How to collect tips?

Gia al Qamar

New member
I accept tips in the side of my belt and my shoulder straps of my costume. It's too much like begging to offer a tip jar or basket in my opinion (read...MY OPINION).
It's preferable to get money showers in true Middle Eastern fashion, but most non-Middle Easterners don't have a clue about it and many times, what ends up on the floor is split in venues where there is a band between the band & dancer and sometimes (horrors...but it's true) the house.
Gia
 

Yshka

New member
Hi Cabbage, I pretty much agree with Gia. I came to this point when I first danced in a restaurant with a Turkish band some time ago. I also had issues taking tips in my costume, but ended up taking them in the sides of my belt and bra straps as well. I does seem like some sort of begging to me also (I was beginning to think I was the only one lol) to carry a basket or the like to place tips in. I was relieved to have some of the customers shower their money over my head.

In the end I did share with the band, it's pretty common to do that around here. It's not common here to share with the house though. I still don't like costume tipping much, if I don't have to I won't, but in some places here it is usual business.
 

chryssanthi sahar

New member
In the end I did share with the band, it's pretty common to do that around here. It's not common here to share with the house though..

Also here in Germany you share tips with the band, but not with the house. The common thing is to give half of your tips to the band and the musicians share this half among them.

I still don't like costume tipping much, if I don't have to I won't, but in some places here it is usual business.

Ha ha Yshka, don't worry you'll get used to it:lol: It is the most common way to tip the dancer among people from Middle East, Turkey, Greece and Balkan. And if you dance at a big Turkish wedding for example, there is no better way to collect the tips, especially because sometimes you get A LOT of tips;)

Dear Cabbagetheleafy, never let a basket go around, especially if you are dancing for Middle Eastern and East Mediterranean people. They will consider you to be a beggar. It is NO NO.
 
Tips

Hi Cabbagetheleafy, another good idea is to use 'plant' in the audience. A frieind or family member that will start the tipping in the manner the dancer prefers. Although, it still may not go as planned;)
Yasmine
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I never did become truly comfortable with being tipped in my costume, but the alternative of no tipping at all was even less comfortable, so I learned to go with the fashion.

Hmmm, maybe we should start a new fashion in belly dance costumes: a beaded and sequined fanny pack attached to the hip band. Audiences could drop their tips right into the bag, with nary a bill ending up on the floor or down the cleavage. The dancer could just shimmy up to the person with the tip, extend her hip and voila! (one would never wear one's fanny pack on the back of one's belt, no matter what the little bag is called;) )
 

Marisha

New member
So, as more of an audience memeber I have a few more questions about tipping
What if the dancer is dancing in a small smace and comes around twice or more. Should I tip her every time? First time? Second time?
What happens if I really liked the show but didn't have a chance to tip (e.g. sitting at a table that a dancer could not come to) - should I speak to the owner/host and ask about the dancer?
Thanks,
Marisha
 

Shanazel

Moderator
:shok: :shok: :naghty:


Tut tut, you said a naughty word. :) It'll be the Trans atlantic distance thing.

Did I?:think: What does the transatlantic group call the little packs that strap around the waist? (I am not even going to ask what fanny pack means in Europe.)
 

TribalDancer

New member
So, as more of an audience memeber I have a few more questions about tipping
What if the dancer is dancing in a small smace and comes around twice or more. Should I tip her every time? First time? Second time?
What happens if I really liked the show but didn't have a chance to tip (e.g. sitting at a table that a dancer could not come to) - should I speak to the owner/host and ask about the dancer?
Thanks,
Marisha

Good questions, Marisha.

Usually the dancer comes around a second time in the tip dance not to collect a second round of tips, but to give those who were fumbling for their wallets on the first pass a chance to give their tip. Though I would personally not see any reason why you couldn't tip twice if you wanted to. I know *I* wouldn't mind. *wink*

I do not tip in the costume. I don't feel comfortable with it, personally--here in the US it has connotations, and I consider the context inappropriate in the US. I know it's how it's done "over there", and in the context of specific ethnic restaurants, where the clientele expects certain details to be "just like home"; but "over here" baskets or "hats" (for buskers) are the norm for those soliciting tips, while tipping in the costume has other imagery I don't personally want to mess with. I dance in American restaurants for Americans. We do a basket dance. There, that is my take on it. This topic can get heated, so we'll just agree to disagree on that point if it wants to go to an angry place. ;)

That said, when presented a dancer who does not give me an alternative to tipping in her costume, I will try to seek out the dancer after the show (they usually come out in a cover-up to meet the audience or to have a meal around here), give her the tip along with a sincere compliment about her performance. Being a fellow dancer, I would want to seek the dancer out to compliment her personally anyway, so this works out on both fronts.
 

Sara

New member
LMAO! :lol:

WordNet - Cite This Source fanny

noun
1. the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on; "he deserves a good kick in the butt"; "are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?" [syn: buttocks]
2. external female sex organs; "in England 'fanny' is vulgar slang for female genitals"


I always wondered about tipping cause it's a bit of a touchy subject. I have never seen a dancer in a restuarant over here so I personally as an audience member wouldn't have a clue what to do... :think:
 

belly_dancer

New member
When I 1st started dancing pro. , I was dubious about "body tipping"... but when you realize you are giving up a tank of gas, or a weeks worth of groceries..... hmmmmm.... not so bad.... I have found that in restaurants it works well..
ESPECIALLY if you have a "plant" in the audience, in one restaurant, the owner, or a waitress will always start the tipping... (without being told... nice!!!) the other night, the 1st tipper happened to be a shy little girl, who just handed me the $$$.... and I tucked it in my belt myself (better than stuffing down my bra, Mae West style;) ), & the rest of THAT evening, most of the patrons just HANDED me cash...
so, maybe you can have your plant start out like this, if you are wary....
I also NEVER NEVER NEVER accept tips in my bra... not even the straps.... don't even want them to THINK they can go near!
also, lots of times people will come tip us after the dancing, as they are leaving the restaurant (we eat there).
IN CLUBS.. where usually more drinking, & less eating is going on... just to avoid potential problems... I find the basket works well... usually just set on the edge of the stage. I DO NOT like to pass it... to me too, it feels like begging!
 

Aniseteph

New member
Did I?:think: What does the transatlantic group call the little packs that strap around the waist? (I am not even going to ask what fanny pack means in Europe.)

That'd be a bum bag. Our bums are your asses or butts.

Our asses are donkeys, but we know what you mean as it's close enough to arse, which is the same as bum but a bit ruder.
Our butts are big barrels you collect rainwater for the garden in.
Our gardens are your backyards I think.
I believe your bums are our tramps (down and out types), while your tramps are ladies of easy virtue, who would be slags or a multitude of other unpleasant names over here.
:lol:
 

Babylonia

New member
The US and England, divided by a common language. :lol: Here fanny is the kind of word your grandmother uses. I think it might even be milder than saying "bum". Fanny is also an old-fashioned nickname for Frances.
 
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sstacy123

New member
That'd be a bum bag. Our bums are your asses or butts.

Our asses are donkeys, but we know what you mean as it's close enough to arse, which is the same as bum but a bit ruder.
Our butts are big barrels you collect rainwater for the garden in.
Our gardens are your backyards I think.
I believe your bums are our tramps (down and out types), while your tramps are ladies of easy virtue, who would be slags or a multitude of other unpleasant names over here.
:lol:

whoa, that's a bit confusing!
I'd like to know where the division came from on the fanny...
I also might use derriere, backside....sometimes use bum but not too often.
And I believe your lifts are our elevators and your rubbish is our garbage...or that could just be Australian...I've been around more of them. Oops what was the topic of this thread?
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Collecting tips. And tips are also bits of information on any subject, so in a way, we are still on topic with collecting our linguistic tips.;)
 

tim ema

New member
This is quite an interesting discussion, as here in Canada $5.00 is the smallest denomination of paper money - and would be considered a VERY generous tip.
One dollars and Two dollars are coins (called Loonies and Toonies) and collecting coins in a costume presents ...um...technical problems!

:)
AT
 

Kharmine

New member
I wouldn' t like anyone putting a paw near certain parts of my anatomy so I am considering getting some pretty mesh fingerless elbow-length gloves. Then I can extend a snaky arm and allow folks to tuck a bill into the netting.
 

prince ali baba

Active member
This Topic came Up here before

I remember reading this topic here before. Again I'll say what I said the last time. I read in my local newspaper on an article on belly dancing that the tip goes on the dancers head if it's being done in the middle east. If it is put anywhere other than the head it's considered disrepectful in the Middle East.
According to the article where I live in Northern California, Stanislaus County
the dancer takes the tips in her pants or skirt. There was even a picture of a female belly dancer with dollar bills stuck in her skirt. However I think where I live most people still believe in the Harem Fantasy and that it's like stripping. Also they think only men dance if a female dancer puts a sword on a male audience member's head or if a male relative does a duet with the female dancer,but from the picture I saw this ladie's nephew-in-law looked more like he was doing something completely different. It wasn't sexy,but his costume didn't have the look you'd see of a male dancer on this site or youtube. He was dressed like a foreigner doing a folkdance,but it wasn't street clothes and it was like a Sultan or Aladdin style costume either. It was like a greek folkdance costume or a russian folkdance costume. Don't remember exactly since my mom probably recycled that paper. Tim
 
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