Ladies Get in Free Until Midnight

[pygmalion]

And other weird nightclub pricing policies. This came up in another thread, so I figured I'd break it off so we can discuss it on its own.

What's the policy where you are? And what gives with ladies get in free? Anybody have any idea where that comes from or why? I've always assumed it was because some dance scenes are lead-heavy. But pretty much all the nightclubs seem to be doing it, these days.

Other policies I've seen that strike me as strange? Ladies drink free. Ladies 18 and up/guys 21 and up. 18 to dance/21 to drink. And probably some others I can't remember.

Club dancers. What's it like where you are?

 

[JoeCZilla]

Heh, I think the general perception is that if the nightclubs can attract more ladies then the men will come automatically. At least thats the perception at the bars around here. Same reasoning with "ladies night" and "ladies drink free till soandso" Guess they think ladies are looking for an inexpensive good time, and men are looking for young and/or drunk ladies... :raisebro:

 

[pygmalion]

Guess they think ladies are looking for an inexpensive good time, and men are looking for young and/or drunk ladies... :raisebro:

lol.

 

[DWise1]

I don't know about the clubs -- they all seem to have the same prices regardless of gender -- , but the studio where I took salsa for a while had reduced rates and special deals for women. The classes were so leader-heavy that a lot of the guys were becoming quite good at following.

 

[pygmalion]

Yeah. One of my former salsa teachers used to do that. In fact, a lot of her advanced beginner salsa classes ended up being free for follows, pretty much all of the time. Guys kept going to those classes, but women didn't. Not sure why.

 

[Sagitta]

Many feel that they do not need to learn anything as they just have to follow? ;-)

 

[pygmalion]

Many feel that they do not need to learn anything as they just have to follow? ;-)

Possibly. Probably, even.

But I've been on the receiving end of emails and phone calls sending out an SOS for females in salsa class. I don't think it's all about arrogant, I don't need to learn more, attitudes.

I'm wondering if maybe it's easier for salsa-dancing females to learn and advance in clubs with more experienced leads, while it's difficult for less experienced leads to find experienced partners. So the beginner ladies go out to the clubs, practice, and advance beyond the beginner guys they started learning to dance with.

I probably should've started a thread. :?

 

[brujo]

Things you learn in bartending school:

My instructor gets hired to do an assessment on a local bar. It was a gigantic club with five bars and music blasting. She goes to the two bars in the first floor, nothing spectacular. The third bar, however, was packed with people.

She goes to the front of the bar, bartender looks at her and says 'be right with ya'. Serves the other two drinks and asks her 'what can I get ya'. 'Brown Cow', says my instructor. He smiles, pours her a brown cow and she is on her way to the the other two bars.

Again, nothing spectacular on the other two bars. So she goes back to the third floor bar. The bartender sees her, and immediately asks 'Another brown cow for the lady?'. She smiles and gets her drink. Sitting in the bar, she realizes that he has memorized every drink that every woman at his bar was drinking. And it was not only the new people coming in, there were girls that were there two weeks ago, and like magic, he produced their drinks from his seemingly insatiable memory bank.

At the end of the night. She talks to the manager, 'everyone in your bars should be fired, but that guy Tony that you got there, you got to keep him'. When she talked to Tony, he explained his philosophy to her, 'If I remember the drinks for the girls, they come to my bar. The men will gather wherever there are women'.

The first thing you learn about the bar business is that most often than not, women in the bars want attention and men want sex. There are usually more men that want sex and are willing to pay for it than women who want attention. Hence, you put things like Ladies in for free to attract all the men, who are the ones who end up buying drinks anyways.

Last she heard Tony was flown out to NYC to become a bartender at a club there.

 

[pygmalion]

Great analysis, brujo. So that's where the drink specials for ladies come from too, I guess? Cut the guys some slack for a drink or two, knowing the bar will recoup the cost later in the evening?

 

[DWise1]

Yeah. One of my former salsa teachers used to do that. In fact, a lot of her advanced beginner salsa classes ended up being free for follows, pretty much all of the time. Guys kept going to those classes, but women didn't. Not sure why.

Apparently the "dance dummy" effect -- described months ago on this forum by a salsera.

Guys have so much more that they need to learn, including what all the moves are and how to lead them and how to put them together into sequences. The women need to learn how to follow -- without anticipating -- and styling. After a while, women have learned almost all that they can from a class, so there they are paying the same rates as the guys for classes that they don't get much out of. They're paying for the privilege of being "dance dummies" for the guys to practice on. And a number of the guys (I've heard complained about by various of my partners -- apparently I'm widely seen as having a good and gentle lead) haven't developed the right touch yet and are still jerking their partners around roughly, so the "dance dummies" are also paying for the privilege of risking shoulder damage.

PS
And, as pointed out above, the women will advance by going out and putting in their dance floor hours, while the guys still need class room time in addition to going out and gaining practical experience in clubs to learn more moves and to advance.