(no subject)
I really don't get it.
The fear of paying performers, I really don't.
Especially when it come from other performers.
Granted, I don't always get paid. Sometimes i take a cut of the show. Sometimes, four times a year even, I dance for free, at a charity event. I even just booked one, right this very moment ago, and I'm super excited about it, as 100% of the profits go to building schools in Afghanistan, and how is that not awesome?
But once in a while, or really, more often than that, I'll get a call about performing, and it's just extraoridinary. Amazing in it's blatant disregard for the time and effort and talent that gets put into a dance performance. And sometimes that call comes from Joe-Schmoe who thinks I do it for fun; and other times that call comes from other performers, and I don't have any idea what they're thinking. For instance, I got a request, not too terribly long ago, to guest spot in another troupes show (not a bellydance troupe, for clairty), and they wanted me to fill an hour of time, AN HOUR OF TIME, and would I be interested, and how much would I charge?
"An hour?" I replied, wanting confirmation that no one was drunk when they wrote to me.
Yes, an hour, broken up however I wished.
"And as far as pay?" I inquired, curious as to what kind of budget they might have that would compensate for for an full HOUR of dancing.
And I never heard back from them.
The devious suspicious part of my brain is convinced that they were hoping I'd pop in with a "I'll just take a cut of the door!"; and the other part of my brain, the kind part, is inclined to agree. But while I'm willing to take a cut of the door for a number or two in a show on occasion; if I'm dancing half of your effing show, I want a damned guarantee.
And that's about as nicely as I can put it.
Because an hour, no matter how you break it up, is a hell of a lot of dancing.
I think my rates are quite fair. I've been told by performers in other fields that they're too low, and that I should be charging more. They might be right. But an hour of dancing, from me, is going to be effing expensive, I can promise you that.
If I even accept the gig.
Which is.....doubtful.
The fear of paying performers, I really don't.
Especially when it come from other performers.
Granted, I don't always get paid. Sometimes i take a cut of the show. Sometimes, four times a year even, I dance for free, at a charity event. I even just booked one, right this very moment ago, and I'm super excited about it, as 100% of the profits go to building schools in Afghanistan, and how is that not awesome?
But once in a while, or really, more often than that, I'll get a call about performing, and it's just extraoridinary. Amazing in it's blatant disregard for the time and effort and talent that gets put into a dance performance. And sometimes that call comes from Joe-Schmoe who thinks I do it for fun; and other times that call comes from other performers, and I don't have any idea what they're thinking. For instance, I got a request, not too terribly long ago, to guest spot in another troupes show (not a bellydance troupe, for clairty), and they wanted me to fill an hour of time, AN HOUR OF TIME, and would I be interested, and how much would I charge?
"An hour?" I replied, wanting confirmation that no one was drunk when they wrote to me.
Yes, an hour, broken up however I wished.
"And as far as pay?" I inquired, curious as to what kind of budget they might have that would compensate for for an full HOUR of dancing.
And I never heard back from them.
The devious suspicious part of my brain is convinced that they were hoping I'd pop in with a "I'll just take a cut of the door!"; and the other part of my brain, the kind part, is inclined to agree. But while I'm willing to take a cut of the door for a number or two in a show on occasion; if I'm dancing half of your effing show, I want a damned guarantee.
And that's about as nicely as I can put it.
Because an hour, no matter how you break it up, is a hell of a lot of dancing.
I think my rates are quite fair. I've been told by performers in other fields that they're too low, and that I should be charging more. They might be right. But an hour of dancing, from me, is going to be effing expensive, I can promise you that.
If I even accept the gig.
Which is.....doubtful.