I have a restaurant gig at the Ocean Basket in Jeffreys Bay next week Friday. So naturally my thoughts have been towards preparing my fellow dancer and myself for it.
Here are a few things we practice in our studio when it comes to doing restaurant performances:
Always wear shoes. You never know who broke a glass or plate, or what is on the floor where you are dancing. This is even more important when dancing at a Greek restaurants where they are breaking plates. In fact we insist our dancers where shoes with a decent plastic sole at Greek restaurants as those broken plates are very sharp and can cut through the leather soles of dance shoes. Plastic soled ballet pumps are cheaper to replace, the sole is thicker and tends to grip the shards rather than letting them slice right through to your foot.
When choosing your costume think about how close to the audience you are going to be. For me this means: 1. No big skirts that'll make it difficult to manoeuvre around the tables. 2. Nothing too revealing. There is always at least one dodgy guy who doesn't understand belly dance and thinks it's akin to exotic dance. I don't want to give him reason to encourage this misconception. 3. Wear something you are comfortable in. You need to be free of having to think about something riding up or sticking out or too tight... Personally for restaurant gigs I prefer to wear a body suit as (thanks to my twins) I have stretch marks on my stomach and feel uncomfortable showing them to the patrons.
You should always have your music on multiple media. I always have my music on CD, flash stick and iPod. You never know what kind of sound system the restaurant will have (unless you dance there regularly) so it's best to be prepared for anything.
We have "coveralls" that we wear to and from gigs. If the patrons see you walking into the restaurant in your costume, you lose some of the wow factor in your performance.
We never go to a gig alone, especially a restaurant gig. If they hire one dancer, we always send someone with them. Husbands are not always the best chaperones. We like to send another dancer with as a "manager". She has two functions: Help with promoting the studio and safety for the dancer.
What advice do you have to share about restaurant gigs?
Picture: Melanie Wallis (Zahra's Oriental Dance Studio)