charity

i agree.

it is a shame though. i bet she is using the money to buy extra beautiful costumes for her and her daughters.

honestly if she werent an exceptional teacher, which it sounds like she isnt, i would take my business elsewhere.

my teacher and studio is very generous. we get to borrow costumes and we are even having a sewing class. we have to pay 7 bucks for an hour or 12 for an hour and half. surely that isnt HALF the cost of renting all the sewing machines or the trouble of finding people to donate their machine for a night.

plus my teacher hasnt snapped at anyone. she will correct us and try to help us constructively and never rudely.

i'm going to go out on a limb and say that she's a bad one.

what a shame that you got a bad one, kutenurse.

someone mentioned offering their student free studio time, WOW, that would be so nice. i would be there every free hour.

KuteNurse

She is not a bad person per say...She just wants to collect on all she can. She actually does have talent as a dancer, I think she is just going crazy or something...lol I am changing teachers and I am actually registered for a summer class starting in mid June. This instructor is supposed to be an absolute sweetheart, very helpful and she teaches BD properly.

KuteNurse

That is really cool charity that she has sewing time to make costumes. I would love to get into something like that.

belly_dancer

before I say more.... I must state that CHARGING students to perform (esp $!50 is totally jaw dropping!!!!!!) I would NEVER even consider that! (I have charged at haflas, & then used that money to pay the drummer!!!!!)

however.... as a teacher, I am NOT ever able to put on shows in a venue where I can fit in 600 people because I cannot afford that size venue, nor can I afford to take a loss if I do not cover expenses/etc..... so I do NOT put on big shows, because I would not ask other dancers to share in the expense/risk

I AM curious as to
*what kind of show this was (with the students, it sounds like a "student night" w/ maybe some professionals.... cause for just a student night, how did she get away with charging $15 per head.... )
*what were her expenses??? (halls that size are usually WAY expensive/ plus advertising, & if it was a more professional show with several professional dancers in addition to the students.... she would (HOPEFULLY) be paying the pros!!!..etc...)
anyhow... not defending this odd behaviour in any way,,, but also realize... that she may NOT actually be making TONS of money after all is said & done!!!
(& of course with ALL the other stuff you listed, it sounds like the correct decision, to change teachers!!!)

da Sage

While charging students to be in a show might make sense in some situations, $150 per student is a bit much. This woman clearly has grandiose ideas of her "performance needs", or she is aiming to line her own pockets.

It would make more sense if it were more along the lines of the following: "We have an opportunity to rent SuperPerformance Hall on June 24th for $1500; we can afford it if at least 50 of my 75 students pony up $30 each. Of course every student will get 6 tickets to give to friends and family; I will be selling the other tickets for $10 each to the general public, and that money will fund refreshments for the audience, and an after-party for us.

"Or we can rent Ye Olde VFW and charge $2 at the door to non-performers to cover the cost. In that case we can only bring 2.5 guests each-otherwise the fire marshall will throw us out."

It's totally uncool that these students aren't being given a mid-to-low range performance option, and are being guilted into funding the teacher's ego trip instead. An advanced dancer might logically be asked to invest in a show, if she had a chance to make the money back. But 10-week dance students shouldn't be asked (or expected) to fund a professional-quality show.

Aisha Azar

[quote=belly_dancer;31871]before I say more.... I must state that CHARGING students to perform (esp $!50 is totally jaw dropping!!!!!!) I would NEVER even consider that! (I have charged at haflas, & then used that money to pay the drummer!!!!!)



Dear Belly_ dancer

.... I am confused here. Is there some reason why you would charge the dancers, yet pay the drummer???

Regards,
A'isha

sedoniaraqs

Well, it depends on what is meant by hafla. If it is a party that is primarily for dancers that are going to be dancing for each other, then I can see charging an admission that covers refreshments and musicians.

If it is a formal performance with tickets sold to the general public, then I can't see charging the dancers to pay the musicians.



[quote=A'isha Azar;31899]

Aisha Azar

Dear Sedonia,
The problem is that the musicians are typically treated as more important than the dancers in western countries. If it is a hafleh where amateur students are dancing and professional musicians hasve been hired for the evening, then charge the audience but not the performers. If it is a situation where both dancers and musicains are professional then everyone should be paid.
Generally in clubs, the musicians are paid far better than the dancer are for the comparable time that each spends on stage. I got pretty sick of some of the ways that dancers were treated in comparison to musicians.
This is fairly typical of what happens. I have had two different bands get in contact with me about supplying dancers for their shows when they were performing here. They collected money for their shows, but wanted dancers who would dance for free. In one case, I made it clear that my dancers did not work for free. In another case, I asked a dancer if she was interested in dancing, assuming she would make her own financial arrangements. She did not do so and did not get paid. In the first case the musicians assured me that it would be great publicity for us. In the second case, the dancer just chalked it up to experience and said it would look great on her resume that she danced with that particular band. In both cases, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth, A- that the band would think we would dance for free, and B, that the dancer did not think enough of her talent to ask for pay.
Regards,
A'isha

Outi

Especially after my experience dancing in Egypt, I would NEVER work with a band and get paid less than them. Here is just the opposite. People hire the dancer, who brings in the band. The musicians are paid much less. About half of the money is for dancer and rest is divided with all the rest - musicians, technicians, manager and other helpers in the set. Depending of the event from 10 to 20 people.

In West things are different, I know. But anyway we should never put ourselves down and should always demand respect, every way - even with the money.

Aisha Azar

Dear Donya,
I think in Egypt it is the band who gets screwed!! They should make equitable pay for equitable time. I tend to have a REALLY egalitarian streak and my husband constantly reminds me that "Life ain't fair". While I do not think it is always possible to do the best thing and the fair thing at the same time, I think we could move alot closer to it if we tried.
Now, can you tell us why the band recieves so much less than the dancer in Egypt?
Regards,
A'isha