local straight to another. They go spend a weekend in Miami, go home, next weekend in Denver, go home, next in Seattle, etc. So depending on their locale, they may well have a day job which they are able to go back to. Or they may be teaching dance full time or dancing in a restaurant for their keep. And are flexible enough that they can travel like that without jeopardizing their livelihood.

Hope that helps.

{{{HUGS}}}

Generally what happens (for the peeps I know) is they get asked to go (for example) to Japan. Everything paid for hotel, airfare, WS fee etc...Then they reach out and say "Hey, I'll be in Japan in mid April...you're in Korea. Are you interested?"

Or vacationing dancers will say "I'm coming to Seoul anyways, want a workshop?"

It depends on the level of the teacher....for American dancers I would suggest considering first..would you be a draw in the biggest city nearest you? Would you be a draw in New York or LA? ..before writing possible sponsors.

most of the international big names we book, we pay for their airfare, hotel and workshop fee (fixed amount or %). some of the lesser well known dancers/or "i'm on holiday near you dancers", we've had, have paid for their own flight and/or stayed at my place.

myself i've had situations where all my expenses were paid PLUS my workshop fees, and other situations where i decided to take myself somewere (pay for my own flight and combine with holiday).

My perception is: depends.
The Names get paid and their expenses are covered by the sponsor. Our local MED organization, MEDSOK, sponsors Names as a public service. Cost per hour is $175 up plus all transport, lodging and food. Some have additional requirements: must have fast internet, must have own dressing room with temperature control, vegetarian food only, etc.

The layers below, though, may find touring to be an expensive hobby. Pay per hour varies wildly, especially when the pay is a percent of the profit and the teacher is not well known in the area. Some tell horror tales of not being paid at all. Touring can involve living in a van and using the public library to find the next gig before gas money runs out (Blues Brothers was not too far off! ). It can involve being sponsored by a group who transports you to three different states in three days in order to make enough money off you to pay your airfare back. Etc.

Regional level also seems to involve some tit-for-tat. 'I'll have you in for a workshop and you have me in for a workshop.' Certainly nothing wrong with keeping the money 'in the family' so to speak but you'd have to watch out for student boredom, I think.

We do get emails from people who want to include us in their tour because we are a few hours drive away from the previous venue etc. But we don't ever sponsor anyone we aren't familiar with - our reputation with our students for putting on a quality workshop is on the line because our studio cannot afford Names. Our students trust us to sponsor someone good.

Last minute requests from teachers we really like who are going to 'be in the area next week' make me nutty. We keep track of how much money we are asking our students to spend in order to be a full participant in our events. We aim to pay workshop teachers $100/hr, and we don't want students skipping a month of class because they went to a last minute workshop instead. Therefore, events must be paced. I suspect we are not the only studio who feels that way.

We have also received requests from folks who want to organize their own tour (as a dancer or an agent) by renting our studio and holding their own workshop. This seemed to be a bit of a fad last year. We tried it twice and it was NOT worth the hassle. For one thing, they didn't pay attention at all to what was going on locally. Holding a workshop on the same weekend as the Derby, or the week after RB or Liz Strong has held workshops within driving distance is asking for trouble. And they didn't want to just rent the studio, they also expected us to publicize it and drum up customers from our student base and organize attendance and payments and communicate with people about schedule changes. If we wanted to do that we'd have held the workshop ourselves! We won't do that again. Renting the studio means we turn the key in the lock, turn on the lights, pick up the trash at the end and lock the door.

I appreciate all the feedback, thank you, am taking note of the advice, thanks everyone

Originally Posted by maurazebra

We have also received requests from folks who want to organize their own tour (as a dancer or an agent) by renting our studio and holding their own workshop. This seemed to be a bit of a fad last year. We tried it twice and it was NOT worth the hassle. For one thing, they didn't pay attention at all to what was going on locally. Holding a workshop on the same weekend as the Derby, or the week after RB or Liz Strong has held workshops within driving distance is asking for trouble. And they didn't want to just rent the studio, they also expected us to publicize it and drum up customers from our student base and organize attendance and payments and communicate with people about schedule changes. If we wanted to do that we'd have held the workshop ourselves! We won't do that again. Renting the studio means we turn the key in the lock, turn on the lights, pick up the trash at the end and lock the door.

I just got an email that sounds just like the above scenario today, although they had the decency to ask me what I would charge to promote their event. Unfortunately, they are scheduling themselves smack in the middle of the busiest event season in our area, so I highly doubt that a relatively unknown dancer is going to pull much away from the well-organized well-publicized events.

I know a sponsor that will bring in an artist from Egypt and then book them in various major cities with different sponsors. In this case, basically all the travel expenses are divided up between the sponsors and then the sponsors are on their own in terms of marketing their respective event. There might also be shared advertising costs as well, but not always.

An artist could also make these arrangements. In truth, anyone could do this if they a) were well known enough that all the sponsors want to work with them, and b) they were somewhat business saavy.

We had a group of performers/teachers that came through one time that wanted us to sponsor a mid-week show in Vegas, sandwiched between a Phoenix and LA weekend. Unfortunately, no body would work with them because it was the same week as our local Renn Faire. It was a losing proposition.

So if you are going to do a well organized tour, you'd want to have a clear understanding of all the various markets you are entering.

1) Become really, really great (either in general or in one specialty area)

2) Teach classes and a few workshops close to home, in your city and within a days' drive, to boost your teaching skills and begin making a name for yourself. (you'll need to work just as hard at being a great teacher as being a great performer, since most dancers who tour do so more to teach than to perform, AFAICT)

3) Get clips of your really, really great dancing online and hope it goes viral

4) Send audition tapes to IAMED, Michelle Joyce, etc. and hope to appear in a DVD (performance and/or instructional) so more people can discover who you are. (or produce and market your own DVDs) Also travel to major workshops and arrange to perform in the shows wherever possible so people see and are wowed by your amazing dancing.

5) Buy ads in bellydance publications and on Bhuz & Gilded Serpent promoting yourself as a workshop teacher (not sure this does much good unless you do a great job with #s 1-3)

6) Have a website that clearly spells out your specialties and the workshops you offer -- and links to those video clilps of your brilliant dancing -- and invite people to contact you if they're interested in hosting you.

7) Wait for phone to ring. Check e-mail. Cross fingers.

At least that's what the process looks like from where I'm sitting. I haven't gotten past #1 yet.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

1)

At least that's what the process looks like from where I'm sitting. I haven't gotten past #1 yet.

Haha, Lauren. :) I wonder how many dancers feel that way no matter how well known!

..l;, Great reality check, Lauren!

Nice list, Lauren. :) Workshop gigs and hanging go by destiny, maybe?

Going to address the actual tour process, and by touring, I mean being on the road the whole time, not a weekend here or there...

I've done 3 nationwide US tours, in 2006, 2007, and 2009, all organized by me, coordinating with local sponsors to make it happen - two of them involved having other artists with us on tour and ranged from 25-30+ stops, ranging 6 weeks to 8 weeks long (those being the Durga Tour in '06 and '09). It is an incredible amount of work, not only in the organizational/booking process (usually starting at least 6-8 months out), but involves generally being on the road for 3-8 hours, hopping out of the van and teaching workshops and performing, getting to sleep sometime much late that night, getting up early and doing it all over again. My husband drove the van, I navigated (so no napping), and coordinated. Sometimes it was just me, Keith, and the cat (as she tours with us), and other times up to 2 more guest artists (dancers/musicians) along for the ride, which means accommodating their needs as well.

Scheduling/timing generally depending on bookend events at different locations that we needed to get to (like Tribal Fest, Spring Caravan, a family event, etc), and routing between and after depending on the roads and where folks were interested and capable of hosting a stop. That aside, if I was to plan another tour just for kicks, I'd pick September/October instead of May/June.

First tour (the first Durga Tour), I just got the time off from work (still not really sure how I managed that one), we paid the rent in advance, had the mail held at the PO, and a friend checked in our apt regularly. It was a very successful tour.

Second tour (Movin' the Mischief), we moved from the West Coast to the East Coast - this was a much smaller tour, basically helping to finance the move across country. This was far more stress than necessary, but we pulled it off and learned a lot, and still relatively successful, especially considered the time withstraints and other issues.

(part 2)

Third tour (2009 Durga Tour) also involved a move, but we were much smarter and more prepared this time - essentially our lease was up at the end of April (and I quit my job) so we moved all of our stuff up to storage in RI, separated tour needs from basic stuff, streamlined it all, took a short breather at my parents' house in NJ, and then kicked things off with Spring Caravan. We also had friends to stay with RI when we got back in June so we had some time to look for our new home. This all actually worked out very well, added a lot of new stops, visited old ones, but it was very evident to see how much the economy had tanked nationwide just 3 years after the first tour. Attendance in general was very good, but overall sales were down for product b/c folks just didn't have the money - perhaps from having $100 extra to spend to $20. (The van also had several thousand dollars worth of repairs prior and DURING the tour). Overall, it was successful though, just not by as big a margin as the first one.

What I love most about touring is meeting communities all over the country, being able to teach and share new ideas, meet new faces, see new dancers. Going to places where they wouldn't normally get visiting dancers and workshops.

Will I do it again? Right now I doubt I would do it on a large-scale anytime soon. I have a well-paying 40hr-a-week job doing jewelry design, and I get a set vacation...and do I really want to spend my vacation busting my ass 18 hours a day for 2-3 weeks, surviving on fast food (whatever is open after you get out of class/show) not to mention the hours it takes in advance organizing it? Nope. Hubby misses it because he loves driving/being on the road, so if we have something where it's a week away and we do a couple places AND see the country, that would be nice. But I can still easily travel all over on weekends and such to teach anywhere they can fly me :)

Jes, I would have to say, if you're thinking of a mainly product-based on-the-road kinda tour, I'd wait longer until the economy recovers better.

7) Wait for phone to ring. Check e-mail. Cross fingers.

LOL....I love your very succinct list of "to do" items. Personally, I'd change this one to be much more pro-active. I'd recommend that artists seek out opportunities to teach at festivals, etc.

I hire many teachers at the Intensive each year that are not necessarily well-known, but have a strong teaching background. I call them "featured" teachers. They aren't "headliners", but they are a part of the event. I nearly never have to reach out to teachers. In fact, I have a file of over 45 inquiries to teach at my 2011 event already. When the time comes for me to start hiring for 2011, I'm going to look through this file and consider the people who have contacted me first.

There are even some headliners that have contacted me. I know that some organizers don't like to be approached all the time. For myself, I prefer it that way. It saves me a lot of time and makes me feel that the potential teacher really wants to be involved in my event. I'm always the most impressed with those who have a quality website, professional images & video, and those who take their business seriously. It shows me that they will take their contract with me seriously as well.

Sorry to veer off topic a bit, although it's probably useful for those wanting to tour to know what an sponsor thinks about too.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I haven't gotten past #1 yet.

Snort! Neither have I...

I *am* starting to teach a rather unique workshop in my specialty area (Veil), which has been well received thus far (read: 5 students one time) - the next one will be the "real" test (29 August). It should be fun - and educational for both the students and the teacher!

Rosehips nailed it..it would be a product tour. Who does this? I suppose travelling vendors..I'd like to see about doing a travelling trunk show that includes a free demonstration of how to use the double veils, along with discounts to attendees, etc.

it would coincide with planned vacations..so I'm not that likely to end up in Nebraska :)

I still can't believe the teaching opportunity I turned down last year. sigh.

Originally Posted by zorba

Snort! Neither have I...

I *am* starting to teach a rather unique workshop in my specialty area (Veil), which has been well received thus far (read: 5 students one time) - the next one will be the "real" test (29 August). It should be fun - and educational for both the students and the teacher!

Hold it in a very small room, and then you can describe it as 'SOLD OUT' in future publicity.... one of our local dancers did that, which I thought was hilarious.

Originally Posted by maurazebra

Hold it in a very small room, and then you can describe it as 'SOLD OUT' in future publicity.... one of our local dancers did that, which I thought was hilarious.

..l;,..l;,..l;,
Jess- I know getting to Alaska is probably not on a short term list of goals, but if you make it up, we can provide a guest room & playmates for the kid (we've got a few silk addicts too...)

I would love to be able to go on tour one of these days, but it probably means ditching the hubby for a while since he doesn't like traveling at ALL. For now, I'm working on building up workshop material & experience here locally & am talking with the local arts association to arrange educational visits to remote parts of the state. Let's face it, Alaska isn't easily accessible to anywhere & I'd have to be darn good for anyone to pay transportation for me out of here, & I know full well I'm not even close to there yet.

avidly watching the progression of posts...

I'll be teaching some workshops at the Great Lakes Bellydance Convention this fall, and I'm looking forward to that. I'd like to go on tour myself at some point, although I also worry about not having made it past Lauren's Requirement #1! ..g.:

Originally Posted by Lara L

..l;,..l;,..l;,
Jess- I know getting to Alaska is probably not on a short term list of goals, but if you make it up, we can provide a guest room & playmates for the kid (we've got a few silk addicts too...)

I would love to be able to go on tour one of these days, but it probably means ditching the hubby for a while since he doesn't like traveling at ALL. For now, I'm working on building up workshop material & experience here locally & am talking with the local arts association to arrange educational visits to remote parts of the state. Let's face it, Alaska isn't easily accessible to anywhere & I'd have to be darn good for anyone to pay transportation for me out of here, & I know full well I'm not even close to there yet.

But you should definitely start with an Alaska cruise and come visit us here in Southeast Alaska

Alaska would be KILLER!!! consider me to be the silk camel, I will show up with a back packed with silks

What I could possibly do is hit many areas of Alaska at the same time..

I suggest starting in Fairbanks (no way am I giving up dibs on first choice, Kalirah! Juneau folks bought too much during the last round of shared workshops & I missed out on goodies!)

Seriously tho- there is a great dance community in Southeast, Anchorage & Fairbanks. If we schedule things in advance, we can get a couple folks in from the 'bush' too- they get mad at us when we don't tell them about events in time for them to get in! If you decide to do it, I'd be happy to help sponsor the Fairbanks end of things.

Originally Posted by maurazebra

Hold it in a very small room, and then you can describe it as 'SOLD OUT' in future publicity.... one of our local dancers did that, which I thought was hilarious.

Snort! ..l;,..l;,

At the moment, I'm halfway sold out!

Originally Posted by zorba

Snort! ..l;,..l;,

At the moment, I'm halfway sold out!

LOVE IT! ..l;,

Originally Posted by Lara L

I suggest starting in Fairbanks (no way am I giving up dibs on first choice, Kalirah! Juneau folks bought too much during the last round of shared workshops & I missed out on goodies!)

Heh, we do have quite the ravenous horde down here, sorry about that! (I choose to blame it on the lack of roads and therefore no cheap ground delivery services!)

I'd help to coordinate your visit too Jess.... ..g.:

Jes you are welcome in Fargo anytime (trunk tour) and can stay in our second master suite with your own bathroom. A few of the local dancers are pretty tight with their money, but when silks fly out of your suitcase and you show them how it's done, they'll buy. And of course you know me.