$10 for 10 minutes with a Pro at Social Dance Functions - Good Idea?

M

Me

Active Member
It is becoming the popular thing for dance instructors in my area to offer their services at "$10 for 10 minutes" at social dance functions. Something along the lines of, "Hey, you can get some special attention for only $10. You won't have to pay for an entire hour, and you are guaranteed a few really good dances with a professional." Generally, they restrict this practice to go on for one hour, but some dances are making this an all-night money maker. This practice seems to be spreading throughout my state, to the point, actually, where when I contact professionals in neighboring towns about offering a workshop in my town, the professionals specifically ask if they can do this at my dances.

My thoughts on the subject? I don't want to offer this. I don't want dancers getting bent out of shape over it, thinking the professionals are coming only to troll for some extra scraps, or that the professionals will only deign to dance with them if they're palmed a ten-dollar bill. Also, when I host a function, it is nice to have the professionals come, but I don't want to have to manage the money; I certainly don't want the money just floating around; and I most certainly don't want to have to deal with complaints (and somebody is destined to complain, eventually) about being shorted time, not ever getting their "favorite dances," etc. IMO, I don't understand what is wrong with the oldschool practice of the professionals possibility picking up a new student based simply on their merit as a friendly person who spreads their skillfull dancing around. However, this is where it might just be me being bent out of shape over something for no real reason. It is, after all, the local professionals who have requested this option.

Maybe I just have the wrong attitude. So, I was hoping I could come here and solicit your opinions.

Is this a popular practice in your area? Does this type of thing "go over well" with the students? Do the professionals appreciate being able to offer this service?

Thank you, guys. :)
 
I'm not sure if I like the idea. I haven't seen it happen in our area. A friend of mine traveled to NYC last year, I think, and she said they had something similar, except that they didn't have just pros doing that, they also had some advanced amateurs, kinda like paid hosts (the price and the time bought were different, though). She also said that nobody mixed and mingled like we do here, and nobody asked her until she paid one of those hosts and then once other men saw that she can dance, only then she got some more dances. Although, on a side note, in our town, coming to the socials is not the most effective way for a teacher to get new students. It's not that often that we get some new faces at the party.
 
I could see this sort of arrangement tumbling down a slippery slope. How would boundaries be set on who could charge, how much, and for what?

ETA: Likewise, how would boundaries be set on what customers expect for their money? Conceivably, could bouncers be needed to resolve certain disputes? Come to think of it, are there any laws governing taxi dancing?

For pros looking for students: What I sometimes see are pros who appear at socials to perform shows at no extra cost to attendees. Their names and/or their studio names are published in advance to promote both them and the event. Sometimes they hang around for a bit to dance socially, sometimes not.
 
I guess I'm spoiled. The pros at my studio are required to come to the Friday night social and dance with everyone (though sometimes I wish the female pros weren't there :p).

The logistics of $10/10 minutes seem complicated to me. How does it work? Do you "sign up" at the beginning of the evening for a certain 10 minutes? Or do you just hand over $10 to the pro you want to monopolize for the next 10 minutes?

There are a few dances I don't do (or don't do socially), so it would be just my luck that there would be a run of those during "my" ten minutes.
 
I'm familiar with a couple dance scenes where pros hire themselves out to attend socials with their students at an hourly rate -- a few hundred bucks for the evening. Not bad, especiially if you're getting ready for a a comp and need time on the floor. That works for me. A dollar a minute just doesn't sit well with me, although I'm not sure why. And the logistics do seem a bit awkward. *shrug*
 
lolz...cept of course I would never pay to social dance with my pro ...b/c it would never ever ever EVER...be social
 
Thanks for the replies so far. :)

The way it has been "pitched" to me is that I block out one hour of the dance social for paid dances. That one hour would have a published playlist. If a dancer wants to dance say, a WC with a pro, they can "sign up" for that dance with that pro, and know that they'll get that WC plus some extra dances. Two versions: Version one is I have a sign-up board, and I have the headache of figuring out who gets what. Version two is that the pro takes the money and keeps up with his/her paid dances.

I don't quite understand the logic of ANY of it, to be honest. How to measure out exactly ten minutes seems difficult, unless I waste a lot of time carefully timing out blocks on a playlist. How to keep people from getting their feelings hurt over not getting the dances they want; how to keep people from "hogging" the pros; how to keep people from feeling cheated if they had to pay for their dances during one hour, but somebody else got theirs free the next; how to keep people from viewing the pros as being strictly after money all the time.... It just seems like such potential for headache.

If anybody here has handled this before, please fill me in!

I will say that I do see potential for this working for a fundraiser or a charity event. I think people would appreciate where their money goes for that. But for just a regular social after a workshop, or for a weekly dance? I have serious doubts.

So, if you've seen it work, please let me know. :)
 
I don't agree with this. The purpose of a party is to practice what you have learned. Students are already paying for the party, why would they have to pay extra to get exclusive time? A teacher will know how to delegate their time between their students at a party. I make sure I dance with all my students. Unless the party is very large, there shouldn't be a need for this at all, it's only going to cause jealousy between students to see how much time they can get with their pro.
 
Me said:
I will say that I do see potential for this working for a fundraiser or a charity event.
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Maybe. But, if fundraising/charity is the purpose -- it's not entirely clear to me that this is the best of all ways to structure a dance event with that purpose in mind. That is: In this context, taxi dancing strikes me as a "solution" in search of a problem.
 
lcdancesport said:
I don't agree with this. The purpose of a party is to practice what you have learned. Students are already paying for the party, why would they have to pay extra to get exclusive time? A teacher will know how to delegate their time between their students at a party. I make sure I dance with all my students. Unless the party is very large, there shouldn't be a need for this at all, it's only going to cause jealousy between students to see how much time they can get with their pro.
Click to expand...
well...it may deepen it but plenty of that already goes on :)
 
DL said:
Maybe. But, if fundraising/charity is the purpose -- it's not entirely clear to me that this is the best of all ways to structure a dance event with that purpose in mind.
Click to expand...

If it is a charity event, then it's a good idea. A dance should be an opportunity to dance with other students, your pro, and other pros. It shouldn't be up to the students to decide how much the pro should dance with a particular student. It's only going to cause competition.
 
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