Client Guidelines - Belly Dancing by Charlotte

Booking Professional Performers – Some Guidelines for Clients:

The info/recommendations re no of guests per professionally trained Bellydancer is the same I have used for years, approx 60 guests to 1 dancer – for interactive cabarets.
To ensure standards in SA, see published comments and pics from clients.
Another tip is if a dancer or provocative or unfriendly in pictures that is usually what she could be offering for events – photos in action, at a variety of different events are the best and easiest way to show credibility and success – posed pictures do not truly reflect whether a dancer can perform or teach.
The costume the dancers wear in pictures also says a lot about her standards and projection of the art form to the public. Take heed of what you see vs what you are expecting.
There is a huge difference between booking buskers and booking a variety cabaret, be sure you get what you ask for, and ask for what you want.
Getting what you pay for – the cliché’ – “if you pay peanuts you will get monkeys” – is VERY true – be sure you ask for students or experienced professional dancers. AS a guide, a truly Professional dancer would cost you approx R2500 for a show, approx 30/40 mins. Anything charged less than that could mean the dancer is inexperienced or is a student and not a trained or experienced performer.
Do not get fooled into believing Quantity (vs Quality) … ie many dancers, or dancers who dance for an hour or, or even, horror of horrors, 2 hours or more – it is physically not possible – get real! A dancer who can entertain and command a large Western audience can only do so for limited time, even if she is a really good prop queen who can work with all traditional or modern props – the Western world usually does not really understand all of what they are looking at re the art and the variety possible, so they do get bored after approx 30/40mins of Modern/Folk cabaret – this is natural. The Mid East audiences are used to shows not longer than an hour long, where the professional dancer has 2,3 or even 4 costume changes in that time too!