Thread: dancers - buy 1 get 3 free

Hello lovely ladies, this is my first post. I have lurked around here for some time and have learned a lot. But now, I have a question for you.

There is a newer troupe in my city that has branched off of another troupe and is now performing around town. That is all fine and good but there is a problem. They perform 3 AND 4 FOR THE PRICE OF 1!

There is a restaurant in town that hires dancers from various troupes in town, each troupe has negotiated their own deal with the owner. The problem is that this particular troupe is driving down the value of the other pro dancers in town by sending 3 or 4 dancers for the price of 1 dancer. They also allow the owner to cancel at the last minute without compensation. So in other words, all of the dancers that have worked for years to get the wages up and demand to not be cancelled at the last minute without compensation are getting totally screwed over. The veteran dancers are now being devalued and seen as "demanding" when they insist on getting paid what they are worth.

Im not sure if the new troupe realizes that they are alienating themselves from the entire dancer community by destroying all of the hard work the dancers in my city have done for years. I dont know if they see this as undercutting the existing dancers. I am a newer dancer myself and am not in a position to get involved...It just makes me sad to see my teachers and respected dancers being disrespected like this. ,m::

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
diamond

Oh dear, that's not good!

They are undercutting big time and this will haunt your bellydance community for a very long time if this type of behaviour continues. It's easy for the price of a performance to drop, but it's 100 times more difficult to get it back up to a reasonable standard. It's exactly what you mentioned about veteran dancers looking like they are demanding divas when they are just asking for what they're worth...

Sorry, Diamond; saw this in The Rest first. I wanted to reiterate that we in DC totally understand!

There is one school around here that basically pimps out students for a very low end price...as in...close to nothing. While the going rate for a newbie doing a party is $200, and that price is double for crazy nights like New Year's Eve, they are known to work on that very night for $100 a piece. So their normal fee is $50? Who knows?

It doesn't help that the headpimpstress, I mean, mistress of the school talks to business owners about how she will be the "queen of bellydance in DC". Business owners who don't know that I'm a dancer have complained about her strange obsession with taking over the town.

This weirdo also tries to strike up exclusivity deals with local businesses, threatening owners that there will be no customers there if they hire dancers outside of her school. It's funny because we have all danced at those places, too, even during these purported deals, but anyway...it's sad, but there are other groups, on smaller scales, in DC, Baltimore, everywhere!

The harsh reality is that audiences do like group belly dance numbers, where you get double, triple or quadruple the sparklies. However, these audiences tend to be American. You don't always have to worry about them invading venues with other audiences.

In my experience, business owners do not always like drama. This includes "I'm the belly dance queen of DC", "you will never hire other dancers!", etc. If the school in question does this, Diamond, showing yourself as a sensible dancer to work with will help greatly.

There are other things working in your favor in these situations, but the most important is this: those low prices are commensurate with their skill and knowledge of the dance. That lack of professional standards in their business practices (allowing last minute cancellations) reveals their desperation to perform. Like we're all doing in DC, stick to your guns/prices and show what a wonderful dancer you are.

Education helps, too. Eventually, her students will learn that they're being taken to the cleaners between classes, paying for costumes and getting paid nothing in these horrible business agreements that only benefit the school. Tell everyone what the rates are, and tell everyone what standard business ethics and etiquette consist of.

Even if you lose this one restaurant, positive effort will help you win the trust of the dance community and other businesses. It will ultimately pay off.

There's a similar situation in a community near me. The dancers in this case are lovely, well-costumed, and well-trained in addition to being young and cute. Clearly they're not dependent on their dance earnings, but how can they not care that they're taking jobs away from others who *do* need to earn a living? I really don't get it.

What's more, these dancers could *easily* command the same rates as others, if not more! Why devalue yourself so much? Why earn $20 when you could be getting $50 for the same work? Why alienate the entire dance community just to devalue yourself? I don't understand it at all.

That's the problem, too, that some of them are cute, well-dressed and passable dancers. Why don't they want income so they can keep staying cute and well-dressed, and keep going to lessons? Why take money from your day job?

If we try to understand it, we will go crazy and end up like them.

That's why the education really works. Get out information about rates, business practices, etc.

thank you so much ladies! I am so sorry to have caused the confusion of multiple threads. How do I fix it? So sorry for the confusion!

ps these dancers are lovely, young and talented. Its a shame, sort of like when you see a beautiful and smart woman with really low self esteem. makes you wonder why they dont know what they are worth.

It's funny, I saw someone musing on the other thread on this subject about whether it was in their city...and that was *my* first thought, too! Good lord, how many cities is this happening in???!!!

Nisaa, banging head on desk in STL, Missouri.

Sounds like its an epidemic! Has anyone confronted the offneding dancers? They might just be clueless, but ignorance is no excuse. We all make mistakes but it our responsibility to make ammends when we realize that we messed up.

A few of us in DC have had the pleasure of talking to some of these dancers. It seems that as soon as you have a tête à tête with them regarding what they should be making, they seem to respond postively. I would say at least 90% of the time, they're not doing it maliciously, and that's why a friendly conversation and a chance to network with other dancers in the area are very effective.

Now, people who want to be "queen" on the other hand...that's harder to deal with. I think you just have to let them go. However, educating her disciples can ultimately help.

Just the other day, one of the owners this pimpstress, I mean, teacher works with tried to guilt me into working one of his shows for the same price she was. He said he works with people who work for him, that's why he was offering her and her school free advertising at this show. I don't know if he was lying about how much she was making ($500 for 5 people for one hour), maybe, but I just told him that it's never worth it to dance at a party for under $200. Even with "advertising" (he never advertises): NEVER!

I'm still hired for the regular shows at his place, getting the price I bargained for. I told him I don't stoop to that level, and he still agrees. There is still hope for dancers who charge living wages

Hey lauren, has anyone confronted the dancers in your community? Are they that clueless or are the intentionally sabotaging the hard work of the women that came before them for their own personal "gain?"

I know several people have spoken to them, but I don't know much about the outcome. Luckily for me, I'm a neighbor to this scene rather than a participant, but that means any info I have is second-hand, too. So I won't repeat much of what I hear.