Please, please, please

T

Tinydancergirl

Member
Sigh. I hope I'm not being a pest. I have read many posts here regarding pro/am pricing,(and I know what a touchy subject it is!!) but I don't think I can find or remember if this question has ever been answered, so please bear with me? I have danced pro/am and I know most of the costs/fees involved. However, I'm curious about hotel room accomodations for an upcoming event, so here's the question: how many nights do I pay for the pro's hotel room accomodations? This pro is going to compete professionally with another pro, regardless whether I compete or not, so do I have to pay for the whole hotel stay (4 nights), or just for the hotel time in which I compete (which is 1 day). And yes, I plan to ask my pro, but I was curious/eager for everyone's opinion here. THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE FOR ANY ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE, IT IS MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!!
 
There's no universal answer.

But if you want to try to connect hotel nights to your events vs. the pro events, you should look at what day the pro events are, when it's reasonable to travel, etc.

Personally, if I was going to do a pro/am comp it would have to be a local one. I'd travel with a partner, but would not ship a pro and myself elsewhere in order to dance.
 
It all depends on what arrangement you have with the pro. Different people have different arrangements. All of the scenarios you mentioned have been used at different times by different pros.
 
what the pro chooses to ask for is the pro's perogative...but if he was going anyway, I would only pay for the night before and after the day on which I was due to dance...and if that wasn't acceptable to him...he could simply attend without me...that is also his choice
 
fascination said:
what the pro chooses to ask for is the pro's perogative...but if he was going anyway, I would only pay for the night before and after the day n which I was due to dance...and if that wasn't acceptable to him...he could simply attend without me...that is also his choice
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Ditto. Good answer!
 
fascination said:
what the pro chooses to ask for is the pro's perogative...but if he was going anyway, I would only pay for the night before and after the day n which I was due to dance...and if that wasn't acceptable to him...he could simply attend without me...that is also his choice
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! That was my reasoning too; it's nice to have someone confirm it! I'm all for paying for a pro's time, they have the right to ask and expect it. However, I'm also all for being reasonable and fair with costs, and I hope that any pro that I work with will be too!
 
thanks...let me add...I wouldn't complain and gripe and moan(and I am not implying that you are doing so in any way)...I would just simply inform of my intent and accept his decision...too many accept a term they don't like and then whine...it either works for you or it doesn't...
 
Some manage other ways. I like the system I pay under. I can see paying travel/lodging outright if a pro has only one student. Though in the OP's situation, it sounds a bit like a racket if he's already going to be there to compete himself--if I were her, paying for one night would be reasonable. Travel and other nights would not be.

And in skating, coaches also don't get their airfare or hotels covered (if you've got a REALLY good student who makes it Worlds, USFSA will cover a little bit, but only for certain days.) They charge the students they're traveling with lost wages--good if they're relatively cheap ($60-$80/hour) or they have LOTS of students going, bad if they're top coaches ($100+/hour) with one or two skaters at the competition and lots at home they could be teaching. For tests for dancers or pairs skaters without partners (like me) it's usually a lesson fee or a half-lesson fee to skate the test with you. If they have to drive anywhere, it's cost of doing business. (Deductible, at least--I deduct the milage on my car from driving to different rinks on weekends, since it's rink to rink, not commuting, and I'm an independent contractor for the skating school.)
 
well....in my experience attending about 30 comps in the last 3 years, I have yet to meet a student who wasn't responsible, and rightly so, for some portion of their pro's room...and again, no one has a gun to their head to compete much less with one particular pro under circumstances which they find unacceptable....it is also possible that the pro signed up to dance w/ his partner there with an understanding that his student was going...if not, then my original post still stands...I would never expect my pro to pay for his own room or his meals or anything else that he wouldn't normally be doing...but then again, he is a reasonable man
 
Fascination has a great perspective of the dance business. I wish there were more students like you. I'm sure there are, but I'd like a few of you in my studio :)

When I went to The Heritage this last time, my student's dancing was done by friday night. We knew it would be that way. I would have loved to stay for saturday night, but I would have ended up spending the money I made in going, hence no real profit. She paid for the extra night and tickets for herself through my studio(I didn't mark up the extras)....I went home and mowed my lawn. I didn't expect her to pay for my extra night and expenses, and she didn't expect me to stay. She's a big girl. She had fun on her own. I love dancing with her, but had I spent my own money in staying the extra time with no profit, what would have been the point in me going? This is my living.

In the dance business, paying for your pros expenses in getting to the competition and competing with you is expected. If they need to stay an extra night or have expenses added because of bringing their partner...that's their business. If a student wants to support this couple...great, but it is certainly not expected.
 
I must say, it’s fascinating just how different the US dance scene is. In Australia there just isn’t a pro-am circuit, so there’s none of this paying pros to go somewhere and dance with you.

I’ll be honest and say I can’t see why in the world you’d want to either. Again, perhaps because the Pro-Am circuit here is dead, you’re better off just finding an amateur partner and competing “properly”. There’s no prestiege in winning the few pro am comps out there either.
 
WaltzElf said:
I must say, it’s fascinating just how different the US dance scene is. In Australia there just isn’t a pro-am circuit, so there’s none of this paying pros to go somewhere and dance with you.

I’ll be honest and say I can’t see why in the world you’d want to either. Again, perhaps because the Pro-Am circuit here is dead, you’re better off just finding an amateur partner and competing “properly”. There’s no prestiege in winning the few pro am comps out there either.
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I agree - it's just so different here. But I can also see the advantage in Pro-am, given the difficulty in finding any partner at all, let alone the "right" partner to compete with. There are an awful lot of people out here who want to compete but can't because they don't have a partner. Of course, they could compete in either pro-am or individual events - but as you said, those events are pretty much dead here, so noone wants to compete in them.
 
The thing is, if she could find an amateur partner with skill and the same mindset as her(driven, skilled, and willing) then she probably wouldn't need me and would politely drop me. It just so happens she wants to be a champion and so do I.
 
Ouch..... I don't know how you guys afford pro/am. I wish I could but unfortunately it's super out of my budget at the moment. Kinda bums me out because it seems very fun and a great learning experience. Maybe you could dance for the both of us :-) Please keep us up dated on hoe everything goes (if you feel comfortable doing so). I am interested in seeing how this goes.
 
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