Doing Gigs

• What is your name and telephone number? What is your mailing address? Write these down. If necessary, ask the caller to spell his/her name. The purpose of the mailing address is twofold: 1) So you can send the person who hired you a thank-you card after the event, and 2) So you can add the person who hired you to your mailing list. After all, if s/he enjoys your show, s/he may be a candidate to attend any future events that showcase you as a performer.
• What is the date and time of the performance? Consult your calendar to make sure you're free then. Write the information on your notepad--don't transfer it to your calendar until you're certain you want to do this gig. If the caller hasn't thought about exactly what time s/he wants you to perform, ask what time the party starts, and try to go on about an hour and a half after the scheduled starting time. Any earlier, and the crowd may still be small. Any later, and the crowd may be too drunk to be a good audience.

Where will the performance be? What kind of facility is it? Check your map. How far will you have to drive? If it's a long distance, consider charging extra for that. Ask for directions, even if you've found it on your map--your employer will know the best route for avoiding heavy traffic, construction work, and other obstacles that may make it a hassle to get there. The type of facility will determine what kind of dance you have the space available to do. Is it a private house? Apartment or condo? Moose lodge? Restaurant? Know in advance what to look for. If necessary, ask the caller how much time you should allow to get there from where you are. Will there be a sound system available that can play my cassette tape, or should I bring my own boom box? Even if your employer says a sound system is available, bring your boom box just in case, but you can leave it in the car. The reason for asking this question is to help you know as much about the working conditions as possible before you walk in the door. It will make you less nervous and more poised.

• How long do you want the show to be? Make sure your own performance skill is strong enough to handle a show of whatever length the customer asks for. A "bellygram" is usually a quick show of 10 minutes, or 15 minutes at most, which consists of swooping in with a perky entrance number, dancing a brief dance, doing something to embarrass the guest of honor, and swooping out. A full show may be as long as a half hour, and demands a much higher level of skill from you.
• What is the special occasion or theme for the event? This may give you some ideas on what to include in your show. If there will be a guest of honor, be sure to include some activity in your show to embarrass him by getting him up to dance with you, putting a turban on his head, etc.
• My standard fee for a show of this length is $___. Make this a statement, not a question. Listen for the reaction on the other end of the line. Decide ahead of time how flexible you are willing to be if the caller tries to negotiate a lower fee from you.

Ask additional questions to really understand what kind of audience you'll have and what the event will be like. By better understanding your audience, you can select your music and dance style according to what they're most likely to enjoy, and you can avoid "bad" situations.

• Just for curiosity's sake, how did you get my name? This will tell you whether the person hiring you is familiar with your work. If so, great! They should have appropriate expectations of what your show will be like! If not, you'll want to spend a little more time educating them about what kind of show you'll be providing. This question will also tell you which of your promotional methods generated this lead, which is excellent market research information.

Will the audience include large numbers of any particular ethnic group, particularly Middle Easterners? If so, you'll want to include elements in your show that will particularly appeal to that group. For example, if you know there will be a lot of Turkish people in your audience, then you can choose Turkish music and dance moves that are likely to particularly appeal to Turks. And so on. What ages of people are likely to be there? If children will be present, then chances are your performance will be in a wholesome, safe environment. If there will be only adults, it may still be a great group to dance for, but there's a greater risk of drunkenness and rowdiness--be sure to insist on an earlier performance time.

• What percentage of the crowd will be men, and what percentage women? If the employer says it will be almost entirely men, this should raise a red flag with you. This might be a good time to say, "As you may know, my particular performance style is 'G-rated', that is, suitable for the whole family and for couples. I've often found that groups consisting of primarily men would often rather have a stripper than a belly dancer. Are you sure a belly dancer is what you really want?" If the party will be held in a very public place, like a restaurant, even a primarily-male crowd may be fine, but think carefully before committing to do it. Don't be afraid to turn down the opportunity if you're uncomfortable with the situation.
• Just to make sure that I deliver the kind of show you're looking for, could you please briefly describe what you're expecting? People often have stereotypes or expectations in mind when they hire a belly dancer. Listen to the response to see if what the person describes is a good fit with what you are prepared to do. For example, if they describe balancing something on the head, and you don't do balancing, be sure to speak up and say, "I noticed you mentioned balancing. You should be aware that I don't do that. I would definitely like to do your show, but are you okay with the fact that I don't balance things on my head?" Maybe the person who is hiring you says s/he isn't sure what to expect. At this point, give a few descriptive comments that make clear what you will and won't do. For example, "I present belly dance as an art form that is suitable for the entire family. I open with a fast number, then do undulations to slower music...." This is a good time to mention that you don't take off your clothes, sit on the laps of audience members, etc. Briefly describe your costume, especially if it's significantly different from the beaded bra/belt/skirt combination that most nightclub-style dancers wear.
• [If this is a special event with a guest of honor] What would you like the greeting card to say? Explain that you like to leave behind a souvenir card that the guest of honor can keep as a memento of the show. Think of it as being like the gift card that accompanies delivery of a floral bouquet--it's something that expresses a sentiment and identifies who arranged for the show. Be sure to verify the spelling of any names that are to appear on the card. Even if you think you know how to spell a common name, it's possible the person may have an unusual spelling.

Choosing Music

• Consider the ethnic make-up of your audience when choosing music. For example, if there will be a lot of Arabic people in your audience, choose Arabic music and avoid music whose lyrics are sung in Hebrew.

For an American audience, avoid music that sounds like "heavy ethnic", and select songs that are no longer than 3 1/2 minutes each. If your songs are too long, the audience will get restless--the "Top 40" radio station format has taught Americans to have a short attention span when it comes to song duration. Use a very lively, very rhythmic song for your opening music. Follow a format of fast, slow, fast, slow, fast, slow, fast until your show is the appropriate length. Try to vary the style of the music and how you dance to it. For example, if you're doing three "parts" (fast, slow, fast), consider opening with an Arabic song and closing with a Turkish karsilama. For an ethnic audience, try to choose music that is likely to be familiar and pleasing to them. People always like to hear familiar music, so consider using Arabic music for an Arabic audience, Turkish music for a Turkish audience, etc. You can also use longer songs for an ethnic audience--many popular songs broadcast on Egyptian radio run 4 or 5 minutes in length. At the end of your final song, leave a brief gap of silence for your bow or curtsy, then follow that with "get off the stage music" that will play while you whisk yourself offstage.

Props

If the show will be a party in someone's private residence, don't plan on using veil or cane because you probably won't have space for them, and use smaller finger cymbals that don't make such a loud noise in close quarters.

If you have new props, practice with them before the day of the show. Make sure you're totally comfortable with how this particular sword, or that particular tray, behaves. If you plan to use live fire in your performance (candelabrum, candleholders in your hands, etc.), ask your employer to check on whether the building where the performance will be held allows it. There's probably no problem if you'll be dancing at a private residence, but if your show will be in a public place such as a restaurant, you might be told to douse your flame. It would be embarrassing to abruptly discover that an integral part of your show suddenly could not be used, and it could disorient you enough to prevent you from putting your best foot forward through the rest of your show.

If you can balance a sword with confidence, by all means include that in your show--it builds suspense as the audience wonders what you're going to do with it. As an added plus, it gives you a weapon close at hand with which you can playfully menace any audience members who seem to be getting out of hand.

Setting The Party Mood

If the party has a guest of honor, plan how you will make that person the center of attention. Get her up to dance? Put a turban on his head and dance around him? Place her in a chair in the center of the performance space and lead all the party guests in a simple folk dance in a circle around him? Pose for pictures with him afterward? These are all good to do because draw the focus to the guest of honor while allowing him/her to keep his/her dignity.

If the party does not have a guest of honor, still plan some of these diversions to use on members of the audience who look like they deserve a little special attention. After all, which will make the most treasured memories of the event five years from now--a memory of you, a stranger, doing a nice dance, or a memory of you getting old Joe to get up and dance with you? Which picture in the photo album will evoke the biggest smiles in two years--one of you, a stranger, posing, or one of good old Joe with a silly turban on his head with you posing next to him?

Be careful about exactly what things you might do to embarrass a guest of honor. Choose things that do not have any overtones of sexuality or seduction, because those are likely to offend many members of the audience, and make you look tacky. For example, do not put a bald man's head between your breasts and then shimmy them, do not shimmy your breasts directly in a man's face, do not ask a man to tuck a banknote into your bra, and do not put your skirt up over a man's head and then gyrate your hips. These things make you look like trash, and alienate audiences. Dancers who engage in these practices cause the public to lose respect for the dance. If it wouldn't be done in a Walt Disney movie, then it shouldn't be done in your show.

Think about whether you want to incorporate audience participation, and if so, how. Do you want to include a simple folk dance that everybody can do near the end of your show? (This would work well just before your finale if you have a large performance space.) Or do you just want to grab people to get up in ones and twos to dance with you?

Technicalities

• Examine your costume to make sure all the closures work properly and are firmly sewn into place, all straps are securely anchored, etc. Make any needed repairs. If the costume is new, practice in it using the same props you will use in the show to get comfortable with how it moves.
• If you will be dancing in a private residence or similar setting where you will be dancing very close to your audience, don't wear a costume that shows a lot of wear and tear up close. Pick something that will look like it's in good condition both up close and from a distance.
• Make a spare copy of the cassette tape with your music. You never can tell when a disaster will happen with your dance tape.
• Check the batteries in your boom box to make sure they still work.
• Set the volume on your boombox to the level that you will want to use for your performance so that you won't have to meddle with it after you start to dance.
• Fill the tank of your car with gas.
• Check the elastics on your finger cymbals. Replace them if necessary.

The Professional Touch

Make a little souvenir greeting card for the guest of honor that contains a sentiment appropriate to the occasion, such as "Happy Birthday, Joe!" or, "Good luck in your new job!" Sign it, and enclose your business card.

Leave your house 15 minutes earlier than you think is necessary to get there on time. That gives you a buffer, just in case you get lost, get caught in unexpected bad traffic, etc.

What to take with you: A companion who can provide you with moral support, assistance in carrying your gear, and serve as the implicit threat of someone who will help you fend off any troublesome audience members. A cellular phone and the phone number of the site where the party will be, so you can call if you get lost, are unavoidably delayed, etc. A map that shows the location you are going to, plus the directions you received from your employer on how to get there. A caftan to wear over your costume while driving to the gig, and put on when you are done dancing. Boom box with AC adapter cord and spare batteries. You can leave it in the car if the employer said there would be a sound system available at the site, but at least you'll have it "just in case". Two copies of the cassette tape with your music. If something goes wrong, you'll have a backup. Your business cards.

• Appropriate bills in case you need to make change. Many people get cash from their ATM machines in $20 bills. For example, if you charge $75 for a bellygram, have at least a $5 bill with you in case all they have on hand is four $20 bills totalling $80.
• Any props you plan to use: sword, finger cymbals, veil, cane, etc.
• Any leave-behinds you use: greeting card for the guest of honor (with your business card enclosed), helium balloons, etc.
• Hand mirror and spare makeup in case you need to freshen up in the car.
• Extra safety pins.

Collect your fee when you arrive, before you dance. That way, if something goes sour, such as the audience grabbing at you and the host not intervening on your behalf, you can take the money and run. These things rarely happen, but it's best to be prepared. Many Americans are hesitant to ask for money. Don't be--this is a business transaction. They are purchasing a service from you, and you are entitled to ask for payment.

Insist on dancing at the agreed-upon time--or, at least no later than 30 minutes after the agreed-upon time. Do not agree to sit around and wait until they are somehow "ready" for you--they might leave you cooling your heels for an hour or more if you docilely agree to wait around! And in the meantime, they may be getting drunker and rowdier--that's not what you want!

This is the fun part of the gig! After all, this is what you went through all that preparation to do! Now, have a wonderful time, but don't forget that you are there to entertain them. They're not paying you to enjoy personal gratification or express some higher art form--they're paying you for entertainment, and you should put that ahead of whatever other sources of satisfaction you seek from your dance.

Livening Up A Dead Audience

Is the audience having trouble warming up to your show? Here are some ways to liven them up!

• Vocalize! Zaghareet. Yip. Shout Opa! Make eye contact with audience members as you do so.
• In a particularly rhythmic section of the music, single out someone in the audience, stand right in front of him/her, and do several repetitions of a rhythmic movement, such as hip drops. As you provide this clear visual cue to what the musical rhythm is doing, you may be able to generate spontaneous clapping along with the music.
• Recruit audience members to dance with you. If children are present, they make wonderful dance partners because they're not too inhibited yet, and they'll generate the kind of memorable photos and video footage that will make your employer feel s/he has gotten a good value for the money.
• Once you get an audience member to dance with you, applaud that person yourself and encourage everyone else to join you in thanking him/her. Or, stand still with a bright smile on your face and clap along with the music while that person dances. You can start this while s/he is still dancing--that will probably generate longer applause than what you would get if you wait until s/he returns to the sidelines.
• Insert a few comedic moves into your show, and treat your audience to mischievous smiles or even outright laughs as you do them. Try to make them smile.

Some dancers like to make clapping motions at the audience in an effort to get the audience to clap along with the music while they dance. Their rationale is that if they can get the audience started clapping in time to the music, it will raise the energy level in the room. However, this is not necessarily a good idea--some audience members will think you are effectively saying, "I don't think I'm good enough to inspire you to applaud on your own initiative, so I'm going to shame you into clapping for me," or "I have such a huge ego that I need to have it appeased by asking people to clap for me when they're obviously not in the mood to initiate it themselves." Others might simply think, "You look like a trained seal!"

If what you really want is to raise the energy level in the room, it's better to lead the audience in applauding a brave soul who got up and danced with you. That accomplishes the same desirable end result without making it look like you're soliciting applause for yourself.

Dealing With Hecklers

The good news is that this problem is rare. If you properly screened the gig when you spoke with the employer on the phone, and if you insisted on dancing at the scheduled time (before the audience gets too drunk), chances are everything will go perfectly well. Most people are too courteous to interfere with your show, and most audiences will apply peer pressure to the occasional heckler to settle him down for you.

Hecklers are usually people who are trying to be the "life of the party"--trying to make themselves the center of attention and get laughs from everyone else. Sometimes, but not always, they have had too much alcohol to drink. Fortunately, they are usually not too difficult to manage. Here are some possible approaches you might take. Use whatever fits your personality best and seems to best match the situation at the time. If circumstances allow, as you deal with the heckler try to project this attitude: "Your interruptions are not important, and they're not going to get under my skin. I'm a professional, and I'm having a lot of fun at what I'm doing, and your little distractions aren't going to ruin it." In other words, it's best to start by trying to use humor and good-natured teasing to nudge the heckler into behaving properly. Don't start acting stern, or annoyed, or upset unless you've completely exhausted your ability to tease the offender into cooperation. If you can keep a good-natured air about you as you cope with the heckler, your audience will remember you as a real pro who kept her cool and handled the issue gracefully. Isn't that a nice impression to leave behind? Remember that it is the host's responsibility to take care of hecklers for you. If they don't, then you are perfectly within your rights to end the show and leave without refunding any portion of their fee. Fortunately, it rarely comes to that. But always be prepared to do it.

If The Heckler Is Shouting Rude Comments From The Sidelines

• The first two times he does it, ignore him. It's possible other audience members will silence him for you.
• Make the heckler dance with you. Tie your veil around his hips. Look at the audience and motion at him as if to say, "Please clap for this person so he will feel gratified and let me get on with my show."

Stop dancing, look in his direction, and say with a touch of humor in your voice, "Let me know when you're finished so I can continue the show." Stand there a moment until you have reason to believe he is finished, then resume dancing. If he persists, put your hands on your hips, and ask something that will embarrass him enough to make him stop. For example, "Who is the performer here, me or you?", "Excuse me, but if you don't care for my dancing, perhaps you'd like to leave the room for 10 minutes?", "Didn't your mother ever teach you to treat other people with respect?". Try to keep your voice from sounding too angry or bitchy--that could alienate the other audience members whose support you need to turn him off. Try to act as though you are amused by his bad manners, or embarrassed for him. This is usually enough to get other audience members to apply peer pressure to silence him. Don't resume dancing until they do. Shut off the music and leave if you need to.

If The Heckler Has Come Onstage And Won't Leave

Leave the stage yourself and go sit down somewhere. Then start clapping for him, or zaghareet. The idea is to playfully suggest that the show doesn't need two stars on stage, so you're going to make room for the other one. Stay on the sidelines until the host or one of the other party-goers deals with the heckler for you.

If The Heckler Is Grabbing At You Or Trying To Touch You

• Wag your finger at him with a "no-no" expression on your face, as if you were scolding a child while you back away. If he's trying to tuck a tip in an inappropriate place, point with your finger to where you would rather have him put it. That's usually enough.
• If that doesn't suffice, stop dancing and hold your arm out to keep him at arm's length. Better yet, if you brought a sword, grab it and place it between you and the heckler. The audience will probably intervene on your behalf at this point.
• If the problem continues, announce that you're sorry, but you'll have to end the show because you cannot dance and defend yourself at the same time, and pack up your boombox and leave.

• Curtsy nicely at the end of your final song. The traditional theatrical bow from the waist is not necessarily a good idea--it might emphasize your cleavage too much.
• Thank the audience for being such a great group to dance for.
• If there is a guest of honor, invite the audience to join you in a round of applause for that guest.
• If appropriate, pose for pictures with the guest of honor and present the greeting card.
• Offer your business cards to anyone who wants one.
• Thank the host for hiring you, and tell them you enjoyed dancing for them.
• If you have been invited to stay and party with everyone else, change your clothes or put a caftan over your costume before doing so. Blot the perspiration off your face and refresh your make-up. No one wants to look at the sweat rolling off your skin while they talk to you.

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