Thread: What gives?

The market is flooded with dancers from what I can see. When I started over 9 years ago, there were maybe 4 groups in town. Last I counted there are 14! There are only a handful of places that feature regular dancers. All but one of these places are monopolized by one dance group alone. And, some of the places that you would swear would want to have dancers, don't have dancers. They often will say they use dancers for private parties, but not for weekly performances.

Is this the case in your town, too?

How do you break into work when all the work seems to be taken? Subbing is a possibility, but since there is no shortage of dancers, there is probably no need for that right now either.

I'm getting a little frustrated. I have the skillz to pay the billz, but no way to break in! :)

Have you tried contacting a singing telegram agency to see whether they'd be willing to add you to their roster of entertainers?

Have you tried putting flyers up around town promoting you as a performer?

You you tried contacting event organizers and party planners to promote yourself as a potential entertainer for their projects?

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Have you tried contacting a singing telegram agency to see whether they'd be willing to add you to their roster of entertainers?

Have you tried putting flyers up around town promoting you as a performer?

You you tried contacting event organizers and party planners to promote yourself as a potential entertainer for their projects?

I never know which agencies are reputable.

I have been thinking about flyers. Do you have any suggestions for the best places to post them? Party stores?

I'll need to look up event planners in the Yellow Pages.

Thanks! :)

partypop.com

one thing I found is you have to creat your own clients, You cant expect to just pop up and get in the scene though that may be the case once you've got a few gigs, try creating you own list of clients. Like said above flyers! Try buisness cards, and advertisiment spend about $200 and see where you can get.Try putting them in botiques, the local grocery store library etc. You dont have to be at a resutrant, or in the already established scene.....

Originally Posted by amity

partypop.com

What's the deal with partypop? I looked on their website but I didn't see anything right off about how much it costs.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by gotraqs

What's the deal with partypop? I looked on their website but I didn't see anything right off about how much it costs.

Thanks!

They let you sign up and then they call you with their quote. I can't remember how much it was, but it was more than I wanted to pay for the service.

Originally Posted by tamrahennatx

They let you sign up and then they call you with their quote. I can't remember how much it was, but it was more than I wanted to pay for the service.

The quote thing is actually Gigmasters. Partypop is an annual fee of $180 for a paid listing, which gives you a rather nice page that the client can then click through to your official website from. I get a lot of click throughs from them, as well as a substantial number of bookings. I was happy enough to renew my listing after the first year.

Yes it is the same in DFW we have a teacher who undercuts every job in town. and put's her students in at 25.00 a show and keeps the rest for a booking fee.

Popularity has increased the last 5 yrs again. It gets more popular, changes happen within the dance (costumes, styles, etc), then it fades out again. Good luck to all trying to make it, it can be difficult, lots of competition/etc. Just remember, simply because someone has a costume and can wiggle doesn't mean they are a belly dancer. Keep pointing that out to restaraunts, etc.

Put up a web site, even just a one-page basic one. People don't look so much in the yellow pages anymore - they type "belly dancer" or "bellygram" into a search engine. Although this leads to more one-time party gigs than regular restaurant gigs.

try doing shows instead. try cultural events, street fairs, corporate events, etc. it seems to me that restaurants are pretty tricky and not all that profitable most of the time. i've never danced at one tho so don't go by me.
but my suggestions would probably be one time things as well.

I agree with Rakgirl. Start by getting yourself out there at local shows. That will start to get you in everyone's sights. These shows are also a great place to network, and I can't tell you how many times I've gotten gigs just from talking to people and being seen. It's about marketing yourself, if people don't know where you're coming from they sometimes get suspicious, let them know the real you and people will come to YOU with gigs. Good luck!